Guelaguetza: dancing with turkeys and fun with hats

We arrived in Oaxaca with very little idea of what this ‘Guelaguetza’ thing was. All we knew was that it was an annual cultural event and we had tickets. The town was abuzz with visitors and colourful flags celebrating the event, but as we approached the venue, we were still guessing exactly what we were going to see.

We stepped out of a taxi outside a stadium-like structure which was perched on top of a hill overlooking the city. As we passed through the turnstiles we were handed what turned out to be a standard party-pack:

The Guelaguetza party pack: a cushion, a fan and a badass cowboy hat!

Clutching our party packs, we were ushered through a tunnel and came out into a very cool auditorium:

The Guelaguetza auditorium with its impressive arch.

I’ve never been much into wearing hats, but the sun was strong and everyone else was doing it:

Hats: great for keeping the sun off but also have other uses (see below).

I quickly got over my cocklaphobia and plonked my hat on my noggin:

Most hats don’t fit me (I guess I have an oversize head), but this one seemed OK.

So, now that we were sitting comfortably and properly attired, we settled in to enjoy the show. And what a show! Various groups of men and women from the different regions of Oaxaca performed dances which typically lasted around 30 minutes. Each group introduced themselves first in Zapoteco (the pre-hispanic language of the region) and then Spanish.

The dances and costumes ranged from run-of-the-mill to spectacular, with live turkeys, a bullfight dance and some excellent hat waving action. At the end of each show, the performers would throw gifts to the crowd (I quickly realised why all the front row seats were snapped up weeks ago). I’ve edited together the highlights in this 3.5 minute video:

[Things to look out for: 0:38: yes, that is a live turkey he has under his arm; 1:33: the Bullfight dance! 1:52: the Bouncy up-and-down dance; 2:28: the Troublesome Fish dance; 3:12: Presents for everyone (sitting in the front 5 rows)]

It was a fun day, and definitely something I would recommend.

As this will be my last Mexico post, I just wanted to tie up one loose end – there was a really fun culinary discovery which we made back in Mexico City. Another of the Chowzter recommendations for Mexico City is a dish called Chicharrón de Queso from a restaurant called EL Charco de Las Ranas. This intrigued me – “Chicharrón” is the word for crispy pork rind, “queso” is cheese. How would these two things go together? Surely they wouldn’t be covering pork rind with melted cheese, I wondered/hoped/feared.

It turned out to be a pig-free snack: a super-thin, crispy layer of cheese, served up with a quintet of spicy salsas. It was purely its resemblance to standard crispy Chicharrón that gave it its name.

Five excellently spicy salsas.

Chicharrón de Queso – a super-thin, crispy layer of cheese. Snap a piece off and add your salsa of choice.

As we ate this weird cheesy concoction, we wondered how they made it. In case you’re wondering, I’ll leave with a video. Next post we’ll be back in Rio!