Boarding the overnight bus

Hey,

We are an hour away from boarding time on our bus out of Mexico. We are taking a killer 14 hour bus ride overnight from Mexico City to the border town of Matamoras, Mexico. From there we have to cross the bridge on foot and hopefully sail back into the states problem free. We are planning on picking up our car and actually driving straight away north! I guess this all depends how strong the coffee is how far we will make it on the first leg. We do plan to be home in 3 or 4 days. I gotta get back to work!!

Mexico City was a whirlwind of activity. If anyone can do it "all" in the limited time we had, we certainly did! We got to the Frida Khalo blue house (hey she has the same address as us 247 BUT Londres st, not Weldon.) We got to check out the Trotsky house too. You know that this Russian revolutionary socialist was in exile here in Mexio, being hunted by Stalin and finally killed with an ice pick through his head! Fun stuff.
We got to see some amazing Diego Rivera murals and the Ruins in the city of Templo Mayor. By the end we were running thru so as not to miss anything! Time seemed so spread out until the end and the departing door just came crashing closed!

Yesterday we spent the whole day at the Temple of the sun and moon, the Teohticluan ruins! WOW! That may have been one of the highlights on the trip, despite the hawking vendors and groups and groups of school kids. We also explored the famous anthropology museum and that was amazing!

Hopefully we can get some photos up of the last week or so of the trip. It has been really some spectacular sights.

I big whopping thanks and love to you all who followed the blog, wrote positive, supportive emails and even offered money!!! Thanks so much! Especially to our incredible housemates who have kept down the fort, watered plants, kept our paper trail and our dog!! Special thanks to Rainbow Ranch folks for keeping Sample as long as they did! We are looking forward to seeing everyone and cooking a dinner (Mexican anyone?) for you all!

see you soon,
get the heating pad ready....
hugs
d

mexico city!

We arrived in DF, which is how the city is referred by the spanish itnitials (districto federal.) We took a 5 hour bus ride from Xalapa, a city we LOVED but did not have enough time to fully explore. We will go back there one day and spend the weeks necessary to explore the hilly sanfranciscoesque city, outlying towns and the diverse natural landscape. Xalapa has very little tourism but has the State University, so the scene is hip and cultural and the main plaza overlooks mountains and a volcano. It was so nice to be back in a city where we felt like the lone tourists. After hoards of tourists in Oaxaca, I needed to feel that we are not doing the same thing that EVERYONE is doing! This is the first place we really felt we got a great dinner and it was cheap! Zarha did lose a precious $20 dollars worth of pesos in xalapa so maybe we are destined to come back and find it!

I have not fallen in love with the gulf coast. I don't feel a need to go back Veracruz (however I heard that is the town to be for Carnival in Mexico!) Most other cities don't celebrate Mardigras festivities in Mexico but apparently its happening there. It was as disaponting as my arrival to New Orleans Many many years ago when i walked to the Mississippi River to find polluted waters and ugly barges. Veracruz is the main export port and has barges and cranes and all kinds of metal nasty contraptions just past the shoreline. There is mostly a lot of Mexican tourism and it was only Mexicans i saw swimming in the water. I heard that Mexico city dumps waste into the Gulf and it didnt seem inviting for me to swim in. The Gulf coast has nothing on the pacific where i would spend my last days on earth if i knew they were coming.

Mexico city is beautiful! The altitude is a bit much for me! Mexico city is about 7400 feet above sea level and i can feel the lack of oxygen but its not nearly as polluted as i thought it would be. It has many wide cobble stone streets and old amazinly huge Spanish architure government buildings and cathedals circling the Zocolo.
We arrived last night to some Aztec drumming and dance in the Zocolo. These plazas are always so surreal to stumble upon around dusk when we are still trying to orient ourselves to a new place. This city is more like an European city, reminds me of Madrid, than I realized it would be. Its less draining and flashy than NYC and it has a grounding feeling. Unlike that Constant billboard flash and glitz of NY that sucks energy this city, (Despite the most populated in the world!) is amazingly composed.

