Los Cachorros Nuevos

At the request of my fans in the U.S. I am posting pictures of the Pugs and the los cachorros nuevos (the new puppies). Until today, I hadn`t seen the Pugs for a few weeks. I am amazed how much they grew! They now have their eyes open and they are very mobile and playful. I am holding the girl in this picture. She still looks tiny in my hands, but she is way bigger than before.
The boy is super fat and much bigger than the girl (bottom). It was hard to take a picture of the two of them together because as you can see, they just want to play rough and tumble. When I held them they licked me and tried to suckle my fingers and skin. Their teeth are just starting to grow in. Alejandro was calling the girl Tyrita (her mom is Tyra, so that means little Tyra). I asked him what the boy`s name was. He said he didn`t have one for him. I suggested gordo (fatty).
Here are the new little pigs. As you can see, they just want to eat, eat, eat. Every time I go and see them this is what it looks like. They all fight for a nipple and crawl over eachother.
Shayla is a good mom, always attending to her puppies. They are only 2 days old. I went by the house the day Shayla was in labor, but I couldn`t stay to see the birth. This time there were no deaths, all four puppies alive and well.
This is the cow puppy. It was hard to take close-ups of the puppies individually because they wiggle and crawl back to their mom the second I separate them. Maybe in the next few days I`ll be able to get more close ups of their pink noses and adorable faces, but for now, this will have to do. They all look black from afar, but if you look at them up close you can see where the black fur is mixed with brown and their coloring will probably change. Do you still think Beagles are so ugly, Mom? How could you call any puppy ugly? (except for Yorkies.)

Graffiti

Today I walked with Heidi and Jessi to a street that was covered with graffiti on all the cement walls surrounding it. There is a lot of graffiti here, but most of it is more names, tags and lines that don`t mean anything. Unfortunately, people paint on anything and everything: doorways, walls of houses and windows. It is everywhere and it is really not appealing. In the city there are more pictures like the ones I took here, but they are not as detailed or artistic. In my class at the Instituto we have had several discussions about graffiti and whether we think it is an expression and freedom of speech, or just ugly and annoying.
I feel like this kind of graffiti is a more appropriate way of expressing freedom of speech and trying to convey a message. It also seems that these walls were painted with permisson and artistic talent. I included some of my favorite paintings, and there are more that aren`t as beautiful or well done, but they are somebody`s idea of art and I can respect that.
What was most interesting about these walls of graffiti, is that many of the paintings were painted to send a message about women`s rights. This next piece says, "First, we destroy sexism to create a world free of violence. Respect and Equality."
I found this to be one of the most powerful messages of all the paintings. I really like the images too, of the mother and child on the left and the Mexican woman on the right who seems to be sending the message. It`s hard to tell from these photos, but all these images were done with spray paint. Even the little girl inside the heart, who even in person seems to be a picture pasted on the wall, but when I got close I could tell it was spray paint.
It was one of the most political things I`ve seen in the city so far, especially from the woman`s point of view. I`m glad that I got to see this graffiti and take pictures. It was definately an impowering moment to share the same opinions of the women of this country who are often silenced and treated inequally by society even more than in our country. It is interesting to think about the success and progress our country feels by having elected an African American president, but globally, how far have we really come?

La Guelaguetza

My pictures turned out really dark, but you can get the idea of what the Guelaguetza was like. It was also hard to take pictures of the dancers because by the time my camera was ready to take the picture they had already turned around or left my sight.
There were 15 different dances with new costumes each time. Each dance and costume represents a different region of Oaxaca. One of my favorite dances was of a region that believes that the woman is able to win the heart of her man by getting him drunk and lassoing him with a scarf. They acted this out really well.
I was glad that I went because I really enjoyed the dances and costumes, but the food was awful and expensive. I had ordered what they said was a yellow mole, but it had a transparent sauce and tasted nothing like mole. It was such a small portion that I decided to order a quesadilla too. You can`t screw up a quesadilla too much, but the guacamole was watery and the whole dish was extra salty. Oh well. I was going to eat somewhere else ahead of time, but I ended up calling Uriel and finding out that he had missed his flight out of Houston because of the immigration and baggage claim that kept him behind. By the time he got to Pheonix on a new flight, he had missed his original flight from there as well.
The airline gave him a new flight out of Pheonix, but not until 9:00 PM. I was on the phone with him and my mom trying to figure out how he would get home at that time. He was suppose to arrive at 3:00 PM if he hadn`t missed his original flight. I had the bright idea of calling Metro (where he works) and asking them when the last Hwy. 17 bus was leaving from San Jose. He ended up being able to catch it and said he even knew the driver. (What a surprise!) Nonetheless, I didn`t talk to him until about a hour ago, and last night I had nightmares about planes. Ug!

Anyway, back to the Guelaguetza. This is a picture of one of my favorite performances from last night. I was lucky enough to catch them in this pose when I took the picture. It turned out so cute, I just wish they weren`t so dark. Yes, I used a flash.
Each region brought a product that was special to their area. For some it was pineapple, pottery or weaved cloth. It was interesting to learn about the different goods that were special to the different areas and see their traditional clothing. I found the dresses and hair pieces to be the most impressive with all the colors and details.
There were a lot of students that didn`t end up going to the Guelaguetza because it was kind of expensive, and maybe they weren`t that interested. I sat and visited with some of the students on the trip that I haven`t spent a lot of time with and it was kind of refreshing to talk to new people.
I`m glad I went even though the food sucked and it was expensive because it was an experience very authentic to Oaxaca.

La Despedida de Uriel

La despedida de Uriel, as you can guess is "the good-bye to Uriel." I got up at the crack of dawn to go with him to the airport. I was fine with it last night, but this morning it didn`t seem like such a bright idea. When I asked him if he wanted me to go he said, "yes," which is really unlike him because his usual answer is, "if you want to." So I felt like I should go and see him off. Sure, I was sad to see him go, but I will see him back home soon enough.
Last night we had a little going away party at my favorite restuarant, Tio Guero. Of course, Uriel played the guitar almost the whole time. I had to remind him to stop and eat something or his food would get cold. This isn`t the greatest picture of me, but it`s the best one I have from yesterday. We sang a lot of fun songs and kept the place open an hour past closing time. I didn`t feel too bad because we gave the waiter a great tip. He`s a young guy and the only waiter in that restuarant. He works his ass off running around and trying to serve everyone in that place while the owner sits around and watches. He looked really happy when he left at the end of the night, a big smile plastered on his face.
Everything at school is going fine. On Friday I will have to take a final exam and do an oral presentation about a cultural aspect of Oaxaca. It includes a breif summary and some questions to pose to my class for discussion. I`m thinking of doing it on the food of Oaxaca. Besides the famous mole, there are a lot of interesting dishes here that are unique to this area, like champulines (grasshoppers). I tried one piece of one, but it was too crunchy and salty for me, Uriel bought a bag full at a tianguis, but never finished the whole bag. He`s definately been more of the risk-taker when it comes to trying the strange food here, and it`s been good for me because there were some things I wouldn`t have tried and when I did, I liked them. I do like green eggs and ham, I do, I do, Sam I am (but not champulines.)
Since Uriel is gone, that means I`m back at Margarita`s. I went there today for lunch and saw that in fact the Beagle cachorros were born. The coloring of their fur is already very prevelent. I was surprised. I`ll ask Alejandro if I can take pictures, I didn`t today because I didn`t really have permission and they were all eating. I didn`t want to upset any hungry babies, you know how that is, right mom?
I opted not to take a workshop for the last two weeks since Uriel was here. It was great not having to go this afternoon because I was exhausted from getting up so damn early, so I took a 3 hour nap instead. Tonight we are going to a Guelaguetza, a traditional Oaxacan dance. I should be fun and will give me something interesting to post for tomorrow.

