Checkout time

Checkout is at 1 p.m. It's noon and I'm still trying to get things wrapped up. See you all soon!
Will finish this later.

A relaxing Sunday in Oaxaca

Oaxaca is such a high energy place that I was surpised to see how calm things could be on a Sunday. I took advantage of the day and visited the beautiful museum at the Santo Domingo church (left). It offered spectacular views of the surrounding city and mountains from the large openings at the ends of some of the monastary's hallways.

I also saw Rory and his host family at Santo Domingo. They had been doing lots of sight-seeing Saturday and Sunday!

Later that afternoon, I passed Sam and her host sister Liz and host dad Jose. They were going out to eat. They also told me that Liz's last day of school was Tuesday and that Monday there would be a play at school that Sam and Liz planned to go see.

Saturday: a march and a stroll

Saturday morning, I got up early and went for a run to "El Llano". There I found a beautiful park with fountains, trees and other runners! It was so nice that I decided to come back later that day when I could sit and enjoy the relaxing atmosphere away from all the touristic energy in the Zocalo and Alameda. There, I saw two middle (secondaria) school bands. One played a little while and then had their band photo taken. The other put on a concert.
This park is also where the "Marcha Calenda" started. The "Marcha Calenda" is Oaxaca's sexual diversity march. As a matter of fact, this is their first one! There have been lots of parades and marches while I've been here. I've probably seen about five and heard a least that many more from my hotel. One was a school celebration. One was a protest. This one was different. It was very special for me. When the "Marcha Calenda" played Celia Cruz's "La Vida es una Carnival" 9see video below), my eyes got a little misty. I love that song, and now it has even more meaning for me.
I was so proud to witness Oaxaca's first Pridefest!

That evening, I had dinner with Cliff and Jodi. Jodi will be the guide for the next ISE tour, which begins this coming week. Jodi is a teacher in Minnesota and I met her at the ISE workshop earlier this year. She has been very helpful! By the way, we ate at the restaurant Casa de la Abuela, and I had chicken mole. It was delicious! After dinner, we strolled around town. Cliff introduced us to the kids and families that he's met through his work at the center. We also stood for a while and enjoyed a folk dance presentation in front of the Santo Domingo church at sunset. (below) The music, dancing and view were simply wonderful! It was one of those simple moments that just make a vacation special.

Friday is Market Day!

Here in Oaxaca, market day is Friday and Saturday. The big market here, Abastos, is especially busy on those days, so I decided to check it out. In deed, it was big AND crowded. After ten minutes of walking around there, I was already exhausted. (Pretty much like after spending ten minutes at a mall in the U.S.!) One of my favorite pictures from today was of some fresh chicken. They reminded me of students in a classroom with their hands raised.

I also did some souvenier shopping and ran into Sam and her host mother, but I forgot to snap a photo.

Oaxaca - On my own

Couldn't fall asleep last night. Not sure why. Went down to the lobby at 4 a.m. to say goodbye to the rest of the group as they began their 6-hour trip up to the Mexico City airport on the bus. The group from Minnesota wasn't planning to return home until 3 a.m. the following day - a 23-hour trip. Ugh!
Before they left, they donated some of their old clothes and lots of pesos (over 5,000, which is close to $500!) to the organiztion Cliff helped found and that we visited earlier: Oaxaca Street Chilren Grassroots (Centro de Esperanza Infantil). Isn't that AWESOME?!?! The students came up with the idea on their own. Instead of exchanging their remaining Mexican pesos back into US dollars, they just donated them to the organization. I'm still touched by their generosity!

Today I visited two places just down the block from the hotel. The first was a library (in the photo here) with a cool quote outside: 'Soy los libros que he leido." (I am the books I've read.) Cliff told me that it was a quote from a local dignitary who had died within the last year.


Next, I headed down to the Museo Rufino Tamayo and was disappointed to discover that it was a building the Tamayo's had donated to the city as a museum to house their collection of pre-columbian artifacts, some nice stuff, but I was hoping to see some of Tamayo's own art.

Meet the Parents

Today we traveled back to Oaxaca, and since it didn't rain on us, we got to see a lot more, including some donkeys, chickens and a better view of some farmers working their fields with oxen.

Back in Oaxaca, we did a little sightseeing, including a visit to the Santo Domingo Church, and then my students met their host families and headed off to what may be the best part of their trip so far. They were very nervous and excited! (So was I.) So, we headed back to the hotel so they could meet their host families.

