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.
No comments:
Post a Comment