A huge rainstorm right now at the big house. Thunder, lightening, all the bells and whistles. As I'm sitting at my computer, waiting for the power to go out as it usually does during a storm like this in Mexico, a small roach (quite small) climbs onto my keyboard and underneath the keys! Yes, the boundless joys of Mexico. Several moments later, as I began typing, he escaped out the side and trotted off over the desk. Nothing makes your fingers tap lightly on the keyboard and promotes wrist elevation like roaches underneath the QWERTY. Good times...good times....
My mom came to Oaxaca for the month of June and during her last full week in Mexico we went to visit a women's weaving cooperative in Teotitlan del Valle, a village outside of the city of Oaxaca known for its tapetes or rugs. During my stay in Oaxaca in the summer of 2006 I went with my study abroad group to Vida Nueva, a women's co-op of weavers and bought a tapete for my mom. Vida Nueva consists of single women, widows, and single mothers who otherwise might not receive a decent price (or live a decent life) for their weaving in the male-controlled tapete business that dominates Teotitlan. After telling her the story of the cooperative and the women who benefit from it, my mother was eager to visit herself and support this group. Luckily I ran into a friend who was taking a group of students to the cooperative and she was kind enough to let us tag along. Pastora Gutierrez is the founder of the coooperative (the woman on the left in the photo below) and has taken the rugs an...