Samantha's family arrived first. We were scheduled to meet our host families at 6 p.m. in the hotel. Her family arrived 20 minutes ahead of time. I think this is a good sign that they are looking forward to the experience as well! Earlier, Sam had mailed a gift to her host family before leaving the U.S. Unfortunately, that host family's mom had to leave town unexpectedly and a new family filled in at the last minute. Consequently, Sam stopped by a flower shop in the market here and picked up the bouquet on the table . It included a lilly and four roses for 40 pesos which is less than $4 US. Can you believe it?!?!

Rory's family was the next to arrive. I hope he's feeling energetic! The boys in his host family were running, jumping and talking very quickly. Nevertheless, I think he'll have fun. His Mexican mom held her baby girl the entire time they were here. They were both cute as a button and mom seemed very friendly. Dad had a hard time finding a parking spot and had to circle several times, so I simply shook his hand, said "Hola" and snapped this photo, but he seemed like an OK guy. With two energetic boys, a baby girl and a foreign exchange student, dad was probably feeling a little overwhelmed!
:-)

While I was talking to Rory's family, Maggie's family arrived without me noticing. Fortunately; Cliff, our guide, and Mary Carmen, the family stay coordinator; met them and helped with introductions. The two little girls were cute and they even brought Maggie a boquet of gerber daisies! They also had a hard time finding a parking spot, so her husband was circling the block in the car while they came in.

I'm excited and a little anxious. I'd LOVE to find out how things are going. But, I know this first day or two will be the hardest and my involvement will only break down the process of struggling through the language barrier and becoming comfortable in their new environment. The best I can do is be available if they need me. Even though I want to know what they're up to, I hope I don't find out until the end of their family stay because that means it went well!

A sunny day at the beach in Puerto Escondido!

When we woke up this morning and saw that the sun was shining, we were all very happy, especially since this was the first sunny day after six straight days of rain here at Puerto Escondido! I started the day by having breakfast with Rory (left) on the hotel's veranda. Continental breakfast included juice, coffee, toast, a banana and a hard-boiled egg. Sam (below) ate breakfast with a girl from Ohio and boy from Minnesota.
After breakfast, we headed down to the beach, which is only half a block away. The road that our hotel is on is only half a block away from the beach!

Once at the beach, I resigned myself to "babysit" the towels, flip flops, cameras, etc. Actually, it was a wonderful excuse to sit around all day and relax. That was pretty easy considering the view from my very own lounge chair under a breezy palapa. Check out the view for yourself:

That evening, all the leaders had dinner together at Sabor al Mar, another restaurant along the beach. In the photo below, we are seated from left to right: me, Sharron (Ohio), Shane & Carla (Minnesota), Stephanie (Nebraska) and Cliff, our leader, from Iowa.I ordered camerones al ajo again, but they weren't as good as they were at the other restaurant last night. However, the view at Sabor al Mar was AMAZING!!! Check out the video below. I took it from my seat at the table! Honest.

On the way back, we walked up the steps of the same overlook from last night and I took another picture of all the leaders. From left to right are: Shane, Carla, Sharron, Stefanie and Cliff.

When we got back to the hotel, I remembered that I hadn't taken a picture of the hotel to give you all an idea of how it looked, so Stefanie and Carla kindly posed for a photo.

After the trip here, I wasn't looking forward to the return bus ride, so I hit the hay for some needed sleep.

Dreary Monday of Travel

We left the hotel in Oaxaca at 6 a.m., eating breakfast on the bus in order to have more time at the beach. However, we didn't get to Puerto Escondido until after over 7 hours on a windy road with hundreds of curves and bumps, 8 students (none from OTHS) getting motion sickness, rain about half the time and passing several farmers plowing and planting with ox-draw equipment. The long bus ride and the scenes like the one on the right of a farmer working on his "old school" farm equipment gave us much time to ponder the challenges of "Third World" living and the contrast of our lives back home.

Once we arrived and unpacked, we split into groups depending on what we wanted to do. By this time in the trip, we all seemed to know each other a little better, so groups became a little more fluid as students and leaders from different schools began to blend groups as needed for each activity. Some of the students couldn't wait to go to the beach regardless of the fact that it was still raining. However, my stomach was calling me to the dinner table. So, for supper, I joined two of my students as well as two from Michigan and three from Ohio. We decided to go to the restaurant at Hotel Sante Fe, which was a short stroll down the beach. There, I ordered Camerones al Ajo and had one of the best (if not THE best) meal of my vacation: garlic shrimp with fresh seasoned vegetables and two mini baked potatoes along with an agua fresca. It was delicious and I'm postitng it here to make my mom (who LOVES shrimp) jealous. The shrimp was so plump and seasoned just right. Yum!!!