Well for the next 2 days we are exploring all the ruins and museums we possibly can. I plan to hike up to the pyramid of the sun! Andy is remembering and telling us more stories of time here as a boy. It is amazing how little he actually saw of this city when he was here! He lived with an overprotective rich family that often did not let them out of the family compound. I guess the Mexico of the 80s was scary, like NY, but still I can't believe they wouldn't have shown him the pyramids! Its cool that Andy came back with Zarha right around the same age.

I cant believe these are our last few days in Mexico!
I guess will be joining the cold team soon!
hugs to all
d

Traveling on...

Well we left Oaxaca early Saturday morning and headed to Veracruz a gulf coast town east of Oaxaca. We actually arrived to a bit of rain and cooler temperatures. We had heard it would be a bit hotter here and expected to sweat and instead we are feeling chilly and underdressed in the mid 60's temperature and moist, cool gulf air. I think this day is a fluke of cool as occasionally happens in Oaxaca. Our skin has become that warm, thin skin that reacts easily to cold.

Our last week in Oaxaca was great. One of my Spanish teachers is a public school teacher and is part of the section 22 teachers union. That is the union that fought hard to see Ruiz removed (the governer of Oaxaca) and for teachers rights. He also saw Brad filming the day he was killed. Brad had walked past my teachers barricade filming (there were strikers' barricades all over city) hours before he was shot. One day after school he took me, Andy and another student to the street Brad was shot on, in Santa Lucia. I had read it described in papers as both a "slum" and the "Suburbs" of Oaxaca. I didnt see it as either. The street seems like an average barrio of Mexico and had a feeling a very intimate quiet community. The street where he was shot, Juarez, is still covered in strong political graffiti. His name, Bradly, is written large in a couple places and intense statements about keeping up the resistance and bringing the killers to justice. There is also a bullet hole in one of the concrete walls outside someones home. The hole is circled and it says "assasins bullet." It was intense to see some strong passionate grafitti all along the street because in the center area of town (tourist area) most markings of that time have been erased. As we were walking that street a couple of old ladies started talking to our teacher. Of course they knew of Brad and explained to our teacher how on the day of the dead celebration every novemember Brad and the others killed during that time are recoginzed. We even headed to a the hardware store across the street from where the alters are placed for the day of the dead celebrations and very kind people told us they would leave anything at the alter next November that we wanted to leave in memory of brad. I was very touched by the intimate neighborhood and how everyone seemed to know and care about Brad. He was a stranger in a strange land and every year he will be remembered and his spirit cared for and it made me think that that is a fortunate part about the whole bad situation.

We are taking a week now to travel. The bus ride into Veracruz was long and dramatic. Just when I think I have seen enough beautiful landscape I catch a Volcano or steep rocky mountain and incredible cactus and I am ooooing and ahhhhing again outloud.

We also got to a couple great markets on Friday. One is famous for all the wooden painted animals. It was great because we got to see the artists in action and get some deals on wooden painted animals.

I hope its starting to warm up for you all,
March: Comes in like a lion out like a lamb??
I sure hope thats true this year!
hugs
dawn

Hierve el agua and ramblings!

How is it that the week is so slow and drawn out and the weekend flies by?? Well there are less days after all on a weekend. Maybe that was a bad design the weekend should be the weekday and vice versa. Actually the settling in Oaxaca has been such a great idea for many reasons. We do spend less on school days and on weekends we take outings that cost more plus we have included one nice family style sit down restaurant meal into our Sunday evenings. So the price tag on weekend days tend to be double than weekdays so it is a good thing there are only two weekend days a week.

We travelled (in back of pick up truck) up the narrow, windy, steep dirt mountain road to Hierve el agua (lit. ¨the water boils¨) on Saturday. An amazing place with cold spring pools right on the edge of the mountains looking into the valley and mountains surrounding it! The water spills over the mountain side and over time petrifies the surface and makes really cool patterned and textured rock. We made the plunge into the pools and they were far too cold for my taste but I felt it was a necessary baptism of sorts. Zarha says that she felt so cleansed and that is her guarantee that she will come back to Oaxaca!

