So I`m a little behind I guess on keeping up with this blog thing. SO, I will do a quick summary, which is actually just an excerpt from an email I sent.

I`ve gone to a lot of different places over the past few weeks. I stayed in Oaxaca city for 4 or 5 days and visited a few close by pueblos as well. Then I went to another part of the state called el Istmo, to a town called Juchitan, where I was the only tourist. It was kind of wierd and uncomfortable, but really good because I learned a lot in just a few days about being alone, but not feeling lonely per se, and about being truly self sufficient. After that, I went to a chill beach town for a few days...it was so relaxing!!! It was also the total opposite of where I had been, as I was staying in a hostal where it was really easy to meet people.

After that I went back to Oaxaca City for a week, and visited some more towns. I also went camping in this increadible place, which has these crazy calcium formations...I`ll post pics later. Then I went to Mexico city to meet up with my friend Ellia on Saturday!! When she arrived she told me her sister was coming for a week too. So we picked her up yesterday. But before doing that, we went to a little town called San Francisco Tepoxuxuca. Our friend Erin has a boyfriend in the states who`s from there. He hasn`t been home in 5 years. We went to visit his family and it was really interesting. They are very simple rural people, and seemed a little uncomfortable with us, but were really hospitable. They also really miss their son so much, so it was a little sad. We brought them pictures and stuff, which I think was nice for them.
So we stayed there for about 3 hours, then took the 1.5 hour bus back to Mexico City to pick up Ellia`s sis. After that, we took a night bus to Guanajuato, which is where we are now.

I am having a great time. I can`t believe I`ve been here for almost a month now...Wow!

Habràn pasado años o segundos, no se

I meant to leave Oaxaca on Saturday morning, I really did. But then I met a charismatic loquito named Carlos from Torreon, MX who had an extra ticket to go see Lila Downs in concert, and I was convinced that valìa la pena quedarme otro dia. And it did...it was so worth it. In the morning, I went to another small town called Ocotlan, thinking I`d find some artwork by Francisco Toledo, a famous painter, but he`s from Juchitan, not Ocotlan. Instead I saw art by Rodolfo Morales (I think) , who is also fairly famous, but I didn`t love his stuff. The town was nice, and the people were pretty friendly and so I had some interesting conversations.

Then I hopped aback on the bus to Oaxaca, and met up with Carlos. We had an adventure that involved going to the ampitheater where the concert was being held, realizing Carlos had forgotten the tickets, having to go back to get them, but still arriving in time to get a seat. We were kind of off to the side, but in the front. There was a section (front and center) that was blocked off with a rope, and somehow Carlos talked our way in to this section. They later opened it up to everyone anyway, but it was still amazing to watch this kid in action. So we sat in the front freakin' row to see Eugenia Leòn (an amazing Mexican singer), Lila Downs, and Celso Piña (super famoso, plays accordeon, mostly cumbia music) all do a show to benefit the Guadalupe Musalem Scholarship Fund. They were all increadible. I don`t think I can really describe how amazing these women`s voices are, or how perfect the ambiance was on this windy night under an almost full moon. I had goosebumps like the entire time.

There was an announcer who kept the crowd entertained during set changes, and encouraged people to donate $, etc. At one point, she naming places where people in the crowd had come from. Carlos was yelling really loud, so eventually she said "hey, why don`t you come up here", and so there goes my new friend onto the stage to talk on the microphone. This was funny, but then it was even funnier when she asked him to get up again and talk later, and then some time later he jumped up on the stage and started dancing (he does modern and polynesian dance, so just imagine). Then, they let a few more people on to start dancing (this was during Celso Piña`s set), so I ran up there with a woman I was sitting next to. Later on, some borrachito dragged me up there again, and some how or another, I ended up dancing with Celso himself (sort of...it`s hard to dance with someone who`s wearing an accordion). It was pretty surreal and definitely funny.

So, I really did leave Oaxaca on Sunday morning (although I almost missed my bus), and I came to Juchitan, which is in el Istmo de Oaxaca (the isthmus region). My friend Fernando told me all sorts of amazing things about the place and said I had to check it out, but...well, lets just say I`ve had a lot of time to sit and think. I also visited a town called Ixtepec, which is like 30 minutes away. I am glad I came, because it`s been challenging. But, there was really no obvious reason for me to come here, and I definitly felt out of place. Again, I think this is a good thing to experience. If I felt better, I`d make more of an effort to talk to people, but the people are much more reserved here, and I`m feeling a little ill. So, I am leaving. Plus, I think people generally come during other times of the year when there are lots of traditional parties going on. Right now though, it`s just the windy season, and I almost got blown over a couple times with my rather large pack compromising my balance a little.

I am leaving today, and I think I`m going back to Oaxaca instead of Chiapas. It just doesn`t make sense for me to go to Chiapas right now, since I need to be back in Mexico City in a few weeks. There are lots of things indicating to me that I should just on Chiapas, and volunteer with Habitat for Humanity in Mexico City instead.

More tepotzlan

More tepotzlan
Originally uploaded by em_azo.

