Mitla Ruins

The day after visiting the Tule tree, I went to Mitla (30 miles outside of Oaxaca city), which has also been on my list for a while.  I'm really lucky that I was doing all this sight-seeing with a friend who has a car, it would have been much more difficult to get to these places without his help!

Mitla was an important religious center for the Zapotec people, and was at its peak around 1350 a.d.  The main characteristic that these ruins are known for is the "mosaic" stonework, which shows influence of the Mixtec people (from the north).  There are 14 different geometric designs, representing the sky, earth, feathered serpent, and other important symbols.  The church was made from stones that were taken from the original buildings of the site.  

This was a pretty common occurrence at many places I've visited...  Upon conquering a city or civilization, the Catholic Church would either dismantle the former religious site and use the pieces to construct a cathedral on the holiest spot (Mexico, Rome), or use the existing building and "convert" it into a cathedral by means of statues, paintings and lots of gold (all over Spain, particularly with mosques in southern Spain).

FYI - the Zapotec and  Mixtec languages are still spoken in the state of Oaxaca, they are the 2 most widely used of the 17 indigenous languages still spoken here.  I hear people speaking Zapotec all the time in Miahuatlan, especially on Mondays (market days) when many people come down from the surrounding mountain villages to sell their crops. 

El Árbol del Tule

I spent last weekend in Oaxaca city, hanging out with friends, eating good food, and visiting some of the local attractions still on my list. There are so many things to see in and around Oaxaca city, little by little I'm checking them out.

A few miles outside of the city is a small town called Santa María del Tule, known for a big-a** tree that is over 2,000 years old. As you can see in the fotos, it makes the church next to it look tiny! And I assure you, it's a decent-sized church. Stats on the tree: it's a type of cypress called ahuehuete and measures 58 meters (64 yards) around, 42 meters (138 feet) high, diameter of 14 meters (46 feet). My guidebook says its branches reach 15 stories overhead, and the estimated weight is 636 tons!

The trunk is really interesting, it's not circular like most tree trunks. Walking around it is like walking around a weirdly-shaped house, the trunk divides into separate out-growths and is very ridged and gnarled. I can only imagine how difficult it was to get approximate measurements!! You can find shapes of animals and faces naturally occurring in the grooves and ridges of the trunk, I definitely saw a deer, an elephant, a T-rex (for Gavin!) and an ogre's face.

It was obvious that the tree had seen better days... Oaxaca has been facing a water shortage for a number of years, and it was clear that the lack of sufficient water was affecting the health of the tree. Certain groups are trying to protect the tree and its water sources, and are pushing for long-term solutions like reforestation in the mountains around Oaxaca.

Interesting article written by Pablo (ex-boyfriend's brother)

Where we were coming from
By Pablo Ros
(South Bend Tribune)

The summer before my senior year in college, my brother, Diego, his former girlfriend, Erica, and I were driving through Oklahoma on our way back to South Bend from Mexico City. The three of us — along with a friend of Erica’s, Amanda, who had taken a flight home to Massachusetts a few days earlier — had spent a couple of weeks vacationing in Mexico. We had visited museums and treaded on ancient ruins, bought souvenirs at outdoor marketplaces and climbed the Tepozteco.

But most of all we had relaxed in our swimsuits under the sun. It had been a carefree time.

I was at the wheel of my father’s Indiana-plated Hyundai when the police pulled me over in Oklahoma. A police officer told me I had been speeding.

Back then, my dark hair came down below my shoulders, and I kept it off my face while driving with the windows down by tying it in a red bandanna.“Where are you guys coming from?” he asked.

I would regret my answer soon enough.

“Mexico.”

Like a magic word, it quickly conjured up an almost surreal scene. First, I was asked to step out of the car, where an officer frisked me for weapons. Then, a swarm of police patrols arrived at the scene and surrounded us on every side. I consented to a search of the car. Before long, a drug-sniffing K-9 unit was inside our vehicle.

Diego - to his credit, delicately and discreetly - pointed out to me the fallacy and idiocy of my honesty and told me I shouldn't have consented to a search of our car without a proper warrant. So I went back to one of the officers and told him I had changed my mind.

We had nothing to hide, but what we were being made to go through was ridiculous. The police had found no indication that we had drugs in the car. It was clear I had been profiled.

And in the end, the police didn't even issue me a speeding ticket. It turned out I had been going just 5 mph over the speed limit.

In whichever form, profiling is an act of prejudice. And law enforcement when carried out through the eyes of prejudice isn't law enforcement.

