Mi muchos dias en Oaxaca, Mexico

Dia 1
Today I was actually awake before 6--up at 4:30 to get all set for the flight--so all packed and ready I sat outside with my luggage listening to the Tecate morning from our casa steps. Apparently everyone and their neighbor own a rooster in Tecate. The echos that filled there air formed numerous harmonies of Cock-a-doodle-doos.

To the Tijuana airport we went. Much to my surprise (it being a such a highly populated and busy city), it was quite dinky compared to the airports I've flown to & from. We were the only passengers stopped for passport and visa check on the way in (profiling was bound to occur; we were the only white people in the whole airport at the time). I mostly slept on the flight--Aunt Lila woke me up for some Pina bars and Jugo de Naranja (OJ--my favorite!) Flying in broad daylight is so lovely! A new addition to my bucket list--> to dive through a gargantuan cloud. After 3 hours in the air, we hovered over the beautiful Oaxaca city before landing; muy verde! Southern Mexico is, in fact, way prettier than Northern. So lush and green all the way up to the mountain tops--reminded me a lot of Hawaii, Matt and Laur.

We got in our rental car and headed straight to the home of some fellow pastor friends of Uncle Kent and Aunt Lila--a happy Mexican family native to Oaxaca.

On the way to there home, I couldn't help but notice the grass everywhere throughout the city (which I've missed so much) and the American franchises (which I did not expect): Sam's Club, BK, McD's, KFC, Sears. I didn't expect there to be so much development!

The family whose house we visited were lovely people. An elderly couple--the husband previously a pastor before he developed a severe case of Parkinson's, twin daughters in their early thirties--one of which mother's here 3-year-old boy and the other has Epilepsy and is confined to a wheel chair, and their youngest daughter who is married and in her mid-20s. All very welcoming Christian Mexicans.

The mom prepared for us a muy rico (very rich) meal of chicken wrapped in green peppers (made my tummy hurt since I've been a veg-head for a while, but still delectable), rice, raddish and broccoli salad, and cactus (looked and tasted similar to green beans) w/ Jamaica (Hibiscus Tea) to drink. I tried to watch and listen to everyone talk, but it was hard to make out most of the conversations since I'm still learning--I've more become a professional day-dreamer than anything... and I used to be such a good listener, too. :P

Some of the family members spoke the few parables (words) in English that they knew, which I appreciated. We said our byes and Hasta Mananas and were then guided by car to the home where we'd be staying--brother of the man with Parkinson's. We met the girl, Delila (pronounced Daleelah) who had been staying there and would be coming back to the BI to study. She and her friend, Veronica, are both indigenous, which isn't uncommon in Oaxaca, however spoke Spanish.

*The culture in Mexico, from what Aunt Lila tells me, is they believe the order of class goes Americans>Mexicans>Indeginous tribes such as Zapotecs and Mistekes>Hauve tribe. All of the 16 or so tribes of Oaxaca each have their own language and learn Spanish as their second language. Also within their tribal language they have different dialects (sometimes unrecognizable to other groups within the same tribe). The different tribes--Aztecs, Zapotecs, Hauves--have battled eachother for centuries (since ancient times), and to this day they have their fair share of land disputes that not even the gov't is willing to get involved in.*

We went to the mini mart to get some coffee, chips, cheese, and nuts for dinner, which we shared with Delila and Veronica--I again tried my best to comprehend the conversations, and what I couldn't, Aunt Lila would thoughtfully translate.

*Breakfast is usually light in Mexican culture: some coffee and a Tamale w/ some fruit. Lunch is the big meal of the day and it varies on what is served. Dinner is much like breakfast: lite, usually some coffee and some pastries or maybe some light Tortas.*

We slept in a room in the house. What a day!

Dia 2
This morning we went back to the same house for breakfast--fruit salad (p.s. papayas rock!), tamales, and some other dish with coffee to drink. A girl named Sandra whose sisters goes to the BI came by and Uncle Kent invited her to join us in our adventures for that day, and she accepted. So, to start off the adventure of a day we went to the Monte Alban (Zapotecan ruins). It was really awesome to see! Occupied between 500 B.C. and 800 A.D. There were a bunch of men walking around the grounds who would try to sell you fake artifacts (claiming authenticity) which was illegal; however, if their facts were corrected, they did deliver us some very interesting info concerning the ruins, which was nice. Sandra and I were really awkward due to the language barrier, but I tried to lighten things up a bit by asking her to do some funny poses with me in front of the ruins.

