Last party at church

Well, I guess today was the last party at church. I went out to Zaachila again, today. I had to take a taxi to where I could connect with some friends; from there we took a bus to a place where we could catch a bus to Zaachila; from where the bus left us off, we had to walk to the church. In short, I am of the opinion that a car is a very useful thing to have in Mexico.

The people I went out to Zaachila with are staying for a few days in the house that we lived in when we were here, so it was interesting to see how it's changed. When I got there, we went out to buy some tamales for breakfast from the corner vendor. The tamales de mole are made in banana leaves instead of the normal corn husks, and they always seem to get part of the tamal in every little corner of the leaves, so it's quite a challenge to eat them without leaving anything behing. :) After church we had some kind of stewed chicken cooked with lots of avocado leaves and served with some kind of home made refried beans (no, they're not the same as refried beans from the States). Of course we also went to get nieves after this. This time I tried guanabana with leche quemada. Guanabana is a rather large green fruit with medium sized seeds surrounded by white meat. It has a slightly sweet, tangy flavor. And as a nieve it was quite good.

On the way back from Zaachila we took a bus to one part of Oaxaca where the people I was with had to catch a differnt bus. Instead of me taking a taxi back, I took a bus. Even though I didn't know exactly which bus (I figured that any bus that says Santa Rosa would work since that's where I'm living). And I didn't know exactly where to get off or where it stopped (I kind of remembered, but you never know in Mexico...). Anyway, I did get home okay, and I don't think I will ever take a taxi again. I can save over four dollars one way each time I take a bus over a taxi! This Tuesday I might go back over to the house these people are staying at to have dinner and talk with some Mexican friends of theirs. They do an interchange with these friends each week where they speak both English and Spanish so they each get better at the language they're learning. It sounds like fun!

First pic: Walking down the street in Zaachila. Notice the huge bougainvillea, the tree with oragne flowers, and the adobe wall.
Second pic: The back yard of the house we lived in. Huge in comparison to most yards in Oaxaca. There are more plants and the grass is better now, because they had the phicus tree (the huge one) girdled and killed so there would be more light.
Third pic: When was the last time a guy passed by your church with a herd of cows after the service?