Which is why I was appalled last week when I listened to Bill Smith, prosecutor of Decatur County in Indiana, during a talk he delivered on illegal immigration at the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council's summer conference, held this year in South Bend.

Smith used "Mexicans" and "illegals" interchangeably and referred to the Japanese as people who "love to drink and drive." That was enough to prompt me to raise an eyebrow. His dislike of foreigners became evident when he suggested that even law-abiding, tax-paying immigrants are not "local residents."

Smith told the 100 or so people in his audience, including prosecutors from more than half of Indiana's counties, that if a driver had never been licensed and was not carrying any other form of ID, then he must be an illegal immigrant.

The event was not open to the public.

At one point during his talk, in a moment of self-reflection, Smith admitted that he sounded like "some draconian a-hole."

I wouldn't have put it that way, but I approached him after his talk to clarify a few of the points he had made.

When I told him I was Mexican but that I was in the country legally, he defended his use of "Mexicans" to mean "illegals" by saying that most undocumented immigrants are Latinos.

When I asked him to clarify his comment about the Japanese, he simply replied that it was true.

When I asked him about the possibility of law enforcement officials coming across a legal immigrant or even a citizen who had never been licensed and who lacked any other form of ID, Smith stood by his earlier statement.

Finally, I asked him whether he considered his comments racist. His first reply wasn't clear. After I pressed him a second time, he replied, "They probably are, but I don't care."

As I walked away after thanking him for his time, Smith said to me that I was "biased anyway" because I'm Mexican.

Stephen Johnson, the executive director of IPAC, told me that Smith, like the other speakers at the conference, had been chosen to speak on their respective topics because they had expertise in them.

"It's something he's taken an interest in," Johnson said of Smith's expertise on illegal immigration.

Decatur County in southeast Indiana is home to about 25,000 people, of whom 98.5 percent are white. Although the most recent ethnographic data is from 2000, the population has only slightly grown since then.

In 2000, only 0.5 percent of the population was Hispanic and 0.7 percent Asian. Only 12 African Americans lived in the entire county.

Staff writer Pablo Ros: pros@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6357

Pictures from the beach wedding - they speak for themselves!!

Playing Oxen: A Mexican Standoff

Late last week, while riding the bus back to school after my lunch break, we had a bit of an incident. But in order to explain the bus ride, you first have to have an idea of what the road is like... And I found this great description on my former co-worker's blog (thanks, Emily!), and I don't think I could describe it better...

the roads that lead the universidad de la sierra sur to the main roads are not paved. they are both pathetic attempts to connect the university – out in the middle of cornfields and cacti - to the town of miahuatlán, and look like the only vehicles to be rolling along them should be horse-drawn (which, incidentally, is not all that uncommon). fist-sized rocks, grooves of eroded soil, and potholes that small children could hide in are just a few of the fun features awaiting travellers to the university. one road takes the bus 15 minutes on its lumbering journey to the town center, only because to go over 10 mph would cause all the passengers’ heads to repeatedly hit the ceiling of the rickety steel box on wheels. the other road, which leads to my house, is slightly less potholed and bumpy, but traverses an arroyo (dry eroded river bed) that is carved with unnavigable grooves and ridges and that turns into a mud pit after 10 minutes of rain.

So that's what the roads are like. And last week was a particularly rainy week, so there were a number of days when the bus took the alternate route to avoid crossing the arroyo. On this particular day, we were en route back to the university, about to turn on the final stretch of muddy road when the bus driver stopped. All of us looked at each other, knowing the bus driver was considering turning back and using an alternate route, rather than risk the bus getting stuck in the mud. We started chanting "¡sí, se puede!" (you can do it!), usually saved for more monumental decisions, but he began to turn the bus around. Everybody groaned, knowing how long it would take to backtrack and take the other road, we would definitely be late. In a stroke of genius, a woman yelled for him to take a little side path, by no means a road, but she assured him that it would lead to the university in less time. So he did.

It was an adventure. The path went between corn fields, and had deep tracts of mud that the bus somehow managed to slip and slide its way thru (felt like we were on ice at times). We were so close to the university, our destination in sight, when we saw an obstacle in our path: a pair of oxen yoked to a cart, trudging their way thru the mud. There wasn't room for us both (I think the bus was widening the path as it went). But who would move first? It was a classic Mexican (or maybe Oaxacan?) version of playing chicken, rickety steel box on wheels vs. horned beasts of burden...

