Washington, DC weekend. part 1

This weekend I’m in Washington DC with my friend David and his Mama, Loretta. The Smithsonian 2010 Folk Life Festival was going on and we stopped to see the Mexico exhibits. I still don’t know what this is called but I remember watching men get ready to perform this dance (done in thanksgiving for the corn, bean, and pumpkin harvest)one time when we were visiting the ruins and market at Mitla:

It was crazy to see those guys in DC, I remember being so nervous for them when I was little( 11?), that time they were in a stone court with stone walls on two sides, didn’t think it would go to well for them if they fell! There were also some musicians playing traditional music and a man introducing ignorant America to the wonders of Mescal... haha. I finally learned why they have worms in the bottle: back in the day they would dilute it with sugar cane water and the worms would only fall to the bottom if it was pure Mescal, now it’s just tradition.

We also went to the Museum of Natural History and spent time in the butterfly exhibit, beautiful little things! One landed on my hair, he looked slightly like bark from a tree when his wings were closed, still striking to look at, but when he opened his wings to fly they were light blue on top! I couldn’t get any photos of the blue outer wings, but here he is:

We also say the Hope Diamond and so many kinds of stones and gems. I was so captivated by all the different colors and textures of the uncut gems, mother of pearl, quartz, even sulfur was beautiful! I wasn't able to get photos of them because it was too dark in the rooms, but it was amazing!