Random Descriptions of My Travel Adventures

Picture Source: http://www.noticias-oax.com.mx/ Last night I was at a birthday party for the German librarian of the Welte Institute of Oaxacan Studies. The party consisted of me, the librarian, her German friend, and a Oaxacan woman. The party was at the librarian's home which happens to be right next to the Big House, my current residence. We were laughing and drinking wine having a great time when the Oaxacan woman's phone rang. The call was from her maid who informed her that the governor's helicopter, which we had just heard fly overhead, had crashed close to his house in San Felipe! We ran outside (I live in San Felipe very close to the governor) looking for smoke, flames, basically some evidence of the crash. There were no flames, or smoke to be seen but we did notice blinking emergency lights and heard many sirens. The Oaxacan woman (who lives very close to me) and I left, she gave me a ride home, and on the short trek to the Big House we encountered all kinds of ca...

Just when I thought Barry White was the weirdest music I might hear in Mexico, I think what I heard today beats Barry! I hopped off the bus and was walking home past a very modest home and emanating from this extremely modest home was George Michael's late 80s (I think?) hit, Careless Whisper. I started laughing out loud. What other reaction could I have!? Look at that hair!

Not much posting recently, I had a guest in town for a week (hi guest!) so I have been otherwise occupied. We did manage to head out to Hierve el Agua or, in English, the water boils. It does not however, as we found out, mean the water is warm. It is simply a spot in the mountains outside of Oaxaca where the water boils up from the ground and creates standing pools, waterfalls, and some pretty amazing calcified rock formations. To get there you must hop on bus to Mitla then take a small collectiva up the mountain. The collectiva is a small truck with a shelter of sorts over the back and benches fashioned to the shelter. On the way up we sat in the back while the two tourists from the Czech Republic, who were obviously a bit smarter than we were, sat up front away from the wind and dust. It was a fun ride however and I managed to let go of the side of the truck and snap a photo before we hit the switchbacks going up the side of the mountain. My guest, while responsible for some of the...

This will be a research post, sort of, so unless you need a cure for persistent insomnia (which you might after seeing the scorpion photos) do not read any further. I currently live in San Felipe del Agua, a suburb of Oaxaca that some have called "The Beverly Hills of Oaxaca", although I don't know if in the real Beverly Hills they would allow scorpions. This is an interesting area because of the mixture and contrast of the wealth of Oaxaca's upper class alongside the relative poverty of some of the communities communal farmers. I had an interview with a Spanish teacher from my school on Wednesday. He is a long term resident of San Felipe and was able to talk to me about many of the conflicts between residents and communal farmers. Some interesting things from the interview.... The city of Oaxaca gets 60 to 70% of its water from San Felipe. The hills above San Felipe were declared a national park in the 70s, unfortunately for the communal farmers, the borders of this...

I promised another post from Day of the Dead, and that may still be forthcoming but right now I'm going to post about the Day of the Dead for the two scorpions I encountered in the house this week. Alacrán and escorpión are the two Spanish names for scorpion though alacran seems more popular here. When I was in Guanajuato doing my MA research I was also battling scorpions and luckily I came out unscathed, other than some mental damage, from that battle. This time, at the Big House in Oaxaca, so far, I'm winning. Despite being in very different living conditions from Guanajuato they have found me. Apparently scorpions are immune to being impressed and intimidated by large houses and the unnecessary displays of wealth this particular one projects onto the Mexican landscape. My first encounter was a few nights ago. I was walking down the hall and saw something scuttle away and wondered "what is that?" Upon closer inspection it looked like a scorpion but seemed rather sma...

Just my all-time favorite Saturday Night Live sketch ever! "Guess what? I got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell!"

I tried to enable comments but I tried it once before and it didn't work. Anyway, new posts should have a section for commenting...maybe, this is a test post...try it if you dare! Update: Comments work! I turned off comment moderation, I think that was being a bit optimistic anyway. So, all future posts will have space available for comments. So much excitement I think I have to go to sleep.

A few pictures from Day of the Dead but more to follow and some descriptions. Day of the Dead is an incredible sight in Mexico and any description I try to offer accompanied by photos will pale in comparison to the actual event. This is a must attend at least once in your lifetime. This a picture from the main cemetery in Oaxaca, though these tapetes (literally rugs) are all over the city. It is a picture on the floor constructed of colored sand. Some are made of concrete powder, or seeds, but frequently just sand. They are truly amazing and transitory works of art. This little lady caught my eye. The picture below is an altar at my Spanish school. I dropped by on Thursday and there was a band and everyone was drunk from too many shots of mezcal. I just wanted to pay for next weeks lessons! This picture trips me out a bit, notice the light from the sun shining on the cross on the floor, looks a bit like flames doesn't it? I think someone knows I'm a sinner..... Heading to the c...

This has to be one of the funniest things I have seen in awhile.... click here

I'm posting a quick video I took last night with my camera at a cemetery in Atzompa, a town that is now a suburb of Oaxaca. More pictures and descriptions to follow but right now I'm exhausted. We left for the cemetery last night at 1:00am and didn't return home until after 3:00am.