Oaxaca

Early Morning In The Zocalo

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Vendors with hot chocolate, atole and red and green tamales stood at each end of the Zocalo at 7am…one giving free pan (sweet bread) and chocolate to two indigenous women selling the latest edition of the Noticias de Oaxaco showing a burning bus on the front page. (The rumor was…and it happened yesterday…two buses were burned.)

No more than half a dozen people strolled about…a couple young nortenos jogging…some people still asleep on the dirty sidewalks. Blessed quiet. Not one of the zillion CD vendors blaring their music so loud in front of the Cathedral you can barely hold a conversation in the cafes nearby. Not one TV blaring the millionth repeat of the June 14 early morning police rout of the teachers. Blessed quiet. I wondered what the city was like before the teacher strike started.

Walking up toward the Zocalo from my apartment I passed only one person… solemnly reading her Noticias as she walked slowly along. The Cantina Bar on Armento Lopez was blaring rock music…still going strong from the night before…one joven leaving on wobbly legs. As it neared 8am, restaurants began raising their metal doors…opening for business…and more people appeared. Walking back down 20 Noviembre, the Jenito Juarez Market was ready to serve desayanos (breakfast). Noisy buses were running. I walked into a Miscellania that, like 7-11’s in Asia, are on every corner. Musica muy bonita I said to the woman behind the counter. She smiled broadly…Sax, she said.

Yesterday, the Election Tribunal announced that it would only recount the presidential voting ballots of 11,839 polling places�of more than 130,000 nationwide…which is nothing. I read on a U.S. media web page that people camped out in the Zocalo in Mexico City are predicting attacks on the airport and oil refineries. And so it goes in Mexico. I read in another place that the military is disappearing from northern Mexican cities…standing by Mexico City perhaps?

But today I am looking forward to meeting a friend at Llano Park and we will go to a nearby Thai restaurant…the only one in the city. An American woman recently turned her kitchen into a take-out restaurant with two tables for the lucky ones. I hear it is good.

One East On Third

Posted on by Laughingnomad

On the e-hotelier.com web site a friend found this description of son Josh’s restaurant in the Hilton Hotel in Beijing where he is the Chef de Cuisine:

Hilton Beijing stars as Lord of The 3rd Ring
Jul 31, 06 | 1:57 am
Catch Hilton Beijing this month as it shines at the premiere of The 3rd Ring. The critics and glitterati alike have been eagerly awaiting the opening of this new, multi-outlet dining and entertainment concept. If sneak previews are anything to go by, it�s clear that The 3rd Ring will consistently perform to sell out crowds – keen to catch a glimpse of the stunningly made-over restaurants and bars that line the tri-level ringed atrium at Hilton Beijing on the Third Ring Road.

A hush falls over the crowd. The music starts up � this tune definitely has a toe-tapping ring to it. Saucy Ring Masters hit the screen first, leading the way to fresh and innovative cuisine as well as signature cocktails and superlative wines. An award winning performance from all of the new restaurants, bars and cafes. The excitement builds to the tantalizing grand finale, with dancers, musicians and DJs and stealing the limelight. There�s no doubt about it, Hilton Beijing truly is Lord of The 3rd Ring.

“One East On Third: Without a doubt the luminary of the show, it�s hard to fault The 3rd Ring�s signature Western restaurant. The a la carte menu offers modern American cuisine, with a twist. Order individual dishes, or opt for the tantalizing six and eight course Tasting Menus � delicious creations complemented by exquisite wines.

Showcased in the glass encased �Vintage Bank,� replete with an area for private tastings, One East on Third features an extensive list of new and old world wines, including the largest selection of US varieties in town, which you can enjoy at the restaurant�s bar before or after your meal.

But despite all the attention and praise, One East on Third remains remarkably down to earth, with an inviting southern mansion interior not dissimilar to the original Louisiana Restaurant. A difficult act to follow.”

Enough to make a mother proud.

Serendipity

Posted on by Laughingnomad

When I was in China a couple years ago, I met a lovely British woman in her 30’s using an internet next to me in the bar at the Camellia Hotel in Kunming. We have kept in touch while we each have traveled our separate ways…she spending the last year in South America and Mexico.