Los Caballitos

Our last night in Puerto Escondido, Uriel and I went horse back riding at sunset. We only really got to see the sea shore and walk further down the beach than we had seen before. I already had quite a few mosquito bites before the horse back ride, but after that I think I have about 50 now all over my body. Yes, I`m wearing a skirt (with shorts underneath) on the horse, but we had planned to go to dinner and at the last minute I said I wanted to find the horse guy because it was something I felt like I had to do before we left.
Here´s Uriel with the sunglasses on his forehead again. What a dork. He says they´re not his glasses, but the shine from the sunblock, which I forced him to put on the second day because he got really burnt the first day at the beach. I, however, put sunscreen on every hour and didn`t get too much sun at all, and it was a good thing because I got a heat rash just from the temperature of the air. After the mosquito bites, heat and scorpions I was ready to go even though it was one of the most beautiful and fun trips we went on.
The second night we had the same dish called mariscada. It was 350 pesos (around 30 dollars), but we figured it was worth it because if we had each ordered something separately it would have been that much. Since I already described what it had on it, I`ll let you look at the last post if you don`t know, but I did try the snail this time and it tasted like crap. What a surprise! I gave all of that to Uriel, but I didn`t think I like octopus until I tried it at this place and it really was good. If you like calamari, then you´ll like octopus.
We took this picture the last night at the restuarant. I`m wearing a new pair of earrings I bought in Oaxaca. Consuelo complemented me on them and said I got them for a good price. I got a lot of jewelery at the beach too. They had a lot of neat shells, pearls and coral. After dinner we went to a bar next to the hotel that has games like chess, Jenga, backgammon, etc. It was such a popular place that we couldn`t really get a table that fit everyone, there were no screens on the windows and lots of cigarette smoke. I couldn`t bear to get any more bites and I could tell it wasn`t really Uriel´s scence, plus the music was way too loud, so we left after about 5 minutes and left the rest of the Cabrillo crowd.
On Sunday we went back to the restuarant where we got the mariscada for breakfast because it was the best food we had in Puerto Escondido. Uriel and I both got shrimp and octopus cocktails. After breakfast, he went back to the room to pack and shower and I walked up and down the strip where our hotel was to go shopping. We went back to the restuarant again for lunch and instead of leaving our stuff with reception we decided to drag it all to the restuarant because it would be safer. We got lucky though, and the bus pulled up right as we were crossing the street, so we loaded the stuff and got to eat lunch without our suitcases in the way. We left Puerto Escondido at 1:00 PM, some of the students were just getting out of the ocean and we had to wait a while for them to get rinsed off. The ride back was slightly shorter because we arrived in Oaxaca city at 8:30 PM. I took the photo above from the window of the bus as we drove through the mountains.
Now more than ever I am feeling like I`m ready to leave Oaxaca. There are things I`ll miss like the scorpions and lynchings, but I think I can do without them for a little while. I know I`m going to be ready to go home on Saturday. Uriel leaves tomorrow morning early and I told him I`d go to the airport with him. We´ll see. Uriel says, ¨Metro wants me back because no one is doing the right job.¨I will return to Margarita´s house tomorrow for lunch. I went by there today to drop off two of my suitcases since I won`t have time to take them all tomorrow before school and I have to check out at noon. I found out that their Beagle, Shayla, is in labor. There might be more pictures of cachorros to come. They might be pretty ugly and hairless at first though.
Tonight we are going to have dinner at Tio Guero again. Some of the Cabrillo students are going to come to say farewell to Uriel. It should be really fun. Don`t worry, I`ll take pictures. Hasta luego...

La Bahìa Carrizalillo

Here we are on the banana. Uriel and I are the two second to last, but I´m sure you can tell. We went to this small beach called La Bahìa Carrizalillo because it`s good for swimming. The beach near our hotel has lots of rip tides, but bigger waves. As you can see from this picture, the waves are like that of a lake. It would be impossible to surf there.
They only took us out on the banana for about 10 minutes, maybe less, but it was fun. We rode out to sea and jumped over wakes in the water. It was like a roller coaster ride. Towards the end, the boat driver asked us if we wanted to flip and we all did except one girl, so she got inside the boat and watched us. He just tipped the boat on its side, we weren`t going very fast.
Here`s the view of the beach (it`s very small) from the 100 stairs you have to walk down to get there, and then of course, when you leave you have to walk back up. You can guess who the last old man was to come up. I won`t mention any names. He said he was taking photos.
We spent all afternoon at this beach. The sand wasn`t as fine there, it was more like Santa Cruz sand. The water, however, was nice and warm. At all the beaches there are lots of vendors selling everything from ceramics to jewelery to ice cream. I`ve bought a few keepsakes. When I go back through my stuff I`m reminded to cool things I got and forgot about. Ha! That means I`ll have plenty to show for when I get home. This trip to the beach has definately been the highlight of the trip and I`m glad that Uriel is here to spend it with me. Uriel says, "Thank you, Annie." We had 2 full days here at the beach because it took all day Thursday to get here and it will take all afternoon and evening to get back to Oaxaca tomorrow. We leave at 1:00 PM and we`re suppose to arrive at 9:00 PM.

This morning before breakfast Uriel and I went in the pool at the hotel. It`s hot here all the time. It`s a little too much for me, especially with my long hair, unless I`m in the pool or the ocean. Then when I get out I have to deal with my hair. It`s been the biggest pain in the ass so far.

