Mexican Christmas tree
ZIPOLITE, Mexico- Business as usual was the carol that was sung on Christmas
2010 in Zipolite — a beach town on the coast of Oaxaca. All the shops were
open, people went to work, and tourists walked through the street as if this
holiday was just another day at the beach.
It was.
I could find little sign of Christmas cheer here in Zipolite save for a gaggle
of blond hippie girls onerously chanting carols on their walk to the beach,
two little family shrines set up in homes on the outskirts of town, and a
plastic evergreen that was tied to the roof of a shop — a Christmas tree,
even a false one, is a surreal sight in the shinning sun of an 80 degree day
in the tropics.
I remember celebrating Christmas around a decade ago in a small village
in the jungle of Peru, and it was truly a wild drunk fest with too much chicha,
just emailed me his story of Christmas from Lima, a place that saw massive
amounts of fireworks and celebration, and I know that Puerto Angel, a
town a few kilometers away, had a large street party.
I am in Mexico, a fiercely Christian country that celebrates Christmas with
gusto, but I am in a beach town. Beach life, ultimately, is like one long
day played out over and over again; that damn Bob Marley
album on perpetual repeat. In such a setting, holidays are truly
inapplicable. Christmas day rolled into Zipolite like a wave, and rolled
back out with a similar amount of consequence: I am unsure if anybody
even noticed.
I went to the store and bought some essentials from the grumpy lady who
works the counter every day. She added up my bill, I paid, as I was leaving
I considered wishing her Feliz Navidad, but then thought better of it.
We are on the beach, and like the waves, the rolling sand, and the blowing
wind, each day blends into the next indistinguishably, forming some sort of
insoluble whole. Some call this whole a vacation, some call it life.
I have no idea what day of the week it is.
Wade Shepard is the founder and editor of Vagabond Journey. He has been
traveling the world since 1999, through 90 countries. He is the author of the book, Ghost Cities of China, and contributes to The Guardian, Forbes,
Bloomberg, The Diplomat, the South China Morning Post, and other
publications. Wade Shepard has written 3548 posts on Vagabond Journey.
