Semana Seis

This week was certainly exciting and exhausting, ¡todo al mismo tiempo! The week started off splendidly; we had a nice group gathering at one of the houses to celebrate día de amor y Amistad, as well as Anna’s 21 birthday. This week was also our final week at Solexico, which wrapped up nicely with oral presentations of various topics. We will certainly miss Solexico, but are very excited to move onto the second part of the program. Can’t believe it’s here already!

Tuesday we got our first taste of Mexican Politics. President Calderón came to Oaxaca on Tuesday to sign a bill that subsidized private schools in Oaxaca. Recently, a movement was passed that would provide tax cuts to those who sent their children to the private sector. Public school teachers were clearly not too happy with this, and planned a demonstration to express their criticism. Tensions got a little high in the Zocalo, but all is well now. It was hard to avoid the growing crowds in the streets of the city. Don’t worry mom and dad!

((A seemingly endless stream of teachers marched through the city))

With a lot of work and everything from the first half of the program wrapping up, it was a quiet week. On Thursday we enjoyed a very pleasant tour through the botanical garden near Santo Domingo, lead by the wife of Ron Waterbury.
To up the gringo-factor, we were given awesome straw hats to wear on our tour (as you can see, everyone looked really good).

We were all very impressed with the tranquility of the garden, set in the middle of the city. We toured through the section of edible plants and learned why chilis are so picante (spicy). One of our favorite plants was the Pochote tree, which is considered sacred by many indigenous groups of México. The tree has dinosaur-like spikes, and it's branches grow perpendicular to the trunk, creating a very interesting appearance.

((The Pochote Tree))

We learned about the difference between Mezcal and Tequila, although the process is the same. We saw some truly beautiful flowers and vegetation, and enjoyed a great afternoon together.

((The beautiful Oaxaca, by night))

We have a long weekend ahead of us, with many exciting plans to do “research” at the beach and other places! ¡Vamos a la playa ahora, hasta la próxima semana!

Yours truly, Danielle y Rachel