On the walk back to the hotel, it was still raining, but the crashing waves were so impressive that most of us risked getting our cameras wet. (For some in the group, this was the first time they had seen an ocean!) Here's a view of a rocky section of the beach with a sculpture of a hand on top of one of the rocks to the left at the end of the video.

Just above the rocks was a staircase built into the cliff that offered a wonderful view of the beach and the waves crashing into the rocks below. The waves were extra powerful due to a tropical storm that had just hit land north of us. That's also what was causing all the rain.

When we got back to the hotel, some of the students went up to the terrace on the third/top floor where there was a pool and 6 hammocks-some with an ocean view! Due to the storm and the fact that this was the off season, our group provided the only guests at the hotel. Consequently, we didn't need to worry about noise (although they never did get loud) and allowed the students to stay up until midnight. Many kids took advantage of the late curfew and played Scrabble or cards or just talked the entire time and ended up telling ghost stories before heading off to sleep. This group really seemed to get along well and made the best of what could have been a miserable day.

Monte Alban & Mitla

Today we ate a quick breakfast and then headed up the mountains to Monte Alban, which was the capital of the Zapotecs for at least 1200 years between 500 B.C. and 750 A.D.! The Zapotecs were the dominant force in this area between the Teotihuacan in the Valley of Mexico (which we had visited while staying in Mexico City) and the Maya kingdom of the southeast. The first picture here to the left shows Sam, Rory and Maggie at the entrance to Monte Alban, high above the clouds in the background over the city of Oaxaca. We got there early in the morning, so the air was still a little cool and very clean. It was almost a mystical feeling.

Of the ruins that we visited, this was the only one that had a ball court. Rory was looking forward to seeing that, so here's a photo of him standing above the main ball court.

Also, since we got to Monte Alban so early on a Sunday morning which also happened to be Father's Day, there were very few other people at the site. This made for a wonderful opportunity to get great pictures of the ruins. Usually, it's quite difficult to take a photo here that doesn't include other tourists. So, we took advantage of the opportunity and captured this sweeping view of the Main Plaza from the South Platform.

Our next stop was the small town of Santa Maria del Tule to see one of the oldest and largest trees on Earth. The tree measures over 160 feet at its base and is believed to be over 2,000 years old! It's so big, you can even see it using Google's satelite view of the tree! It was difficult to capture the grandeur of the tree with my camera. However, on the walk through the park to see the tree, we passed an interesting entrance to someone's home. I especially liked the garage door shown below.

Our next stop was the home/workshop of a family that makes wool rugs. On the way there, we passed a "campesino" with his two oxen. Here's a view as we approached them. And'd here's a view as we passed. We're obviously not in a big city!

Although the family we visited buys the wool they use at a local market, the rest of the process (cleaning, carding, spinning, cleaning (again), dying and weaving) is all done by the family. They gave us a wonderful demonstration of the entire process. Maggie even tried her hand at spinning the wool into thread. As you can see below, she did a pretty good job of it!


The family got up early that day to prepare for our visit. The mother even made enough homemade potato quesadillas to feed an entire busload of American teenaged tourists and their adult leaders! It was the first time I ever had potato quesadillas, and they were DELICIOUS! They were made with a flour tortilla folded in half over mashed potatoes and deep fried with a little bit of salsa verde and white, crumbled Mexican cheese on top. We also had Agua de Jamaica (Hybiscus Water), which was the first time I had it made from the real dried flowers of hybiscus instead of a powered drink mix. That was a nice treat as well.

From there, we headed on to the ruins of Mitla, which are about 30 miles from the city of Oaxaca. At its heyday (around 1350 A.D.), Mitla had a population of maybe 10,000! My favorite part of this site is the details of the designwork in its structures. As a matter of fact, if you look closely, you will see that the designs were carved in smaller pieces of stone that were then pieced together to make the buildings' intricate design work. That method also helped protect the structures from damage during earthquakes.

After Mitla, we headed back to town to eat relax and get to bed early. Tomorrow morning we're leaving for the beach!

