Day 9

We are getting in to more of a groove now with our host family. We still have a hard time communicating with them though. Of course most of the problem is our lack of ability to speak Spanish, but also for whatever reason our hosts are particularly hard for us to understand. If people really enunciate we have a much easier time understanding them, and some people are good at guessing what we mean or helping us with words. Our hosts might not feel comfortable correcting us, so it’s a little harder to have a conversation go anywhere. That said, we have already found that just getting around in daily life is much easier. We cover so much material in class and it’s overwhelming, but after a few days of reviewing it and after the conversation portions of our classes I find that the material we covered a few days back seems somewhat easy and the words come more quickly.

We have all, except Hugo, gotten our turn with “Montezuma’s revenge”—nothing too bad, but still, when you’re out in public and need to find a bathroom NOW it’s a little nerve-wracking. It’s always best if you’re near a café you’ve been in before and know where the bathroom is, so you can casually walk in and make a beeline for the rest room door, hoping you don’t have the desperate, panicky look of all the foreign tourists that have come through before with weak stomachs.

Last night we went to a mini Guelaguetza festival in the famous theater in town, the Macedonia Alcala. The Guelaguetza is said to be the largest folkloric festival in the world with hours of music and dances from the indigenous people from this area. We knew the festival itself would be too much for the kids (and us too), lasting for 6 hours or so after getting to the arena at 8am and sitting in the hot sun. It’s expensive too, even by US standards. So last night was perfect. Inexpensive, in a beautiful theater and lasting less than 2 hours. Jasper wanted to come with us and Hugo opted to stay with the host family which shows how comfortable he feels here. He doesn’t care that they don’t speak English, he just walks right over to them and talks very loudly and repeats himself. The dances at the show were interesting and the costumes were truly amazing. The women often danced with large baskets on their heads and with pineapples on their shoulders. If they weren’t holding an object they were typically holding their skirts. The men often had their hands behind their backs. We were surprised by the music, which was played by an orchestra and sounded kind of like oompa music from Bavaria. We expected more drums and xylophones.

We also went to the Basilica Soledad yesterday which is really beautiful. The church is filled with ornate carvings and lots of gold paint. There were statues inside of Mary and Jesus, and they were encased in glass which I found a little odd. There was a gorgeous square and amphitheater outside, and the University of Fine Art which used to be a convent. The whole area is amazing in it’s scale and how ornate the buildings are.

One of the best cultural experiences we’ve had here so far is riding the regular city buses. They are crowded, noisy, bumpy and the drivers often blare loud music. The buses also are personalized by the drivers, so they might have colored lights inside, fabric with fringe hanging on the inside, statues, etc. The kids think the bus is a riot too, and we tend to get a lot of odd stares when we’re on one as I don’t think tourists usually opt to ride them.

Day 6

We had a good weekend. On Saturday we went to the garden behind the Santo Domingo church. It’s a huge project with plants from all over Oaxaca, including a 700 year-old cactus that was rescued from the site where a highway was being built. It is huge, and to move it each and every needle had to be covered in newspaper. When it was all wrapped up to be moved, it weighed many tons. The cactus is called Bisnaga, and it’s a round, bulby kind of cactus. The boys were fascinated by a carnivorous ground-cover that resembled yarrow or tiny ferns. Any leaf you touched would shut quickly. I forget how fun it is sometimes to be with Jasper in nature, and this was no exception. He correctly identified so many different kinds of plants, even here in Mexico. At one point I was pointing to the beautiful flowers in a tree and he said, “I don’t think that’s part of the tree. It looks like a bromeliad.” Sure enough, the guide said he was right. The garden had an amazing fountain too with red-colored water. The dye in the water comes from the insects here that are used to make dyes for cloth, called cochineal.

Yesterday we moved in with our host family. They are lovely, but communicating is really tough. Today we are all exhausted. Our classes cover a lot of material and move quickly, but I am completely lacking basic vocabulary. The boys seemed overwhelmed and exhausted today, but tonight Jasper said again he’s glad we came. It’s important for us to have down time every day to just be together, kick a ball around, read, or play cards. It’s cute hearing Jasper and Hugo say words in Spanish, and when we played cards with one of the daughters here Jasper spoke a little Spanish to her.

