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Published: February 20th 2007
I’ve officially been in Oaxaca for one week- it seems like I’ve been here longer! But it’s been an interesting, busy, and fun week and I’m beginning to feel more and more at home here. Everything is an adventure, and I hope it stays that way. My biggest gripe are classes- they’re difficult, boring, and have tons of homework. Also, sometimes I get tired of Spanish, but overall I’m doing well. Some days I feel like my Spanish is getting worse, but I know it’s not. My vocabulary expands everyday and I’m able to understand my host family better and better, unless I’m tired, which is quite often since some days I walk as many as 10 miles and am always busy. I like the time for an afternoon siesta, although it’s quite addicting. Even though I’m walking a lot, I’ll probably gain weight because of all the amazing food! Jajaja.
I love the food but my stomach is still adjusting. Much of the food is extremely rich, not to mention it has different bacteria that takes a while to get used to. It’s also difficult adjusting to the size of the meals and the times. I start off the day with a huge breakfast (with fresh squeezed orange juice!) that has to tide me over until “comida,” or a large lunch, usually around 2:30 or 3:00, and then we eat a small dinner (quesadillas, sandwiches, etc) around 8:00 or 8:30. We have an amazing cook and I’m very spoiled. Some of my favorite foods so far are:
~Pan dulce- Sweet breads that are served sometimes with breakfast or dinner. They are delicious pastry/donut-ish breads that are deadly. There is a panaderia on the way to the Institute that is muy bien.
~Paletas- Flavored ice or ice cream-ish stuff on a stick, similar to a popsicle, but much better, and cheap. My first one was coconut and it was the perfect snack on a hot day. There is a paleta shop not too far from my house…uh oh…
~Tortillas- The tortillas here are WAY better than in the U.S. They are served fresh with a variety of meals, and I love them.
~Something I had for lunch yesterday that I don’t remember the name of, but is basically equivalent to a Oaxaquena pizza. A tortilla crust, mole sauce, veggies, cheese, flavorful strips of beef, and salsa on top. Mmm….
I really like the authentic Mexican dishes, such as tacos (much different than American tacos), enchiladas, salsas, etc. However, a few things I’ve had at home that are a little strange and include cauliflower soup, fresh jicama, steak that is 90% fat, and many other things I can’t think of at the moment... The cheese is much different that we’re used to. It’s white and kind of crumbly, but very good. Some of the food we eat here is not really Mexican- we’ve had pizza, spaghetti, pasta, pancakes, sandwiches, etc., so I’m not sick of Mexican food yet.
The drinks are interesting as well. We usually have some type of fresh juice with lunch, such as lemonade, jicama juice, papaya juice, etc. We can’t drink tap water but all the families have water purifiers, plus I often buy bottled water to take with me, so it’s not a problem. Somedays it’s soooo hot during the afternoons that I have to drink a lot of water to stay hydrated. Milk here is different- it comes in a small box. I don’t think it’s like the fresh milk we buy, but I drink it everyday with instant coffee and sugar and I’m still alive. One thing I really miss is Dr. Pepper- there are a few of us who have been craving it and none of us can find it. If I ever find it at a store I’m going to buy a case of it to stock up! Pepsi is also difficult to find. Coca-cola is definitely the popular soda here, which is disappointing. It’s interesting because they don’t have “diet” soda, but instead “light,” which I’ve heard tastes much better.
Food and drinks here are pretty cheap, as well as most things in Oaxaca, which is nice, although I’ve discovered a few random things are really expensive. For the most part stores are much different than in the U.S., although I’ve yet to visit “Gringo-land,” the area on the other side of town that has fast-food and big stores including a Sam’s Club. There tons of “tiendas” (little stores) all around town and often everything is behind the counter or glass and you have to have a clerk get you want you need. Sunday afternoon I went to Gigante for the first time with my host mom, which is basically a big grocery store and very American-ish. I went to one of the large markets near the center of town on Saturday with friends where they sell food, clothing, crafts, and much more. I bought a few things and discovered I’m not great at bargaining, but I’ll get better. One thing that really bothers me is that we almost always have to pay with cash and very few places have much change. So, if you have a $200 bill (equivalent to $20 in the U.S.) many times they don’t have enough change. It also gets confusing at restaurants when we eat in groups because they won’t separate checks. Ugh...