Saturday in Oaxaca

After having breakfast in the hotel, the first place we visited was Centro de Esperanza Infantil/Oaxaca Street Children Grassroots. There, our guide Cliff gave a moving presentation about the work they do. On the left, you can see our entire group as we listened intently to his presentation. His personal stories were very moving!

As a matter of fact, Cliff was part of the founding of the group and is active on its board! Basically, the organization offers help to the kids who make a living on the street. The program doesn't actively recruit kids for their program. Rather, it makes itself available to those who are interested in getting an education. Nevertheless, the organization has over 500 kids currently in their program! Public school is available to all Mexicans, however, students are required to have a uniform, shoes, tennis shoes, PE clothes, school supplies, etc. For too many kids here in Oaxaca, their families just can't afford it. That's were Oaxaca Street Children comes in. They provide kids with the needed materials. They also offer a nutritious lunch. Monday through Friday, the kids come in the front doors, wash their hands and receive a hot lunch. When they're finished eating, they wash their own dishes and brush their teeth. At the end of each school year, students must present their report cards in order to be eligible for assistance the following year.

The other school groups traveling with us were prepared and brought school supplies to donate. Next time, we will too.

Stephanie, a teacher in our group from Nebraska, is a sponsor of a little boy at the center. Today, she met him, his sister and mother for the first time. On the right, is a picture of Stephanie and her "godson's" mom hugging when they met. It was a beautiful and tear-filled occasion!

The two little kids were very popular with the teenagers in our group and LOVED riding on the shoulders of Sam (left) and Tom (right) in the photo below. By the way, I'm 6'4" and Tom is taller than I!

The kids joined us for the day and had a ball: riding on the bus, being treated to way too much candy, a picnic lunch that they devoured, and the tourist activities that we did.

Our first stop was the workshop of Doña Rosa where we received a demonstration of how they make their special black pottery without the use of a potter's wheel. What makes their pottery especially unique is that the black color is not a result of a glaze or dye that is added but because of the natrual properties of the unique clay they use from their land. The photo to the right shows Samantha and Rory listening as Doña Rosa's son gives his demonstration. Of course, after the presentation, we all wanted to buy something from their workshop. There was lots of wonderful stuff to choose from and hardly anyone left empty-handed.

Next, we made a quick stop in a family home where they make alebrijes. However, I was more interested in the woman (grandma?) feeding the chickens in their back yard.

After visiting the two workshops, we ate a picnic lunch in a park in town. Below you see from left to right, Derek (from Minnesota), Maggie and Rory finishing their lunches and chatting on the steps of a gazebo in the middle of the park.

From there, we headed back into the city of Oaxaca, dropped off the two little kids with their mom who was waiting on them at our hotel, and set out on a walking tour of Oaxaca. Our first stop was the local outdoor market, where we sampled chapulines (grasshoppers). The first picture on the left shows Sam with piles of different flavored chapulines in front of her and on the right is Rory, about to enjoy one of the insects, which are a local specialty.

Fortunately, our next stop was a Mayordom chocolate shop. As we arrived, they were about to mix a new batch of chocolate. In the photo below, you can see the chocolate and cinamon sticks in the top hopper and the sugar in the bottom. Mayordomo is my FAVORITE, so I ordered a hot chocolate before we left. Yum! (Plus, is was good to change the taste on my pallet.) :-)As we headed back to our hotel, we walked past this artist recreating a scene on canvas using colored string. If you look closely, you'll see a blue building on the corner with a pink building to the left of it. The next building on the left is our hotel. It's kind of an orange/rust color.

We ate dinner on our own in a restaurant on the main square and then went to bed.

Adiós Mexico City

Had breakfast in the hotel each morning. In Mexico City, it was a buffet that included some sort of meat in a sauce (today, I tried it and it was wonderful, kinda like pot roast); bacon; sausages (They were hotdogs . . . um . . .ok?); bacon; ham; scrambled eggs; fresh fruit: pinapple, papaya, cantalope & bananas; cereal; yogurt; coffee; milk; and several fresh-squeezed juices. Below, Maggie plays the role of Vana White of the buffet table:

Our first stop today was the Museum of Anthropology in Chapultapec Park. Here, we viewed the best collection in the world of pre-Columbian artifacts. The building has been remodeled and now the exhibits make it even easier to appreciate the vast wealth of items on display. To the right, Sam stands in front of the Tloloc, the rain god at the entrance. Below is a view of one of the new displays with a reconstruction of the Temple of Quetzalcuatl to help put the artifacts in context. The lighting and made the temple look stunning. Although we didn't have time to see that temple's ruins when we visited Teotihuacan this time, I have seen that temple before, and it we impressive to see this vivid reconstruction and consider how impressive it must have been to see in its prime.




















