Juchitán de Zargoza

 Ahh, Juchitan. Air so thick...look at the clouds...sidewalks sticky with dew and mango pulp. Kelly ordered this agua al dente tamarindo before she saw the bare ice blocks being pushed down the street with sticks. She got sick, sort of, maybe it was the cheese or the elevation. I ate everything without any serious problems.



photo credit: Julia Noakes

Juchitán is a city in the Istmo de Tehuantapec region of Mexico. I went there with my friends because we had read that it was a very gay friendly area. You see, the Zapoteca indians think that having a gay child is a gift from God. I think that the reason for this is that sometime in history, Juchitecan women got tired of their husbands running off with younger women so they started giving their gay kids a little extra nurturing. According to local folk lore boys born face down are gay. or something like that. maybe I have it backwards. At any rate, in Juchitán, gay children never marry or have children, so they stay home and take care of their aging parents. Juchitecan women run family businesses and dominate the local market.
Juchitán market

It´s a place I´d really like to go back to. We got sort of groced out by the cow heads in the taco stands, but I could get over that. It{s not like we don{t eat cow heads anyway, when we eat sausage, hot dogs, or lunch meat.