We haven`t done the horseback riding yet, maybe we`ll have time before dinner. Don`t worry Mom, I`ll be careful.
We went to breakfast at this little bakery down the street. On the sign of the place it said "panaderia" and it was translated as "backery". I find miss spellings like this all the time on the restaurant menus here, it`s funny. You would think they would double check the spelling before making a sign for the front of their business though.

Here`s a picture of Uriel singing at the restuarant last night. The first set he did sounded great because they let him play his own guitar, but the second time he sang the guitar guy didn`t let him and insisted on playing for him while Uriel sang. It would have been fine, but the guy didn`t seem to know the songs that Uriel wanted to play and it didn`t flow well at all. The woman next to him was the main singer for the evening and she was really great. Her voice gave me goosebumps. We gave her a good tip. We were also entertained by some jugglers on the beach. They had glow in the dark pins and balls, and then they juggled with fire. We had the best meal at the restuarant too. Uriel and I shared a huge platter with everything on it: a whole fish, fillet of fish, shrimp, snail (which I didn`t eat), octopus (surprisingly good), rice, french fries and a giant salad. We will be returning tonight to have the same. I said this time we need to take a picture of it because the presentation was just as beautiful.

My hair was not brushed in this photo, but it was the cutest of the three we took last night at dinner. The restuarant is right on the beach under a roof made of palm leaves. At the end of our meal it started to sprinkle. It smelled really good and was really refreshing in this humid, tropical environment. It will seem cold when we get back to Oaxaca.
If anything interesting happens tonight I`ll post tomorrow morning. If not, expect that I´ll post on Monday because we will be traveling most of the day tomorrow.

La Playa Mazunte

We left this morning for la playa Mazunte at 10:00 AM after a nice breakfast at the hotel. It was only about a 40 minute drive from our hotel to get there, nothing compared to yesterday.
The sand on the beach here is very fine, almost like powder and the water at this playa (beach) was just as warm. When we first got there, a couple from Argentina pointed out that there was a black thing floating in the water not too far from shore. They thought it looked like a fin. It wasn`t moving, and even with Uriel`s super close-up camera lense we couldn`t see it close enough to be able to tell. So, a few of the young men on the beach swam out there. It turned out to only be a pillow. It was kind of funny, but I wasn`t getting in the water until I knew.
The waves at this beach were really mellow. It is actually known to be a great swimming beach. I was in the water for about 30 minutes when one of the ladies on the trip asked if anyone wanted to go with her on a boat ride to swim with the turtles. The beaches around here are where sea turtles bury their eggs in the month of February. I decided to go with a group of 4 others, Phyllis (the woman who organized the trip), Jessi, Sera and Derrek. Uriel said he didn`t want to go because it meant that he would have to spend most of the day on a boat and that wasn`t his idea of a good time. I couldn`t let it stop me from having a great adventure, so I left him and went with my friends.
It ended up being an incredibly fun adventure. We started by driving the boat out into the sea about 20 minutes, and all of a sudden one of the guides jumped out of the boat and caught a turtle. We all jumped in the water with him and got to touch it. Some of them even held onto its shell and got to be pulled around for bit. I touched it, but I was a little weary about "riding it". I didn`t want to do it any harm. Even though they were being gentle, it swam away as soon as we let go. I don`t think it was too excited to be held so we could touch it. We saw lots of turtles while we boated around, but the most exciting part was the gray whales. We saw a baby gray whale jump out of the water several times. The guides said that it was lost and looking for its mom, that`s why it was surfacing so much, jumping out of the water and flapping its tail. We got really close, it`s hard to say how close because we were bouncing up and down in the sea and there`s no point of reference. I squealed every time we saw it, it was so incredible.
After we swam with the turtles, we started to head back towards our beach. Since we were traveling against the current, the water was much more choppy and I began to feel sea sick. I didn`t throw up, but I was nauseous. They brought us back to a cove right near the beach so we could go snorkeling. I put on a mask and flippers and jumped in the water, even though I felt bad, but I had immediate relief after getting off the boat. (Don`t worry, Mom, I wore a life-vest) I was glad I did too, because I was tired and it was nice to just float at the top of the water and look at the fish. I saw lots of neat, colorful fish, lots of blue and yellow, and even a puffer fish that wasn`t puffed up. (I know you wish you were there for this, Wynnae.) It was my first time snorkeling, and I would definately do it again. After about 15 minutes, I was ready to go back to shore, but the others wanted to stay, so I asked the guides if I could swim back to the beach because we were really close. They said it was fine, but to just hold onto my gear when I got hear the waves. The waves are so mellow that I had no problem getting to shore and with flippers on it was a relatively short swim. You can see me in the first photo with all my gear on, and in the second, I am the one in the middle with both my hands up.

I was glad to be back on shore, since my stomach was still a little queasy. I rested a few minutes and then went to get my stuff off the boat after they launched it. We had to help them push the boat back up on the beach, uno, dos, tres, heave! I think I got a lot more out of the trip because I understood a lot of what the guides were saying and was able to ask a lot of questions about the turtles and sea life in that area. I do, however, need to learn the names of different sea creatures in Spanish because I don`t know a lot of fish names, etc. Uriel was relaxing in a lounge chair in the shade when I got back. It was great that we both got to do what we wanted to do and still have a great time.

The bus left at 4:00 PM and we went back to Puerto Escondido. I fell asleep right away on the bus, much needed after a day of so much swimming. When we got back in town, we saw Consuelo walking out of a restuarant with Larry and her friend. The bus stopped and we all cheered for her and her speedy recovery. She said that the hotel found the scorpion and killed it. When we got back to the hotel, we all got to see it inside a glass jar. It was a big sucker. I`m glad she got her revenge and we all can sleep better tonight knowing there is one less alacràn at the hotel. The hotel said they fumigate quite often, but scorpions around here are just like spiders, they can get in even with precautions.

Well, we are in store for another wonderful day tomorrow in this beach paradise. I don`t know if we`ll travel to a remote beach because it will cost money. We may just stay at the beach of our hotel and hang out. I really want to go horse back riding and they have lots of guides with horses, so I think that`s the plan for tomorrow. Right now, Uriel just stopped by the internet cafe. He said that the restuarant right across the street from our hotel is giving him the opportunity to play his music, so he`s all pumped up to perform again. I`m happy for him that he gets a chance to do what makes him happy. I´m headed there now to have some food and listen to the same songs again (I love his songs, this is not sarcasm). I hope you enjoy my various posts, more tomorrow.

El Alacràn

Obviously, I found my damn cable. It had gotten intertwined with the cables of my portable CD player that I used on the bus. When I pulled the CD player out of my backpack, the camera cable went with it. Whew! I was really bummed that I wouldn`t be able to show you the beauty of the beach here. This first picture is me standing on the beach in front of our hotel last night. The skirt I`m wearing is one of the great pieces of clothing I got in Oaxaca so I can try and blend in more. Yeah right!