Our next stop was the Palacio Nacional, where we saw some Diego Rivera murals and the students were given a list of things to find in each mural. To the left is a picture of the OTHS group on the second floor of the building with a view of the fountain in the middle of the courtyard. As a result of the Swine Flu scare, we all had our temperature taken with an infrared gun and were given two squirts of hand sanitizer as we entered the working government building.

Our last stop in the city was the Catedral Metroplaitano. I snapped a quick shot of Rory and Maggie as we were headed in, and it turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself!
:-)
The cathedral has undergone some massive refurbishing. As a result, this was the best I've ever seen in it. All scaffolding has been removed, the interior has been cleaned and much work has been done to level the building somewhat. (It has been sinking into the ground, like many of the older buildings here in the city, which have been built on weak soil.)

Next, we got on the bus for a 7-hour drive to Oaxaca. The landscape was rugged and mountanous with some interesting cacti.

When we got to the hotel and checked in, the kids were excited about the rooms, since each were different in this old, remodeled convent with a pool!

























After unpacking, we all headed out the hotel, only to find a parade passing by directly in front of the hotel!!! We all stopped, took pictures and got showered with candy!

We ate dinner on our own that night, so after walking around the main square, our group of four decided on a restaurant and ordered. We all got something different. Sam ordered tlayuda, a local specialty, which is a 12" tortilla with beans, cheese and beef. She folded it in half and tried eating it like a taco. That didn't work too well. It was BIG, but very good, as were all our meals, helping us end our first night in Oaxaca on a good note.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños Maggie!

Today is Maggie's 17th birthday! We started the celebration last night at 7-Eleven, which is two doors down from our hotel, after the ballet with ice cream bars. I introduced my students to Magnum brand "helados", which is a brand we don't have back home. Wonderful!

The next morning, we headed out to a local market where they sell fresh fruits, vegetables, flowers, meat, etc. Students were paired up and given a smll slip of paper asigning them a task: for example, "Find the price of a bird of pradise flower." or "How many diferent colors of beans can you find?" Then, each pair also was given a small amount of money to buy a particular item, which was later use for our lunch!

In addition, Sam picked out a flower especially for Maggie for her birthday. It was a difficult decision, since there were so many to choose from. Finally, she decided on a sunflower, since that seemed like a typical Mexican flower. Plus it was the largest one we could find and we thought that would be obnoxious and funny.

Fortunately, Maggie loves sunflowers and really liked her gift!

Next, we visited the castle of Maximilian and Carlota in Chapultapec Park (shown below, with Rory at the bottom right).

The castle's terraces offered great views of the city!

Next, we went to Xochimilco, some of the few remaining canals from the original Aztec city here, and had a picnic lunch on a boat.

While on the boat, we were entertained by a floating mariachi group that even new "Besame Morenita", my favorite song from "La Catrina"!


On the way back to the hotel, we toured the Friday Kahlo home/museum. Below is a picutre of my three students on a landing of stairs at her house.

That night, we went out to dinner at a restaurant called Charco de las Ranas, . . .. . .sang Feliz Cumpleaños to Maggie . . .

. . . and shared some strawberry cheesecake from Panadera Ideal (the bakery we visited earlier in the trip) to celebrate her birthday. This was Maggie's first birthday away from her twin brother Will, so it was difficult for her, so we tried to make it extra special. I think she really appreciated our efforts.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at the Torre Latinoamericana, the 3rd largest building in Mexico City. To the right is a picture of Rory with the tower in the background. He is standing in front of the Monument to Benito Juarez at the entrance to the Alameda Park.
From the viewing platforms atop this 45-story building, Mexico looked spectacular!

We took our time atop the building, which allow me to ponder the view from 597 feet above the city. From that height at night, all the grime, poverty and decaying buildings disappeared among the darkness and sparkling lights. It was very beautiful. In some ways, it reminded me of E.St.Louis after a snow. The fresh white blanket covers all the grime, poverty and decaying buildings and the view above from Interstate 64 can be beautiful as well. However, eventually, the snow melts over E.St.Louis and the sun rises over Mexico City. I hope some day, both cities will enjoy the new life of a warm spring day.