I ate Chapolines (grasshoppers) tonight! They were served bacon bit style sprinkled on top of a salad I had ordered. I wasn’t expecting it but I got excited when they arrived. I have been wanting to try them and couldn’t bring myself to buy them off the many street vendors who sell them. Our cooking teacher told us that there is a belief that if you eat the grasshoppers you are bound to return to Oaxaca. I feel relieved now that I have eaten them that I will return! Actually it was anticlimactic. Besides the creepiness of the little thread like legs separating from the body into my salad it was really hard to notice. The were not even as crunchy as bacon bits and just carry the flavour of however they are prepared. I may bring some home for all you brave and daring (and heartless eater of creatures) to try.

We went to the history museum next to Santa Domingo (I don’t think we have posted a photo yet of that one) one of the massive old churches in Oaxaca. I guess it is considered the main one. Attached to the church is the old labyrinth, fortressed monastary that was turned into a military barracks for almost a century before it was converted to a museum. A much better use of space! The relics of various indigenous cultures are amazing and the fortress-like stone walls open arch ways to the mountains and botanical gardens was spell binding. Same story…. rich and dynamic indigenous cultures get paved over with crucifixes and bloody saints by moustached armed colonizers. It had powerful energy in there though but the irony doesn’t escape you. The indigenous remains are in the church who more or less wiped out the early cultures and now the living indigenous cultures are still the most oppressed and deprived of the country. Oaxaca state has the most diverse indigenous populations still alive in all of Mexico. I think there are about 14 different indigenous cultures existing here now. They are the poorest people in the state and have the highest illiteracy rate. Why do cultures have to become extinct before they are appreciated and contained under glass with an admission fee?

Zarha loves Oaxaca and even said the other day she doesn’t want to leave! That is big coming from a kid who travels a lot and has never said that about any other place (except maybe California?) and who is a real homebody. We are all taken by the constant music and celebrations that take place here. Zarha loves the music and tonight there was a huge free concert in the zocalo (plaza) performed by this Mexican band, Silueta, and they were incredible. Actually almost every night there is some free performance music, orchestra bands, mariachis, clowns… always a good time. This is also the week of nightly free dance performances besides Santa Domingo church. They are all traditional indigenous style dances and I have never seen more beautiful dances.
The colors of the hand woven exquisite embroidered flowered dresses are amazing! The spirit and energy was incredible. To experience this within context of the culture is way beyond anything you can buy a ticket to at a "cultural event" in the states. I even saw the pineapple dance! It is this dance of 18 traditionally dressed woman in dresses with hand woven patterns (that look like it could take a year to make!) and they hold and dance with full pineapples. At one point they are doing a chorus line dance (like the can can) its so awesome! they seem to be celebrating the pineapple! This may be Zarhas tribe and sadly she missed this dance! We are hoping with a week of dance performance she may catch it again. What amazes me is that despite all the global crap influences of homogenized products and sweat labour prices for cheap threads people still keep their culture and craft alive and strong. I am continually amazed at the indigenous culture and the traditions here. It is so strong and beautiful!

I ran into the political group Witness For Peace that has a delegation here for the week. Rather, I knew they were coming and as soon as I saw tourists that looked somewhat progressive and younger I approached and asked if they were with Witness For Peace. The funny part is I got them right on my first try! Pretty impressive in a town with endless tourists from all over the Anglo worlds but I nailed them. One of the group leaders was very friendly and warm and happy to meet me. I had emailed earlier asking about us jumping in on one or two speaking engagements from their tour. I never got a response but she told me today it is too difficult to integrate folks into the group. I understand negotiating a big group but if we caught a speaker we could have written for Indymedia or made contacts for future projects. Those delegation groups are way overpriced for our budget and I don’t like travelling in groups like that anyway. There should be a circuit for travels to network politically without having to do this whole political "cruise ship" type thing.

Oh well, I have to get up early for class. I still don’t get to tell ya all the details that I would if I could have that phone conversation. Like the presentation I went to about the problem with the contamination of corn down here and seeing the film the Laramie project and a French surrealist film (subtitled in Spanish) that we loved. Well I guess you gotta wait for the phone call on all that fun stuff.
much love,
dawn
PS check the link on our site called The Roving Ruges. That’s the blog of the travelling family we met and their photos of Oaxaca are way more professional! Hey but that’s all the stuff we are seeing and trying to take pictures of with a snap and shoot camera.

FRIDAY!

