Feria
It is good to have plans, constructive plans, like sorting out your finances and getting a good night's sleep. And sometimes it is good to tear up those plans altogether.
Like tonight, when I noticed stalls selling special, sweet breads in the next block to mine.
These are a sure sign of some kind of fair - usually the neighbourhood celebration of their church's saints day.
And so it proved. Tomorrow is the day of the Virgen del Carmen, and the street is closed to traffic for its little fair. People were wandering along visiting the stalls, but all was very tranquil - tomorrow will be the busy day.
And so I wandered, and took pictures. It is for this I really fucking love Mexico - this embarrassment of riches - its endless gifts of the fascinating, the delightful, the odd - its boundless aliveness. Give me any street in Mexico to walk along or to watch through the window and I'll never be bored.
I was fascinated by this ride, a wheel for turning you upside-down lots of times. Simple, old-fashioned, gorgeous in its bold paint, and, I suspect, pretty effective:
I took lots of pictures like these two:
A smell to make your mouth water - meat for tacos al pastor:
I ate one of these, because they are so pretty:
And just as I was heading home I got into conversation with Jymy, at the all-important stall selling sweets and nuts and little treats of all kinds.
I took a few pictures of him (at his instigation - for that I love people who play the clown and show off to their friends!) and we had a good chat. As a foreign woman there is an instinct to be wary of strange men, not so much out of fear of anything sinister, but because they will talk to you, and sometimes try it on, not because they actually like you or are interested in talking to you, but because you are some kind of a game or a trophy or a novelty.
But who cares? Sod caution. It stops you from taking interesting chances. We swapped numbers and if I like I can go with them to other fairs. It's an opportunity to get to know different people, potentially to take good pictures and get good interviews. And I love fairs.
I wish I had been this bold months ago, but - as every time I do more than scuttle away timidly - I am proud of myself for not being shy.
posted by Eloise @ 1:37 am
6 comments
6 Comments:
Good for you for not being shy. And those sweets and treats do look rather good. Loving your photos as well!
Thank you! Not being shy is a work in progress for me (as is taking better pictures)... the samll victories are important even though they would be trivial to most people!
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Oh and I think the sweets and treats look better as a whole than individually - like a lot of things. Some are good though: my favourites are candied walnuts (and I don't even like walnuts!) Yesterday I treated myself to a big bag of salted pumpkin seeds to stash in the office (SO good!) and some inadvisable jelly worms. These are currently in my fridge in an experiment on "whether jelly sweets are nice cold" and "keeping your jelly sweets away from the damned fruit flies".
Are jelly sweets nicer when cold? I must know! I must also try a candied walnut - sounds so bizzarre it must be good!
I understand what you're saying about small victories feeling good - I am usually quite shy but sometimes surprise myself. Those time always feel great - I should try it more often.
They're mostly just colder! And slightly chewier. But the novelty is kind of fun.
Candied walnuts are amazing. I don't know if that's the proper term for them, but they're made by stirring them up in molten sugar in a thing like a miniature tin bath. They do it right there on the stall... it smells like heaven and sometimes if you're lucky you get warm ones.
Hurray for small victories and small pleasures!
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