Studying Spanish in Oaxaca

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June 26th 2009

Published: July 10th 2009

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RaeDan

Church at the Zocalo

Early morning arrival

We arrived at 6am into Oaxaca on the overnight bus from San Cristobal de Las Casas. We were tired and dirty and after catching a cab to the hostel that we booked for the next evening, we found it closed up behind large iron gates. Even though it says 24 hour reception, we didn't want to wake the manager and get charged for an extra evening as part of our stay. Fortunately, the manager heard us talking and generously checked us into a clean well prepared room without an extra charge.

We showered and passed out in bed for half the day before exploring the town that would be our home for the next week. Oaxaca is a lively, friendly place that has a true Mexican feel to it. We noticed that the people look less Mayan here than Merida, which we found out later is due to the mixing with the Spanish, but also because there are 2 different indigenous peoples in the area, which do not include the Mayans.

We found the Instituto Cultural, which is to be our school for the week. It is located in a nice complex of bright yellow

Zocalo

(Main square)

buildings with cleanly manicured lawns and gringos (foreigners) hanging out in outdoor seating areas and on the grass. We made enquiries about our homestay and what was required for our time there next week. A Kiwi, who now sounds American, kindly gave us a map of the town and information about the area and school.

We visited a few camera shops in the downtown area, only to find different models of cameras to what we had hoped for sale. Each country gets different models of Canons and Mexico does not seem to have any IXUS available. We were told Sears, an American department store, outside of town will be our next best bet to look for more cameras, so we will organise to visit there soon. Dan is still brewing about the theft of our belongings.

Markets

On the way back to the hostel, we wandered through the markets to see what was for sale and also to buy some items for dinner and breakfast the next day. We tasted a white milky liquid at one stall, which now thinking about it was a bad move, as us gringos should not drink or eat anything that has

Traditional dancing

In one of th eparks, we came across a fair with dancers.

come into contact with the local water supply. We had asked the vendor's son what was in the drink and we were told in very broken english "Something from cow, but not milk." Hmm.... doesn't sound good, but realistically, we think that his English was very bad. We are speaking a lot more Spanish now, as most people don't speak English, however, we couldn't understand what he was saying in Spanish and so asked him to tell us in English.

That experience was in a temporary market that was set up for the day. Afterwards we went to the central permanent market for a look-see. Well the smell of meat was overpowering (well at least for me), when we first entered the market, as we basically walked into a small alley that had raw meat layed out and overhanging tables on either side, that had probably been sitting there for hours. The number of flies and bees resting on them also wasn't a great indicator of freshness. But once we passed that lane, we found all sorts of other interesting things to eat and buy.

The street we stayed on

It was inside a gated community. Security is very important to the Mexicans.

There was the usual cheap bag stores and jewellery shops. We found another bug store, that sold different sizes of grasshoppers to eat. Dan was really unhappy that we didn't have the camera with us now.

We settled on buy some avocados (something we dearly missed in the Middle East), hard round flat bread, tomatoes, guavas, mini bananas (smaller than your fingers) and some tuna verdes. I asked the lady how to eat the tuna verdes (cactus fruits) and she peeled and cut one for us to try. It was very fresh and green inside with many seeds, but ones that you can easily swallow. It was yummy, so we bought a few of those as well. We had a mixed feast of them all for dinner.

School test and orientation

The next day, we awoke early so that we could get to our school on time for our exam and orientation. The exam was to place us in the appropriate level class for Monday. Afterwards, our host mother picked us up at the school and took us to her home, where she lives with her husband and son. Their daughter is away at university in Mexico

Our host family's house

We had a granny flat on the left ground floor side.

City studying to become a doctor. Upon arrival at the house, we find that we have our own separate granny flat joined to the main house. We sat down for a drink and a chat with our host and her son and talked about where we had come from, how long we would be in Oaxaca and about Australia. Their English and our Spanish was just enough for us to make conversation, although a little hard work. We confirmed to meet up for dinner and so Dan and I unpacked into our luxurious mini flat and went to the laundrymat to get our clothes washed. We are staying with a middle class family in a gated community. So far we have only stayed in downtown areas or travelled through the country and not really seen where the average Mexican lives util now. We had only seen shantys, primitive style buildings or really run down old places before this.

Conversation at dinner

Dinner that evening was fun. The husband, brother, sister-in-law and the grandmother all came over for dinner and we all sat around the kitchen whilst it was being prepared having a chat. The sister-in-law used to be

Dan studying

At Oaxaca Culturo Instituto

a teacher at the school that we are going to and she helped us a little with our vocab. We talked alot about Mexico, the indigenous people, the tourist sights, Mexican folklore, Cairns and Ned Kelly, and this was all before dinner was even cooked! Everyone was patient with our Spanish, but deliberately talked in Spanish to help us learn. Part of our main meal consisted of a cactus plant, which is different to the fruit that we ate earlier. It is more like eating the leaves, but it is cooked in water and not eaten raw. It was actually quite nice, even though it has a slight slimely appearance when you pick it up. Dan was pleased that they served us a Corona brand beer called Victoria, which he thought tasted similar to the Corona that we get in Australia.