Hey, even here on what may seem like an extended holiday, I get the "TGIF!" feeling. These are long full weeks of spanish classes and homework (when I do it) and trying to cram way too much information into the rusty old engine one could call a brain. My brain is like an outdated car that still gets around but it shudders and stops and starts abruptly and needs a lot of rests! I do think age and early exposure plays a lot into the rapid acquisition (just stating the obvious) but it is interesting to see it in action. The older folks have more difficulty with pronunciation and get crankier and more frustrated (thats me!) than the younger ones. The only thing I have going for me at this point is my sheer stubborn persistence!
Well, I guess that has always been true about me!

Today was Dia de la samaritana (day of the samaritan) another christian thing (surprise!) but it was a fun, tasty (kind of) and a colorfully decorated day at the school and all over town. Its a tradition on this day to make these fruit waters (among other ingredient still undertermined) and hand them out freely at schools, parks and work places. It represents the day when Jesus was hot and thirsty and given water by the good samaritan. Look, I don´t really know the reference so that's all can say about that and truthfully I couldn't get the stringy textured waters down the old hatch so I probably wouldn't look forward to this holiday if I lived here.

I love english! I love that I can write these words in various orders and you will one way or another understand and make some sense out of this. So refreshing to have a language that fits, even with all the gramatical errors I make, like a glove! I am starting to sign more in spanish class at times becasue as I try to challenge myself and I hit another level of difficulty I again revert to signs hoping that it will fill in the gaps and clarify. Often it does. This tangent is because from the excessive focus on language study it makes me marvel anew at the way the symbols of language make understanding each other possible. Its so great we don't have to grunt and point because otherwise I wouldn't be able to share one story from our travels and if I had to write it in spanish it would take so much more time I would probably write very little.

Another tradition here that happens every friday during lent is that men buy woman they like or want to be with flowers. So if woman hangs out in the parks you may just find yourself handed some flowers by an (lets hope a cute one!) admirer. Would you believe my own guy after spanish class presented me some beautiful white easter lilies! Just in case your wondering this may be only the 3rd time I have gotten flowers from Andy in 17 years! Although I may have joked (like everyday the preceding week) that I was going to hang out in the park and wait for some flowers I didn't think he would come through with such a dramatic bouquet of flowers. He actually got some tears out of me on that one! He was suprised that my expectations of him are so low in the romance department that I would actually cry over that! I think thats pretty funny. I will post pretty flower pictures later.

Zarha finally started to open up to the two other children that have been in Oaxaca studying spanish for the past five weeks, on their last day here! Those kids will not be at the school next week and it is usually rare to find kids at immersion programs so it was nice she got to connect with them before they continue their travels. They were in differnt classes but they made time to climb trees and chase each other and thats what kids should do. I told their mom "your kids are so childlike!" because they seem to laugh and run and throw and frolick a lot. Apparently Andy (Zarha too) thought that was abusrd to say because they ARE kids. Those kids brought that out in our kid and it was nice to see. They are traveling for one year heading to all the places we would go if we had more time. I love meeting families like that, they are fun and adventurous!

que mas??

There was an article in the main newspaper here about Brad Will's parents traveling to Mexico City to pursue the investigation of Brads murder and to see the killers brought to justice. I am so impressed with his parents! They are really doing amazing things to keep pressure on the government and it helps the case of many involved in the oppressive situation down here. His parents have have gotten absurd answers about who killed Brad and they are determined to see this through. They are not just accepting the lies and cover ups of the government. I can imagine how hard this would be for parents dealing with this issues during a time of such grief.

This is our big friday night out and I should get ready to do what I always do, roam the streets and eat too much yummy food!
We have some weekend explorations planned and we are starting to think about our route back north out of mexico. We have one more full week of Spanish classes and then we want to go to the beaches and towns on the east coast as well as Mexico City so we have a lot to do in our last week of travel!

Happy leap year! and happy leap day! I only know one person born on this day our Aunt moe! She is only like 12 years old this year because luckily she only has a bday once every 4 years! Happy bday moe! we love you!

we are moving into the ides of march and I sure hope its bringing nicer weather to all you in the NorthEastern parts of the states!

