Random Descriptions of My Travel Adventures

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...

Oaxaca has been getting so much rain in the past few weeks that everything is wonderfully green. I went on two house visits this week, there are still a few to be done. Somehow poverty doesn't look as bad when surrounded by green grass. After leaving the area pictured below on Monday I got completely soaked by the storm you see brewing on the horizon. Tuesday I went to this Colonia on the edge of town and the roads were a mess. Completely muddy and difficult to walk on. Smiles like these help you forget about some of the hardship. This kid was thrilled to have a strange gringa in his house. White girl! With computer! And camera! It was hilarious. He was running around giggling and rolling on the ground. I asked him and his siblings if they wanted to help me take pictures but they were too scared to touch the camera so I just took their photos and then showed them the image. This family was particularly impoverished, they didn't have any electricity, although this kids grin pro...

Finally, the supermarket seems to be back to its old musical stylings. Today I heard Jump by Van Halen and Eye of the Tiger from the Rocky movie. It totally pumped me up to buy more milk! Photo Source

Last night we were walking down the street in the early evening and I noticed this plant against the dark orange(?) wall of a bed and breakfast. I walk by this establishment and plant everyday, sometimes 3 or 4 times a day, but this is the first time I really stopped and admired the color contrast.

I went to dinner with a friend last week and we decided to share a yummy dessert of chocolate ice cream. Well, needless to say when it arrived we started laughing uncontrollably and I said to the waiter "Que linda!" which basically means "How lovely!" It was hysterical and thank goodness there were three scoops of ice cream.

The protest season has begun! Today is teacher's day and instead of holding classes, school is out for the day and the teachers of Section 22 are holding a mega march. The march/protest is an effort to have their demands met by the government. These demands include, the freedom of political prisoners from the conflict in 2006, the cancellation of all pending charges against members of the movement, the punishment of perpetrators of oppression, handing over all schools held by the PRI political party and Section 59 (another teacher's union), and of course the typical demands for salary raises and school food programs. If their demands are not met they will install a protest in the zocalo for 21 days until they are met, which basically means that teachers will camp there for the next 21 days. If you read my blog in 2006 (thanks!) this is how the whole conflict began and the planton, or sit-in style protest, in the zocalo is a yearly tradition of the teachers. Unfortunately after...

I just got back from a quick trip to the United States to see loved ones and renew my tourist visa so I’m legal for the remainder of my stay. It was nice to be back in the States but also nice to return to Oaxaca . I met with my advisor while I was there to let him know how the research was going and find out what I still need to do. The good news is I have a lot of data and can start thinking about the organization my dissertation chapters and the content of those chapters while I’m continuing to interview people for the project. I feel like the worst is over and I’m that much closer to getting the PhD. Now of course I have to start thinking about applying for jobs, a process which will begin in the fall. Perhaps someday I won't be a poor graduate student! I wanted to post a quick mini-documentary about a Triqui family living in Hollister , California . It was created by a student at Berkeley ’s Graduate School of Journalism for a Master’s thesis. I like this video because...