Breakfast discussion

On the next morning, we sat at a small table in the kitchen chatting to the mother and father of the family. The son and grandmother were out visiting the grave of the grandfather, as they do every weekend. We were told that it is customary for families to visit their parent's graves every Sunday,

Chocolate grinders

A visit to a chocolate shop during our first Oaxacan cooking class

although not all Mexican families follow this tradition. We were served fresh banana, papaya and melon with orange juice before the second course of coffee with an Oaxacan speciality of tortillas covered in moles, a regional sauce. The sauce that we had was made of beans and it was topped with a white topping, which looked like cheese. We also were prompted to add a hot spicy orange sauce and the cactus (from the previous evening) on top as well. The food so far has been interesting and tasty. We tend to like spicy and hot foods and we have only encountered one sauce that was too hot for us so far.

We learnt about the day of the dead, a large festival in Mexio that occurs on the 2nd of November every year. At night, everyone goes to the cemetaries and has a big party. It is originally where the American's got Halloween from. We told our family about Australia Day and explained how it is different to their Independance day, as we are not independant!

New camera

With our bellies full (and a good understanding of why the Mexicans only eat twice a day!) we

Chiles

So manydifferent types at the market. I had never seen black chiles before

wandered back into town and caught a bus out to Plaza de Valle where Sears and other stores are to buy a new camera. It appears that mexico doesn't have all the models of cameras that we have, so we had to settle for a lesser Canon model than the one that we previously had.

Happy with our new purchase, we bused it back into town for about US 34c each and walked around happily taking a few photos before the new battery died due to not being charged. Afterwards we went back to our homestay for a siesta...

Week of school and cooking

I read the book that I was given for my class on Monday and realised that I could understand everything that was in the book, so I organised tobe put into a higher class when I arrived at the school on the Monday morning. Dan and my teachers were fantastic and we really enjoyed the start to our day. We had 2 hours of Spanish learning with 1 hour of conversation, before a lunch break and our Oaxacan cooking class that we signed up for. For our first day in the cooking class,

Chipolinas

A grasshopper to eat any one?!

our group visited the main market to see what was available to buy. On the way to the market we visited a chocolate shop, where we saw the workers grind the chocolate mixing it with cinnamon. We tasted a few different varieties and our teacher purchased some chocolate for our next day's lesson. Oaxaca is known for its choclate and the cocoa is grown locally. Inside the main market, we were shown different pottery cooking pots and wooden utensils that are used by the locals when cooking and also other different stores around the place. We sat down and bought snowcups, which looked and tasted similar to ice cream. We tried several different flavours including tamarind and chilli, pecan and tuna (cactus, not fish). A lady selling bugs walked by and some people inour group had a taste. The insects look like grasshoppers and come in different sizes. Dan ate a few big ones, but we weren't givenany small ones, so I chickened out of trying them. Just the thought of those squishy insides wasn't very appealing for me.

As the week progressed, I changed classes again, as I wasn't learning anything new in the class I was assigned.

Snow balls

All the flavours of an ice cream like dessert.

During our Oaxacan cooking classes, we got to make several interesting things. On the tuesday, we made a chocolate drink which consisted of the chocolate from the shop visit on the previous day and the water that was sifted from boiling cornmeal. No sugar was added and it still tastes fairly sweet. The cooler the drink was, the thicker it became. Tradionally, you drink it with bread and you can even dip the bread into the drink. It wasn't the greatest thing in the world, but good to try nonetheless. On the Wednesday, we made tortillas, beans and salsa from scratch. The salsa was made from different chillies, garlic and green tomatoes, which we hand ground. On thursday, we cooked tamales, which were made from cornmeal with herbs and beans, steamed in the cornhusks. Once again we ate it with our salsa. Needless to say, Dan and I didn't have to buy dinner a couple of times this week, as we were so full from the tortilla meal and tamales.

Family breakfasts

Our host family have been interesting to talk to each morning at the breakfast table. The hostess and her son made us breakfast each day. Dan

Santo Domingo Church

Important church in town.

taught them to say G'Day and we learnt more about their local area. Each morning the mother made us a different meal, so that we could taste the regional food as well as traditional Mexican breakfast fare. The meals consisted of tortillas soaked in tomato based sauce, scrambled eggs in tomato based sauce, tortillas with a bean sauce, fried egg and every day we were given fresh fruit salad, orange juice and coffee. The local coffee is delicious and they make it with a small amount of sugar so that you can drink it black with no extras.

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