She is back home now…an artist printmaker by profession. But she had told me about Alejandro, a long-haired artist who dresses all in white that she spent time with in Oaxaca City. And I had seen his picture she had posted on a photo web site. One day as I was sitting in a cafe on Alcala St. near the Zocalo, I swore I saw Alejandro walk past. I emailed Hester who told me to go up to him next time I saw him and tell him hi for her…which I did yesterday! I emailed her again, saying that he is beautiful, and this was her description of him:

Dear Eunice,
That’s funny about Alejandro. He is beautiful. He is also very interesting to talk to. He is really insightful and we used to just sit and tell each other stories. Good for my spanish….good for his patience! His artwork is really interesting too. I kind of felt we had a teacher and muse thing going on. He liked the fact I was lively and emotional and flitting around (geographically and mentally) and I loved his insights, wisdom and his peaceful self-fulfilled nature.

I am still hoping to make it to Oaxaca round Christmas time. Will keep you posted. Wouldn’t it be great to meet up again after all this time. I really did enjoy our short time getting to know each other in Kunming.

Are you enjoying living in mexico? How do you find life in Oaxaca? Your blogs have been great. It has been so nice for me to keep up to date on everything that is happening there politically and socially and also to hear about the people you meet and friends you’ve made. I felt sort of homesick even though it isn’t my home.

Serendipty friends!

Update on Living In Oaxaca

Posted on by Laughingnomad

I have almost finished my application for a Mexican FM3 year-long visa. Forms have to be filled out exactly right…with copies…and money paid to a bank. About $200 for the visa and another $40 for them to examine the forms. I have to show an income of $1000 a month. Four pictures, side and front. Two Mexican references, a letter of invitation (I’ll use my landlord) and a copy of his “credential” which is usually the voting card. And a copy of my rental contract. All this monkey business has taken a lot of time but my initial 90 day tourist visa I got at the airport upon arrival expires the end of August so I have some time.

At the CREATE alternative education program in Hillsboro/Forest Grove, I worked with two Mixtec indigenous cousins (see “One Oaxacan Family” entry). The parents are back in their village here.

Catalina says in yesterday’s email: “I wanted to talk to you on exactly where you are located. The reason why is because maybe you can visit my parents in Juxlataxca, Oaxaca. My mom and my dad are there now as we speak and I am not sure how far away you are from them. I know they would love to have you visit them. I know that there is hardly any tourist where they are at and my mom was saying that a few years ago they had a lot of asian tourist which was suprising.”

I am excited about the prospect of visiting the parents in their village, but can’t find it on my Oaxacan map. I will call Catalina, who is like the daughter I never had, on Saturday. She is working, going to school at Portland Community College, living with her significant other and has a little 2 year old that I haven’t seen yet. If I go back to Oregon to pick up my car as I am hoping to do I will definitely see her and her family.

Then I will be returning again to Oregon in January or February to attend to the sale of the farm in Salem.

Last night I talked to my son Doug and his wife Luk who are living in an isolated beach area of Koh Samui Thailand. They are planning on moving to the small town of Lamai. It will be better for them there…closer to things to do and they won’t have to ride his motorcycle so far in the wind and rain during the monsoon season to get to the market. A week ago, a palm tree fell on some electrical lines and shorted out their electronics and fans so hopefully they can get it all repaired.

Josh has been busy opening the “One East On Third” restaurant in the Hilton Hotel in Beijing China so don’t expect to hear much from him for awhile. Josh and Amy will be in China for at least three years so when my year is up here in Mexico I will return to Asia for a year…traveling back and forth between Thailand and China…taking an apartment somewhere as a base.

I found a great mail service in Oaxaca. Mailboxes Etc. has arranged to have U.S. postal mail go to an address in Miami and then to Oaxaca…bypassing the lousy Mexican postal service.

Update 12/2016: Mailboxes is no longer in Oaxaca

Unexpected Adventures

Posted on by Laughingnomad

At Pachote Organic Market while sampling Mezcal, an alcoholic beverage made in Oaxaca from the agave plant, I met Juanita, a lovely Mexican-American woman, who was here visiting her daughter. We connected immediately and it turns out that after having one child in Guadalajara and three in LA, she lived for 30 some years in Highland Park…two blocks from where we lived while my husband was doing a pediatric internship and residency at LA County Hospital. We left a couple years before she moved in but her husband’s brother lives on Marmion Way…the same short street our next door neighbors moved to shortly before we left LA. Juanita has just left her husband and moved back to Mexico.

