WTF hayley weed???

WTF hayley weed???
I checked my email a couple days ago and there was a message from Hayley Weed saying she had just checked into a hostel in Oaxaca and I should email her to hang out. I looked at the time and she had sent it 10 min before. Luckily I knew exactly where her hostel was because it’s adjacent to the SIT classroom. I ran down the street and caught her coming out of the hostel, looking at a map trying to decide where her first jaunt around Oaxaca should be. We screamed, we jumped up and down and hugged!! It’s amazing how many Willamette kids are in Oaxaca. Apart from Hayley, there is Brian Alexander, Katy Giombolini, and Ted Richardson. Ever since Hayley got into town we’ve been coordinating times when we could hang out. The next day after I saw here, we went up to these bad ass ancient ruins called Monte Albán. They are from a time when the Mixtec people ruled the land. The main features are probably the ancient ball court and this wacky shaped building in the center that was reserved for the wisest astrologers and teachers to observe the sky. And I soon understood why the sky would be so thought provoking. I tried my hardest to take in the immenseness of the ruins themselves, but found it hard because in the sky the clouds were upstaging them. Every day at 6pm rain falls over Oaxaca. Usually it only lasts for around a half an hour, but this day the rain was encouraged by tropical storm Ike that hit Texas and the clouds accumulated to form massive structures in the air. We climbed up these tall stairs and looked down over the layout. It was hard to breathe because of the view. We had a really good view of Oaxaca City from our lookout point on the stairs, and you could see the rain falling from the clouds not ten miles away. We knew it would start where we were soon, but we waited until the guards at Monte Alban kicked us out at closing time. We drove back down and had to wait inside a hostels lobby while rain literally pounded on the roof and thunder so deep it shook the walls roared through town. After an hour of waiting we decided we needed to brave what was left of the rain and run the eight blocks to my homestay.
My homestay literally couldn’t be more ideal. My mom, Meche, is a divorced 50 something who lives in an awesome two story apartment in the center of town with her 28yr old daughter and her husband, and her ancient mother, Zocorra. They are all outgoing, active and social, getting together with extended family and friends nearly every day. And if this couldn’t be good enough, my host sister gave birth to twin baby girls three days ago! So now Alejandra and Natalia are stealing our attention all day (and night) long.
The night of September 15 was Noche Mexicana, or Noche Libre, or Dia del Grito, or Mexican Independence Day, whichever name you choose. The Zocalo, or town square, is filled to capacity with people dressed in red white and green and the governor of Oaxaca comes and yells “Viva Mexico!!” and everyone yells back “VIVA!”. He also yells the names of the founding fathers of Mexico and a few one line goals for the year. There are people of all ages milling around, children blowing horns, teenagers spraying everyone with silly string, and old people walking arm in arm under a shawl the colors of a Mexican flag. I went with my friend Girardo and we oohed and aahed as the highlight of the night erupted overhead: FIREWORKS. Here, Mexicans go all out. HUGE fireworks BLASTED the colors of the country into the air DIRECTLY overhead. Occasionally we were pelted by the remnants of the fireworks that had just erupted not 50 meters from us in the air.
I just got back from an excursion to the Mixteca Alta, a mainly indigenous area of Oaxaca state that is an hour and a half north of the city. I went with my group from SIT and we visited an organization called CEDICAM, Centro de Desarrollo Integral de la Mixteca. This organization focuses on sustainable farming practices that help build autonomy in the region. The main problems in this area are drought, and the rain that does fall has tended to wipe away any of the farmable land with it. It didn’t used to be like this. Before, there were way more trees but campesinos were encouraged to adopt western farming methods that destroyed their land. Now, CEDICAM is helping to restore the forests, and to implement large terraces into the landscape that collect the rain and dirt as it flows down the hills. They also build greenhouses and cisterns for people in the community, and show them how to compost and use natural fertilizers. We stayed with a group of four families and helped them build a greenhouse. We got to hang out with this little niña named Karla and we ate great food. All of the food was grown from their own land, and a lot of it was picked the day we ate it. For this poor community of farmers, having prolific gardens is the only way to not only survive but also to allow them to indulge in a few creature comforts such as electricity to use their electric tools and new shoes for Karla’s first year of school. They told us they hadn’t bought any vegetables other than garlic and onions for 5 months. Even though the regions main problem is drought, at this time of year they are definitely not lacking in water. It rained or misted the whole time we were there and it was COLD.
Now I’m back at my homestay having just enjoyed a hot shower and clean clothes. Tomorrow I have Spanish class for four hours in the morning, and then I have the afternoon free. I’m fighting off a cold so I’ll probably rest, but who knows. Oaxaca is a small enough city that you will run into someone you know on the streets and that usually leads me to stay out longer than I had intended…
I’ll keep you updated from Mexico.
Love Dana