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Scenes around the City of Oaxaca

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Seasonal photos:

"Click here to view" some more Pre-Christmas photos from around Oaxaca.

Everyone is gathering up energy for another Christmas season. Vendors are getting extra space (see bottom row center picture) where normally protests and rally's take place. (Zocalo, Oaxaca)

Tis the season to be jolly, even if there is no snow. It seems really odd to hear local music vendors playing Spanish versions of "Jingle Bells" or "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas." I have to ask myself, "Do people in Oaxaca actually know what a ONE HORSE OPEN SLEIGH is?"

For some people, Christmas is not a time to be jolly, it is just another day that is filled with hunger. (See top row right, and bottom row left)

There is a really cool nativity scene at the Zocalo in Oaxaca; all of the figures are about half life sized, and made of Fired clay and painted with vibrant colors. There are living plants and running water, to give this scene lots of admiration from passers by. (See third row left)

Other features at the Zocalo are the Balloons. I don't know why there are so many there, but when ever I have visited, there are thousands of helium filled balloons floating around, begging to be purchased. {See bottom row right)

So truly bizarre images are to be had in Oaxaca - skeletons are the local fad (see bench with skeletons, top row center) Living with the dead all of the time. Santa with Rudolf (top row left) is actually an iron outline of the figures, that has been wrapped with some garland to give the figures some body. There are not too many real Christmas trees in the Oaxaca area, so many resort to plastic, wooden, metal, aluminum, or ceramic trees (see second row center - standing outside a hardware store in Oaxaca Centro)

Other common scenes, such as a man sweeping out a promenade, (third row center) or this wedding party outside Santo Domingo church (third row right) seem to take place more often around the holiday season.