This is a picture of the sun setting last night. It`s not as breathtaking in the photo as it was last night, but a nice picture nonetheless. I called this blog el alacràn because when I woke up this morning I was going to go to the internet and I went to Heidi`s room to knock on the door because she was going to go with me. While I was waiting for her I saw Larry, Consuelo`s husband (not Consuela) walked out of the room next door. He didn`t look very happy. I greeted him and he told me that last night, in the middle of the night, when Consuelo got up to go to the bathroom she was stung by a scorpion inside the hotel room. That`s what alacràn means, scorpion. Heidi and I got to talk to Consuelo this morning and she told me the story. She got up to go to the bathroom with her sandles on. On her way out she felt something crawl across her foot and then it suddenly stung her. She screamed so loudly that the man at the front desk of the hotel came running with a bat because he thought she was being attacked. Consuelo jumped on the bed into Larry`s arms until the attendant got there. She said it hurt really bad. There is a doctor at our hotel 24 hours a day, but he did not have any antivenom, so they took her to an emergency clinic.

The clinic was not open, but they made them open it up since it was an emergency. Consuelo said it was a really poor place. There wasn`t even toilet paper in the bathrooms. She said the nurse was really nice, but when they took out her IV, blood went squirting everywhere. Consuelo cried while she retold her experience. I felt so bad for her. She got the antivenom shot, which they only have in doses for children because it is much more dangerous for a child to be stung, so they had to give Consuelo several doses. They knew it was a scorpion sting because of her symtoms, her tounge immediately felt numb and she had itching under her skin throughout her whole body. She felt pressure in her chest like it was hard to breathe. It must have been just awful, and by seeing her hours later still in pain and discomfort was really heart breaking because she`s such a wonderful person and always very happy.

When they returned to the hotel (above) they went and stayed in their friend`s room. She said she couldn`t even sleep because she was in so much fear still. At one point during the story, she had to get up to use the bathroom, but it was difficult to walk because she couldn`t feel her legs, they were numb. I helped her to and from the bathroom, and then she got in bed. We had a trip planned to Mazunte in the bus, which was included in the trip fee. Consuelo and Larry weren`t able to go, but wanted all of us to have a good time anyway.

We are all now well aware of the danger of scorpions in this tropical environment. It sounds like the room they were staying in was more isolated from the main part of the hotel, but it could happen to any of us. They recommended that we turn on a light when we use the restroom and make sure to put shoes on. You can bet I´m watching extra close to where I walk around here now!

Puerto Escondido

I can`t seem to find my cable to connect my camera to the computer so I can upload photos. I will look for it when I return to the hotel we`re staying at here, but I have a feeling it feel out of my bag somehow. What a bummer. I`m sorry I can`t show you the beautiful pictures of the ocean. Mom, look for the cable that came with your camera, so when I get home I can use that one to upload photos to my computer.
Our bus ride to Puerto Escondido left at 8:00 AM and we arrived here at 4:00 PM. It was a long windy road through the mountains, but also nice to see the terrain from the valley of Oaxaca to the beach. There were a lot of interesting little villages along the road and lots of people with baskets of fruit, bread and candy that they tried to sell vehicles passing by. When I started to feel car sick I just closed my eyes and tried to fall asleep. About half way through the trip we stopped at a small puelbo and got some lunch and stretched our legs.
When we got to Puerto Escondido, I got off the air conditioned bus with a sweater on and stepped down the stairs into a wall of humidity and intense heat. It is so tropical here! I have never been anywhere like this. Our hotel is called Arco Iris (rainbow) and has rainbow flags on the front of it. It`s a really cute hotel and not too expensive, plus we`re getting a group rate since everyone from Cabrillo is staying there. It is right on the beach of Puerto Escondido, and we can see the beach from our room. Yesterday evening I put my bathing suit on and jumped into the pool at the hotel right away. It was so refreshing. I really needed it after that bus ride. After that, I put my clothes on and Uriel and I walked down to the beach. Not only is the air warm, but the water is warm too. It`s like bath water. I only put my feet in because I didn`t wear my suit down there, but the waves are not very big. A lot of people were swimming in the water. It was wonderful. We are so happy to have come to the beach and I know we aren`t going to want to leave on Sunday.
Last night after we walked up and down the beach, we returned to the hotel for dinner. Uriel played his guitar in the restuarant while everyone had dinner. It was fun. He had a whole Red Snapper for dinner and it was really good. My meal was a stuffed chili that wasn`t as good, but not bad. I think we are going to eat somewhere else tonight.
I`m going to return to the hotel now and look for my cable. I doubt I`ll find it, but if I do the next post will be more interesting. I`ll try to write more tonight, and if not I`ll do it in the morning so you can find out about our adventures from today.

¡La Inauguraciòn de Obama!

I only had to go to the first hour of class yesterday because everyone at school was tuning in to the inauguration ceremony. We had the choice to watch it in English at a restuarant nearby called Colibri (hummingbird) or watch it in Spanish at the school. I didn`t want to hear all the Mexican opinions and I wanted to hear Obama`s words straight from his mouth, not the translated version, so I went to the Colibri. Everyone went over at 10:00 AM, and when Uriel and I arrived ten minutes past the hour, it was already packed. Luckily, Heidi, Jessi and friends had saved us space at this table right in front of one of the TVs. They had surround sound throughout the whole restuarant and several big screen TVs. Of course there were some Mexican people there, but for the most part they weren`t paying attention to the ceremony. There were mostly just students there from the Instituto and we made quite a scene clappping and hooting for Obama, and even booing at Bush a couple times. I even waited to watch him leave the White House in helicopter so we could all cheer. While I think that for the most part the Mexican people are happy about him being president, they are waiting to see what he will do in regards to immigration issues because that is what affects them the most. I really enjoyed the whole ceremony and I was happy to be able to see it live. One of the comments I made to the group was that I don`t think Aretha would have showed up to sing for any one else. It gives me hope that we are finally beginning to bridge of the gaps of segregation in our country.
After the ceremony Uriel and I walked around town. He stopped by a beauty salon that I went to last weekend to get a pedicure. Apparently, while I was in school he had walked by there and noticed that the owner plays guitar. He asked her to get her guitar out of the car and he played her several songs. He was very proud because the girl that works in the internet cafe next door left the business just to go over to the salon to hear him play. Both of them sang along and were very happy to have him stop and play.
That evening we had dinner with Heidi and Roberto (the dance teacher). They have become good friends and Heidi is learning more Spanish from him, and in turn he is learning more English. She says, "he`s my intercambio." We met them at that great restuarant, El Tio Guero, and I had another amazing meal. It was a chili stuffed with shredded pork with a white creamy sauce and sprinkled with pomagranite seeds. I`m craving it again today it was so good. As you can see, we had a great time and we laughed a lot. Heidi was teaching Roberto English and he asked how to say pechuga in English, which specifically refers to chicken breast, but in English we just say breast. She told him the word and he practically yelled it across the restuarant, not realizing it was also the word for a woman`s breast. We joked about it all night, among other play on words in English and Spanish.

