La Vida Oaxaqueña 2

Some pictures from backpacking in the Sierra Madre mountains outside Oaxaca City:

On the trail with new friends and our guide/ the village of Cuajimoloyas/ Sipping chocolate


The streets of Oaxaca /Dave at the peluquería / at church for Dia de la Calendaria

Well, our time in Oaxaca is coming to an end. We leave tomorrow for Chiapas (San Cristobal de Las Casas, to be exact). Here´s what we´ve been up to in Oaxaca the last few weeks.

We have visited some of the villages in the surrounding area where you can see the local people doing their crafts, such as black pottery in San Bartolo Coyotepec and impressively detailed brightly-colored wooden "animalitos" in Santo Tomás. We also went to the town of Tule, which is known for its massive tree in a pretty church courtyard. We went to a show of the Guelaguetza (say that 10 times fast) which is a dance show of indigenous dances from all over the state of Oaxaca.

Tule (the tree is at left) /Pretty church in Tule / La Guelaguetza

Then Jason (David´s bro) came to meet us! We threw him right into the craziness of Mexico by taking him immediately after his arrival to a wild and colorful market in the nearby village of Ocotlán. We saw tiny women (especially when standing next to Jason) carrying live turkeys on their heads! We also went to the ruins of Monte Albán and Mitla, which were interesting and very different from each other.

Women with turkeys in Ocotlán / David & Jason at the Ocotlán market

at Monte Albán / Mitla
It´s been such a stressful time here that we took a vacation to the coast for a few days. We went to Mazunte, close to Puerto Escondido, which is known for its efforts in turtle conservation and hammocks to sleep in on the beach for $3 (US). First thing, getting on the bus at the 2nd class bus terminal, Jason´s wallet was stolen. David and I realized when we arrived that neither of us had brought an atm card, so that left us with the 2000 pesos total that we had between us. We lived very inexpensively, and it turned out to be a wonderful time. We were even able to go on a boat tour of the area and see marine turtles up-close (pet them!) and we saw lots of jumping rays and a whale! It was overall a beautiful and relaxing time--even though sleeping in hammocks turned out to be a bad idea--colder than we expected and quite uncomfortable! Well, we had nothing to do the next day anyways except lay around on the beach, so it was all fun and good.

So now we are coming to our last days volunteering at the Centro. It has been a great learning experience for both me and David. David has taught several computer classes, and has built a

still-growing vocabulary to talk about computers in Spanish. I (Bria) have gotten to talk with the center´s social worker about her work there and sat in on some of her meetings with the families. I have also done some translation of letters into English for her. I have organized the library and done a lot of coloring with the kids. It´s been fun! We´re ready to start moving again and see Chiapas and the Yucatan!

Oaxaca zócalo (city center plaza)

La Vida Oaxaqueña

After about 10 days here, we are settling into a relaxed, very lenient routine in Oaxaca. Before volunteering, we went on a 3-day backpacking trip through the Sierra Madre, outside of the city of Oaxaca. We hiked from one little village to the next, through the beautiful forests. To me it resembled the Santa Cruz mountains, but with different plants including a mysterious-looking light-colored hanging moss that covered the trees, wild orchids, and tree-dwelling Bromelias. When we returned to the city of Oaxaca, David buzzed his head!

We finished our first week volunteering at the Centro de Esperanza Infantil, which was interesting. Dave´s computer-fixing knowledge is MUCH needed and appreciated. When we arrived, only 4 out of 8 computers were functional, and now all but one can go on the internet! Go Dave, super-computer-fixer man! (This is Bria writing, just so you know--he´s too modest to say that). He will start teaching a few computer classes next week. I´m sure it will be good language practice, and with a new set of vocab!

My (Bria´s) work at the center doing art with the kids has been less needed, but fun nonetheless. There is another woman from the U.S. that comes to do art with the kids, so it has fun to get to know a fellow-traveller and watch her interaction with the kids. The kids who come to the center are anywhere from 3 to 18, which makes art projects a little more challenging. I have been trying to incorporate reading into the projects, since they have a decent library of books in Spanish and also English. There are some great readers! They like to draw pictures imitating the book illustrations.

True to the healthy Mexican work ethic, we have certainly not let our work at the center take up all of our time in Oaxaca. We have walked around the city quite a bit, peeked in some beautiful churches, bought fresh produce and tortillas from little old ladies in the markets, found a library to tackle novels in Spanish, and checked out a good pre-historic art museum, among other things. We have also taken it upon ourselves to find the best local chocolate and mole in the Oaxaca mercado (market). We´re getting close!

We have also taken a few day trips. One was to Tule, a pueblito (small town) that is known for its enormous tree in front of the town church. Personally I think redwoods feel bigger, but this was definately the fattest tree I´ve ever seen. We also went to San Bartolo Coyotepec, which is another pueblito that is known for its beautiful shiny black pottery. Unfortunately we missed a demonstration of the process--there´s no schedule :) --but it was fun to peek around and see the variety of pottery.

Today is Día de la Calendaria, which is a Christian holiday that I had never heard of (what do you think, I´m a Jew :) ) But just in case you haven´t heard of it either, it´s a holiday where people dress up a doll of baby Jesús in very elegant clothing and bring him to church, where the priest blesses the dolls. I have seen people in the streets carrying around these porcelain dolls for a week, and everywhere you look there are accessories to buy for the dolls--tiny golden strappy shoes, head garlands, little chairs, etc. What an interesting holiday!

Pictures to come soon! We send lots of besos!