We climbed aaaallll that way up!!!

Only three days?

Its only been three days since I wrote last but it feels like much much more, partially because I have done a lot. I arrived in Oaxaca City at 6:30 on Wednesday morning. I don`t think I really like the night travel thing so much because you don`t really save much time out of the day...you get there tired and needing a nap. So, it was a slight adventure to find a hostel that was open at that hour and that had space, but with the help of a nice taxista, I finally checked into a posada. I decided that the ambience wasn`t quite my thing, so I checked into a different hostal last night called Hostal Luz de Luna.

So, the first day I spent mostly wondering around the city and its 3 main markets. In the afternoon, I was thinking about going to Monte Alban, but after a conversation with a shopkeeper, decided to go to a pueblito called Zaachila. I had to find the collectivos, which are taxis that pack in people and charge 10 pesos to go about 30 minutes away. The town was small, and I was one of 3 tourists there. There is a small archeological sight there, and a brightly colored church. I ate some mole con pollo at a comedor, while I watched the people selling verduras y frutas in front of a market that seemed mostly abandoned. It was interesting...amongst the small indigenous women and bike taxis, the town was specked with signs saying "computadora" y "internet". A few buildings on the outskirts of town were covered with grafitti dipicting the area`s indiginous roots (it was actually really well done too).

The highlights of the rest of the past few days (I`m getting tired of writing right now):

Yesterday....first I tried some champulines (fried crickets) and a delicious mole tamale that I bought from una anciana en el mercado. I went to a Museum that had a lot of artists from Oaxaca in it. Then....I saw Marcos!! (those of you who were on the Guate trip know what I´m talking about). Yesterday the EZLN was here in Oaxaca City, and it was quite an event. There caravan is composed of old trucks, a van or two, and some cars. In total, there are like 10 or15 automobiles. It was such a surreal experience! I was like100 feet away from the stage.

Today, I went to Monte Alban, a trip that took about 4 hours in total. I went with a French girl I met in the hostal. Afterwards, we went back to one of the markets to eat. Now I´m here, trying to remember everything I`ve done, and figure out how to download photos. I think I have kind of got it...we`ll see.

So, it´s Tuesday and I´m still in Mexico City. Yesterday, however, I went with a friend, Collette, to Tepotzlan, a really beatiful (and extremely touristy) town in the state of Morelos. We only spent about 6 hours there, durning most of which we were climbing these neverending stone "stairs" that lead to a Pyramid that`s at the top of a mountain (maybe it`s a hill, not quite a mountain. Either way it was really high up). We had no idea how long it would take, we just follwed the hordes of people that were funneling throught this really steep little canyon that the stairs follow. After almost an hour, I though that I was going to have to roll back down to the bottom. Then somebody told me that we were only half way there! But we made it in the end and it was worth it if only for the view. The pyramid was small and impressive mostly because it looks like part of the mountain. The trip down was not as taxing, of course. I think I burned off a few tacos worth of calories at least...Tacos is pretty much all I eat right now, so the excercise was a good thing!

So, I was going to leave this morning, but my friend Omar convinced me it was better to stay another day and leave at night for Oaxaca so that I`ll get there at like 8 in the morning. So, I leave tonight...

The surreal y lo normal

So after months of talking about this, I´m actually in Mexico City. I spent a wonderful week in California with my mom, grandparents, and our friends Jackie and Divine. Mom and I had a great adventure in Napa Valley on Thursday, and then it was off to the airport. My flight left at 11:35 pm, putting me in to mexico city at 6 am. I think I like taking the red eye, except I felt pretty funny all day yesterday, since I was running on very little sleep. I took a taxi to my friend Carlos´ house. I hadn´t seen him in 2 years! I crashed for a few hours, and then we took the bus to Coyoacan. There was a Jazz festival at a music school there, and the quartet that we saw was really good. A woman was playing stand up bass, which was something I´d never seen before. She totally rocked it, too.

Afterwards, we went back to Carlos´ place to get my stuff to take to another friend´s apartment, where there was an extra bed for me to stay in. We had quite an adventure carrying my stuff in the metro during rush hour! We arrived fine, it was just a little annoying. So, then we went Omar´s place...Omar is another friend I havent seen in 2 years, so it was a nice little reunion. We sat around drinking caguamas and despite the fact that I should have gone to sleep immediately, I was too excited to feel tired until late.

Today, I´m takin it easy in el D.F. but tomorrow, I think that I am going to go with Omar, Collette (his girlfriend who´s from California), and some other friends to Cuerna Vaca and a little town called Tepotzitlan (or something like that) where there are some pyramids. Then, I think I´ll take off for Oaxaca from there.

So, its sort of surreal to be here. On one hand, it feels really normal to be here...it´s not like being in a completely unknown place. But at the same time, it´s a little overwhelming to be speaking all Spanish again. En serio, me da ganas de gritar a veces porque el idioma ya no me sale tan facilmente como antes y se me ha olvidado tanto!! But, I know it´ll be fine in a week or so. Apart from that, I feel really different than I did when I was here before, so I´m experiencing everything in a different way, I guess.