I think I mentioned the crazy driving here? No seatbelts, no car seats, no one on motorcycles or bikes seem to wear helmets. When our host family picked us up, they came in a tiny car. Our whole family, our luggage, and three members of their family piled in. They had their daughter on their lap in the front seat, and Jim and I had Jasper and Hugo on our laps in the back. Our luggage was crammed in everywhere. No one thought anything of it. Today we took our first cab. None of the seatbelts worked and it was hard to keep Hugo in one place. We hit a lot of traffic on the way to the host family’s house, and we took a detour that included driving on an unpaved, muddy side street. The paved road just ended, and then there was mud. I thought we would get stuck, but we just powered on through and arrived at our destination. To get to school this morning we took a local bus. The music was blaring, it was very crowded, and we had to holler at the driver to get him to stop at our corner, despite having asked him beforehand. Then we had to push our way out of the bus. There is a lot of beauty in the city, but many parts are really run down and the exhaust fumes and dirt are hard to ignore.

Day 3

We had our second language classes this morning. I definitely feel like I’m drowning in a lake and struggling for air. The class is beginner, but the two other students in addition to Jim and me are a little more advanced and the pace of the class is fast. We have to participate in conversations and write using verbs, prepositions, various vocabulary, etc. I understand almost nothing anyone says but realize that even after just a few days I am having a much easier time communicating. When in doubt, I take a French word and make it sound Spanish. I seem to be right, or close to right, a bout 50% of the time. The kids seem to be enjoying their class. They get to sit in a pretty courtyard, play games and draw pictures that help them learn vocabulary.

After class today we had a group excursion to a village, Ocotlan, that has a large, open-air, Friday market. It was an overwhelming whirlwind of colors and smells. We did manage to buy some mangoes, some roasted peanuts, some pastries and a small bag of the local specialty, I think called chipollines, which are grasshoppers. Fortunately these were tiny. We all tried them, even Jasper and Hugo, which was a fun surprise. Jasper thought they were disgusting and Hugo liked them, but said he didn’t want to eat more for dinner. They were very salty. I don’t think we’ll finish the bag. After the market we went to a museum of a renowned Oaxacan artist, Rodolfo Morales. It was interesting work, mostly collages, and he used any materials and paper in them he could find, including beer labels.

We continue to admire the animals and plants here. Jasper was delighted to spot a pomegranate tree today, and we are all in love with a ubiquitous local tree called the Framboyan (don’t know if I spelled it right). The boys saw their first Chihuahuas today and thought they were hilarious.

Since none of us has gotten sick yet from the food (despite Jim ordering a fresh salad for his first meal), my fear has switched from worrying that one of us will get sick from the food to worrying that one of the boys will get run over by a car. People drive like madmen here and many of the sidewalks are narrow. Both boys have already complained about me gripping their hands too hard, and I know we both sound a little crazy urging the kids to “run!” when crossing some streets. Some major intersections don’t have lights or even stop signs. If the traffic doesn’t kill us, my next worry is that malaria could be a problem when we go to the coast. Jasper threw up his malaria pill and Hugo could not get any of it down, even when we ground it up and put it in Nutella. The bitter flavor came right through. I guess it’s a good thing we came loaded down with extremely toxic Ultrathon insect repellent that is 34% Deet, though using much of that is a little daunting.

two weeks in

If we can ever hook our computer up to the internet for more than 2 seconds, we will start posting some tales of our adventures. Last time we got online we ended up at the hospital with Hugo who tripped in the cafe onto a cement table and hard tile floor. He didn´t need stitches but has a bad cut on his eyebrow.

We are having fun and have enjoyed everything from cool cactus to beautiful birds and flowers to riding in taxis and buses without seat belts. The kids are resisting most of the food but love the hot chocolate and we are taken in by Oaxaca´s amazing art scene and dramatic natural beauty.

More later we hope!