Blogs from Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico, North America - page 22

It has been a busy week since I wrote last. On Monday a group of us from the hotel hired a van to take us up to an ecological reserve where a number of villages have come together to offer one day or four day hikes from village to village. The drive was about an hour and a half up into the mountains. When we arrived we hired a guide to take us on a vigorous hike, he also identified planets as we walked through a forested area not dissimiliar to British Columbia. One can chose an easy or difficult walk, you can also walk from village to village, on trails where only people walk, sometimes with donkeys. The area is very isolated, is in a cloud forest and is quite primitive. Our group chose a ... read more

Thank you for the responses. Yes, Joan I got your e mail, which I have read numerous times, I would love to hear more. Congradulations. Of course Mike can use our place, our bed or the guest room. Oaxaca city: We are so happy to be here. We left Puebla two days ago, we decided to take a chance with no reservations. We found a lovely little hotel within 30 minutes of arriving. We weren't booked for Las Mariposas until today, Jan. 9 and will be here until the 19th. We stayed at this delightful hotel last year where we met so many people. One of the reasons we come here is because of the hotel. Every morning there is breakfast served from 8 to 9:30, there is a central courtyard where everyone gathers and sits ... read more

Oaxaca, Oaxaca: The historic center of Oaxaca, Oaxaca was much better than driving around looking for incognito campgrounds throughout and along the outskirts of town. The mercado (market) has very good food for very good prices. I ate the biggest tamale ever seen, seriously this thing was enormous! And, I also had mezcal (like tequila) ice cream, pretty good! The historic center of Oaxaca, Oaxaca has a handful of museums featuring historical and cultural information about the region. Chuck and I walked through two museums. One had exhibits about the ancient indigenous codices from the surrounding area. The other, the culture museum, was expansive in both information and size. The culture museum is housed in the Santo Domingo Cathedral and it interprets cultural and historical information ranging from pre-Hispanic to modern times. We watched local dancers ... read more

Hola! A quick update on my adventures in Latin America! As hinted at in my previous entry, I managed to get out of La Paz for a day´s mountain biking last week, which was headed up by the very likeable Miguel of 'Baja Challenge'. Five of us cycled through some beautiful scenery in La Sierra de Laguna just south of La Paz, seeing Santiago on the way and finishing up at a beautiful natural pool with a waterfall. We swam and lunched and the braver ones jumped into the pool from the top of the waterfall - I was not one of them! After another day´s relaxing in La Paz it was time to fly to Mexico City for a night at the vibrant, busy hostel there - right in the city centre with a roof ... read more

So there I was, deep in thought about deep listening. Thinking hard about how important it is to just listen to people and let them talk without throwing in your own experiences or ideas, when up walked one of my students to ask if I wanted to play snakes and ladders. Well, does one really have to ask?! Of course I want to play snakes and ladders! Only it turns out we didn’t play snakes and ladders, we played a game called “roll the dice and make up the rules”, and it went a little something like this: First we pulled out the board and made playing piece out of erasers, pencil sharpeners and other desk paraphernalia. Two dice were located and the fun began. I noticed that the board didn’t really look like snakes and ... read more