In the end the farmer steered the oxen down a row of corn (gallantly granting us passage), and put an end to this round of Playing Oxen...

*Note: No oxen were harmed in the writing of this post*

Welcoming Massachusetts

I just want to take a moment and a little bit of blogspace to plug an initiative that I was working on back in the US of A.

It's called Welcoming Massachusetts, and for me the main point is that people speaking with messages of hate and fear have been speaking in a louder voice than those of us that believe our state should be respectful, tolerant and welcoming. This is not a "pro-immigrant" initiative; it is calling for open and honest discussion about immigration issues, rather than reacting from a place of ignorance, fear and hatred.

www.welcomingma.org/form/sign-pledge

Take a minute and check out this website, it explains the initiative in much more eloquent terms and allows you to add your name to the list if you so desire.

I'm currently helping them comb thru the list of signatures and eliminate repeat entries (I'm listed 3 times!!), make corrections, etc. I'm happy to help, especially during these weeks before classes start when I have so much free time on my hands...

Good thangs

Here are some of the good things about living here, as promised, to give a more accurate picture of my overall experience. This list isn't complete (and it is growing, bit by bit), but it's a good start...

• Location - this is definitely one of the best parts about living in Miahuatlán. I'm surrounded by beautiful mountain vistas (apparently we are 5,000 feet above sea level). In 2 hours I can be in Oaxaca city, in 4 hours laying on the beach, in 30 minutes I can be snug in a cabin with a fireplace built along the side of a mountain...
• Climate - NO WINTER!!! I can't overstate how important this is to me. I don't want to feel cold for months in a row, or drive in snow or slip on ice... Here they have rainy season and dry season. Either way, it gets nice and warm during the day (70s or 80s), and cools down at night (high 50s), which is perfect for me. The beach is warmer, the mountains are cooler, this is my kind of weather.
• Transport - I don't drive here. And it's great! Especially with the crazy gas prices these days...I love being dependent on public transportation, especially in a place where it is plentiful and inexpensive. Walking, local buses, vans, camionetas, collective taxis, long-distance buses, domestic and international flights to/from Oaxaca... It's easy to get around without ever wishing I had a car.
• Improving my Spanish - I can feel every day that my Spanish is getting a little bit better. New words and phrases keep popping up, and slowly they become part of my vocabulary. Even guilty pleasures - bad telenovelas, trashy Spanish-language magazines, watching pirated copies of movies with Spanish-subtitles on - it's all helping my Spanish, which was one of my goals in coming here.
• Food - okay, I know that the food situation has been one of my main complaints here. But now that I'm not suffering from stomach illness, I'm really starting to enjoy the local cuisine. The cafeteria here serves a few (usually) tasty options for my mid-morning meal, and on my weekend travels I have been eating great local specialties... Tacos, enchiladas, tlayudas, chilaquiles, tamales, huevos rancheros, flautas... Served in various salsas (roja, verde, different kinds of mole) and yummy fillings (quesillo, nopales , chorizo, eggs, potatoes, bacon).... And there are always hamburgers, salads, french fries and other comfort foods in the city.
  
• Cooking - I'm actually starting to cook new things, out of necessity and (some) interest... The limited nature of the grocery stores in Miahuatlán is forcing me to be creative, and I'm starting to feel comfortable and a wee bit more confident in my kitchen. Now that I've learned how to navigate the Monday market, I have access to really fresh fruits and veggies, at cheap prices. Mangos, avocados, potatoes, tomatoes, pears, apples, bananas, plantains (which I've now learned not to eat raw!!), zucchini, onions, garlic, and all sorts of other things, known and unknown, are available. I don't ever plan to buy meat at the market (scary stuff, whole pigs/chickens/turkeys hanging skinless, or sometimes they sell the fowl live and people carry them around by their feet)... So I eat plenty of meat when I'm traveling on the weekends and for my mid-morning meal at the cafeteria. And I found out that they sell regular bacon in one of the grocery stores, so I'm all set!!
  
• Down-time - As many of you know, I'm at heart a pretty lazy person. So it's really nice to have so much time to read and sleep, to watch movies (usually in Spanish) to meditate and exercise (I'm trying to do these things a bit more!!)
• Self-sufficiency - I'm learning some of these lessons the hard way, but I AM learning them. There are people that I can ask for information and assistance, but most things I have to do for myself. With the arrival of my newest co-worker, I am realizing just how resourceful and self-sufficient I have become. And how much I've already adjusted to the huge list of challenges I made a couple of weeks back... It's really nice to feel like you're getting the hang of life here, especially remembering how tough it was at the beginning! Things are looking up!
  