Next Uncle Kent took us to the Oaxaca City Center where all the markets were--after approximately 45 min. of trying to find a parking spot. We looked around at all the neat cultural objects--I got to try my first Tliuda (kind of like a Quesadilla) and had some Horchata. :d Also had a chance to try the Chapulines (grasshoppers), but I just wasn't ready, so I didn't. Uncle Kent took us to one more stop to see this giant tree--pretty big, but more like a whole bunch of trees naturally grafted and then we went for some ice cream. I had the limon sorbet--lime flavored! :) Everyone else tried the Kiss of Angel--sweet strawberry-like taste. And the prickly pear flavor was called Tuna... yuck! But it tasted like figs... still yuck!

We went back to the family's, bringing pastries for dinner, and I got to try my Mexican Hot Chocolate. Muy delicioso! Me gusta... :)

Dia 3
This morning we left for Southern Oaxaca (4 hour drive); Uncle Kent played his album, of what sounds like a Mexican version of Shane & Shane, the whole way. I have the songs memorized, and I don't even know what they mean completely.

Our first stop was in Tuantapec where we visited with a BI graduate. He served us limonade (limeade), black beans, a baked fish with a tortillas to use as eating utensils. The fish still had all the bones and both the eyes. Quite the... quite the... yeah.

*Here the kitchens are outdoor, esp. their sinks. No dishwashers. And they don't have levers on their toilets, or toilet seats. To flush you use a bucket of water.*

Victor and his wife are in the process of building a new house (which I loved!) and one cool thing they did was make designs around where the lights will go in the ceilings--a popular trend in Mexico, if you choose to put a little more effort into making your house nice.

Another 1.5 hour drive and we were in San Mateo: Oxen-pulled carts, women with ornate dress pieces and baskets on their heads, and eyes that had appeared to have rarely, if at all, seen white folk. A whole new world, as Aladdin and Jasmine would sing.

As we walked through the gates of the church grounds, around 5:30, we interrupted a bunch of those women with the dress pieces chanting in worship together. Two young girls ran up to greet us, followed by their mother. "Dios!" they said (at the time I didn't know that that was how they greeted one another in the town... I was too stunned by the culture to think clearly and pay attention to greetings and introductions). We crossed the street and through a fence and into the yard of the girls and mother who were with us still. Food ready to eat. Shrimp soup (shrimp is a popular food item in San Mateo since it's so close to the ocean--many of the men are shrimpermen for a living) and Totopos. The little girls and their brother who was already seated could not take their curious eyes off of me. Before we began to eat, both of the girls whispered to their mother and scurried into the house to change from there skirts into pants (which I was also wearing). At dinner I listened and smiled and broke open my shrimp to clean it as much as possible (the family members ate everything but the tail). The pastor of the church, and the father of the children and the husband to the wife, obviously, was getting water from their well and Uncle Kent called me over to try--he first had the 7-year-old girl demonstrate (first try, a winner). I got it on my second try. :)

Anyway, after dinner the girl asked me how to say all the body parts and other words in English and asked me to write them down in their spiral. By the end of the night we were holding hands and playing hopscotch and soccer in their sand yard.

Oh, and the girls took me to watch people out on the street, and some drunk guy walked by and just looked at me so I said "Hola!" The girls busted up laughing--2 reasons: #1 you don't talk to the borrachos (drunks)! #2 in San Mateo they greet eachother by saying "Dios", which is a very much abbreviated version of "God bless you" (Dios le Bendiga). So for the next half hour, the girls guided me around having me greet people while they enjoyed a good laugh. "Stupid Americans..."

The girls also took me to go the toilets which are located at the church--the toilets don't have levers, like in Tuhantapec, so here they have 50 gallon drums of water that you take out as you need with a bucket and pour the bucket of water into the toilet to flush. Showers should be interesting in the morning. I get to sleep in a fold-out burlap cot. It seems rather comfy.

Dia 4
For breakfast we walked across the street to the family's house again. The wife, Elizabeth, made some really tasty eggs with shrimp in them (of course), black beans, and totopos &/or tortillas to use to eat with. Oh, and hot chow which is a blended corn drink served hot with no additives. After breakfast I napped until the shower was vacant.

