¡Guelaguetza!

So I made it to Oaxaca with fairly little trouble, and despite concerns, things seem rather stable and safe here.... at least on the visible surface. I awoke early this morning to head to a hilltop auditorioum (think enormous ampitheater) for the annual folkloric festival called Guelaguetza. The show started at ten, but the place was almost full by 7-ish when I arrived (or at least the free, first-come-first-serve sections up in the nosebleeds were). Nonetheless, TONS of people continued to flood in and packed the place fuller than I ever imagined possible. Vendors roamed and put Fenway hawkers to shame with their maneuvering. It got hotter and more and more packed and finally... on the small round stage below, a series of wonderful folk dances unfolded, performed by skilled dancers in exquisite costumes to the sounds of a live, jamming band. Between numbers, freebie hats and fans and t-shirts were chucked into the crowd from behind, creating even more excitement. The dances included paired numbers; a presicely choreographed pineapple dance; a fun number with guys in suits and ties and tassley chaps and horns and whips; and more. I stayed on my little concrete perched, wedged between so many people, until about 12:45, when I decided to bail. The crowds outside the auditorio were as tight and excited as those within, but with the added fun of more vendors. I found a Rubik's cube and hope to figure out how to solve more than one face. I also snacked on all kinds of delicious street food and saw a guy demonstrating a Magic Extractor... as seen on TV! Wiped from the day, I returned to my no-name hostel for a brief rest, but I still feel really tired, as perhaps evidenced from the relative boringness of my description of what was actually a very cool day.