Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead - not the movie)

It's that time of the year in Mexico (1-2nd November). The Day of the Dead, when everybody gathers at the cemetery to have a jolly good time with the loved ones gone. It's a weekend in fact, with the first night dedicated to the children who passed away. A work colleague and I headed to San Andres Mixquic, still part of D.F. (Mexico City), though it does not seem like it is. Amazingly enough, a photo I've used in one of my collages is indeed a night shot of the cemetery in that village. One more reason to drive there! Orange flowers are most prominent in the ceremony (my favourite colour) - another reason to check out Dia de los Muertos! We passed through canal-riddled Xochimilco and after a few traffic jams in the various hamlets - with their cemeteries and surrounding market stands full of people wanting to connect with the dead - we made it to Mixquic. 

It's a pretty ugly place, but for the main church - baroque overload - and its charming burial grounds. I said a little prayer for Mum. Most of the village had turned into a market stand fiesta, offering trinkets, silly gadgets, Christmas decorations and flowers, not to forget the food, food, food! It was packed, but I was glad to see that crowd control emergency planning has been taken care of (see photo). I find it attractive to turn remembrance into something cheerful and social. It takes the sourly, protestant sting out of dealing with the dead. 

We did not stay until the evening to watch a see of lit candles, but returned to the big city instead, to have a proper meal. 

Addis to Kolumsa

Long time no blog. Early October I went to Ethiopia for the first time. For the "Wheat for Food Security in Africa" Conference. Addis is a big building site - given the little that I saw of this 4-million city lying on a plateau as high up as Mexico City. The hotel was surrounded by emerging highrise buildings. In fact, I shared the hotel car with Chinese construction workers, who are building the hotel's next wing.

One of the Conference days was reserved for a field trip to Kolumsa, the national agricultural research station for wheat.  Getting out of Addis takes a while - very spread out - we passed a brand new light industrial zone built by the Chinese and then you enter an almost European countryside. Wide vistas of mellow, green plains surrounded by hills. The teff (local grain) fields are turned into handsome waves by the wind. We stopped by a farmer, with his two hectares of wheat, to learn how he was doing, wheat-wise. He held his own, surrounded by two busloads of agricultural researchers. At Kolumsa, we were given a good show, which included the presentation of a small mechanisation project funded by the German Government. Apparently, once you get to 2 hectares, oxen & plough won't do anymore and a small tractor would come in handy, to save time, labour and livestock maintenance costs. The drive back provided a good dose of Addis traffic jams. All in all, a lovely trip!