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Day of Departure



I'm currently sitting in the Mexico City airport waiting for my flight back to the inferno that is Phoenix. I'm very sad to leave Mexico and all the great people I met there but I guess it is time to head back to the real world and start writing the dissertation. Yikes. Not looking forward to that.

I decided to take a taxi to the airport this morning instead of a prearranged colectivo so that I could have an hour or two more to get things in order before I left. We live right next to a fairly busy street so typically walking out to the corner and standing there less than 5 minutes is all that is required to procure a taxi. This morning I dragged my VERY heavy luggage to the corner (lots of books) and waited (sweating profusely after carrying the luggage) for a taxi to pass by. I waited, and waited, and waited, for about 15 minutes, but no taxi. Finally one came by with streamers all over it and I flagged him down. He informed me that the cost to the airport would be 120 pesos (more than normal) because today is the Dia de los Taxistas and there would be no other taxis. Apparently all the taxis, or almost all, were participating in a parade (all of them decorated with streamers and flowers too) which would end at a local church with a large mass to bless the taxi drivers of Oaxaca! Of course, I paid him what he asked, had to catch my flight, and was taken to the airport in a beautifully adorned taxi (see above) which I thought a very fitting way to leave Oaxaca after my time there. My colorful chariot to the airport!

My taxi driver left me with some parting words I will share with whomever might read this entry. "Do not leave Oaxaca on the morning of August 12th, because that is the Dia de los Taxistas and you won't get a cab to the airport." Sage advice.

Goodbye Oaxaca, I'll be back soon.

P.S. In further amusement, Google is now displaying advertisements on my blog for jesus related things. Apparently writing the words church and bless in a blog post trigger these ads. I wonder what happens when I have the words satan and hell written in a blog post? Or blasphemy and sin? This is gonna be interesting.

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