La Soledad

After our intercambio, Mary went home and I went on to la iglesia de la Soledad, where I was supposed to meet up with Ann, Therese, and Jerry (Therese's husband) for the religious fiesta going on tonight. A market had taken over Avenida de la Independencia leading up to the church, so the going was slow. I finally arrived half an hour later than we had planned to meet.

The entire plaza in front of the church was packed with people. I thought I would never find Ann and them in the crowd, but lo and behold, they were standing around in the back of the plaza, beside the church. Un milagro de la Virgen de la Soledad. I ate cotton candy (algodón in Spanish, too) while the religious procession started up. Ann and I tried to take pictures of the event, but it was pretty dark and flash lighting often just doesn't go far enough to be useful. So I doubt our pictures will turn out, unfortunately.

We took a taxi home, 'cause all them "old people" (hehe!) didn't want to walk the eight blocks home. What wimps. Seriously. As if they weren't in their 50's or 60's or something. ;)

Ann's friends and family are flying down tomorrow to stay for a week or two. Ann'll be staying with them at a hotel she reserved next to the zócalo. We're going to try to meet up to do things tomorrow or Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday she has all-day tours plannes for her guests, although maybe I can have dinner with them those nights. (Ann said that would probably be fine.) But I fly out Friday morning, so that'll be my last chance to hang out with Ann here in Oaxaca. Of course, she's from Palo Alto, so it's not like it would be entirely unreasonable to see her again back in California. That'd be cool, actually.