I plan to post some photos of the day to day views of Oaxaca and the life we see walking to school and roaming around. I havent been able to take the kind of photos I see so many shamless tourists take. These tourists rove in packs with school or tour groups and shove huge lenses in the faces of the people on the street. I am embarassed to even watch them and we have thought of taking pictures of them taking pictures of the local Oaxacans. However now that I know some people that I purchase things from regularly (like my favorite elote stand!) I may just ASK for a couple pictures to remember my favorite places.

Much love to all,
for those who send us comments and emails, we really love it!
love dawn

PHOTOS!

Hey we finally posted a bunch of photos, Rather Zarha (our really good kid, who reminds us daily how good she is and under appreciated!) posted all these photos and took most of them! It takes a lot of time and patience to post all these photos and we have been so busy we had lots to catch up on.

We went to some of the most incredible ruins in Mexico today; Monte Alban. We took lots of photos. I am still trying to figure out all the history of the Zapotec culture and Olmtec culture and how the fighting, ceremonies, sacrifices all went down. It was a very powerful place! The energy and the structures are incredible! I met a couple vendors selling some clay work of imitation ruin pieces who loved gremlin. They wanted to hold him and they laughed at his Mexican spirit! An Italian traveler gave gremmy a lot of attention and had seen the movie and reminded me not to get him wet or he will turn bad. Funny.

We had a great day until my tearful dinner. There is such a sad sad scene here with the street children of Oaxaca who have to sell candies and things for either their parents or maybe the mafia. I was told it was a mafia business and the kids are exploited by these other forces. This adorable girl came up to us tonight with her candy box probably around 8 years old and didn’t try to sell anything but shyly asked Andy for a French fry off his plate. Of course he gave it to her and she came back with a sweet smile for more with her 2 year old brother. They were so excited about the French fries as we piled them all on a plate for them to eat she asked if she could take it go (she had to get back to work!)
I could barely choke down my dinner through the tears, it really sucks that kids have this kind of reality. I saw another boy holding his candy box forced to stand with it for long hours just crying. I just learned all the money you give them for candy or whatever goes to the mob or the ones running the business. I think I will start buying things for the kids as other tourists were telling me they have been doing. It makes the kids really happy to receive anything they can keep for themselves.
Andy is taking a day on his own for a long hike tomorrow and Zarha and I are going to explore other outlying towns and a tree that is 3000 years old! Mexico claims it’s the largest biomass in the world, whatever that means!
Love to all
Good night!
dawn

Oaxaca

We have been in Oaxaca for just over one week and finished our first week of our three week Spanish immersion. I like the school but the curriculum and the teachers are not as good as those we had in Venezuela. Andy and I were put on the same level Spanish (although I think Andy is way better at comprehending spoken Spanish!) however I am changing classes next week. Our teacher is from Spain who was traveling around and then landed at this school and got a job teaching Spanish. She is young and inexperienced (although really sweet!) and the Spain spanish accent is very different from the Latin American spanish. I have struggled all week to understand her and have decided to switch to a Mexican teacher. I also don’t want to pick up the lispy Spanish pronunciation that those from Spain use, Latin Americans mock it relentlessly, and often they don’t understand it! Most my travels will be in Latin America so I prefer to not use the vosotros (a form of Spanish not used throughout Latin America.)As if any of this matters, I just want to be fluent and am so frustrated by the grueling language acquisition process. Of course as an interpreter I should know better, it takes a long time to acquire language fluency. I think I am on the ten year track with this Spanish thing and I hope I live long enough to see it through!


Our days are long and full with the Spanish school so we don’t do all that much after classes. We roam the streets, look for the best coffee places, eat our favorite foods from street vendors (elote!) and browse the shops and crafts. It was while I was browsing (something Andy has no patience for!) that I found the socialists who are involved with the political scene and the relatively new political group Peoples Popular Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO.) I spent some time talking to them asking about Brad Will and trying to find out more about APPO. I bought the Nancy Davies book "The People Decide; Oaxaca’s popular assembly" (sorry Ted I couldn’t find the one you leant me, so I can give you the one I bought when I finish!) It’s really interesting to read her book about Oaxaca and the movement while here in Oaxaca. Nancy is an American living in Oaxaca for the past 8 years who chronicled the events of this new movement. We have bought some great local independent films as well and the socialists (Trotsky branch) have been really friendly and helpful but have not led us to the anarchists yet. They said that they would take us to where Brad was killed (in Santa Lucia about 20 minutes outside the center of Oaxaca in a colonial section of town) and introduce us to people who were with Brad at the time.