Before we went to dinner, Uriel and I watched from the windows of a pizza place what looks like a street performance, but it was really a protest. In between dancing and singing acts, someone would get on the microphone and blab on and on about the injustice that was happening in Palestine, no more wars, peace in the middle east. I was glad that they are so concerned and aware, but what I told Uriel was that these people didn`t realize that Obama had just been put in office that same day, and it was only a matter of time before it would come to and end. I guess they´re happier being angry at the U.S.

We had the best seat in the house in the restuarant because I was able to stand up in the deep, cement window sills and take pictures of the dancers over people`s heads. The street was crowded and much less comfortable. I was only really interested in the dancers and the rest of it I just tuned out. It was however, another unique experience and it`s always interesting to see how these kinds of things are done in other countries.

It happened to be the same pizza place that we had gone to on Sunday when Uriel borrowed a young man`s guitar and played a few songs. The owners remembered us (but how many older Mexican men have girlfriends that look like me) and told Uriel that they would be delighted to have him come and play in their restuarant any time. He`s very happy about that, but will have to go after we get back from Puerto Escondido because we leave tomorrow at 8 AM. Right now, Uriel is at my teacher`s house showing her roommate, Belen, how to play guitar. She told him at the party that she had been taking lessons with someone, but that he wasn`t very patient and wanted Uriel to show her his technique. I`m really happy that he has found so many people that are interested in entertaining his musical talent because he`s so passionate about it, and plus, it gives him something to do while I use the internet or run errands.

Today I had to go to Margarita`s house to get my passport because as it turns out I need it for the Puerto Escondido trip. I had left it there because Consuelo had said at the beginning of the trip that our house was the safest place to keep it, and to only carry a copy around with us from day to day. Since we are traveling in a group on a bus there`s a chance we could go through a federal check point where they want to see proof of our passports and visas, as well as the hotel that we will be staying at. I think it´s a good idea to have it anyway just in case. Margarita said that Beto had said nice things about Uriel, and wished me a great time on my trip. I didn`t realize it until Beto told me, but apparently if a student doesn`t stay in the house the family is suppose to notify the school. She didn`t do this because she and I had talked about it, but it´s against the rules. She was worried that I had told Consuelo, who might mention something to the school, and then Margarita would be in trouble for not having reported it or the school may not pay her the full amount for the student. So, I clarified everything with Consuelo and she said she didn`t want wouldn`t say anything. Ì really trust Consuelo, so I know there won`t be any problems, but I wish I had known that or Margarita would have told me when I told her that I wouldn`t be staying there, it would have eliminated stress for both of us. It is all fine now, and I was able to talk to Margarita in person today and she didn`t seem upset or worried at all.

Well, I`m going to go pack up all my stuff for the beach tomorrow and put the rest of the stuff that I`m leaving here in suitcases. It will give me a good idea how much room I have left in my bags to bring stuff home. Good thing Uriel brought an extra suitcase with him that I can take home with me. Hee, hee, hee. I can`t wait to show you guys the cool stuff I got. I can even dress up as a traditional Oaxacan woman for Halloween this year if I want.

Mùsica en la Calle

At school today I told everyone the story of Hierve el Agua. I also forgot to mention that as we were leaving the town we did inform some of the towns people, but they really didn`t react or seem surprised. My teacher talked about the people of the region who are called Mixe (I had misspelled it before) and said that she didn`t think the people in Hierve el Agua were from this community, but from communities farther out in the mountains. One of the students in my class had a newspaper that included a 5 color photos of the man and the supposive story behind it. I think the newspaper is covering up the real story because they don`t want to reveal or deal with the truth of that community. Certian things in the article didn`t add up. They said that the young man, 24 year old, had asked his uncle for a rope to gather wood that morning, but our teacher explained that the wood gathering ropes have a wider part in the middle that helps hold the wood together. I did end up looking at Uriel`s photos to see how thick the rope was and it was not what she explained. I also examined the tree and branch he was hanging from as well as I could from the photos, and it seems really unlikely that he could have done it himself judging by the length of the rope and where he was on the branch. I asked the student in my class if she would give me the paper when she was done, and she said she would bring it tomorrow. Not to be morbid, but to have the photos and story in the paper as part of my real life experience. Looking at the pictures today was nothing like seeing the man in person literally a few feet away from my face. When Heidi, Jessi and I talked about it today, we were saying how the energy in that area of the road was very heavy and how much we all felt it emotionally and physically. In fact, they were telling me that I must have had the intuition that something bad was going to happen because I was crying in the taxi on the way to Hierve el Agua and Heidi pointed out that we had definately passed by that spot when I was upset. It was strange because I knew what I was upset about was not a huge deal, but I couldn`t hold back the feelings and they seemed to come on so suddenly too. (I was upset because the night before they had said they would wait for us somewhere and they bailed, and then in the car they kept talking about what a great time they had and I felt really left out.) By the time we had reached Hierve el Agua I felt like the feeling had lifted a little bit and I was able to enjoy the rest of the time. I don`t know if the energy of the situation that was going to happen was really what I felt, but I believe that if you are open to recieve that kind of energy then it is possible.
When I spoke to Consuelo (the Cabrillo coordinator) today she seemed to think that this was more of a message from the pueblo than a suicide. I asked her if she had heard of this before and she said yes. Our taxi driver had told us that in other pueblos they burn people alive at the stake in the center of the town. It is something that I think we consider lynching to be something of the past, but it is still happening today, and god knows what else. Talk about culture shock.
I would agree that it was better to see after we got to enjoy the springs, and it was a very interesting, yet surreal contrast of the two things we experience. It is easier to put behind me today and definately gave me a good story to tell.
After school today, Uriel and I headed down to the zòcalo to eat lunch. On our way we stopped by this street vendor who sells braclets with names on them. The first day I was here I found one with Uriel`s name already on one. When he arrived I was wearing it, and he couldn`t believe that I didn`t have it custom made. His name is not as uncommon here, but as we know in the U.S. it is. What I was even more surprised to find was my own name, which of course is never spelled like mine.
Uriel asked this guy to make him a custom braclet with his name in blue so he can wear it to work. He said that when passengers get on his bus and ask his name, he can show him the braclet. I think this would be a good idea for anyone new that he meets because he`s always having to tell people his name several times.
We had lunch at one of the restuarants in the zòcalo. While we were eating several different musicians came by and played songs or sang. After they were done with a song, they go around to all the tables at the restuarant and ask for money. The first guy was super drunk and had what looked like a toy guitar with stickers all over it. I thought, "He`s got to be kidding." Another old man came by with a patch over one eye and sang without music on a little plastic bench, while his wife follows him around doing nothing except picking up and carrying the bench. He was a terrible singer.
Finally, this young man in the photo came by and played guitar and this kind of flute that is seen in the picture (no more obnoxious singing!) It was really impressive that he could do both at the same time, and it was really beautiful. The first song he played was the sound of silence by Simon and Garfunkel. I applauded when he was done and he played two more songs. Of course, I gave this guy money.
I wish I had more interesting pictures of the day, but there`s something about Mondays that are just not as fun as the rest of the week seems to be. I was worried about finding reservations in a hotel in Puerto Escondido, the beach town we`re going to on Thursday, because Consuelo said that the hotel I was hoping to stay at, Arco Iris, was already booked. I finally had the opportunity today to get some numbers of hotels off the internet and I called that place first because that`s where she`s staying as well as Heidi, Jessi and several other students from Cabrillo. It is nicer than some because it`s located near the beach and not in the center of the town where it`s much noisier at night. I spoke to some guy named Jupiter (Ha!) and he said he found a room for 2 for those dates. I was really happy, especially because I didn`t have to spend a lot of time calling a bunch of hotels. So now we have a place there and I can stop worrying about that.
Tomorrow, el Instituto has organized a place where all the students can go at 10 in the morning to see the inauguration ceremony. We all have permission to leave class and go a block down the street to a little restuarant where we can watch the ceremony live on a big screen TV. I will be there for sure! I hope you are all able to see it too.
Hopefully I will have more interesting things to tell you about tomorrow, but if not there will always be the weekend at the beach to look forward to.
Thanks for all your comments, and I desperately miss Jazzercise and all my pals there. I wake up every morning to the music from the gym next door to la Posada and it reminds me of you guys. Maybe I`ll go to pilates at the school again tomorrow night so I`m not so out of shape for when I get back. This time I won`t wear jeans.