My first shower in San Mateo--oh boy! So what you do is get the bucket and fill a 20ish gallon bowl/tub with water, and with that you use the little bowl to bathe. The first cold bowl of water catches you off-guard, but the rest of the bath feel great! It was like how my mommy use to bathe me in the tub, except I was standing and I had to pour the water on me myself. Too bad. My hair smelt delicious from my and Aunt Lila's kid's watermelon shampoo! :)

The men, apparently, had a work day at the church, so there were about 25 of them outside in the courtyard trimming the trees. I played with Getsi (pronounced Hetzi--the 7-year-old) and Balynn (a little 3-year-old who goes to the church). We looked through make-up magazines commenting on what we gusta'd and I quickly learned how to say "look" in Spanish because with every page flip there was and excited "Mira!"

Balynn's mom--who I thought already didn't like me because I had greeted her last night kind of jokingly, since the girls were laughing, and because yo no comprendo Spanish--asked me to help her pass out the lunch to the men. Bowls of blended corn and water (not as fine as hot chow) and they drink the solution out of the bowls--no spoons. There was also shrimp (of course) and Panila (something similar to molasses). After lunch, I did the dishes for Balynn's mom, to maybe win her approval, and it worked. She was very grateful.

I got my camera and let Getsi and Balynn take pictures, and Balynn's dad brought us ice cream bars. Then I went to take another nap and tried my best to tell Getsi that, but when I woke up for dinner she asked me where I'd been cause she'd been waiting for me. Oops. Aunt Lila has been sick all day and sleeping to hopefully recover, so she didn't eat dinner, which was chicken with noodles (spaghetti-like). After dinner, Aunt Lila and I did dishes for Elizabeth, and I played with Eli (5 years old) and Getsi (7 years old) for a little bit; Gerson (the twin of Eli) is still a little shy around me, but he is a boy. Later tonight we headed into Salina Cruz to go school shopping for the kids (Uncle Kent and Aunt Lila bought all there stuff for them--what great people!) They have a Mexican store owned by Walmart called Bodega Aurrera, which I thought was funny. Later we stopped at a Taqueria where I got to eat another Tlayuda (this one was HUGE--as wide as two of my heads) and some more Jamaica drink--and Cats and Dogs 2 was playing (pirate) in Spanish.

On the way home, crammed in the car, one of the tires popped in a pothole on the freeway. Oh dear. We've had lots of random troubles with this rental car--we rarely make it over speed bumps without hitting the muffler, and there are a lot of speed bumps here! So anyway, I prayed that God would bring Uncle Kent peace even though we were pulled off on the right lane of the freeway trying to change the tire. 30 seconds later, the cops pulled up to assist him. Then I prayed that we would be done in less than 5 minutes so that we could get home sooner--the tire was changed and we were on our way 5 minutes later. What an awesome God, eh?
The kids fell asleep on our laps on the way back home, and I let Getsi lay on my lap while they were trying to get the car up the slant into the church, cause she initially got out of the car and slept on a boulder. Haha Tired girl. It feels like this day was more like 3, but it wasn't.

Dia 5
Today we got up at 5:30 to go to a church in Tuhantapec where Uncle Kent would be preaching. We stopped at a nice restaurant for breakfast--I got to eat CORNFLAKES CEREAL with fresh bananas in it!!! Oh how I've missed junky American food! We went to the church--in Mexico, no matter how big, you have to greet everyone in the church while they walk in and then again during a song ("Dios le Bendiga")--a few of the worship songs were in Zapotecan, so then I REALLY didn't understand, and Uncle Kent, in his sermon, called out the Zapotecs of Tuhantapec to serve God by witnessing to everyone--even the borrachos, even the Hauve (their enemies). I was surprised by all I was able to follow in his sermon. I'm progressing! Yea! Then the pastor and his brother, Hector, (who was kinda creepy and kept telling me my name was bonita) took us to get chicken (the lady took an entire plucked chicken and just chop, chop, chop, put it in a bag) and drinks and macaroni salad for lunch, which we ate in this property of fields where the pastor was going to build a rehab center.

After that we went to a market in Tuhantapec where we got coconut totopos to snack on and regular totopos, and I got some horchata, of course. Aunt Lila also got a mango that she ate really weird. When we got back to San Mateo, Uncle Kent and Aunt Lila went to nap before the next church service that evening there in San Mateo where Uncle Kent would be preaching, and I decided to go to play with the girls. Elizabeth, such a nice gal, fed me grapes and apples while I visited. Then Uncle Kent and Aunt Lila woke up and we drove down the road to the other church where Uncle Kent would be delivering the same sermon. The church building was just a little hut of bamboo kind of twigs. Uncle Kent delivered the same sermon to the Hauve's as he had the Zapotecs, and while he preached kids were talking a lot, and then it started pouring rain--HARD--and then the church started flooding. Crazy distracting and kinda funny, but Uncle Kent just kept going--what a guy! Oh my gosh, and CRAZY amounts of mosquitoes! We were getting bit every five seconds! SO many bites! Gahh!

