Amber's Travels

First Day of School

6/28/04 Today went well. We made it to school on time and both feel like we've been placed correctly. James was worried at first that he was not in the right class, but after the afternoon conversation class we both realize we have much to learn. We signed up for extra conversation classes in the afternoon, but I will miss some of those since Susana wants me to come help during Guelaguetza week. I'm also going to sign up for some cooking classes at school (these workshops are at no extra cost) so that I can get some of the kitchen vocabulary down. The teachers at ICO are very patient and speak slowly for us in the beginning classes, but no English. I'm surprised at how much I understand but how little I can respond. Our conversation workshop teacher talked with me a little about superstition. He was a little horrified that I owned a black cat, but did not consider himself superstitious. He believes in an "energy" but isn't certain about ghosts and witches.

I also decided to stay in my hostel for the entire 4 weeks in the city. It is rustic, but I am comfortable here and think I'd like the time to myself before moving in with a family in Etla for 4 months. After James leaves, I get to move into a room on the roof from which I'm told I can see the main dances of the Guelaguetza on the mountainside. It is a beautiful view of the rooftop garden and the surrounding mountains. Hopefully, it is also a little cooler up there at night than in the room we have on the interior of the hostel now.

I was originally thinking I would send back gifts to some of you, but I found out from my teacher today to send even a small item it cost her $90USD. I don't think I'll be sending anything home except postcards and emails. I may try to do some shopping before James leaves if he has room to carry items back with him.

A student in my class recommended a restaurant called VIPS and we went for lunch since it was very close to school. I won't waste time reviewing it as it was very much like a Denny's. Not impressive. For dinner we went to La Rustica and had pizza. It was a nice change after eating at a very small local place last night that upset our stomachs a little this morning. Speaking of local fare, we passed a place today that had the soup special listed as "Sopa de Gato"...Ken or Ruben or Monica, if you read this, please let me know what that means because in my limited Spanish I read that as cat soup and I'm sure that can't be it. Anyway, we'll be back up to local fare tomorrow, just have to give the system time to adapt. I have found that the wine here leaves something to be desired, but I was expecting that. I actually think that the temperatures without air conditioning have turned the wine a little; even wines I know taste a little off. Luckily the beer tastes great. I think it is kept much cooler than the cerveza in the Yucatan. Not much more to report today unless you want to hear Spanish practice.

Day Three

Hello all,

After a much needed full night of sleep I was off on a much better foot this morning. We woke to the sound of church bells and sweeping, our host Sra. Norma gets up at the crack of dawn to scrub the floors of the hostal since the center area is open air. Also there are so many cathedrals close by I couldn't keep track of where all the bells were coming from or what their timing was, some rang on the hour, others off and on. Anyway, we went downstairs at 8am for our Desayuno Oaxaqueno which consisted of Pan dulce, hot chocolate, fruit, huevos mexicanos and homemad blandas (white corn tortillas)! That got us really moving for a food coma nap...THEN...we got our act together and toured the Museo de Arte Prehispanico de Mexico. It was a truly awe inspiring collection of pieces from all over Mexico that were collected and donated by the painter Rufino Tamayo. James went camera crazy so I'm sure we'll have a ton of pictures to upload. I think some of the sculptures that might stick with me longest were ones depicting the intricate tables and processes used on a woman during childbirth to create the correct skull shape for her infant...in this particular area the slender elongated skull was considered powerful and beautiful. At first glance I thought they were depicting torture devices. I'm touched by the details and preservation of these artifacts. They are at once beautiful and historical and put into perspective once again the youth and naivety of Americans.

James has finally gotten the city map together in his head so now I get to travel at my pace and figure my way around. I navigated back from the Zocolo with minimal prodding today. I like the scenic route that takes us up Cosijopi, over to Porfirio Diaz, down Quetzalquatl and over to Santo Domingo by way of the fountains and then down the well lit and scenic Alcala. I plan to test out some other ways once I'm more comfortable because I'm unsure the scenic route is expedient for busy days.

