OAXACA! (And the previous week)

Hola! It’s been a few days, it’s Sunday evening and we just got back from Oaxaca! We had to wake up early to be at the bus station at 6:45 on Friday. The bus ride was long, about six hours. Ii slept for the first half, but then woke up as we got into Oaxaca for the last two hours of the drive. Oaxaca is a state, about 150-200 miles south of Puebla on the pacific coast, although the famous part is the city of Oaxaca, which is right in the middle of the state. It is well known for its prominence in native arts and crafts, archeological sites, and Indian culture, all of which are products of its prominence as the capital of the Zapoteca civilization. This brings us to the first place we went, Monte Alban. The Indians had really highly developed culture and civilizations and the early civilization centered itself on Monte Alban because it is located directly in between the two mountain ranges that go up each coastline of Mexico. It is the only high point in the center of the valley where Oaxaca lies, giving it an impressive prominence over the rest of the valley. Monte Alban was amazing. It was really magnificent, the architecture, the size, and the feel of the place. It took hundreds and hundreds of years to build, and it overlooks all of Oaxaca and the mountain ranges so it was really an awing experience, especially when thinking about the expanses of time it has seen. The site itself has flat ground in the center of it which was completely leveled by hand even though it is as large as two football fields, maybe even more. After Monte Alban, we went to the hotel, which was incredibly nice. The next day, we went to a giant outdoor market where people sold crafts. We got to barter with the locals, which was an interesting experience. The price difference, especially at these small native markets, is really amazing and gives an insight into the different lifestyles and means of different people throughout Mexico. Even when I did not want to barter, when I said that I was going to look at other things before I decided, they would start lowering their prices to the point where I actually felt bad paying that little. Even though the prices are all relative to the market and the cost of living, the desperation to sell and the dependence of their livelihoods on tourism and such little income really made me consider how different a person’s life can be and the opportunities they may have solely based on where you are born. I did end up buying things, but the experience itself was the most valuable thing I gained from the trip. Then we went to a Mezcal ranch. Mezcal is a super strong type of tequila. They come from these plants and they cut them open, then distill it, and it has a very smoky, almost barbeque taste. Anyway, we toured the place, and got to sample of the different kinds, and something else. The local custom is to eat the worm in the tequila bottle on a lime with Mezcal, and I tried it which was a crazy experience. The next day we went to a place where the indigenous people make special black pottery. We got back at eight last night, did homework, and then went to bed. Today we had classes, then we played Frisbee with some local kids, worked out, did homework in the library, and now I’m home writing this and tonight we're going to this thing called Lucha Libre (their equivalent of the WWF) because it’s really big here, and our teacher thought it would be a cool cultural experience. My Spanish has already gotten amazingly better, the classes, especially the culture one, are incredibly interesting, and most importantly it hasn’t been less than 75 or cloudy yet!

Adios!

--Nick