So, after meeting her daughter, Veronica, in her little casita north of the Zocalo, we all drove to a nearby hilltop overlooking a little valley to visit Willie, a Swiss expat, artist and industrial designer. He graciously served us avocado and tomatoes and grated carrots with lime and salt and we had a bowl of Veronica’s black beans. Besides designing lamps and such out of sticks of cane gleaned from the hills around him, Willie is helping an international organization design an eco lodge in the Sierra Madre mountains.

Veronica, born in Mexico but raised and educated in LA is teaching English to third graders. I get an insight into the teacher’s strike when she tells me her husband never went beyond primary school but was able to purchase a teaching permit. This permit can be held until he decides to retire…or just not teach anymore…and then the powerful Teacher’s Union will pay him retirement wages. He can pass the permit down to his children or sell it to someone else. My landlord, Gerardo, had told me that many of the teachers are not qualified so it was interesting to hear this story. Veronica is currently estranged from her husband…he is busy striking while she is supporting their one and a half and six year old children. The other side of the story.

That evening Juanita and I decided to go out dancing but when we found the club closed we walked up to the Zocalo to find other entertainment. We found a traditional music and dance performance called a Calendula in front of the Cathedral depicting political commentary…boys under huge 15 foot tall paper mache “bodies” swinging back and forth wildly out of control.

Then the fireworks started directly above us. It felt weird being seeing all the sparks rain down directly upon us…possibly dangerous I thought. The fireworks were being lit too close to the Cathedral and started bouncing wildly off the walls and roof instead of up in the air. Then all of a sudden fireworks began shooting horizontally at us and people stampeded backward. I looked over my shoulder and saw that the fireworks stand was on fire. Juanita and I ran smack into a vendor’s tent and fell but quickly helped each other up. All I could think of was the other stampedes I had heard of, but most of the people around us didn’t seem too concerned so there was no panic…they’ve seen this before I thought. So that was the end of that.

We got a cup of coffee further up Alcala St. and sat in front of another Cathedral listening to some boys drumming…and watching a fire-stick twirler…finally making our way home about midnight in the cool night air.

Then came another unexpected adventure. I turned on the stairway light just as I was reaching to put the key in the door when I noticed what I thought was a salamander hugging the wall by the doorknob. I touched him…expecting him to scurry up the wall but he didn’t move. Don’t touch it, Juanita quickly warned…it’s a scorpion! Big one!

No One Died On June 14

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Good news! The magesterio announced yesterday on Radio Universidad that nobody died in the June 14 attack on striking teachers by the police in Oaxaca City.

Immediately after the attack, the rumor spread that at least four teachers, including a child, had died and that the bodies were being held at the police station but no one had been able to confirm or deny this until now.

U.S. Consular Advice

Posted on by Laughingnomad

I picked this up on TripAdvisor.com…a travel site:

As I’ve posted in a couple of threads, my wife and I are planning a trip to Oaxaca next week and had some concerns regarding the escalation of the protest activity. You all have been so helpful. On the advice of one responder to my posts I did contact the consular office in Oaxaca and here is the reply I received:

Sir: the teacher dispute with the state govt here is ongoing and no solution is in sight, at least not to public knowledge. you will not see the downtown of Oaxaca at its best, but I do not believe that the teachers, or the govt, represent any danger to tourists. The State Dept. information re this matter is to not participate in demonstrations and to avoid getting caught up in them, by going in an opposite direction, should you encounter one. I believe you will be safe here.

Mark Leyes
US Consular Agent
Oaxaca, Mexico

Oaxaca Open Art Studios

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Today, friends Sharon and Sueki, a woman visiting from Tucson Texas who we met at Pachote Oganic Market, and I joined a tour of Mexican artist’s homes in San Agustin Etla…about half an hour north of the city. Many of these artists are famous in Mexico and beyond and their art was striking…one a ceramicist who has develped a new process mixing clay with polyester that burns out in the firing…leaving air tunnels in the tile so his gigantic wall hangings are lighter.

One…a hand-made paper artist…gave us a history of paper and an ecological perspective. We also visited a jaw-dropping art museum that is located in an old huge thread factory that has recently been restored under the tutelage of the famous Mexican artist Toledo. The four colors of clay found in Oaxaca…orange, green, yellow and red…combine to create a beautiful setting for a gallery and paper factory overlooking the San Augustin valley.

