A wedding!
The first thing we did was to to to a wedding! Dr. R asked me if I wanted to go to a "boda" and thinking he meant "bodega" (a place to drink) I said yes. I certainly was dressed more for a bar than for a wedding.
I was off the plane about 10 minutes and we went to this site where people were sitting around at tables under a big tent with no sides.
This band was standing around in a semi-circle on the grass playing this crazy, loud, off-kilter Sinaloan music. A bunch of brass instruments and drums, mostly - really loud snare drums, and those guys were whacking them hard, too.
There were about 200 people there, at a round table at tables of 10 decorated with little bride and groom dolls and bottles of mezcal.
I met Senora Gloria and her daughter Pati, who must be about 20 or so. They are both very trim and chic, and I felt like a big old gringo horse in my sweaty jeans, t-shirt and running shoes.
Pati greeted me with a kiss on the cheek, which I didn't know Mexicans did until then. I thought it was a European thing.
Everyone was lovely to me, though I had no idea what was going on or how to behave and I looked like I belonged at a swap meet, not a wedding. I was feeling completely at sea.
They immediately offered me mezcal and I got a round of applause when I did the shot. (It was only later that I found out I was supposed to sip it. People made fun of me the whole time I was here because of it. They loved to tell the story of the gringa who did the shot of mezcal in one fell swoop).
There was food too: Oaxacan tortillas which are large, crisp and very thin, made of corn flour but the size of a flour tortilla. They served shredded meat, black beans cooked to a paste, and a runny dish of hominy ground coarsely with a smoky sauce. Salsa (green) and very thin runny guacamole on the side.
I ate some of everything but the meat (though everyone encouraged me to try that too, saying I could be a meat-eater while in Oaxaca and go back to being vegetarian when I left).
I felt like I was in a zoo, with everyone watching me as I ate - what I ate, how I ate it and whether I liked it. I was trying to be polite though I had no idea about Oaxacan table manners or what I was eating.
Meanwhile the loud music was rollicking along and people were coming over to the table to socialize. The fairly drunk groom and his shy bride came over to say hello and accepted my mangled "Felicidades" with a huge smile.
I even ate some pineapple, though every tourist guide warns against raw fruit, for God’s sake, unless you wash and disinfect it yourself, because you can get sick from the water they use to wash with. It was like Hawaiian pineapple in Hawaii - gold and sweet with a deep pineapple flavor.
I am probably doomed to las turistas (also known as Montezuma's revenge), but I am taking Pepto-Bismol in large prophylactic doses and hoping for the mezcal to disinfect my guts.
We left early before the dancing began. The Rodriguez family had another party to get to.
I was off the plane about 10 minutes and we went to this site where people were sitting around at tables under a big tent with no sides.
This band was standing around in a semi-circle on the grass playing this crazy, loud, off-kilter Sinaloan music. A bunch of brass instruments and drums, mostly - really loud snare drums, and those guys were whacking them hard, too.
There were about 200 people there, at a round table at tables of 10 decorated with little bride and groom dolls and bottles of mezcal.
I met Senora Gloria and her daughter Pati, who must be about 20 or so. They are both very trim and chic, and I felt like a big old gringo horse in my sweaty jeans, t-shirt and running shoes.
Pati greeted me with a kiss on the cheek, which I didn't know Mexicans did until then. I thought it was a European thing.
Everyone was lovely to me, though I had no idea what was going on or how to behave and I looked like I belonged at a swap meet, not a wedding. I was feeling completely at sea.
They immediately offered me mezcal and I got a round of applause when I did the shot. (It was only later that I found out I was supposed to sip it. People made fun of me the whole time I was here because of it. They loved to tell the story of the gringa who did the shot of mezcal in one fell swoop).
There was food too: Oaxacan tortillas which are large, crisp and very thin, made of corn flour but the size of a flour tortilla. They served shredded meat, black beans cooked to a paste, and a runny dish of hominy ground coarsely with a smoky sauce. Salsa (green) and very thin runny guacamole on the side.
I ate some of everything but the meat (though everyone encouraged me to try that too, saying I could be a meat-eater while in Oaxaca and go back to being vegetarian when I left).
I felt like I was in a zoo, with everyone watching me as I ate - what I ate, how I ate it and whether I liked it. I was trying to be polite though I had no idea about Oaxacan table manners or what I was eating.
Meanwhile the loud music was rollicking along and people were coming over to the table to socialize. The fairly drunk groom and his shy bride came over to say hello and accepted my mangled "Felicidades" with a huge smile.
I even ate some pineapple, though every tourist guide warns against raw fruit, for God’s sake, unless you wash and disinfect it yourself, because you can get sick from the water they use to wash with. It was like Hawaiian pineapple in Hawaii - gold and sweet with a deep pineapple flavor.
I am probably doomed to las turistas (also known as Montezuma's revenge), but I am taking Pepto-Bismol in large prophylactic doses and hoping for the mezcal to disinfect my guts.
We left early before the dancing began. The Rodriguez family had another party to get to.
posted by Suebob at 5:13 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home