Hierve El Agua

We finally made it to Hierve el Agua today! As you can see, it was the perfect day to go. It was sunny, but not too hot. There were barely clouds in the sky. If we had gone on Friday it would have been much colder and a completely different experience.
It was a one and a half hour drive from Oaxaca city to get there. Heidi, Jessi, Uriel and I went together in a taxi again. As you can see, the town is way up in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. When we got close we had to drive on a dirt road for miles to arrive at the springs.

It was an incredible view, as this picture shows. We arrived at 11 o´clock in the morning and it was already kind of warm. The water isn´t very warm, but it gets heated up by the rocks, so once we got in we could feel hot pockets. Some of the pools were colder than others, so we stayed in the one Uriel and I are standing next to because it was the warmest.

Once you got used to the water, it was nice and refreshing. It coldest when you had to get out and feel the strong mountain winds hit your wet body. As far as I could tell there weren´t any living creatures in the water like fish or crabs. I wonder if all the minerals make it hard for some organisms to survive.
It looks like were standing on the edge of the cliff here, but behind us the mountain tapers off in interesting patters of calcium deposits from the water.
We really had a blast at Hierve el Agua, and we would have stayed longer, but we were paying our taxi driver by the hour to stay with us there. So at 12:30 we decided to leave. It was an experience we will never forget, but mostly because of what happened next.

On the taxi ride back towards the village Heidi had just finished saying how Hierve el Agua was the best excursion she had been on yet when another car passing us in the opposite direction stopped to warn us about something ahead. I understood what he said, and after he left the girls asked me to translate. He told us that there was a man who was hanged from a tree up the road and asked if we would tell someone in the town on our way out. It was one thing to hear about it, but another thing to see it. As we approached the place where they had indicated, we all expected to look down the mountain at a far away tree and see a body hanging from it. This wasn´t the case. The tree was on the side of the road and the man was hanging right over the road. From far away it looked like a dummy, like the kind people hang from their trees for Halloween for decoration, but as we got closer it was frightenly real. His body swung in the wind and we all stared as we drove by. As horrific as it was, we couldn´t help but look. The image will forever be burned in my memory, and in case I forget, Uriel took pictures because he said he wanted to be able to prove that it really happened. I don´t plan on looking at the pictures any time soon, I saw enough in person.

Of course, we assumed that he had commited suicide, and we felt really sad. Then the taxi driver informed us that Heirve el Agua was part of a community in Mitle (not Mitla where we went before) that was never conquered by the Spanish because of their resistence. They live life differently than the rest of the people in Oaxaca, and here the people there took the law into their own hands. It was more likely that this man was hanged for doing something wrong, than as a suicide attempt. They hanged him in a place where everyone would see him on purpose and it must have happened in the two hours or so that we were at the springs because we didn´t see him on the way there and there was no way we would have missed it. Crazy! We were even more terrified after that and ready to get the hell out of there. The feeling of the experience kept with us as we drove back down the mountain road, and all of us girls felt really sick to our stomachs. We needed a change of scenery.

Our next stop was in a small town called Teotitlán del Valle. I made sure to ask if it was the kind of town that took laws into their own hands, but the driver said, "no." Thank god, I don´t think we could handle another experience like that.
Teotitlán del Valle is known for its weaving and many families make tapetes for a living. The taxi driver took us to someone´s home where they do demonstrations of their weaving. In this picture, la señora is showing us the different kinds of yarn they have dyed, and on the table in front of her are different pots of dye that they make from natural plants and a certian kind of insect. We got a whole tour of their house, their many looms, and got to see all the unique tapetes they have made. It helped us forget about our previous experience that afternoon.

After Teotitlán, we went back to Tlacolula to the Sunday tianguis (market). I got a picture of the hanging meat that I had seen in a different market. This picture, by the way, is not supposed to be in a sick reference to the earlier events, it just so happens that I thought it would be an authentic picture of what the market looks like, but once I began to write about it, I realized how ironic it was.
I tried the tacos de chiva since Heidi and Jessi didn´t get sick from eating them the week before. They were really good, but I´m sure it doesn´t sound appetizing to many of you readers. I bought some more clothes and food to have at la Posada. I was glad I went back again because I got to see a lot of things that I had missed before.
The answer to the cooking question is no, Uriel doesn´t prepare food. I have always done all the cooking, but mostly because I don´t want him in the kitchen with me. He knows how to cook, but not as well as I do. Ha! It´s usually the woman´s job in the Mexican culture, so this is one of the cultural norms that I´m willing to fulfill.