So I haven’t started my community service yet. For some reason it’s taking a while to find placements for all of us. However, we’ve managed to stay plenty busy, which is good because I only seem to get a little homesick when I’m alone and bored. Friday was our excursion to Monte Alban, the oldest city in Mesoamerica built by the Zapotec civilization which is still prevalent in Oaxaca today. The ruins are only a 20 minute bus ride away up on a mountain over looking the valleys. It’s very beautiful, although we were a little frustrated because we didn’t have time to see everything because our anthropology professor talked forever at just a couple of sites. I didn’t get many pictures either, so hopefully I’ll be able to return some weekend. In the afternoon we went to the Oaxaca Cultural Museum (or something like that) which is connected to the famous Santo Domingo church in a very beautiful building. It had a great view of the city so I took some pretty pictures. The museum was full of interesting things, but since I’m kind of “museumed out” from Mexico City, I wasn’t able to focus very well, so maybe I’ll return another day when I’m in the mood. Finding the museum was quite entertaining however. I was with a group of 4 other girls and our professor had told us the museum was near/next to Santo Domingo. We found Santo Domingo but couldn’t seem to find the museum, walking around the entire block like stupid Americans and returning to the map on a sign outside the church to attempt to find it again. A man that had seen us looking at it the first time started laughing and asked us what we were looking for. Embarrassed, we admitted we didn’t even know the name of the museum but that it was near the church. He smiled and pointed to the door next to the church door that said the name of the museum….oops. We’d basically walked right by it. Despite that event, we are quickly learning our way around the city. It’s about a 30 minute walk from my house to the center of town, and about 20 minutes to the Institute. Anyway, Friday night we went to a theater to see a performance called “Marsal, Marsal.” It’s an interesting, funny, and slightly strange play with only one actor, which happens to be my Spanish professor (that’s why we went- 2 other professors from the Institute work there as well). It was pretty good although we couldn’t understand everything. Our professors had promised us free beer afterwards so a group of us went to a bar with the other Spanish professor. It was slightly awkward drinking in a bar with a professor…actually, it was very awkward. But we had fun. Patty and I went home pretty early since it had been such a long day and we wanted to go the market the next day. On Saturday, after the market, a group of us decided to eat dinner in the Zocalo and then went to a couple of bars (wow, it sounds like I’m becoming an alcoholic but I promise I’m not!). Next weekend we plan to finally go to a discotheque. By the way, have I mentioned how much I love the Zocalo? It’s beautiful and always a fun place to be. Almost every night they have live music or something going on…it’s a great place to people watch.
I still really like my host family. I think in my last blog I said Alejandro was my host cousin, but I meant he’s the grandson of my host parents, which would make him my…host nephew? I still hardly ever see him. He’s always at school, with friends, or sleeping. Our house is usually pretty quiet except when the little grandkids are here. My host parents are very busy, but very nice and I always enjoying talking with them. Yesterday they took me to lunch in Tule, a little town just a few minutes from Oaxaca which is home to the famous 2,000 year enormous tree. The food at the restaurant was absolutely amazing and the tree was too!
In other news, I went to lavanderia (Laundromat) for the first time the other day. I was worried because I’d heard sometimes they lose clothes or don’t wash them right, but my host mom and some other people recommended the one that’s literally only a 2 minute walk from my house. It was wonderful- I dropped my 5 loads of clothes off at noon and they were done by 6- clean, buttoned, folded, and ready to just stick in a drawer. Miraculous.
By the way, in case anyone has been wondering, all the crazy political stuff that was happening a few months ago is completely gone, except for some graffiti around town that still remains. But overall Oaxaca is back to its old peaceful self, and I see quite a few tourists around town, which is good news for the economy.
Anyway, I really need to do some homework so off I go. I hope everyone is wonderful. If there is any exciting news, please let me know because I have absolutely no idea what is going on in the world. I miss you all!
Salud!
Janna
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Caitlin
non-member comment
wow!
So I had totally forgotten about your blog until you mentioned it in your email. You HAVE been busy! It makes life here sound so boring. I'm glad you're having fun. It sounds like all you do is travel and eat and party! ;) Okay, and schoolwork. Miss you!