I am having a lousy day, which is probably proof that it can happen anywhere. Hay un lado oscuro, siempre.
I am tired of getting up at 7:00 every day and being tired all the time.
I have not had a shower in over two days because the water is all screwed up in my house. (Actually, the water is all screwed up all over Oaxaca. There is only public water available two days a week, and if you don´t have your own private cistern and/or a neighborhood well, that´s all you get. Which makes my two days without a shower seem like hardly anything to complain about, but nevertheless, it´s making me cranky.)
I have an enourmous, disgusting cold sore covering half my face, which is something I´m pretty sure I´ve only had once in my life before. It is hurting me quite a lot, and presumably is why I´ve been waking up in the middle of the night with low-grade fevers. Oh, unless those are caused by what I imagine is a spider that is cohabitating with me, who bites me to pieces while I sleep, and who is also making me very cranky.
Today, someone in a store gave me a bill that has a tiny tear in the center of it, the kind of thing that in the States we wouldn´t think twice about. But apparently here they ¨don´t like¨ their bills to have tears. This is the phrase I have heard, ¨We don´t like them like that;¨ hence no one will accept the bill, and how exactly do I argue with them about it? In New York I would just say ¨C´mon, it´s money, you have to take it,¨ but even in New York... if they really didn´t want to take it, what could you do? I am told that I can go to a bank and trade it in for a more aesthetically-pleasing, and hence acceptable bill. (In fairness to the small businessmen and women who have refused it already, I am also told that this ability to exchange torn bills is new. Until very recently, any torn bill was simply the possessor´s loss.)
Today I am a little lonely also, and feeling guilty about being away from work, and childishly resenting some of the representations made to me by my Spanish school prior to my arrival. My ¨friends¨ have all left town in the last couple of days, and the student population of my school has dwindled to 2. The city still seems crowded with tourists to me, but they say it´s nothing compared to what it was 2 years ago, before the uprising, and I guess perhaps my school is struggling a bit, at least this week.
On the other hand, in general, when I talk to strangers, they seem to understand me much better, which I suppose is ultimately why I am here. We´ve come back around to the subjunctive again, and this time I kind of get it.
I just realized that I never followed up about the saintly priest. Suffice it to say that I didn´t end up meeting him. I did have one brief adventure at an orphanage for girls, but more on that some other time. In the meantime, tomorrow afternoon I´m going to visit a preschool to see what it´s like.
I wonder what it would take to get the kids in Hierve El Agua back to school, and whether or not that is a feasible task...
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Google News Links
If you haven't already looked, the Google News links along the right side of this page are particularly interesting right now.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Hierve El Agua
Sabado, 26 Enero
The town in which the springs are situated (not sure exactly whether the town is simply called Hierve El Agua, or something else) is notable for having a school, but no teachers. As such, according to my sources, the children have not been to school for two years. The dirt road to Hierve el Agua from Mitla is long and treacherous, full of switchbacks hugging the precipice (18 kilometers, 350 meters up, and 45 minutes via taxi o camioneta). Despite the absence of teachers, we did spot a Coca-Cola delivery truck wending its way along this route. I'm glad we have our priorities straight in terms of our American exports.
http://oaxaca-travel.com/guide/natural.php?lang=us&doc=home§ion=natural&atractivo=11.03.02.01&getdoc=true
The town in which the springs are situated (not sure exactly whether the town is simply called Hierve El Agua, or something else) is notable for having a school, but no teachers. As such, according to my sources, the children have not been to school for two years. The dirt road to Hierve el Agua from Mitla is long and treacherous, full of switchbacks hugging the precipice (18 kilometers, 350 meters up, and 45 minutes via taxi o camioneta). Despite the absence of teachers, we did spot a Coca-Cola delivery truck wending its way along this route. I'm glad we have our priorities straight in terms of our American exports.
http://oaxaca-travel.com/guide/natural.php?lang=us&doc=home§ion=natural&atractivo=11.03.02.01&getdoc=true
Random facts
Things I have ingested for the first time since arriving here in Oaxaca: at least 3 types of atole (con chocolate, con panela, y con leche); the most overcooked pasta ever to be overcooked; Oaxaqueno sushi; mole coloradito (tal vez mi preferida ahora).
Things I have not ingested since arriving here: chapulines (dried grasshoppers, available either plain, con chile y limon, o con chocolate); 7 different kinds of mezcal, including one with scorpions in the bottle, and one which is bottled around a rose that grows inside the bottle.
Items that cost more here than in New York: Cup O Noodles; dental floss; a pedicure; music CDs.
Speaking of prices: There has been roughly a 1000% increase in low-end hotel prices since I was here 11 years ago. This increase is only in pesos; in dollars, the increase is typically more like 300-400% (I don't fully understand the math of this, but it seems to be accurate). A couple of nights ago, I stumbled upon the hotel that I stayed in when I was last here. At the time, it was a rambling place called the Hotel Pombo, with strangely enormous rooms for about $10 (US) a night. It has been reinvented as the Hotel Something Very English Sounding That I Can't Recall, with rooms now going for $100-$150 a night. I realized where I was when I saw the building across the street, which I recognized from a photo I still have that I took from our window back then. It was a rather transporting moment, as there is little I have seen here that has felt very familiar from that time. I'm not sure if that's because the city has changed so, or if I have inherited my mother's relentlessly unreliable memory.
