Friday, June 30, 2006

Time for the beach!




Okay, this will just be a quick one (hopefully) since I'm on vacation. Yesterday we drove down here to Bahias de Huatulco (Bays of Huatulco), which is a beautiful place on the coast. People we have met who have been to big-name places in Mexico like Cancun and Acapulco say that this place is even nice. It's a series of bays , some with a lot of people and some with none. Unlike Cancun, there aren't a bunch of hotels built row upon row along the beach. Here, there are stricter zoning laws and most of the bays don't have a hotel right near them.

In the bay we usually go to, La Entrega, there is a big corral reef that is pretty close to the beach. If you just stick on a pair of goggles you can swim out there and see many different kinds of beautiful fish. One kind is relatively small with yellow, black, and blue coloring. As soon as we get over the reef, they start to gather around us so we can reach out and touch them. It's great! Another kind is very dark but has brilliant orange, blue, and white accents. Yet another fish is blue all over and has spots on it that seeem to shine.

If you've had enough of the beach you can go into town, into La Crucesita. There is a zocalo there, just like in the city of Oaxaca, and they usually have some live music going on there. Tonight is was a Christian reggaeton band. Surrounding the zocalo are small stores and restaurants. For a smaller bite to eat you can buy a corn on the cob covered in mayonnaise, a crumbly white cheese, salsa,and lemon. Typicaly there are at least two vendors around the zocalo seeling corn. The beach and town alone should be enough for a few days (and, for the most part, it's all we've done) but there are other things to do like rent jet skis, rent four wheelers, go white water rafting, go hiking, or go out on a boat tour of all the bays.

First pic: La Entrega, the bay we always go to.
Second pic: The ocean, a pelican, and rocks just before sunset.
Third pic: My dad and I in a tree overlooking a bay and the ocean.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Weekly set of pictures

Well, since I didn't have a weekly set of pictures last week since I was out at the village, I'll put village pictures in this set. Also, I'm quite tired, so I can't write too much. My parents got in fine yesterday, and we're already starting to sort today. My room (I'm staying in the same room I lived in) is full of stuff that I have to decide whether to keep or get rid of. Imagine for a minute that you're going on a year long working vacation. Okay, now imagine that your working vacation isn't going to end with you returning to your previous place of residence. That's basically what happened to us, so now we have to go through everything that we owned down here. It's very tiring to put it nicely. I'm sorting through 13 or 14 years of memories and souvenirs from many different places. It's emotionally draining reliving those years, and hard to decide what to keep and what to get rid of. What we can't bring back on the airplane in suitcases, we have to ship. Shipping is expensive. Enough said.


What's the view from your church windows??? This is out the window in a small village called San Jose which was near the village I was in.
And what does the inside of your church look like? Probably not the same as this. (Sorry the picture isn't all that great.)
One of the little boys from that church. His name is Noah (I don't know how it's spelled in Spanish) and he's mute. But still very cute running around and smiling a huge smile at you!
I helped set up this tarp thing for a conference/day-camp for girls in the mountains near the village I was in.
The small market in the village I was in.
A fence along the road to the place where we set up the tarps in one of the previous pictures. Enlarge the picture to see the cattle on the left.
Another fence, this one almost right in town. On the left is a corn/bean field; they plant both together to save space. Also, the house I styae in was just up the street to the left.
The valley in which the biggest, most developoed part of the town was. Many people who are considered to be a part of the town live in the mountains surrounding it.
A man with his horse walking towards the town early in the morning.

Monday, June 26, 2006

Taco Bell guy




Remember that guy that I mentioned I met while I was running? Well, he kept on popping up when I would go running; I saw him at least two more times. He was extremely enthusiastic about talking with me. One day early in the morning I saw him as I was starting to run up the mountain. I stopped just to say hi, but he wanted to show me his property and the cave that was a part of it. I thought I could just stop by quickly, but it didn't exactly turn out that way. He does have a nice large piece of land, though. A small river runs through it, part of it is a corn field, and the rest is covered in trees. On one side is the cave going back into the mountain side. It has a really big mouth, but it was kind of overgrown so I couldn't see how far back it went. It looked big enought to build a house in, and I was thinking it would be interesting to see what an architect could come up with, especially an architect like Frank Lloyd Wright (if he were still alive).

