Week One

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While I have only been in Oaxaca for 4 days, it has been absolutely insane. It is nearly impossible to list all the things that I've done in this short time, so I will try to be organized and give a small flavor of each major event. Maybe if I am really lucky, I will even sneak some pictures in for you all. But enough chatting.

The Trip- I left for Oaxaca early Monday morning and proceded to travel like crazy- first MSP to O'Hare in Chicago, then Mexico City, and finally, Oaxaca. After a near heart attack at O'Hare (why is it that American airports are more difficult to navigate than ones where much of the staff doesn't speak English?), I made it to Mexico City. I was served a delicious lunch on the plane, then a snack of cacahuates japones, which literally translates to japonese peanuts, though I don't think what I was eating was remotely East Asian. None the less, it was a surprisingly easy trip, even though I didn't get here until 11:45pm.

School- School in Oaxaca is absolutely beautiful. I attend the Instituto Cultural de Oaxaca which is a Spanish language school targeted at foreigners. I've met some kids from Australia, Bard College in New York as well as a few families on "alternative vacations". I am currently taking two classes, archeology (in english) and the history of Mexico (in spanish). Attached is a photo of the main graasy quad or courtyard at the school.

Excursion- Today we took a fantastic trip to three archeological sites. First was San Jose Magote, the oldest site in the valley of Oaxaca. Next was the monastary, which is now in possession of the Instituto Nacional de Arqueologia e Historia. We saw a huge variety of artifacts and met with some of the team there. Our final stop was the tombs at Zaachila. This site is much more recent than the others, dating from about 1000AD. What was most shocking, was for a mere $35 pesos (about $3 USD) we were able to go inside the tomb and see the carvings and inscriptions we had learned about in class. Attached is a photo of one of the carvings.

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Photos

Instituto Cultural de Oaxaca
This is the main quad of the Instituto where I take class three days a week.

Inside the Tomb at Zaachila
This is a carving inside the tomb at Zaachila. It is of a man dressed as a skeleton warning of death.