While my birthday has come and gone, I almost forgot to mention the gift Jennifer gave me - only the most excellent gift ever. It is a version of the mask - purchased in Oaxaca - worn by Adolfo Tapia Ibarra, also known as La Parka, one of the most famous and greatest luchadores of all time.
One of the things I very much wanted to experience when I was in Oaxaca was lucha libre. Our tour guide to Monte Albán, who proved to be less than ethical on many levels, told me that the only place I could see lucha libre was in Mexico City. This, of course, was false, but we found out too late - from our cab driver the day after lucha libre had just been in Oaxaca. He simply pointed at a sign advertising the event we had missed.
Other fictions our tour guide told us are, but not limited to, the following:
1) Only buy artifacts from his recommended seller because everyone else was “selling fakes”.
2) He will take us to a place where the handmade rugs are “more affordable”.
3) The Zapotecs probably died off due to - I am not making this up - having too much “gay sex”.
That third one was my personal favorite - also a favorite of the older lesbian couple from New Zealand who just happened to be with us on the tour. Nothing like mixing ancient culture with a little homophobia. Not to go off on a tangent, but Oaxaca is one of the more progressive states in Mexico with regards to sexuality - at least, as progressive as a very Catholic country can get.
Back to the La Parka mask. Jennifer knew that I was hoping to see lucha libre, knows my favorite luchadore is La Parka, and was able to find a La Parka mask while she was down there. I am, in fact, wearing said mask in that photo. Unfortunately, no photo could be taken of me jumping off the top rope with a steel chair. Maybe next time.
And here’s La Parka in action, via a tribute video someone posted on YouTube:
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