The Big G and other Oaxacan Adventures

Where to even begin?

I’m currently sitting in bed, regretting eating whatever street food or unwashed fruit it was that made me feel so sick. I guess it was only a matter of time before “throwing caution to the wind” came back to get me, but that doesn’t make it less unpleasant. Nevertheless, I managed to have a stellar four day weekend which temporarily cured me of the “I wanna go home” blues.

On Friday we had an Impact Project with ProWorld and we all met early at the office instead of going to our respective internships. We went to FOE, a non-profit equine therapy organization run by a retired physical therapist. After working for thirty years in Oaxaca’s public hospital, Carolina started FOE to help local kids with Downs Syndrome, Autism, MS, and other mental and physical disabilities. She now has nearly 60 students who come weekly for occupational and physical therapy. The parents pay on a sliding scale and the majority of the funding comes from the many side projects that Carolina has also started in her small Oaxacan suburb. There’s a community bakery that employs local women and sells bread at a discounted price, a plastic bottle drive which feeds funds back into the bakery and horse therapy, a small horse manure/fertilizer business, and an orchestra of 60+ kids. Carolina also mentioned several other projects that she’s been starting up in her “free time”, although I can’t imagine that she has a whole lot of that lying around. We split into teams to bag manure, paint the corral, revive old folding chairs, make teaching materials, and paint a logo on the front of the building. This was one of the most organized and dedicated non-profits that I’ve ever come across and Carolina is a truly amazing woman.

On Saturday, some of the ProWorld staff invited us to go to some nearby pools. After a long and slightly confusing trip involving a bus and multiply colectivo taxis, we arrived at Vista Hermosa. The past few weeks have been gloomy and rainy but the weather decided to clean up its act just in time for the holiday weekend. We lounged in the sun, tried out the water slides, and splashed around in the pool until dark rain clouds showed up mid-afternoon. After hurrying back home for a quick shower and change of close, we headed downtown for the calenda parade that marked the beginning of the 2 weeklong Guelaguetza festival. I was greatful for all of my 5’4” as we pushed our way towards the front of the crowd to catch a glimpse of the intricately costumed dancers and marching bands; I’m pretty tall for a Mexican! After the parade, it was off to the Mezcal Fair, one of Oaxaca’s greatest brainchildren. An admission fee of $35MX (three dollars) gains you entrance to the park containing more than 20 mezcal vendors, all eagerly offering samples.

After “dar-ing la vuelta” a few times, we had all become mezcal experts and were in a pretty good place, but hadn’t really eaten real food all day. Clearly the best solution to this is to buy street hamburgers. These are a little pricier than most streetfood, but they aren’t your Dollar Menu cheeseburgers either. It’s hard to find the pattie amidst the cheese, ham, pineapple, tomato, jalenpeno and magic that goes into these tinfoil-wrapped pieces of heaven. We visited a couple of our favorite bars and danced for a while, but everyone was exhausted from the busy day and we were all home and in bed before 1am. And the weekend was only halfway over!
Julie and I have been talking about going to mass in Oaxaca’s biggest and oldest church, Santo Domingo, for the past 2 months and this weekend was our last chance. After visiting so many Mexican churches over the past year it’s easy to lose enthusiasm for them, but Santo is truly beautiful, especially with all the lights on and the gold leaf shining. Afterwards we got one last Sunday coffee at the Italian Coffee Company and loitered around in the shade, admiring the passersby with their babies and dogs in tow, and turned down a friendly kitchen knife vendor. We took it easy on Sunday night in preparation for Monday’s big event: the Guelaguetza!

This is Oaxaca’s biggest event of the year. Each of the state’s 8 regions sends at least one delegation of dancers and musicians to perform in the parades and at the Guelaguetza stadium. Each region has it’s own traditional costumes and style of dance, accompanied by a tireless brass band and enthusiastic fans. We had purchased tickets for Monday’s Guelaguetza right after they went on sale and had fantastic seats in the 8th row, front and center. Although I was skeptical at first, I enjoyed all 3.5 hours of the traditional dancing and was almost sad for it to be over. The pictures really don't do it justice and fail to capture the general sense of excitement and pride.

Although nothing can quite make up for Fourth of July at home, this week has had a similar feel to it and I'll take what I can get. Plus, our strategically located seats put us right in line to receive the free food and trinkets that each group threw into the crowd at the end of each section. After a quick trip home for lunch, we headed back out into the streets; it was Shopping Time! Julie and I are now expert mezcal tasters and hagglers and we walked home quite satisfied with our purchases for the day.
I’m off to kick this stomach bug and enjoy my last few days in Mexico before I fly home!
Love and miss you all, kudos if you made it through that marathon of a post!