Farfel

Living in Oaxaca

Oops, I forgot to publish an older post. Check it out below.

Anyway, things have been very busy lately. I´ve started taking a spanish class for 2 hours every day. In addition to that We´ve tried to squeeze in other activities such as visiting other pueblos in the surrounding valleys, going to the market to buy food, exploring other parts of Oaxaca and spending time in our apartment.
Spanish classes are difficult, I realize how little I actually know and how much there is to learn! But I´m very glad I´m taking them.
We´ve finally figured out the busses (sort of) and are able to get into town and back home every day. Although it seems like we get on a different bus each time. I think the drivers actually pick their own route depending on their mood. And somehow all the streets here look the same and stores move from one street to another in the middle of the night because It can take forever to find that one place that I swear was right on that corner yesterday! But we´re surviving.

We´ve figured out the cooking thing and are wishing to learn how to make many Oaxaqueñean dishes. Last night we made guacamole (with totopos = tortilla chips) and tacos of onion, chile, lime and cheese. hopefully I will learn to make my own sauces so I won´t have to buy the ones from the supermercado made by nestle or blackwater or someone. We´ll see.

But today it´s Haloween and all the kids are dressed up is scary costumes in the streets. Haloween seems to work a little differently here. Instead of going around asking for candy the kids run through the streets and ask for money (so they can buy the candy of their choosing I assume, or cigarettes). There are also big bands everywhere (because there are always big bands for celebrations in Mexico)(which is just about every single day). But tomorrow is the first day of Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead). It should be an interesting couple of days. We´re trying to figure out now how we want to participate/observe. Apparently a lot of tourists come here for Day of the Dead and treat it like a normal tourist attraction. We don´t really want to do that. We helped the woman who runs the spanish school we go to create an altar for her parents (which I think Kira wrote about) and we are making one of our own at home. We´ll do some other stuff too but it´s too soon to tell. Now off to the park for peletas and then home for dinner.

1309 Emiliano Carranza (en el techo)

So less than two weeks into our adventure we´ve quit the travelling life and settled down for a while. Rooftop apartment, spanish classes and a little volunteering.
You can actually get a good deal here for less than $200 a month. Our apartment has a spacious bedroom, a bathroom with a shower (agua caliente 24 horas), an outside kitchen with 4 burner stove, refridgerator (!!), a sink and a table and chairs. There´s even electricity! We have the whole rooftop garden of the house below to hang out on and a cool spiral staircase to climb. From our roof we have a good view of the fireworks that go off every night and sometimes in the wee hours of the morning. I´m not sure exactly what
they´re celebrating at 5am. So we have a lot of things to buy now that we have a place to put them. Like food, orange presses, dust pan, blender, flowers, and whatever else we can fit. At the bottom there is a picture of Kira after a trip to the market.



























We also found a great small spanish school where we will take spanish classes while we´re here. It´s run be a very nice woman named Flor (Flower). In addition, we go to a library on Saturdays to speak with Oaxaqueños in English and Spanish. Last Saturday I talked with a guy for an hour about China and how everything here is made there. He said that even statues of the Virgin of Guadalupe are made in China. I told him that in the U.S. you can find American flags that are made in China. He also wanted to know why the U.S., with all its technology and money can´t put out a fire in California. I really wasn´t sure what to tell him.

Carrera Panamericana

Got up Early Friday morning to make it to the start of the Carrera Panamericana. Many cool old cars and drivers in flame retardant suits milling about, looking over maps. It was just like a movie of some big race where they were all just hanging out, some siting in cafes drinking coffee until all of a sudden engines started grumbling. Everyone seemed to scramble to get in their cars and start the race. They could hardly get to the starting gate with all the people in the streets. Anyway, Lots of old cars driving really fast through crowded Mexico streets. Actually they did close the streets to other traffic but every now and then a taxi or a bus would somehow sneak out into the raceway and get in the way. I´m not sure exactly how the race works but it seems pretty crazy to me. Check out the video here.