All the while this guy, I believe he said his name is Leo, was talking on and on all about him and his plans for his land, building a house there, bringing money from the States back for his family, how good his English was (it really wasn't all that great), etc. He bought me a pop at a small store nearby, introducing me as his very good friend that he met who speaks English. It was kind of funny listening to him talk to store owner in a mixture of Spanish, English, and Mazatec. Then he took me up to his aunt's house, so I could meet her. Even though she knew nothing about me she was very friendly and welcoming, just like almost everyone that lives out in the village. She sat me down in their cookhouse/kitchen and gave me and Leo a cup of coffee and some sweetbread. I stayed for a while and he showed me pictures and postcards from the different places he's been in the States. He also keeps a collection of airline ticket stubs and one of business cards from the hotels he's stayed in. He seemed to be so proud of having flown forty eight times that I didn't ahve the heart to tell him that I've flown well over a hundred times.

Another day in the afternoon I saw him in almost the same place. This time he took me up the mountain a little bit more to the compound where his cousins and uncle live. They, too, welcomed me right in and were glad to talk. They are carpenters so they were working while we talked. As I was getting ready to go he took me to one of the guys' houses so I could see his artwork. This artist took a break from his carpentry to come show me some of the things he had done. The front wall on the outside was covered in a large mural, and the inside was filled with art. Lots of it appeared to be kind of science fiction, or like something you might see on drugs. Maybe he was; Leo pointed out a hallucinogenic mushroom to me out in a field and mentioned that the Beatles had gone out there to eat the mushrooms. Anyway, the artist had even made the furniture in his house. He had a nice living room set (even though it was really just a one room house) made in a rustic, Appalachian style with some of the bark still on. It was coated in some kind of thick varnish, though, so it didn't look rough at all. For set of a chair, loveseat, sofa, coffee table, and one other table he said it would just be around $500. Anyway, I bet that none of you can say that you went out running and came back with an invitation to stay with a family in a small, remote Mazatec village anytime you want! Their house is my house, whenever I go back.

Sorry, I don't have any pictures of Leo or his family since I only saw him when I was running and didn't have my camera.
First pic: A donkey on the path in a nearby village.
Second pic: It's good to be lazy. What a lifestyle; lay around in a comfortable chair all day and watch life go by.
Third pic: More waterfalls. It rained really hard the night before this so there was lots of water in the waterfalls.

What a great day!




Today is a great day! I'm back from the village, so I have an always-on internet connection. I got my SAT scores, and I did quite well. My parents are coming tomorrow, so I get to see them again after a month and a half of being gone. The situation with the teachers is getting better. I still have two whole weeks here in Oaxaca...

I checked my SAT scores online this morning and found out that I got 2170 overall. The highest possible score is 2400 overall; 800 for each of three sections. My scores were: Critical reading-790 (99th percentile nation wide for everyone, and I'm only finishing my freshman year), Math-720 (96th percentile nation wide), and Writing-660. I think the only reason I did that bad on the writing section was because we had a horrible essay topic. I'm happy, though, since my goal was 2100, and with the score I got I really don't have to take it again.

Anyway, like I said, my parents arrive tomorrow. In the two weeks that they will be here we are planning on going down to the beach for a few days, going out to Teotitlan for their town festival, and sorting through all the things we left down here. Hopefully we'll find time to have some fun here in the city, too. Just in time for my parents coming, we finally heard some good news about the teachers. The governor has given the teachers a very generous offer, I assume in exchange for them going away and not demanding that he resign anymore. Also, the teachers have agreed not to block the Mexican presidential elections on July 2. Hopefully the teachers go back to teaching soon because, as it is, it will be difficult for the students to finish the school year.

First pic: A field near the village I was at.
Second pic: Some flowers in a village we passed through going to the village we stayed in.
Third pic: The trout that I mentioned before; this time on my plate rather than in the water.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

My time up here in the village




Ok, I'm going to try to summarize this quite a bit because I'm not sure how long I will be here in an internet cafe able to post stuff. Anyway, it's kind of boring up here, but there are some interesting things. For one, the fireworks. They're really more like firecrackers, but still fun. We got some, including some that are kind of like bottle rockets, so hopefully we'll have some fun tonight. Also, we can watch the World Cup; the village we're in is a lot more developed than I thought it would be, and some of the people have satellite TV.