Then we join photographer, Marietta Bernstarff, (born in Mexico but educated in the U.S. and who also led the tour through the thread factory) in her beautiful home overlooking the mountains and valleys of San Augustin. http://www.laluztalleres.com/about.htm. She remarked that most of the people in this valley are not Oaxacans but descendents of the workers imported here from all over Mexico to build the original factory.

After stopping at a small open-air restaurant for Comida Corrida (midday meal) where we had chicken mole and a beer, we stopped by the home of a Dutch couple that have lived in San Augustin about 15 years. Ineke Granstadts is a jewelry-maker whose daughter markets her jewelry all over the U.S. including Manhattan. We wanted to see her studio she made by hand out of straw bales and stucco.

Then we circled through some other valleys..a beautiful day in a monsoon rain…taking pictures along the way….ending the day with hot chocolate in Oaxaca City.

What I Do Every Day

Posted on by Laughingnomad

People ask me what I do all day! It is different every day. The first six weeks, since I arrived May 30, all my time was spent running errands and setting up the apartment while trying to keep track of the activities of the teachers strike.

I live in a two-story four-apartment complex inside a walled compound. There are huge red locked metal doors that open into a pebble and stone “plaza.” Visitors ring a bell and someone always runs to open the doors. A family downstairs manages the apartment and I get my apartment cleaned whenever I ask for it.

I have WiFi internet access in my apartment that helps keep me connected with my kids and my friends in the U.S. One friend, who recently moved to Querataro, north of Mexico City, has already visited me with her Mexican husband…on June 14…the day the police routed the teachers out of the Zocalo (see blog entry “Police Try To Rout Teachers.”)…which was also my birthday.

One of the first things I was determined to do was find a place that sold thick foam pads for the top of my rock-hard bed…so after several walks around the city I finally found what I needed…

I turn the corner outside my apartment and buy fresh hot corn torillas from a torilleria up the street…3 pesos or 30 cents for about a dozen.

For grocery shopping I walk three blocks to the bus stop on Periferico…kind of the main big ring road that runs south and east around this city of 250,000…to take a bus north to the Chadraui Market…a nice big supermarket that also has dry goods. Here I can buy some of the many Oaxaca cheeses.

Or I can continue on the bus…on around the corner on the right to Plaza del Valle with a collection of stores that cater to gringo expats…Soriano Market or on up a couple more blocks to Sam’s Club (like Costco), Office Depot, KFC Chicken, Burger King, Sears etc. If I have a lot of groceries I bring the taxi back to my apartment for $3. ($3 will get me around most of the city but I am slowly learning to take the buses for 3 pesos or 30 cents.) This will take up half a day. I bought a comfortable Italian black leather chair at Sam’s Club because the kitchen chair I was sitting on at the kitchen table to use my computer was killing me. Sam’s Club is the best place to buy meat….and strawberries picked in Watsonville California! But I miss my Walla Walla Sweet onions…here onions are strong and bitter.

For fresh vegetables and fruit, however, I can walk about 5 blocks to 20, November covered market…and maybe buy fresh flowers and hot tamales from Zapatec women who sit on the floor in the aisles with their baskets of food. Benito Juarez Market, across the street, is full of food booths that is the best and cheapest place to eat…hot soups…mole and freshly made corn torillas. On the way I can buy delicious ripe mangoes from a street vendor. Or on the corner of Bustamante and Colon about 4 blocks north I can go to a smaller corner market where I can buy milk, eggs and staples if I only need a few things. On Fridays there is a great market in a small park about 10 blocks north where local people shop for fruit, veges and all manner of miscellanous things…clothing, CD’s etc.

Then about 3 blocks west of there, on Fridays and Saturdays, I usually go to Pachote Organic Market where I have met several interesting expats and tourists who patronize the market. I can buy organic free trade coffee beans and honey here…fresh from the fields sold by Elvira…a lovely Zapotec lady who brings the bus in 5 hours from her farm in the mountains. Last Friday I tasted and bought three kinds of Mescal while visiting with a Mexican-American lady standing nearby. She had lived most of her adult life in LA and moved back to Durango Mexico two weeks ago. Her U.S. university-educated daughter has recently moved to Oaxaca. We plan to visit again.

The water in Oaxaca City is undrinkable, so every few days we listen for the guy on a bicycle pulling a cart with huge water bottles yelling “El Agua, el Agua!” Then we run out into the street and tell him we want water…14 pesos a bottle…about $1.50 a bottle.