Oaxaca

Of course when they say 6 hour bus ride they really mean 8 hours. And the guy sitting behind you will spend the majority of the trip running a small sawmill while he sleeps despite the fact that he will drink an extra grande energy drink at the bathroom break. But it is a beautiful trip. Many rolling forrested hills, deep canyons and volkswagen factories.

But now we are in Oaxaca and feel as though we could settle for a while (we've been eyeing ads for rentals). But for now we have a nice hostal near the market. Our room is in that dark corner in the back, which is actually the front of the building over the street.

Todays food adventures took us the market where we had Oaxacan hot chocolate, chile relleno and huevos rancheros. About half the price of most restaurants.



I can't believe we've been here for almost a week. It's going too fast already, but we do have 8 more to go! It looks like Oaxaca will be a jumping off point for probably the next few weeks. There are many small towns to explore in the central valleys and who knows, we might find a place to rent for a while.

Leaning buildings, robbers and organ grinders

So Mexico City is built on an old lake bed. An old lake bed that is still settling apparently. So all the really old buildings in the city are slowly settling as well. Which makes them lean as if they are sinking, which they are. here is a photo. ok, well there was going to be a photo but I cant quite figure out how to make it vertical instead of horizontal. hmmm. well its a picture of a big old building leaning out over the street.

Well I gues Im stuck with horizontal pictures for now. Like this one. A Metro car full of thieves and robbers right? Apparently not. We have been here for 5 days now and have yet to be robbed! I actually feel quite safe here. I guess it is mostly a myth that as soon as you walk out onto the street in Mexico city you will be robbed at gunpoint, roughed up and shaken upside down until all your almuerzo money falls out. I dont know who would want to rob you in this city since there are literally about 5 police officers per block. and usually at least one police car or motorcycle driving down each street. Id say police to people ratio is something like 1:25 and in one neighborhood we saw from our taxi it was about 5:1. needless to say we didnt get off in that part of town. Anyway this is the metro, which is really cheap, efficient and easy to use. They come about every 20 seconds but are still often packed full of people. Not like this one which is empty. Id say a crowded car easily has about 100+´people in it. and each train has maybe 20 or so cars. I have not done the math but thats a lot of people.

Much has happened since last time I wrote. more good food including the best thing yet: Elote. Elote is corn on the cob roasted over an open fire then spiked on a stick and coverewd with lime, salt and chili powder. You can find them on street corners and they cost about $1.25.

An old tradition in Mexico City that lives on is the Organ Grinders. These guys dress in beige suits and stand on the street with big music boxes imported from Berlin. They stand there and crank away while their partner collects tips from passersby. The music is interesting but kinda cool. Yesterday I asked one of them if I could try it and Kira got a picture of me cranking away.

Well theres so much about Mexico City I could talk about I can only fit a fraction of it here. And tomorrow nos vamos. We leave on a bus for Oaxaca City. We have so much more we want to explore here but feel the need to move on. Anyway the crowds, cars and dark grey boogers will not soon be missed.

If anyone is interested and wants to se what Kira has to say about all this travelling stuff go to kiranelson.blogspot.com

And by the way, excuse the sometimes bad grammer. These keyboards are different and have yet to find the apostrophe.

He llegado en la Ciudad de Mexico

We got off the plane, groggy eyed at about 6am (4am northwest time) and proceeded through immigrations and customs. A taxi took us to el Centro Historico where we found a nice little hotel named Hotel Juarez. It even has a balcony! Even though we are both still sick and got almost no sleep last night adjusting to travelling again has been fairly easy.
I think I will probably return quite rotund if I indulge in too much of the food here. What I´ve had so far has been quite tasty.
Lunch consisted of a salad (I know they say you´re not supposed to eat salad), melon soup, a chili stuffed with a banana and covered in a bean sauce and pear water.
Now it´s time to explore mexico city, which is probably the hugest city ever!
Oh no, time is up on the internet. I´ll be back later!

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