Rudd joy!!

I have been logged into online election coverage for much of the last few days after voting at the australian embassy in mexico city the other day.

I am so ecstatic about the election result that I have decided to throw an australian theme party next weekend!!

Look at our cool invitation!



If anyone can suggest some typical aussie food to serve, let me know. So far I'm thinking vegemite, anzac bikkies and maybe a pavlova if I can pull it off!

On a more sentimental note, it just makes me so proud of australian civil society to see that we finally succeeded in getting Howard out! I feel far away and distant from fellow aussie campaigners, but when I look at emails of GetUp or see snippets of Hugh Evans popping up in election videos, it makes me so content to know that everyone is 'keeping it real' back home. I will be back at some point to join the fray.

50th anniversary of the witches' market!

Sometime a few weeks back Julio and I went to check out the 50th anniversary of el Mercado de Sonora, a Mexico City vanguard of "brujeria" (witchcraft) and all things supernatural. This is the place that you go to buy black cats or wirey crows or sad looking creatures and then go and kill them in order to perform some magic. Or this is the place where you go to buy your herbs for concoctions of any sort.



Suffice to say, getting free tucker from any market stall, drinking fine tequila at midday and dancing away to mariachis and cumbia bands made foe a wonderful, wonderful day. And to top it all of, these very photos featured on www.cronica.com.mx thanks to Julio's editorial license..

Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)

Death is Democracy.
At the end of it all, everyone:
black, white, rich or poor -
all the world ends up being skeletons.

Jose Guadalupe Posada




The Day of the Dead has come and gone, and I want it to be here again.

What joy and surrealism comes out of these two days (1 and 2 Nov).
Graveyards all around the country are flooded with people and offerings and celebration.
Crazy skeleton exhibitions are seen everywhere - Jose Guadalupe Posada, one of my favourite Mexican artists, came up with this skeleton figure in the late 1900s in his caricaturas of daily life and politics. Now everything becomes a skeleton, and offerings tie in the daily life of people who are now dead.

I have included a picture of the offering we made in our apartment: We included food that was liked by loved ones that have died. All offerings should contain the four elements, as Julio's aunt taught me: Air (hanging paper) Earth (flowers) Fire (candles) and Water (glass of water).



I have also included some stunning photos of the offerings on the UNAM (national university) campus - check out the Rectory Building and its amazing Diego Rivera murals!

Also we went to a great concert of two beloved trova singers in the Zocalo on the evening of the Day of the Dead - great stuff!



The bad thing about the Day of the Dead is it brought on a big wave of sickness for me - I have only just overcome a horrid week of stomach upset and shocking flu! I definitely get sick more seriously here than in Australia.

Hope everyone enjoys the photos!

Blogs in Waiting

Dear Readers,

I am dying to sit down with a long swig of time on my blog, with much to write and reflect - The Day of the Dead, general vignettes of my life or any other trivialities that I delight in posting here.

An apology on my part for not posting more as of late. We have just gone on a month in our new place and we STILL do not have internet up and running.. long story ... apparently although we are right in the centre of town and surrounded by embassies, wireless cables are still not covered in our street.. we are looking at options and figuring it out this week! Argh I hope!

I have just whiled away a long weekend with an annoying vomiting stomach thing. Not fun, and not something I wanted for a much awaited few days for R&R and fun. Oh well!

In anticiipation of more lyrical and informative posts.

Maddy

new apartment!

Wow what changes! Now living with julio in the top right hand corner apartment of the flat pictured above. and isnt our street lovely!

The address is:

Río Po 68, Depto 14
Colonia Cuauhtémoc
06500, México, DF
MÉXICO

Cuauhtémoc was the last Aztec emperor, (not Moctezuma as commonly thought.) Cool hey ? We are living in the neighbourhood of the young warrior emperor who was killed fighting the Spanish invasion.


So, now that you all have the address I am expecting floods of letters and lovely packages arriving at my doorstep (I fully realise the irony of this given that I have a stack of envelopes sitting on my kitchen table waiting to send to Australia).....
Anyway, I challenge you all - the only packages I have received in all my time away have been from my mummy.

Will post interior photos in a little while, when we get some of our final frames sorted our for our walls. But right now, at a month in, the apartment is looking lovely.

VIVA MEXICO

photos from september 15-16 Mexican Independence Day. Viva!!

More text very soon!

for avid fans of on the road... an update

It has been a while between posts... but life seems to keep throwing me new challenges and changes.

As of the last status update, I have changed my job and started working at a highschool teaching rich unruly mexican kids. It's incredibly challenging and discipline a big stumbling block, but I suppose it's all a learning experience and they pay me well. But I reitterate, very challenging.

I am still in my human rights internship in the mornings and the evenings - all in all lots of running around.

And! Julio and I have just found the most perfect apartment and are moving in together in a few weeks.

More updates and photos very soon! Missing Australia, but I always hold it close in my heart.