After that, we came back here to the church where the family of Elizabeth, Getsi, Eli, Pastor Camilo, and Gerson and Elizabeth's sisters family came in our room to watch a Christian movie called Behind the Sun. It was all in Spanish, but still easy enough for me to follow. Before the movie, the two little girls played with my hair and did it up cute. After the movie we ate shrimp and drank coffee that Elizabeth and her sister prepared. Even the kids drink caffeinated coffee (oh and this was the night before there first day of school--10pm at this point); I guess it's no big deal in Mexico. I remember sneaking to get coffee in church at that age! :) Aunt Lila and I stayed up talking since the caffeine was still in our system.

Dia 6
Today it rained all day. I slept a lot cause I didn't feel too good. We had breakfast over at the fam's and it was the first day of school for the kids. They were all cute in their little uniforms; Camilo biked Getsi to school after breakfast and then Elizabeth later walked the twins to school. Uncle Kent and Aunt Lila had many visitors from the village throughout the day.
Later the kids came in and we played memory and built casitas (little houses) out of scrap wood. Uncle Kent saw an Iguana on the roof, but I missed it. After dinner we watched a missionary movie called "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness" (they put on the English subtitles for me on this one) and as soon as the movie started, it reminded me of my best friend Jessica cause their have been signs these past couple of months that God wants her to go to China and be a missionary--and that's what this movie is all about; a lady who knows she is called to be a missionary in China, even thought it is at a threatening state, and she does what it takes to get there and do what God has called her to. I fell asleep 1/3 of the way through--it's 3 hours long--but was woken up for coffee and quesillo tortas. It was even later than the movie night before, and again, the kids drank caffeinated coffee. Wowzers.

Dia 7
Today was the last day of San Mateo. We had breakfast one last time with Camilo, Elizabeth, and the kids, but Getsi was already off to school, so I didn't get to say goodbye. :( But I said goodbye to Gerson & Eli with big bear hugs and we took pictures. I got ready, packed up my belongings, and we loaded up in the little Tzuru. We also had to take 3 other people with us 3 all the way up to Oaxaca in a 5 person car that was very small. Luggaga, bags, people. There was not enough room. So we ended up CRAMMING in, and cramming in the luggage, too, and just drove to Salina Cruz (30 min) where we sent Hugo on a bus with his luggage. Ahh, much better! Abigail, Marbella, and I were in the back, each with our own seat. :) Abigail and Marbella spoke in Hauve the whole ride (that's their first language), so I just listed to my MP3 for the 6.5 hour trip (cause it was raining). And their were a TON of rock falls and mud slides along the way, so Uncle Kent had to really be aware. When we arrived back in Oaxaca city I had to pee like I've never had before, but 3 problems: #1 we still had to pick Hugo up from the bus station, #2 we were stuck in traffic, and #3 once we were able to go to the Sorianna's grocery store, we still had to find parking. I prayed... A LOT. And I made it to the bathroom just in time. Haha Gracias a Dios! (Thanks to God!)
We headed back to the first house we stayed in (the Parkinson pastor's brother's house) and ate dinner (bread, pastries, tortas, coffee) as a big group. What a day!

Dia 8
Today, everyone but Uncle Kent went home. In the morning we ate a big breakfast of eggs, bacon, tortillas, and guac. Then I went with Uncle Kent and Aunt Lila to a Pastor friends home where they talked and we were served ANOTHER breakfast (note: it's highly offensive to say, "Oh, sorry we already ate" and not eat what they serve): chicken and chili tamales, cantaloupe, and coffee. Oh, too much food. We went back, got everyone and this time divided into two cars and stopped by the market really quick to pick up quesillo, totopos, and I tried CHAPULINES! Mmm, yummy grasshoppers! They taste like dried tomatoes; I bought a bag of 'em. :) The flight was good, but to be home was great! I loved the trip to Oaxaca and seeing the contrast between northern and southern Mexico, and it was also so great to progress in my Spanish! :) Confidence increase, cultural exposure.