On the road again: Apoala

Tucked away in a valley far, far away... there exists a place bursting with lush, native vegetation surrounded by vertical, succulent-covered, limestone cliffs. For some, it is a place sought out by those with the desire to enter a place lost in geologic time. For others, it is place for those with the desire to study all that the pre-Hispanic agricultural system has to offer. But where is this place do you ask? How can such a perfect oasis exist right here in the desert like valleys of Oaxaca? Well, now you can ask the experts – thats us!

For the past week, while those in the Spanish track returned to the city to start their courses at the University of Benito Juarez, both the geology and food systems tracks packed their bags, once again, for another adventure. Traveling nearly three and half hours though a series of scenic (yet bumpy) roads to Apoala, in Oaxaca’s beautiful Mixteca region, we arrived jaw dropped. Apoala, known for its bountiful supply of water and Karst geology, we knew this week we were destined to have a very different experience.

The first two days we were fortunate enough to be shown around waterfalls and limestone riverbeds by our new, storytelling tour guide, Felix. But the next few days would be up to us. Choosing a project based upon our observations, we set off into the community gathering information from everyone willing to offer.

But working minds crave big comidas. Sampling the local grub in this part of Oaxaca however, consisted of exotic dishes such as cactus flower in a spicy chick pea sauce, mole amarillo and watercress, every kind of atole (even wheat!) under the Oaxacan sun, and endless amounts of fresh tortillas and beans. And what would early mornings be without café de olla and a variety of different styles of huevos a la Mexicaña, or even some with agave flower buds? Better yet, dinners of chocolate and pan dulce?!

Ok ok ok, we didn’t JUST eat while we were in Apoala. Oh no. We did much more than that. After daily group meetings, we each became independent researchers, choosing to investigate such topics as average water discharge both in a out of the valley, soils and crop rotation, local food economy, irrigation systems, and land tenure.

On our own, and invested in putting pieces of the puzzle of Apoala together each day, it was nice to finally get a chance on the last morning, to share our findings with one another before heading back to the city. The geology track, with river calculations, maps, and field journals in hand, explained to us the unique features of the land that lends itself the water distribution at both the beginning and end of the river. Learning to be ‘systems thinkers’, the food systems track compiled all their newly discovered knowledge into a concept map -- illustrating once again the interconnectedness of the human and agroecology present right here in Apoala.

After a long week of village research, evening basketball games, bonfires, cave exploring, waterfall swimming and eco-cabin living, we all piled back into the vans city bound.

Special thanks and warm welcome to our new staff...

food systems enthusiast, John Hayden, accompanied by Victor Izzo, our insightful TA

passionate geologist, Dr. Barry Doolan

and also to our lovely walking Spanish dictionary, Carolina Lukac -- we all had an amazing week!

Until next time,

Katie and Ariel