In Love with Oaxaca

After a rough week full of essay writing and battling of another return of the throat infection, I´m finally in Oaxaca. Lisa and I left Guanajuato Friday afternoon, spent the night in Mexico City, and flew into Oaxaca Saturday morning. We walked around the city for awhile, checked into our hostel and took a nice long nap, then explored some more. Oaxaca reminds me a lot of Guanajuato except for the city layout is more planned out. It is absolutely gorgeous.

A specialty of Oaxaca is a drink called mezcal, which is made from the same plant as tequila and tastes pretty similar. Walking through towns, a dozen stores sell it, and basically give you unlimited free samples. There are lots of different flavors, and between all the samples I am pretty sure we tried them all. We bought a big bottle for the few days we are here (flavored chocomente) and I bought three tiny bottles to take home with me (coco, pina colada, and nuez).

Today was absolutely amazing. We left first thing in the morning to go see Hierva el Agua, one of two petrified waterfalls in the world. We rode a bus for about an hour into Mitla, then took a collective taxi from there to the waterfalls. First we hiked around and to the base of the waterfall, which was absolutely gorgeous, then to cool down we went swimming in the pools at the top. Jumping in was one of the most relaxing moments of my life, and when I was swimming around it was like all of the stress from this past term dissapeared. I wasn´t thinking about money, about tonsillitis, about final papers, any of that. I was enjoying the view. The edge of the pools look out over the hills of Oaxaca. It is absolutely gorgeous. I want to go back, right now.

When we were done swimming we bought some tamales for the road. We headed back to Mitla for lunch. Driving into Mitla I was not impressed, it looks like a tiny boring town in the middle of nowhere, but we walked a few blocks in and it was really cute. We had lunch then headed back to Oaxaca. Unfortunately we didn´t get to check out the archealogical site there, maybe another time.

One of my favorite parts of traveling is the food. I love trying new food. So much. Friday night we bought some jicama with chile and lime (that is not new, we eat it all the time in Guanajuato), then sat in the park to eat it. For dinner we went to a little diner type place and I had a chorizo torta (have I mentioned how much I love chorizo?). Afterwards I was still hungry, so I finally decided to try some helote, which is roasted corn on the cob slathered in mayo, cheese, chile, and lime juice. They sell it everywhere in Guanajuato, I just have never gotten around to trying it. And it was surprisingly good, even though I hate mayo. By far the best new food I have tried so far was the tlayuda, which is a little like a crunchy quesadilla filled with cheese, meat, beans, salsa, lettuce, and some other stuff. Washing it down with a cold beer after a day of swimming and hiking makes for the perfect day.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Oaxaca, and we aren´t quite sure what the plan is. On accident we budgeted for seven nights in a hostel when we are only staying four nights, so we have a little breathing room. We were going to go to the beach, Puerto Escondido, but it is a six hour drive both ways. Not worth it, sad. Instead, I think we are checking out the market to buy some food then headed to another place to hike and swim. This is the most relaxing vacation ever.

Off to Chiapas on Tuesday!

Can I just stay on vacation forever?

You may have noticed that the frequency of these posts have been increasing. Blogging is a great method of procrastination. I leave for my trip in three days and I still have tons to do, but now would be a great time to update everyone on what has happened in my life since my last post. Basically, nothing, but I can't write anymore about the 1968 student movement right now.

Today in my Spanish class we read an article about poverty in Mexico, and I learned some really disturbing facts. By far the worst is that in the state I live in, a large percentage of the population lives in levels of poverty comparable to sub Saharan Africa. In one town, Xichu, 83.6% of the population lives in the lowest level of poverty. I had absolutely no idea that it was that bad, because you don't see any of that at all in my town. We just have the occasional beggars in the streets. That threw me off a little, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it all day.

We also briefly talked about immigration and its effects. In most of the villages that have such extreme levels of poverty, there are literally no men over the age of 13 or 14. They all went to the US to work, and only send home remittances in some cases. Next term I will be taking an entire class on immigration, which I am really excited for.

My throat seems to be healing nicely, as far as I can tell. Tomorrow I start the new antibiotics. I'm all stocked up on cough drops, Tylenol, and Vitamin C for the trip. Hopefully I can stay healthy for the week. That would be really nice.

In Chiapas, we are going to be staying with a friend of my travel buddy. Today she emailed us to let us know the plan, and closed the email with "there is a lot of outdoor activity, so bring tennis shoes and bug spray!" Since I have been locked up in the house dying for the past three or so months, when I read that I almost exploded. I am SO ready to get some nice hikes in. Also, it is going to be nice and warm, which will be a nice break from the freezing cold wind here. AND, as if it could get any better, her house apparently has a pool. This trip is going to be great!