Yesterday, my friend Sharon, who I met on the plane to Oaxaca, went to the huge Abasto Market several blocks east of my apartment that rivals, but not quite, the souk in Marrakech or the Covered Bazaar in Istanbul. On Fridays and Saturdays farmers bring their fresh produce from outlying areas to sell. Besides some tender cactus leaves and some zucchini, yesterday I bought some green glazed Oaxacan pottery dishes.

I found a video store on Bustamante where I can rent DVDs to watch on my computer. Also had some personal cards made up at a stationary store nearby with my name, email address and phone numbers.

For miscellanous kitchen articles I walk one block up from my apartment to a plastics store for cheap stuff…bought a plastic three shelf stand to set my food stuff on.

My landlord is 25 year-old Gerardo Alcala who comes to my apartment regularly to practice his English and answer my questions. I have made friends with his mother, who gives cooking lessons in her home, and also with many of her friends. I am their “amiga” she says…a part of their family now. Gerardo’s father is a retired judge and his 27 year-old cousin is a national congresswoman. I am slowly getting to know his politics…and he is slowly trusting me enough to tell me.

The first day after I arrived, Gerardo picked me up at the Paulina Hostal and took me to his home for coffee and then with him to the Botanical Gardens while we waited for the carpenters to finish installing my kitchen cupboards (see earlier blog entry for pictures of my apartment.) The next Friday I joined Soccoro (Gerardo’s mother) and several of her friends at the “El Pescador Restaurant (with two bands and two dance floors) for salsa dancing.

A few days after that I joined the family to watch a couple of the soccer games that Mexico was playing in the World Cup games. After Mexico won it’s first game, the whole city turned out to celebrate at one of the plazas in the Centro of the city and we joined them with flags waving from the car windows (see blog entry). Gerardo’s family usually has guests in their home who are here studying Spanish and they joined us too. Ticketmaster finally reimbursed my tickets for the cancelled government Guelaguetza and Monday, I will go with the family to watch the free Guelaguetza in the outdoor amphitheater. Then on wednesday Soccoro and I will go to her hairdresser before my hair turns grey!

I spent one morning going to the Mexican immigration office with Sharon while she got her one-year visa. I am in the process of completing all the requirements for my one-year visa and will return to immigration soon.

One day Sharon and I took a bus to nearby Tolucalula to visit the wonderful market there. Another day Gerardo took an Australian couple and I on a tour to the ruins at Tula and to a rug factory that uses natural dyes and original Zapotec weaving practices. I bought three beautiful rugs for my apartment!

Many days, I just walk to the Zocalo.
We are very high…about 6-7000 feet and the weather is mild…cool in mornings and evenings…warm in the afternoons. The hotter months are Jan, Feb, March and April…ending with the rainy season in May, June and July and August. September through December are supposed to be the best months for weather.

It is said that there about 350,000 people in Oaxaca City…but that just includes the city limits. There are more than a million in the immediate region.

So every day is different…

Marriage Blessing

Posted on by Laughingnomad

My sons Josh and Greg have flown onto the island of Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands from Beijing and Las Vegas respectively. Josh and Amy will have Malcolm Miner, a close friend and retired Episcopalian minister bless their civil union that took place last September in the Brooklyn courthouse.

Amy drove from New York to Denver where she dropped off her car at her mother’s home and then flew to Hawaii to meet Josh. About 20 of their friends have flown in from all over the U.S. to witness the event and doubtless to party it up.

Josh, as Chef de Cuisine, will open one of the Hilton’s restaurants in Beijing upon arrival back into the city. Good luck with jet lag Josh! Amy will join Josh in Beijing in September after she finishes-out the term teaching history at Rutgers University. Don’t think she realized what she was getting into when she married a Goetz!

CONGRATULATIONS JOSH AND AMY!

Son Douglas and his wife remain at their home on Koh Samui Thailand where yesterday a strong wind caused a palm tree to fall onto some electrical wires and shorted out all their electrical equipment…stereo, washer, fans…everything! “What problem do you have,” I asked Luk, Doug’s wife, when she called me. “Oh, nitnoy” (just a little bit) she says cheerfully! That’s Luk! That’s the Thai attitude!

I remain in Oaxaca Mexico, Bob in Salem Oregon, Amy’s mother in Denver and her father in Florida. Amy’s sister and her husband are taking their young son, Gabe, home to Hemet California today from Loma Linda Children’s Hospital where he has been recovering from a bone marrow transplant to treat leukemia. A miracle in a global family!