I also found a convenient lavanderia (laundromat) today. I'm glad I don't have to lug my clothing all across town!

Today has been beautiful and warmer than yesterday...no rain though so I'll trade for warmer any day. The breezes really help keep things from being too hot.

The Zocalo was so quiet this morning on the way to the museum so we went back for lunch (comida, around 3pm) by then all of the churches had let out and the square was at capacity with vendors, tourists, locals and children with sweets, balloons and toys. It is definitely THE destination point in the city. I'm still partial to the garden over by school. It is much more tranquil and very green. I'll take some pictures on Monday after school.

More to come later today...time for siesta and then we'll go to the internet cafe and upload my posts and pics.

First Tour of the City

6/26/04 After one day of touring Oaxaca City, I'm at a loss of words. I'm not yet knowledgeable enough to describe it to you. Hopefully by the time you read this I will have also posted some pictures to help me describe it. There are so many contrasts. There are beautiful gardens, fog ringed mountaintops, cobblestone streets, friendly locals, grand cathedrals...then there are the homeless, the beggar children, crazy traffic, overzealous shop keepers and lots of construction and poverty. I think maybe the begging and overzealous shop keepers are due to the high tourist season right now. There are many high school, college students and teachers here to learn Spanish at the Instituto as well.

Today we got up at 7am, ate a beautiful breakfast of fruit and bread at our Hostal, went for orientation and testing at Instituto Cultural de Oaxaca, ate lunch at the Zocalo, outside in wonderful weather, realized we are still too gringo to do good banking business as we went to 3 places before we found one that changed Traveler's Checks at that hour on a Saturday...they are pretty picky about which branch at what time on what day they help turistas that solamente hablan poquito de Espanol. Then we dodged a quick rainshower in an internet cafe where we determined it is easy and inexpensive for me to write and check email. We also determined the opposite for calling...James is frustrated with the phone system here...we may all just have to communicate electronically for a while. Then we toured around the parks, cathedrals and the Juarez Marketplace. Right now I'm waiting for James to shower so we can head back to the historical district for dinner and a few cervezas.

Later...

Well, we couldn't find the place we were looking for for dinner, so we went to El Naranjo (the Orange Tree). The food was great, a little pricey but great. I'll put a review of it in my review section. After dinner we went across from our Hostal to a place called 3 Patios. They had a wonderful Mexican finger style guitar band (not sure what this category is really called) with bongos and wonderful harmonies. They also had a wonderful atmosphere for relaxing with a few cervezas and soaking in the culture without being surrounded by tourists or crowded loud shot bar scenes.

Ah, tonight our final bag finally got here so I had my pillow and thus my first full night of sleep since Wednesday. I'm much happier now.

Chapulines

6/26/04 I did it. I went to the market and ate baby grasshoppers. James tried them too. I can't say they take the place of popcorn for me yet, but they are pretty tasty...vinegary, salty and spicy. I'll bring some home if I can. Let me stress...I ate BABY ones, the big ones and some of the worms I'm not quite ready for. I'll post a picture of them...they don't even really look insect-y.

Dear Lord We Made It

Hey all, greetings from Oaxaca!

As those of you in Austin know yesterday was quite rainy. Well, we originally had a 5pm flight from Austin to Houston. We got there early (thank you Tanya!) and were bumped to the 3:50 flight. That was great news since our lay over in Houston was a short one. We boarded the 3:50 flight at 4:30 due to weather...there was no plane to board until then. We then proceeded to sit on the runway for 45 minutes because Houston went to ground stop. We landed in Houston the same time our plane to Oaxaca left. After standing in line at customer service our first stroke of good luck happened...the plane bound for Oaxaca didn't have enough fuel so it turned around and we were able to board and get here in time to check in to Hostal Don Mario by midnight! Whew! Day one of travel was tiring.

As you can see by the picture of our room, Oaxaca is still VERY Catholic. We got upstairs to find our room with 2 twin beds designated his and hers by the pink and blue sheets. We found this pretty amusing.