• New experiences - this is one of the main reasons I'm hooked on traveling... Meeting new people, learning the customs of different places, experiencing the festivals and food... And all of this is so easy to do from here. Before I leave Mexico I'm hoping to visit Veracruz, Guadalajara, Chichen Itza (one of the 7 Wonders of the World)... I want to see the parades and fiestas for Independence Day (Sept 16), Day of the Dead, Carnaval, Semana Santa (Easter Week)... It's so easy to experience these things now, I feel really lucky to have made this move and be living close to so many amazing places. It's much more than what I could do in a few weeks of vacation, instead I have a whole year to do these things...
  

The good life...

I've been wanting to write a post that shows the good things that I'm experiencing here, to balance the posts of my trials and tribulations, and show how the tide is turning. Because it really does feel like my life here has survived a crucial moment, and now it feels like every week I am that much more adjusted and optimistic and happy.

So my next post will be a list of the good things, just like I made a list of the difficult things a while back...

But first I want to look at the very best thing (so far), which is the beach. I began my last post intending to talk about my experience at the beach this past weekend, to show certain concerned individuals (Grandma!) that things here are not so bad. But in telling about the beach, it was necessary to talk about transportation to the beach, and then I got all side-tracked. And at the end I realized it was probably going to be added to the list of things that Grandma is worrying about!!

Once you survive the highway to Pochutla, you are within easy reach of so many amazing beaches. Puerto Angel, Mazunte, San Agustinillo, Zipolite... And a little further, Puerto Escondido in one direction, las Bahias de Huatulco in the other...

This weekend I was in San Agustinillo for the wedding of 2 former English teachers here at the university. I had only worked with them for a few weeks before they left, so I was pleasantly surprised to get invited to the celebration. I'm so glad I was, for many reasons. It was the most non-traditional, respectful partnership ceremony I've ever witnessed. Because of the travels of the bride and groom (she's from Illinois, he's from Australia), guests were from all over the world. It was informal and comfortable, with great food and dancing under a full moon into the wee hours of the morning...

I had a few hours on the beach before the wedding, alternating between reading on my stomach and laying on my back in blissful silence as the waves crashed a few feet away, occasionally getting into the water to cool down and wash the sand off... This is the water I was meant for, none of the chilly waters of Massachusetts lakes and beaches, which even on the warmest days feel too cold for me. (The kids can call me "Wimpica" all they want, I refuse to suffer in cold water when I know these perfect beach spots exist!!) I got back to the hotel in time for a short siesta and a shower in water that didn't need to be heated, because it had been warmed by the sun and so was the perfect temperature.

The next day, after sleeping late with the sounds of the waves and the heat lulling me comfortably, I headed out to the beach again. I had a coffee and read in a shady spot with a great view. I walked up and down the beach, declining offers of seashell necklaces, gluten-ous baked goods and snorkeling tours of the coast. I ate delicious ceviche (fish "cooked" in lemon juice and prepared with tomatoes, olives, cilantro, etc). It was like the perfect dream. Only I was really living it.

My only regret is that I didn't have a camera, so I have no pictures to attempt to document how beautiful it was. I plan to get another camera this weekend in Oaxaca City, so the next time I go to the beach I'll take some fotos.

My only remaining co-worker from the "old regime" has crafted an incredibly descriptive map showing how to get from Pochutla to each beach, and the preferred method of transport. It's easy to get to the first 4 beaches mentioned on any given weekend, leaving super early Saturday morning I can be on the beach by 10am. And walking off the beach at 3pm on Sunday, I can be back in my apartment in Miahuatlán by 9pm.

So my plan is to go at least once a month, probably every 2-3 weeks. I think 2 weekends in a row would be a bit much, my skin needs to take the sun's powerful rays in moderate doses. My burnt knee-pits can attest to that fact! : )

But I definitely intend to make the trip regularly. It is so relaxing and peaceful, and at the same time it feels like it forcibly strips your mind and body clean of everything it doesn't need, and just leaves the important stuff. I felt my patience and energy recharged. I was told that once you experience the beaches here, that embody the very essence of what a beach can and should be, you can put up with all the challenges of living in Miahuatlán and working at the university. And I can see now that it's true, the beach alone makes everything else worth it. Even if there weren't other good things. But there are...