I've started running some, too, to get in shape for cross country this fall. I'm counting on getting a big advantage running up here at over five thousand feet high. I'm also running on the only paved road, which goes up the mountaings, so I'm counting on getting a huge advantage from running up the mountain (my estimate is that it was a couple of thousand feet up that I ran). The weather is even very nice in the morning to run in. Later it gets really hot, though. Also, this morning I ran by some kind of school on my way down, and the teenage guys howled/shouted at me very loudly. I believe they also threw some rocks in my direction. A little further on I met someone who was a lot nicer. He wanted to practice his English on me, and I found out that he travels quite a bit in the States, working for Taco Bell. He owns something like 5 plots of land in town, and I believe he owns the Hummer H3 I saw in town. Needless to say, a navy blue Hummer looks very out of place in a small Mazatec village. He said that now he doesn't know many people, and they were kind of scared of him so they didn't talk much. It was kind of sad. Apparently he left town when he was a young teenager, when his father was killed.


First pic: Trout ponds in the village where we are. They also have a restaurant where they sell trout, and I have to say that it was quite good.
Second pic: A waterfall we stopped at on the way to the village.
Third pic: A dog in the doorway of a relatively nice house in the village.

Trip up to the village




What a fun trip up here to the village! I think it takes somewhere around six hours to get up here, but it passed really quickly for me. I had my laptop along and the family I'm staying with had a converter so I could power it from the car battery. I watched a movie and played some games the whole trip. I didn't even start feeling queasy even though the roads are so windy.The principal and his wife from OCS came with us along with a couple of girls who had just finished high school. They had room in their Suburban so I rode with them and had the whole back seat to myself. Couldn't have asked for a better trip! My stomach did ache for the rest of the day after lunch; I'm reasonably sure it was because of a really hot (spicy) bite of food I had.

The place we stopped to eat was in a valley that was really hot. It was a typical little Mexican place. Mango trees growing nearby, a kitchen with clay ovens and two places to cook tortillas, several tasty Oaxaca dishes simmering on a stove, crates of pop stacked against one wall, a room with an inviting hammock hanging in it, and a TV playing the latest World Cup game. The next place we stopped was a few thousand feet up from the valley along a narrow, winding road. Surprisingly, the road out here to the village was paved the whole way (even if it was just cement, and not asphalt). Anyway, the place we stopped at was a cool lookout point over nearly the entire valley. It was pretty cool to be able to see so far down and realize that we had just come from down there. Twenty minutes later we began to leave the dry moutains around the valley and enter a lush forest. The temperature dropped around thirty minutes from the bottom of the valley to the lush, green forest!

As we were getting closer to the village we were going to we stopped at another village to let someone off that had gotten a ride with us. Like most small mountain villages, it had a small center sqaure bordered by the Catholic church, a government building, and a clinic.Going out from the center sqaure were several very narrow, very steep cement roads. It's a real hassle driving around on these 'streets' without driving right over the side. A pickup drove past us at one point and couldn't make a really tight turn just in front of us.Then, trying to back up and get a better angle at the corner, the back tires just kept spinning and the truck seemed to slide towards the edge. To get some weight in the back so the wheels could get some traction they asked us to all hop in the back while they backed up. They made it, but I have to admit that I was rather nervous when the truck kept going forward at first!

First pic: The truck that got stuck on the narrow street, which is also visible.
Second pic: The village we stopped in. It's quite a bit bigger than the village where the family I'm staying with works.
Third pic: On the drive up, a view off the mountainside down into the valley from where we just came. Part of the road is also visible, but it doesn't do the curves justice.

Saturday, June 17, 2006

Going to the Village

No pictures with this post since it has yet to happen, but we are heading off to the village where the family I'm staying with works. It's in the mountains a few hours drive from here. The people group in that area are Mazatec, which is the language that the family I'm staying with is translating the Bible into. I will have an internet connection at an internet cafe, but since it's a satelite connection it only works right when it isn't too cloudy. Hopefully I'll be able to update my blog, but don't worry (and don't stop checking) if you don't see anything for a couple of days.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Weekly set of pictures

Hmm, these weekly picture sets seem to be getting later each week. I'll try to get it sooner next week.