The university students here are in the process of electing (yes, electing) the leaders of the various schools within the University. They seem to be putting an awful lot of energy into marching and demonstrating for the candidates they like. It seems that the political turmoil here last year has ignited a spirit of activism. It is not entirely clear to me what difference it makes who is elected president of the law school, the medical school, the school of education. These students are all quite young. It seems that here folks train for professions during the same time that we in the States are undergrads -- there are an awful lot of 21 year old lawyers walking around. But one of them manages the telephone and internet caseta down the street from my house, so I am not entirely clear what it means that she is a lawyer. I was introduced to the nephew of someone I know, all of 20 years old; he was wearing a torn AC/DC tee-shirt, and jeans baggy enough to fit in in Bed-Stuy, and I was to call him licenciado. (Sidebar: AC/DC tee-shirts are a weirdly popular choice, though I don't think I've heard any AC/DC music, not that I would know exactly. Much more commonly heard emanating from the shops around el centro is Total Eclipse of the Heart, equally popular in Spanish and English).
Things I have not ingested since arriving here: chapulines (dried grasshoppers, available either plain, con chile y limon, o con chocolate); 7 different kinds of mezcal, including one with scorpions in the bottle, and one which is bottled around a rose that grows inside the bottle.
Items that cost more here than in New York: Cup O Noodles; dental floss; a pedicure; music CDs.
Speaking of prices: There has been roughly a 1000% increase in low-end hotel prices since I was here 11 years ago. This increase is only in pesos; in dollars, the increase is typically more like 300-400% (I don't fully understand the math of this, but it seems to be accurate). A couple of nights ago, I stumbled upon the hotel that I stayed in when I was last here. At the time, it was a rambling place called the Hotel Pombo, with strangely enormous rooms for about $10 (US) a night. It has been reinvented as the Hotel Something Very English Sounding That I Can't Recall, with rooms now going for $100-$150 a night. I realized where I was when I saw the building across the street, which I recognized from a photo I still have that I took from our window back then. It was a rather transporting moment, as there is little I have seen here that has felt very familiar from that time. I'm not sure if that's because the city has changed so, or if I have inherited my mother's relentlessly unreliable memory.
The university students here are in the process of electing (yes, electing) the leaders of the various schools within the University. They seem to be putting an awful lot of energy into marching and demonstrating for the candidates they like. It seems that the political turmoil here last year has ignited a spirit of activism. It is not entirely clear to me what difference it makes who is elected president of the law school, the medical school, the school of education. These students are all quite young. It seems that here folks train for professions during the same time that we in the States are undergrads -- there are an awful lot of 21 year old lawyers walking around. But one of them manages the telephone and internet caseta down the street from my house, so I am not entirely clear what it means that she is a lawyer. I was introduced to the nephew of someone I know, all of 20 years old; he was wearing a torn AC/DC tee-shirt, and jeans baggy enough to fit in in Bed-Stuy, and I was to call him licenciado. (Sidebar: AC/DC tee-shirts are a weirdly popular choice, though I don't think I've heard any AC/DC music, not that I would know exactly. Much more commonly heard emanating from the shops around el centro is Total Eclipse of the Heart, equally popular in Spanish and English).
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Que haces?
Have been asked by more than one person what I am doing...
have been to various mercados, watched a lot of local life, been out to a pueblo or two, watched a funeral procession in Teotitlan, watched soccer in the park, been to el tule to see the big tree, which is exactly that. 2nd biggest tree in the world. brings the town quite a bit of money, as they have landscaped gardens with green grass, which is rare here this time of year (dry dry dry season). we approached the tree... ¨my, that´s a big tree.¨ Then there´s a gate, and a guy collecting 3 pesos for entry. entonces, of course we pay the 3 pesos and then... hmmm... now i´m two feet closer to the big tree. what exactly was the three pesos for? ah, see, so the town of el tule can have green, manicured grass.
At least part of every day, i roam endlessly around the city, which is quite a pleasant place for doing that, and hanging out in various parks. not parks exactly - no grass. i am tan, and my feet are a bit sore.
Y ustedes?
have been to various mercados, watched a lot of local life, been out to a pueblo or two, watched a funeral procession in Teotitlan, watched soccer in the park, been to el tule to see the big tree, which is exactly that. 2nd biggest tree in the world. brings the town quite a bit of money, as they have landscaped gardens with green grass, which is rare here this time of year (dry dry dry season). we approached the tree... ¨my, that´s a big tree.¨ Then there´s a gate, and a guy collecting 3 pesos for entry. entonces, of course we pay the 3 pesos and then... hmmm... now i´m two feet closer to the big tree. what exactly was the three pesos for? ah, see, so the town of el tule can have green, manicured grass.
At least part of every day, i roam endlessly around the city, which is quite a pleasant place for doing that, and hanging out in various parks. not parks exactly - no grass. i am tan, and my feet are a bit sore.
Y ustedes?
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