Journal

Day 2 - January 29, 2005
Oaxaca by Jan Temple, Pauleda Gilbert and Nancy Schmidt

We began the day at 7 AM with breakfast in the shop next door to the hotel. Choices included scrambled eggs (huevos revueltos con jamon)  with ham or pancakes (Hot cakes)  and fruit (papaya, cantaloupe and banana slices), (fruita),  plus fresh squeezed orange juice- jugo de naranja (served in glasses counting as 2 fruits on a standard EFNEP 24-hour food recall). Coffee drinkers are noting that all coffee is served pre-sweetened- cafe con azucar.  Tea flavor choices are lemon or camomile.  Large rolls (worthy of 4 bread servings) and fresh tortillas are standard fare served with strawberry jam.

We boarded the bus at 8:30 AM for the trip to Monte Alban. We took the Pan American Highway built in the early 1940's. This road is credited with opening the world to Oaxaca. We stopped at an overlook of the city. Up on the hill across from our lookout was a statue of Benito Juarez pointing towards Mexico City.  Benito Juarez was a native Zapotecan who grew up in Oaxaca who later became the President of Mexico.  He is credited with Mexico achieving independence from the French during the 1860s. You can understand why now is he considered to be the" Abe Lincoln of Oaxaca". Folklore has him saying, "If you don't like Oaxaca , go to Mexico City."

Additional points of interest visible from the look-out point included:

• Second Class Bus Station: this is used by persons in out-lying areas to transport people as well as animals to and from the market. It is not unusual to be sitting next to a goat, pig, or fowl when riding this bus.
• New housing development that has the color of all homes the same tan color.
• An older housing development has houses painted a wide variety of bright colors.

We drove by Linda Vista- the home of one of the families in our advance reading. It began as a piece of land outside the main city where people began building make-shift houses to live in. This squatters land is now a community of paved roads, walk ways, and homes. There is even a cat walk or two to assist in crossing the busy Pan American Highway . We also passed the cultural center and technology institute where Mary and Earl have worked on research projects throughout the years.

Monte Alban
We arrived at Monte Alban about 9 AM and were greeted by Marcus Winter who is employed as an archeologist by the Mexican government. He has worked and lived here over thirty years. He is the author of the book, Oaxaca: the Archaeological Record. We also met Art Murphy, author of Social Inequality of Oaxaca and two of his colleagues.  The three of them joined us on our tour of the ruins.

The sun shone and Jan Stone would have been proud of the large number of our group wearing hats - especially those wearing the khaki ISU sun hats from Farm Progress Show several years ago.

Monte Alban is the largest archeological site in Oaxaca and was in existence from 500BC to 750AD with a population of 20,000. The people ( Zaptotecans) were part of the pre-Spaniard Era. There were several residences, palaces, temples, ceremonial grounds, and a ball court. We spent time discussing calendars from markings in the stone glyphs. After a brief tour of the formal museum, we boarded the bus again about noon.

Our next stop was to Cuilapan a 16th century convent (in this area convents where for the training of priests not nuns).  Cuilapan was abandoned before it was completed.  We viewed the church and the convent. It was in a peaceful location. It is still used for baptisms, weddings and special ceremonies. The highlight of this stop was getting to see a baby about to be baptized. Her name was, "America."

Next we went to lunch at LaCapilla in the village of Zaachila. We began with a shot of mescal (similar to tequila).  Earl ordered several platters of the Tourist Special which included:

• Pig knuckles
• Fried grasshoppers (Yum!)
• Oaxaca string cheese
• Mole with crisp and soft tortillas and salsa
• Thin sliced beef and seasoned pork
• Pork ribs
• Pork rinds
• Chorizio,a special seasoned sausage
• Chicken drum stick
• Tamale
• Spinach and squash blossom empanada
• Cheese tostada with fresh avocado
• Assorted beverages - rice water; hibiscus drink

Observations during lunch: The kitchen area was not enclosed. Instead it was wide open with all the grills in the eating area. We could watch them prepare fresh tortillas. All the food preparers wore masks over their mouth - not covering their nose, just their mouth. Just outside the restaurant there were several loud parrots, turkeys and monkeys making it challenging for our luncheon speakers to be heard.

Speakers after lunch: Roberta, a weaver, shared her experiences with the Oaxaca weaving industry over the past 30 or more years.  Art also shared with us. Both commented that the economy is responsible for the majority of men over the age of 15 having moved elsewhere seeking employment. It's believed these men will not return to their villages. Young women are going with them. Women remaining in the villages are assuming traditional male roles. The minimum wage is 40 pesos/day or a range of $25 to $50 per week. Experienced women weavers may earn 60 pesos per day.

On the bus trip from lunch to Arrazola, we observed many squatter villages. Arrazola is a village known for painted wooden animals. The entire village is involved in the same art. The economic benefit to the town is quite obvious as we saw many paved streets, new homes and new businesses. The artisan village is very nurturing of family life because the business is conducted right from the home. Mothers are able to paint or sell items from their shop while watching their children. The men cut and carve the wood. In the yard of the homes we saw some green grass, poinsettias, pomegranate, and a variety of large grapefruit. Many of our group enjoyed ice cream before boarding the bus to return to our hotel.

After a brief stop at the hotel, we walked to the boys orphanage. Their director was not available, but the young Spanish teacher who volunteered on weekends (this was her second day) very graciously gave us a tour of their play, sleeping quarters, computer lab (486's - no Internet) and classroom. The boys do all have parents.  It was unclear why they were there, a part of group heard that their parents live in remote rural areas making it problematic to attend school if the boys did not move to the city, another group heard they were abused. In ways this would make more sense as youth shared they could not go home, but their parents could visit them there. We shared sandwiches, juice, oranges and cookies.  They were VERY well mannered children. We also some members of our group left them gifts.

We then walked back to the hotel. During this walk, we observed many families out shopping on a Saturday night. It was a family time and made for a very busy business area. Many of the children were toddler age and younger. We also observed many public displays of affection. They are not shy about openly expressing their emotions for one another.

Throughout the day we had the opportunity to buy artifacts (facsimiles) of the ruins, necklaces and other trinkets.

Pedometer report for Lighten Up Iowa - 14,500 steps.

continue to day 3