Down to one week left of school. All I have left are my four final papers:

• History research paper: National and International Coverage of the 1968 Student Movement (specifically the massacre at Tlatelolco) (11/15 pages)
• Literature final paper: Alejo Carpentier: Afrocubanismo and Lo Real Maravilloso (1/10 pages)
• Cine final paper: Comparison of Todo el Poder with another movie, yet to be determined (0/5 pages) -by the 17th or 19th, not quite sure
• Spanish final paper and presentation: Tlatelolco (DONE! I just used the three pages of summary of the student movement from my research paper...mwahahahahah!)

Today was relatively uneventful. Had my last history class, which was super exciting.

Then I went to the bus station with Lisa and bought our bus tickets to Mexico City, we are leaving Friday at 2. We are staying the night in Mexico City, then flying to Oaxaca. On the 23rd we are flying to Chiapas, and then the 27th back to Guanajuato.

Now I need to stop daydreaming about this trip and Oregon (18 days!) and get back to my paper...

Writing, writing, more writing...

Down to one week left of school. All I have left are my four final papers:

• History research paper: National and International Coverage of the 1968 Student Movement (specifically the massacre at Tlatelolco) (3/15 pages) -technically due the 22nd, but since we have to present and I will be out of town then, it has to be done by the 15th.
• Literature final paper: Alejo Carpentier: Afrocubanismo and Lo Real Maravilloso (1/10 pages) -has to be emailed into the professor by the 22nd, but again, out of town, so it has to be done by the 19th
• Cine final paper: Comparison of Todo el Poder with another movie, yet to be determined (0/5 pages) -by the 17th or 19th, not quite sure
• Spanish final paper and presentation: Topic unknown (0/3 pages) -for Imelda, so it will be super easy. Done by the 19th.

So here is my plan of attack:

All of Friday, Saturday, and most of Sunday will be spent on history. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday will be half literature and half cine. Thursday will be spent on Spanish, though that paper shouldn't take more than an hour. So I have a little breathing room with Literature and Cine. Friday I leave town just after noon!

So basically, this week is going to be horrible. I have banned myself from Facebook between the hours of 8AM and 9PM, and Skype is a no until I'm done with my first three papers. That is the plan, anyway.

Then, off to Oaxaca and Chiapas. SO EXCITED.

Then Oregon!

More Medical Adventures

Last night I noticed more white spots on my tonsils, back to the doctor this morning. He walked into the room, looked at me, then said to the receptionist "Please say Kelsey is not here to see me again."

Visit #7 in about two months. On antibiotics, with visit #8 on Saturday. Things better clear up soon, I'm headed out for my big adventure in two weeks and I will be very upset if I am still sick then.

More Notes on Food

Food. Seems I always have something to say about it.

Four months into my time here, I'm finally just now getting used to the eating schedule. Heavy breakfast in the morning, huge lunch around 3 in the afternoon, and either nothing or something like donuts or cereal for dinner around 9 at night. Very different, and for some reason it took me forever to adjust. It will be interesting to see how quickly my body reverts back to its regular eating schedule once I am back in Oregon. Not going to lie, I'm looking forward to having a nice big warm dinner instead of a donut.

I can't help but to start off yet another post expressing disbelief as to how quickly time has passed. The 9th will be my four month anniversary here. I will be back in Oregon in 29 days. Which means my time in Mexico is almost halfway over. Is that even possible? It feels like just yesterday that I was stumbling through Guanajuato, hopelessly lost and tripping over my words. On the other hand, it feels like that was centuries ago. Almost like that was a different Kelsey.

This is the last week of the International Cervantino Festival. I'm not going to miss the tourists that have been overloading the city for the past month, but I will miss all of the amazing performances and street artists. The living statues, the breakdancers, the hippie drum circles...it has all become such a part of the city that I almost can't imagine what it was like beforehand.

Friday I finish classes at 9, and we had Monday and Tuesday off for Día de los Muertos. Basically, a 5 day weekend! It has been a long, exhausting weekend with lots of ups and downs, but here are the highlights:

-Get invited to the first family outing with my family. A combination housewarming/graduation from dentistry school party. Amazing food, beer, a ridiculous amount of family members, and a gorgeous home makes for a great party.

-Cervantino event: Dancers on stilts. I have never seen anything like it, it was very impressive.

-Day of the Dead! SO COOL. This was one of the biggest reasons I finally chose to come to Mexico, I have always been fascinated by this. People have been selling marigolds and sugar skulls on the street for weeks now. My family didn't make an altar but they did buy lots of marigolds for the house. They also made atole (a drink made from corn) and cajeta de nuez and de guyaba to put on the pan de los muertos, which is absolutely delicious. I would upload pictures but the internet is being really slow right now, so I will put them up next time.

The next two weeks are going to be really tough. All I have left for my classes are papers, then I am DONE and off to Oaxaca and Chiapas. Here is what I have:

• History research paper: National and International Coverage of the 1968 Student Movement (specifically the massacre at Tlatelolco) (1/15 pages)
• Literature final paper: Alejo Carpentier: Afrocubanismo and Lo Real Maravilloso (1/10 pages)
• Cine final paper: Topic unknown (0/? pages)
• Spanish final paper and presentation: Topic unknown (0/3 pages)