The bridge that marks the border between Puebla and Oaxaca. Okay, look at the two big main pillars in the middle of the picture. Now look just to the right of the pillar on the left. You see that little white blob? Well, it's a normal sized sedan. Now do you understand what I meant back when I said how big the bridge is?
The view across the central valley of Oaxaca. Teotitlan is on this side, and the picture looks across, from my friend's place, kind of to the other side.In reality Oaxaca city sits at the junction of three long valleys. One of the valley's extends out on the left side of the picture, which explains why that part isn't enclosed with mountains, too.
The 'river' underneath the big bridge above. If you enlarge the picture (click on it) and look closely at the hillsides you can see all the tall, thin cacti sticking up. They cover pretty much all the mountains in the area and look like a bunch of toothpicks sticking up.
A model in the Museum of Anthropology of what the religious/government part of the city of Tenochtitlan looked like. For those that don't know it, Tenochtitlan was the capital of the Aztec empire when Cortez came and conquered it. It was very. very advanced.
Chilaquiles for breakfast in Tehuacan, on the drive back from Mexico City. I don't believe I have mentioned this before, but in Mexico, Mexico City is always called simply "Mexico," the "D.F." (Districto Federal, or Federal District), or "Mexico, D.F." (kind of like Washington, District of Columbia, this would be Mexico, Federal District). Interestingly it is never called Mexico City.
The front door and part of the front of Santo Domingo cathedral.
Some of the rugs on display in Teotitlan.
A Oaxaca street in the evening.
The traditional method for grinding the cochineal insect. The red stuff is ground cochineal. In front are different things used to make dye. From left to right, pomegranate, indigo, marigold, dried cochineal (just to the left of the marigold, you can hardly see it), and walnut husk.
Look at the smile on that dog's face! I love this picture; the dog is just sitting there in the puddle in the middle of a small street in Zaachila looking as happy as can be.

Santo Domingo





Tomorrow's the big game! Kind of. Mexico against Angola in the World Cup; Mexico shouldn't have too much trouble beating them. Getting back to today, after a full day of doing pretty much nothing I decided around 5:00 to go downtown to the Santo Domingo cathedral (I don't think I've mentioned it before, but in English that would be the Cathedral of Saint Sunday). Anyway, my thoughts during this little excursion were that I'm getting to be very good at getting around by myself for hardly any money. Round trip anywhere in the city if I stick with one bus each way is just sixty five cents or so. No one ever seems to want to go with me, though, but I don't really need anyone with me. :) :) It's great to feel this kind of independence... Do pretty much what I want when I want!

On the bus ride there we passed within about two blocks of the Zocalo, so I could kind of see what was going on there. From the radio reports I had heard about I thought that the Zocalo would be relatively empty and quiet, but I saw a number of tarps down there where teachers were probably hanging out. Once I got to Santo Domingo, I looked down the pedestrian walking street that goes from the Cathedral to the Zocalo, and I saw quite a few tarps that way, too. Even though I didn't get any closer, I'm pretty sure the teachers are still there but are also very peaceful right now.

I passed a nice few hours at the Italian Coffee Company shop right across the walking street from Santo Domingo. I brought a book and my camera so I could relax there for a while and try to get some nice pictures of Santo Domingo. The late afternoon light is the best for pictures. I got an iced coffee and headed up the narrow wooden stairs to the upper story. Soon after I sat down some people left, leaving their window table open. From there I could reach through the cast iron bars and take some pictures of Santo Domingo or just sit and read with a nice breeze blowing in. There is nothing like the atmosphere of a good coffee shop, especially one with a colonial cathedral across the street and, even closer, trees with beautiful orange flowers adding some bright color to the scene. All in all I had a very nice, relaxing time. On the bus ride back I did my good deed for the day and gave up my seat to an older lady who was standing. I only wish I had let her have it sooner; I waited for a couple of blocks to offer it to her. Oh, well.


