Festival Anual de las Artes Otoño Cultural, Mérida, Los Juglares

Every year there is a funded month plus long cavalcade of Cultural events.  This amazing Festival is called Otoño Cultural.  This year it started 8 November, and runs through 16 December.

Most nights there are any number and variety of events and activities for you to choose from; dance, music, comedy, ...

This link has a good list of the activities should you wish to fill your evenings for the new week or so -
http://www.divertorio.com/entrada/teatro/festival_anual_de_las_artes_otono_cultural_merida_novdic_2012.html

This link is to the SECAY's 'official' site, they are the ones that have made this festival possible, but their site is a bit more difficult to navigate, this link goes straight to tonight's (5 Dec)offerings.
http://www.culturayucatan.com/index.php?option=com_eventlist&view=day&id=20121205

We attended  a performance by Los Juglares at the Teatro Peon Contreras last night.  Los Juglares is a fantastic Trova group, and we've really loved them since we first saw/heard them our first few months here, back in 2006.

Four months ago we were returning home to Merida from Houston.  We were fortunate that we were seated next to a young meridano returning home from a visit to LA.  Mitch is studying to be an abogado, a lawyer,   He and Tom chatted the entire flight and we've maintained contact - he's visited, we email, we phone, and we facebook.   He knows of our affection for los juglares and offered us VIP seating at last nights performance.  It just so happens that one of the los juglares (Cesar) is his brother in law. SWEET!

We met Mitch and his girlfriend Bruni in front of the theatre, we were then directed to a side entrance, through backstage where we greeted and chatted with Cesar and some of the stagehands.  We then proceeded to our seats, row 2! SUPER SWEET!  




It was a fabulous performance, that included an amazing maraca solo by the incredibly dynamic Chucho,  a short very entertaining majic, and a special surprise, a song by Gianni Rivera who has an amazing voice.  It was a fabulous performance.

In addition to singing and songwriting, these guys are fabulous guitar players.

Chucho entertaining the crowd, kissing the ladies, and playing some awesome maracas.

incredible guitar playing.

Gianni Rivera, an amazing crooners voice!

 We were then honored to be invited along with the family and friends to grab a late night bite - we all made our way over to parque Santiago, it was a bit after 11pm, 4 or 5 tables were pulled together and we sat and ate, chatted, laughed and just had such a special evening.

This little Piggy...

This little piggy went to market,

This little piggy stayed at home,

This little piggy had roast beef,

This little piggy had none.

And this little piggy sneezed... and everyone went home...

OK, that's not exactly how it goes...

Here in Mérida signs of the Flu 'scare' are evident. Schools, churches, social events like baseball games, all but 'essential' services have been cancelled until at least May 6. The streets are fairly empty, we went out for lunch the other day and it was like a Sunday in that there was very little traffic out and the restaurant business was very slow. Lots of businesses are closed and a few people were wearing masks on the street. At the grocery store yesterday the workers were wearing both masks and gloves. Ports of Call (Progresso, Cancun, Playa, Cozumel, etc) have been cancelled, and of course the 'Avoid Mexico' warnings are really going to affect tourism. I think the planes are the biggest threat, but that's just me.

I had head people were making a run on the grocery store but yesterday the crowd was significantly less than normal, and Wednesday is a regular grocery run for me and many others since Wednesday is big discounts on produce (fruits, veggies, etc). I heard on the radio yesterday that the alert level was at 5, but today the US News says the WHO just raised it so maybe that was our local govt elevation.

We had garden workers here yesterday and they didn't leave till nearly 9pm; I was in no mood or energy level to fix dinner so Tom walked to the corner for Tortas, and he said La Poderosa was empty; now that is really unusual, La Poderosa is always hopping busy.

Another concern is for the financial stability of the small business people here that rely on us, and tourism to earn their living.

Here's a pretty good article just out http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/med_swine_flu

Well Tom and I are fine, so far healthy and safe, plus we sent the pig to the farm for the week, sort of a forced piggy vacation. OK, really, we don't have a pig. I don't know the state of the Tamiflu medicine here in Mérida, but I sure hope it's here if we need it! OK - I just sneezed so need to go wash my hands for 75 seconds, and then disinfect the keyboard with a bleach solution.

A friend sent this CDC recommendation on how to avoid the Swine flu - they say

"Don't do This"

Seems like good advice

The 2nd Annual Latin American Bloggers Summit

The 2nd Annual Latin American Bloggers Summit is currently underway here in Mérida. Last years event was on Isla Mujeres. Last night was the Kick Off Party, where those of us who could gathered to meet; some of us for the first time. Although you really feel like you get to know people after you've followed their blog for a while.

Today we had a number of excellent presentations and discussions;

Wayne on Digital Photography
Ellen on making money with your blog
Theresa on finding your blog's focus
Paul and Susan finding inspiration for your posts

We all talked about how we got started blogging, and why we continue with it.

And Heather handed out this years homework assignment; you'll have to wait to find out what that is!

Then we headed out for a few beers and botanas. What a fun group; and I must say I am inspired. I was feeling a bit off about blogging because I was not sure of my focus, or if stuff I write is interesting or pertinent - I am inspired with a whole page listed with ideas. So watch out!
We're on a mid-day break, resting from the mid-day heat. The group reconvenes in about an hour for a tour of Centro, because not all of the attendees live here in Mérida, then out for an evening of cuban music, and well most likely a few more beers, and what I am sure will be animated discussions on topics of great world and economic importance.

It's fun to get to meet the people behind the blogs, to discuss the how's and why's of what they do and why and how they do it, how to keep up the energy and interest, to share ideas and get feedback. I'm sure there will be surge of interesting topics in the coming months.

Most of the group was taking pictures - I wasn't, but maybe later. So, well, maybe, I'll have some cool blogs pretty soon!