When we went out dancing, Uriel took me out to dance quite a few times, but I also danced by myself or with the girls. Yes, Uriel brought one of his guitars here. He is at la Posada playing it right now and learning new songs from the music books he bought in town.

Mole doesn´t have meat. It is made of lots of different kinds of chiles (but it´s not usually spicy), nuts, seeds, fruit, garlic and some varieties have cocoa. It really has a million ingredients, but I´m just naming a few key things. When I read recipes for mole, it seems very laborious, so I have never attempted it. It is also hard to find some of the kinds of chiles it calls for in the U.S.

That´s why I´m bringing home the pre-made stuff.
Well, I guess that´s it for today. It was quite a day! Tomorrow should be a little more key with school in the morning and no small towns to visit in the middle of no where.

El Museo de Santo Domingo

Yesterday after I posted the blog about the party at Betty´s house, Uriel and I went to the famous church here in Oaxaca city called Santo Domingo. You can visit the church for free, which was incredibly adorned with images of saints, angels and crosses. The walls were painted with gold and the ceilings were covered in paintings and
3-D images.
Next door is the museum where I have been wanting to visit since I arrived. There are a lot of Zapotec artifacts inside the museum, many of which were found at Monte Albán inside the tombs.
In the first photo, Uriel and I are standing in the courtyard of the museum before we went in. The next photo I took from the second floor balcony. It was a huge museum, with more than 30 rooms to look in. Uriel was taking his time going through and taking pictures of every single artifact. It was really cute. I walked ahead and them would come back and see where he was at. Towards the end of the afternoon, he realized he didn´t have time to take photos of every single thing, so he started just taking pictures of things he liked.
In the museum there were also a lot of artifacts from the conquistadores españoles like real body armor and swords. I took pictures of a lot of the items, but I thought it would be more interesting to post pictures of us and the outside of the museum which was more impressive in some ways.

From the museum you can overlook el jardín etnobotanico, which is located behind the museum. I am sitting in one of the open windows with the jardín in the background in this picture. I am thinking of taking Uriel to el jardín tomorrow since I won´t have a workshop in the afternoon.
We stayed until the museum closed at 6:30 PM and met up with Heidi and Jessi at a pizza place that was nearby. We didn´t go there to eat, I was just going to help them with their homework. After a few minutes, a young man came in playing the guitar and singing songs. Uriel gave him a tip and asked him if he could use his guitar. The guy let him, and Uriel played a few songs for us. He got a huge applause from the whole room of people in the pizza place.
After we were done helping Heidi and Jessi study, Uriel and I went to a restuarant called El Tío Guero (TheWhite Uncle) because someone recommended we try the food there. We didn´t realize it, but it was a 3 course meal including soup made of chayote (a kind of vegetable), corn and cheese, our main dish, and dessert. The meal also included a free jug of fresh guava juice. It was one of the best meals I´ve had, besides the mole. I think we´ll go back because not only was it good, but really cheap too. Our whole meal was less than 200 pesos ($20). Sometimes the food is good here, and the service sucks, but our waiter was great as well. I give the place 5 stars!
After dinner we headed back to la Posada because we planned on going to Hierve el Agua today. Read the next post for details...

La Fiesta en Casa de Betty

When we got back from our day of excursions, Uriel and I slept for 2 hours so we would be able to go out later in the evening. When I got back from the internet cafe Uriel and I ate leftovers, mole and tamales de mole, yum!
Betty, my teacher, had invited me to her friend, Belen`s, birthday party for Friday night. I didn`t know if I would go when I was blogging last night, so I didn`t mention it. The more I thought about it I decided I had better go or I might regret it, since I wasn`t sure if there would be another opportunity. We left the Posada at 11 PM for la fiesta, but I wasn`t sure if it would still be going on since it had started at 8:30. We found the house, no problem, and la fiesta was still happening. Betty was really happy to see me and said she thought I wasn`t going to come.

It wasn`t long before Uriel asked if they had a guitar and began to play. He really hates to be the center of attention. Uriel says, "I felt like a famous musician, I made everyone dance." He also said, "I was hoping he would have more of the effect of Ricky Martin, all the women throwing their thongs at me." Ha! I told Betty that she had better tell him when she wanted him to stop playing, or he would play all night. All the guests really seemed to enjoy it, and when we left, Betty`s friends told me they were glad that we came. Betty said she was impressed that I knew so many of the songs that Uriel was playing. I told her that I`ve heard them all a million times, just like the jokes and magic tricks.
Uriel, Betty and I are singing along in this picture, that`s why I look weird. It turned out that the party was at Betty`s house where she rents with her friend, Belen, who is also a teacher at el Instituto. At the end of the night, Uriel began to show Belen how to play a basic song on the guitar. Betty and Belen were really impressed with his patience and want him to show them more on the guitar. I told Betty, "You teach me, and he`ll teach you." She smiled. There was one other student at the party that goes to el Instituto, he is from Germany. I told him how Uriel likes to tell me I`m German too. He didn`t really get it because he didn`t know the word "attitude" in Spanish.
This morning we got up late because we were out so late the night before. I made breakfast at the Posada and we finally got out the door at 11:30. I had to have some coffee, so we went to a great little organic cafè where I`ve been before. They have the best coffee I`ve had here so far. I wonder how I got so interested in coffee?
The mole, believe it or not, doesn`t have to be refridgerated even after it`s opened. You add cooked tomatoes, tomatillos and chicken broth when you prepare it. It`s sealed in a bag and a plastic container, so I don`t think it will be a problem to get home.
Heidi, Jessi and I decided not to plan any excursions with the school group this weekend. Instead we have been paying a taxi driver 100 pesos an hour ($10) to take us to specific places we want to go. It`s turning out to be cheaper and we have more control over the places we go and the amount of time we spend there. On Sunday we plan to try going to Hierve el Agua again and back to the Tlacolula tianguis because we just didn`t have enough time last week.
Uriel says, "In Oaxaca I am impressed with everything I see, especially with the beauty by my side. I feel like a child in Disneyland, that`s why he acts like a child here. There are so many impressive things to see."
Yes, I read all the comments that you make, but you`re not driving me nuts yet. It`s best if you want to post a new comment to do it on the most recent post because I`ve noticed there are some new comments on old posts, and I don`t always check them. I`ll post some more later about our adventures today.

San Bartolo Coyotepec

As it turns out, the teacher protest kept us from going to Hierve el Agua today. The only road to Mitla was blocked and there wasn`t any way around it. There were many other roads blocked too, including several barriers on the way to San Bartolo Coyotepec, where we ended up going, but there were back roads through neighborhoods that we were able to take to get around it. It was kind of disappointing not to be able to go where we had planned, but we were warned ahead of time so we could "mentally prepare ourselves" as Uriel would say.

