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

Semana Cinco

Hola familias y amigos!

Well, it’s official: we have been in Oaxaca for over a month! We have thoroughly enjoyed our first month in Oaxaca, and we are all excited for what is in store ahead. As usual, this past week was filled with Spanish classes at Soléxico. This week we conducted interviews with local Oaxacans for class. It was a great opportunity to converse with locals here in Oaxaca and learn more about their culture and views.

In our Community, Culture and Change class we discussed the market system and how it functions in Oaxaca. Ron Waterbury is an expert in this field, and provided us with an abundance of information on the topic. We learned that most of the products grown in Oaxaca are also consumed within the country. Ron also spoke about Market Place Peace, which allows isolated communities to function well economically, despite any problems villages might have between each other. This system permits communities in Oaxaca to have their own individual markets and remain relatively autonomous. We visit markets frequently here in Oaxaca, and most of us purchase our food from several markets within the city, so it was fascinating to learn about how these markets function and their role in the community.

On Tuesday in our Radical Pluralism class with Gustavo Esteva, we had a heated discussion regarding health and healing. We talk about the concept of health and its meaning within the United States. We also discussed Wendell Berry’s concept of health, and learned that the word “health” comes from the same root as “heal,” “whole,” and “holy.” To Berry, to be healthy is literally to be whole. This idea was discussed further in our class, and we had a very engaging conversation on the topic.

On Thursday we took a trip to San Antonino del Valle with Ron Waterbury. Our first stop was to visit to Radio Calenda, a local community radio station. Here we met with one of the station managers. Radio Calenda gives a direct voice to the people of Oaxaca. The station is not paid or funded by the local government, and for this reason, those who voice their opinion on the radio have a true freedom of speech. There are over 100 local community radio stations operating in the state of Oaxaca.

Our second stop was to the San Antonino city council, where we were fortunate enough to speak with the municipal president, who was the first elected woman for the position. We also spoke with several of the other council members. We learned about the problems that need to be addressed in the municipality, such as water scarcity and system problems, issues with the education system, the preservation of the indigenous Zapotec language and culture, and woman’s rights and equality. It seems as though this council is truly working for the benefit of the people in the municipality.

To no surprise, it was another eventful and fun-filled week here in Oaxaca. We are all looking forward to our last week of Spanish class and moving on to our different tracks of food systems, geology and music, and advanced Spanish.

Hasta luego!

Becky C. y Jocelyn