Oof. It was late last night and I posted this entry to the wrong blog. So here it is about 12 hours late.
For breakfast this morning we had marching bands. One of the largest of the local high schools had their parade to the zocolo in honor of the Bicentennial.
First there was a bit of a professional band (boring) and then the school banner.
![IMG_0541 Moises Saenz Garza](http://blackdogandmagpie.net/shoes/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/IMG_0541-400x300.jpg)
Followed by the school’s drum corps…
![IMG_0549 they love drums here](http://blackdogandmagpie.net/shoes/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/IMG_0549-400x300.jpg)
… and then the student body. Loosely organized, and very happy to wave and say hello and make funny faces at the folks peering out of the Casa’s front door.
![IMG_0552 peace to you too](http://blackdogandmagpie.net/shoes/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/IMG_0552-400x300.jpg)
The bulk of the day was taken up with a tour of the botanical gardens at Santo Domingo. Jardín Etnobotánico de Oaxaca.
I’m still working on getting all the pictures sorted out. There will be a nice big gallery of them later this week. But for now here are a handful to give you a feel for the garden and its plants.
The tour starts with a discussion of the native food plants. The triumvirate of squash, beans, and corn. These are squash plants.
![gardens squash growing in the foreground](http://blackdogandmagpie.net/shoes/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/gardens-400x266.jpg)
In the background are bunches of the large marigolds that decorate the altars at Muertos. I am deathly allergic to them.
This little red flower on the other hand doesn’t make me sneeze. It’s a dahlia. Seriously. All those fancy garden flowers (Hi Elise!) have been bred from one little red flower.
![dahlia awfully nice for a single](http://blackdogandmagpie.net/shoes/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dahlia-400x380.jpg)
Of the common trees in Oaxaca the one that I can always identify without a doubt is the pochote. But when you’re looking at something with points like this…
![pochote prickly](http://blackdogandmagpie.net/shoes/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/pochote-266x400.jpg)
The gardens are located behind the buildings of the Monastery of Santo Domingo. The church’s walls provide a backdrop for the large collection of dry eco-system plants.
![dryplants straight lines](http://blackdogandmagpie.net/shoes/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/dryplants-400x266.jpg)
Maguey cactus. The source of mescal/tequilla. Also just plain pretty.
As we were leaving the gardens and heading toward lunch we ran into another marching band. This one was followed by dancers.
![anotherparade dancing ladies!](http://blackdogandmagpie.net/shoes/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/anotherparade-400x266.jpg)
Meanwhile Jim would like you to know that he is hard at work cataloging the various motor transport options in the area. Today, I think it’s working bikes.
[…] we had marching bands. Then a tour of the Ethno-botanical gardens at Santo Domingo. You can read all about it on Ms. […]