The taxi driver recommended that we go to San Bartolo Coyotepec, and afterwards we were going to try to go to a tianguis (market) in Ocotlàn. After leaving San Bartolo Coyotepec we were turned around by another block and ended up going to this old church site (I forgot the name of). I know this picture turned out a little dark, but Uriel thought it would make a good picture if we stood inside this window frame. He said it made a good picture frame as well. The first picture is the four of us, from front to back: Jessi, Heidi, me and Uriel posing as statues on the old pillar posts. It was my idea to pose like that and it turned out to be a really cute picture.

In the end, it turned out fine that we didn`t go to Hierve el Agua today because it wasn`t really hot to be swimming around in the hot springs that aren`t even hot. We plan on making a day out of it on Sunday as well as visiting some other towns and tianguis on the way. We hope it will be warmer.

The taxi driver recommended a great resturant in one of the small towns that we went through on the way to the church site. Outside the restuarant in the parking lot was a huge cage with two monkeys in it. It`s hard to see the monkey in this picture, but it was the best shot of me trying to imitate them.
There were signs warning that they were agressive and not to bother them, so we didn`t get too close. They were pretty uninterested in our presence and maybe even annoyed by the way he was turning his back to us. Ha!

Here`s Uriel and I inside the restuarant holding up the giant menu that was posted to a piece of wood, weird. We both ended up ordering mole, of course, and I tried a red mole that ended up being a 300 pesos plate ($30). I didn`t notice when I ordered it how expensive it was, but it was amazingly good. I had filled up on so many chips at the table and cookies in the car that I didn`t end up eating the whole plate anyway, so it was worth the money since it will be two meals for me. Uriel, Jessi and Heidi had black mole, which was good, but not as delicious as mine. The best part was that they sell the mole in containers that contain up to 12 servings, so I bought 4 containers, 1 black and 3 red. We`ll have to have a mole feast when I get back because I don`t think I could even make mole this good. The funny part was that the containers of mole were only 50 pesos each ($5), that`s why I bought so much, it was a steal compared to the expensive plate that I ordered.

Here`s a picture of my in San Bartolo Coyotepec where we bought the black pottery. It was much cooler than the green pottery we had previously seen in the other town. Many of the pieces were shined which made them reflect the light in a metallic way. After taking pictures there we realized there were signs that said not to take pictures of the pieces. No one said anything, but maybe because we were taking pictures of us with the pieces, not close-ups of individual designs. Uriel met the guy that owns the shop and I got a picture of them together. His is the most authentic shop of el barro negro in the town. There were photos of him with his family when he was a kid. This kind of pottery work goes back for generations. In the parking lot we also got to see the oven they use for firing, which consisted of a giant hole in the ground that was similar to the looks of a well. Next to the well were stairs down to a hole in the side of the well where they insert the wood to build the fires. It`s nothing like the electric kilns we have in the United States.
During our travels through the small country towns today we got to see a pick up truck full of 4 big, fat pigs, an old man on a donkey-drawn cart, and a tiger and a lion in separate cages on the back of some trucks on their way to the circus. It was quite the animal sight-seeing experience today, but it wasn`t exactly like seeing them in their natural habitat, which might be hard to swallow for some of you animal lovers and vegetarians reading my blog.

Last night Uriel and I went to Candela as planned. We were the first to get there at 9:30 and we ordered dinner. I had an amazing meal there too, an almond chicken dish. Within a half hour, at least 15 young students from the Institute showed up and joined our table, which we had to expand 3 times to fit everyone. Most of them were girls we knew from Cabrillo and some other friends we`ve made from other places. as it got later more people from Oaxaca showed up to dance Salsa. Thursday nights are popular since there`s no cover charge to get in since there`s no live band, only a DJ. It didn`t matter, in fact, it`s fun to be able to request songs that we know. At one point, a really great song that we dance to in Zumba came on, and I jumped on the dance floor by myself, which led to a whole bunch of single girls to jump up and join me. I think it was the only song we danced to all night without a partner. Most of the music that`s played are Salsas, Cumbias and Merengues, which are meant to be danced with a partner, it`s not just like the free dancing we do to hip hop in the US, although there were a few girls that tried to dance like that with partners, it didn`t seem to work very well. We had a great time, but left before 12:00 because I was too tired to stay any later, especially with school the next morning. I didn`t have the luxury of napping yesterday evening, I blogged instead. You`re welcome.
I don`t think Margarita will miss me too much. I think she likes me, but having a student there means that she has more to do, getting up early to prepare meals and being home when I`m going to arrive. She is always nice enough to sit with me through all my meals and chat with me. When she asked me when my boyfriend was coming, I mentioned something about meeting him, but she didn`t respond. I think she`s fine with the break that she`ll have not having me there for a while. I do, however, think Beto is missing me, but I told him I would stop by his work and hang out with him from time to time even though my boyfriend is here. It will change the dynamic of our relationship, since there is a certian respect that Mexican men give to eachother when they are interacting with the other`s girlfriend. I`m sure he won`t be cracking any dirty jokes or anything.
In regards to the mijo comment, which is spelled M-I-J-O, short for mi hijo, which does mean my son, I will say that I don`t call Uriel that, but every once in a while he`ll call me mija. Even though it translates to my daughter, it is more meant as an endearment and not as a weird incestual kind of comment, although I did take it that way the first time he said it.

Once again, Uriel is at the Posada sleeping, maybe one of these days he`ll have something to say on the blog, but we were really exhausted after such a full day. Not to mention that I had school in the morning. When we got back from our day trip we went to a tianguis that is held in the Benito Juarez park right near the school. I bought some produce: tomatoes, onion, apples, mangos and avocado, since I`ve been preparing breakfast at the Posada to save money. All the produce only cost me less than 50 pesos ($5). It was totally worth the money! Uriel went around trying all the weirdest foods and drinks they sold there. I don`t know how he could consume anything else after the huge lunch we had. Some of the things I wouldn`t have ever tried ended up being really good even though they looked weird. Heidi went with us to buy some produce too, and the three of us shared a plate of deep friend plantains with creamy sugar sauce drizzled on top. They were so good! I also bought hand made corn tortillas and quesillo, which is a stringy cheese that is unique to Oaxaca. We`ll be eating well this week on top of the cans of black beans and chiles that I bought at the store. Just by observation and after eating at Margarita`s house for the last week and a half, I learned what kinds of things Mexicans eat. I`m trying to keep the experience authentic by preparing some of the same dishes for us to eat for breakfast. Good thing I love Mexican food.