Later we met a woman (another expat from the states, lots of those here) who knows Nancy Davies and she gave us Nancies contact information! We are hoping to get in touch with her soon and get more information about the status of things and the history from her first hand. Today there was a march of teachers that appeared quite large. Apparently there are weekly APPO marches still demanding the release of political prisoners and accountability for the murders at the hands of the government. We are trying to talk to as many people as we can find about this situation and struggle to understand all the details in Spanish. We really wish we had an interpreter at times when we are meeting with these political groups. They told us about some upcoming APPO meetings so we hope to attend one of those.

This weekend we have plans to get to more ruins and small towns on the outskirts of Oaxaca with more indigenous history and (I hate to say it) crafts. The pottery, painted woodcarvings and woven rugs and clothes are amazing. It’s less expensive to buy it in the towns where they are made than the craft shops in Oaxaca. I struggle with the tourist identity of buying crafts (as you know I am not buying much) but then again this is the livelihood of people here, and believe me, they really want us to buy it! There is also a town nearby known for its alternative healing arts and has some kind of bathhouse type sauna thing. I am hoping to go there and find the good legal herbs and mushrooms! Just kidding!

We went to old ruins last weekend. Remains of old palace walls with amazing designs, tombs and hieroglyphs. Of course the church put a mammoth church right on top of part of the ruins but parts of the ruins were really dramatic. We got to climb down into an old tomb (minus the dead bodies) Andy almost had a panic attack. It was dark and small and the air was thick and moist. Hopefully zarha can post some photos (not tonight as a heroes is on TV and that’s all I have heard about all week from her!) I have told myself I wont go into anymore churches on this trip or maybe ever! It’s a hard pact I made with myself because I am drawn to them and like a car accident in the streets I can’t help but staring.

I tried to organize a gathering tonight of all the students at the spanish school. There is a pretty cool group of students from Portland OR, who seem to have the party animal streak that I would like to tap into for a night. So we are meeting them tonight at the favorite haunt of these students. One of our classmates goes out every night and comes into school (if she comes) hung-over and drooping and somehow manages to go out again the next night! We are usually in bed by 11pm so this is a big night for us!

Well, I could tell you about all the Oaxacan style chocolate I am eating daily and how fat I am getting not doing any yoga! The last time I did yoga was on the balcony of our beachfront hotel and while I was moaning in frog pose (a painful hip opening pose) I turned my head from my awkward supine position to find a very large iguana with a tilted head and curious expression on his face looking at me from about 2 feet away! I gave a surprised reaction to him along the lines of “holy shit!” and he just casually sauntered away probably thinking “hmmph you think Im strange!” I have found some yoga studios in Oaxaca (mostly slow hatha yoga style) but between meals and spanish class I have not made the time! We do walk lots and lots under the bright Mexican sun so hopefully that counts for some exercise.

I wish I could tell you more details about how hot it is during the days and refreshing and breezy at night (I love the heat!) and how much I love to eat every day the abundant cheap fresh fruit. I want to bring you along to the market with the color and the smells but shield your eyes from the chickens with their legs bound, carried upside-down matter of factly by the vendors and buyers. I have wanted to buy puppies, birds, turtles, bunnies AND chickens just to set them free from there horrible bondage. I even saw chinchillas at a pet store here (they are endangered) for $225.

I do miss people that can talk with their hands (I saw and met so many deaf people and interpreters in Venezuela and so few here!) and black people! Seriously, the first time I saw black people in Mexico was in Acapulco, a couple traveling black Americans, it made me realize how my life had been lacking. I almost ran up and hugged them! Here its mainly just lots of pale skinned gringos and Mexicans. That’s not totally true, shades of darker indigenous folk but the beauty of black people is noticeably absent!

I do have a full time work schedule already lined up when I get back and I excited to work!
Tell me what I am missing from your perspective.
Love to all
d