First pic: Just up the street a little bit from Santo Domingo, away from the Zocalo. The building on the left is part of the convent-turned-museum attached to Santo Domingo. The trees with the orange flowers are on the square in front of the cathedral. Down right at the end of the street where you can still kind of see are some tarps the teachers have set up. If you click on the picture to get the full size image you can see it better.
Second pic: Part of Santo Domingo and some of the trees out the window where I sat. I think that most of my pictures that include the bars over the window turned out rather poorly. I guess it was a bad idea.
Third pic: All of the cathedral (which doesn't include the museum or botanical gardens that are a part of the complex). This time through the bars of the window. In my opinion this picture is just as good as the pictures on the postcards. I guess late afternoon is best for these pictures. And being across the square in front of the cathedral and across the street gives a better picture of the whole thing. Especially since I was on the second floor, so the people on the ground didn't get in the way. Oh, and I didn't touch this up on the computer in any way, shape, or form. (I'm pretty proud of this picture, if you couldn't tell :) :)

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Pray for the teacher strikes




Well, this is the worst the teacher stikes have ever gotten. Usually they just strike for a couple of weeks and then go home. This time they're taking a lot longer. Interestingly enough they are the highest paid teachers in Mexico and they get a three month salary bonus at Christmas, compared to the normal two week bonus. The governor already offered them $5.5 million, but they didn't take it. I think now they want to impeach the governor or something. Of course, they will still block stores and government projects and such. I heard that he threatened to use high pressure fire hoses on them to get them out of here, but he didn't. Instead he called in the military and the police. This morning they came in dowtown and starting shooting tear gas at the teachers from helicopters. Apparently the teachers had tear gas, too, and were fighting back. They also started looting a few jewelry stores downtown. Two teachers were killed along with one chiled. Forty teachers were put in jail and six are missing; it's unclear exactly how many were hurt.

Because of all this I had to stay around the whole house all day long. I was planning on going down to Santo Domingo cathedral and have a coffee across the street from it, and just relax reading a book or bloggin. Maybe another day. I really hope that the teachers don't hurt my time down here. I sure don't have much time left when you think about it. I guess the teachers should be gone once the presidential elections are over in early July.

In other news, Mexico is doing pretty well in the World Cup. Everyone down here is excited for them. The Poland/Germany game today was great! Poland lost 1-0 but they have an exceptional defense and a great goalie. There was a great part where Germany shot on the goal three times in a row. The first one the goalie bounced away. The second one bounced off a Polish player, and they third one the goalie bounced away, too. Then there was a foul, but otherwise there would have been a goal with a fourth shot that did go in. A little later Germany shot twice within two seconds on the goal and both times the ball bounced off the top part of the goal. It was pretty intense! A lot more action than American football.

Update (6-15-06): Looks like it's quieted down. Most of the teachers went to schools around the city overnight to keep safe and stay warm. So far there hasn't been any action and it looks like (hopefully) they will come to an agreement with the government soon.

All pictures from http://www.publicenemy.com/pb/viewtopic.php?t=28404&sid=1
First pic: A big rally. I believe they were holding a mock trial of the governor, found him guilty, and voted to impeach him.
Second pic: Taking over the Zocalo. There were about 50,000 teachers all together.
Third pic: Teaches on strike. Most are nice like these teachers appear to be, but some want action and violence.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

The Rugs of Teotitlan

The white clumps on the cactus are cochineal insects, the things they use to make the natural red dye. The white is just a thin layer on the outside; the inside is very red.
Inside the storage and indoor exhibit room at my friend's place in Teotitlan. Two of the walls are lined with stacked tapetes like those you can see here. All the walls are covered with hanging tapetes.
Some of the things they use to make their natural dye. The green bowl holds dried cochineal. When it's dry, it's kind of red. When it's ground it makes a very dark red powder. Some other things they use for dyes are moss, rock lichen, marigolds, walnut husks, indigo, and certain vines.
The courtyard at my friend's place in Teotitlan. They prepare some of their natural dyes here. On the left you can see a red container full of something fermenting for about six months. When it's done it will be a natural brown dye.
My friend and his mother doing a demonstration for a tourist group. Here they are showing how to card the wool.
This is just a pile of dyed wool ready to be used in the rugs/tapetes.
Looking up the road to the town of Teotitlan. Once you get just over the little hill there are more houses/workshops on both sides of the street.
The spinning wheel with some yarn and some rugs in the background. I'm not sure if they actually use this spinning wheel or if they use another one, because I know they use this one for demonstrations.
The looms are worked with foot pedals to move the strings up and down.
A typical workshop along the road into the town. Almost all of the places make tapetes, have some hanging out front, will give a demonstration, and (most importantly) want you to come and visit their place and not someone else's place.