Carretera 175

This past weekend I finally made it to the beach. Two of the former English teachers here (who I only got to work with for 2 weeks!) celebrated their wedding in San Agustinillo, one of the many beautiful beach towns on the Pacific Oaxacan coast.

Highway 175 connects Oaxaca City with a town called Pochutla, which is linked with all the beach towns. 175 goes right thru Miahuatlán, so I live in a great location for getting out of town. The best way to get to either Oaxaca or the coast is to take a "suburban," which is really a 15-passenger van. (The "15" part is more of a minimum than a maximum.) There are 3 companies that offer these services, so you can always be assured of transportation. Apparently there are good and not-so-good van-driver combos, it's pretty much hit or miss. It takes about 2 hrs to get to Oaxaca, and between 3 and 4 hours to get to Pochutla (depending on the driver, weather, and if there are any unplanned stops).

The drive to Oaxaca is not very far in distance, but it takes 2 hours because there are so many speed bumps (called topes, reductores, or vibradores). I believe someone told me there are 186 speed bumps in the less than 100 kilometers (so 60 miles) between Miahuatlán and Oaxaca city. And these are no ordinary speed bumps, they are the kind that will easily blow a tire, or take a chunk out of the undercarriage of your vehicle... So the vans go from full throttle to 0 in order to inch over the bumps, then speed up as much as they can before the next one. It's an interesting process. That with the curves makes it pretty impossible to sleep. At least without your head lobbing back and forth and whacking the people next to you...

The journey to the coast is around 120 kilometers (75 miles) but takes an unbelievable amount of time! Speed bumps are definitely playing a part in the 3-4 hour ride. But the main reason is that Highway 175 takes you on a crazy windy path that goes up and over the Sierra Sur. I don't know why they bothered with so many road signs warning of S curves ahead, they were repeated every mile or so... I had read warnings that this trip was not for anyone even remotely prone to motion-sickness. Which I'm not, thank goodness!

In order to get to the coast in time to enjoy most of the day on the beach, I woke up at 4am to catch the 5am van to Pochutla. I had bought my ticket the night before, which assured me a good seat (front passenger seat, where I can actually put on a seatbelt!). Everyone loaded in, and we were on our way. The first hour and a half was in darkness as we went up the mountains, with everyone attempting to sleep. But it's seriously impossible for more than 30 seconds at a time, with the speed bumps and the precarious turns and the bold passing of other vehicles...

Right when glimpses of the sun were starting to peak thru the pines, and I was getting excited for the amazing mountain views I had been promised, an old man in the row of seats behind me asked the driver if he could stop. I couldn't catch why... So after a few more hairpin turns taken at higher-than-necessary speeds, the driver found a safe place to pull over. And the little old man got out and proceeded to be sick for a long time. It was pretty gross, particularly when he got back in the van and proceeded to alternate between weird hiccup/burps, ragged breathing, and urgent requests to pull over again... I was relieved to be in the front seat, close to the window. I have to admit that I was also somewhat pleased that it wasn't the only gringa on the van to get sick. In fact, I felt quite good (besides a few times when the smells from the poor old man were less than pleasant)...

Needless to say, this trip took quite a bit longer than it should have, and I was extremely happy when we finally got close to Pochutla, with the warm sun and fresh coastal air flowing thru the van...

Despite the discomforts of this particular ride, I won't hesitate to do it again. The views going up and over the mountains really are breathtaking, and the foliage that you pass is so markedly different as you pass thru the high coniferous forests and then dip down the other side en route to the coast, with tropical flowers and beautiful birds and butterflies increasing with every mile... And of course the beach...

Thanks for all the comments!!

I was originally planning to respond to each comment that people left with a follow-up comment... But I am a bit lazy (does that surprise anyone??) and also the comments have taken on a life of their own... So I just wanted to take a few moments and a little bit of space from the blogsphere and say THANK YOU to everyone who is reading my posts.

There was about a week when I was sure it was just Mom reading my blog, but then I started getting e-mails that referred to my blog posts, and more people started leaving comments. For me it's the closest method I have for being "social," which you know I love to do... When I'm writing the posts it's almost as if I am with you guys, telling stories, talking in long run-on sentences that occasionally make sense. And when I know that you've come and visited and read about this little slice of the world that is mine right now, it makes me feel good. A little bit closer to you all, listened to, supported, and a bit more understood.

So thanks. And even thanks for those of you who are using the "Comments" section to send messages (that have nothing to do with me or Mexico) to other blog-readers... And you know who you are (Mom, Claudia!!!) : )