Oaxaca

So now that winter is threatening I thought, what a good time to actually finish the tales of my summer adventure in Mexico... well, almost. Where were we... right. I had just been dropped off at the bus station to catch a bus to Oaxaca (ponounced wa-HA-ka). I got to the station thinking that buses would be pretty regularly departing (or so said the tourist guide) but I was wrong and had to wait a solid 2.5 hours for the next bus to leave. So I grabbed a coffee and some snacks and hunkered down in the waiting room to entertain myself watching all the interesting people that Mexican bus stations have to offer. So I waited and waited and waited and finally they boarded my bus and a long and rather uneventful six hour trip later we finally arrived in Oaxaca. Oaxaca is probably one of the most beautiful places I had seen (besides Tapalpa) since I arrived in Mexico. It was breath-taking. Now to be clear this was the city of Oaxaca in the state of Oaxaca... I never went to the beaches or to the rest of the state. I went to the city for the Guelaguetza folk dance festival.

I have to give you little history of Oaxaca so you can understand the big picture of the event. So in the last few years there has been a lot of violence and turmoil in Oaxaca state with the government oppressing the indigenous peoples. I got a bit of a one-sided story from the indigenous groups who were protesting in the city while I was there but they seem to have a pretty good point. I was told that in 2007, the bodies of six revolutionary leaders were found unceremoniously disposed of in a local cemetery after being assassinated by government forces. So anyway, Guelaguetzas of the past are sort of comparable to powwows. It is a time when many different local peoples come together to share their culture and it is a very important time of year for these people. Nowadays, the Guelaguetza is held in a giant auditorium and is put on by the government. So as you can probably guess, this has become quite the controversial event. The same government that is oppressing the people is hosting a celebration of their cultures. So now we have two Guelaguetzas: the Guelaguetza Oficial (put on by the government) and the Guelaguetza Popular (put on by the people). I was lucky enough to go to both which I will talk about a bit later on.

My first day in Oaxaca turned out to be a bit on the stressful side as I had thought (being the silly tourist that I was) that I could just show up in Oaxaca a couple days before Guelaguetza and find a place to stay. I learned the hard way that this is definitely not true. So I took the first place I could find (about the eighth place I tried) that cost me a painful 350 pesos/night ($35) but they were only available for one night so I had to go on a hunt for somewhere else for the remaining three nights or I would be sleeping in the streets. After excessive wandering I finally found a hostel (very uncommon in Mexico) that cost 100 pesos/night and they were actually available! It was not a very pretty hostel but the couple who owned it were super-cool (the guy wore a team Canada jersey half the time I was there as a sign of solidarity). So after I had that place secured I went to an awesome restaurant for supper where they served exclusively Oaxacan food. I was handed a flyer as I walked down the street offering me a free beer if I ate there. So I did. I ate squash blossoms stuffed with goats cheese. It was awesome even though I was the only person there. I was eating at 6:30pm which is an unheard of hour for Mexicans to eat. Anyway, after supper I meant to just go back to my enormous hotel room (king-size bed, tv, private bath...) and go to bed but on my way I came across the most wonderful jazzy pop singer named Ana Diaz. So I stayed and watched her whole show and promptly bought her CD. The CD was not nearly as good as her show unfortunately but it was still a $7 well spent.

The next day I was a little more adventurous and did some serious shopping all afternoon. My first stop was a little shop to purchase the local specialty: a tasty little beverage called mezcal. It's made from the same plant as tequila (agave) but is fermented with the aid of a little worm that is still in the bottle when you buy it. I was so excited that I had found it because it was the only request Alexis had given to me for gifts. So I bought the bottle with the fattest worm I could find. Then I was off to find something particularly Oaxacan for Mum (that was her one request). I ended up in a massive artisans market. On my way in a Mexican man asked me if I had the time. I have since learned to claim ignorance on this one unless it is a sweet old lady asking. When I responded in Spanish this guy took it as an invite to ask me all about my life and tour me around the market for the next hour. I didn't protest until after I had used his local know-how to buy Mum the most fabulous hand-made rug and a couple Day of the Dead dolls for myself. Then he started asking me if I had I boyfriend... I knew where that conversation was going so I told him very firmly that I was totally loyal to my Canadian boyfriend and was not interested in a Mexican boyfriend for a few days and good day to you sir!!! Have I mentioned how much I dislike Mexican men? Not to say that there aren't good ones out there. I had many a wonderful Mexican guy friend while I was there but I consider myself lucky with those ones.

So that night I went down to the cathedral to find a good vantage point for parade viewing and as I was waiting an American girl started talking to me. It was very exciting to find an English-speaking person after a solid two days of lonely wandering through town. We decided to hunt down this parade and found it with no difficulty. There were massive crowds and loud music to guide us. The parade was awesome! Kira and I managed to get to the front and these crazy guys dressed as devils decided they needed to dance with the silly white girls while the local tv channel filmed it all. It was highly entertaining and helped heal the wounds left by some other crazy dancers throwing fishing nets over the crowd. I had bruises for days. Anyway, that parade was great and we got an up-close look at all the fabulous outfits of the Guelaguetza dancers. Earlier that day I had gotten word that Leonor (one of the Mexican girls I went to school with in Australia) was in town for the Guelaguetza too! I was so excited because I had missed her in Mexico City when I was there. So after the parade Kira and I met up with Leo and her Australian boyfriend Ian and went for drinks at a nice bar to pass the evening. It was so great to see both of them again.

The next day, I went for a nice long breakfast of proper Oaxacan food (I love Oaxacan food!!!) and then saw an orchestra playing in the park. After that I checked out the museum where I discovered my new favourite artist: Flavio Diaz. His work blew my mind. After the museum I met up with Kira again (she was working in Oaxaca for a coffee exporter while killing time between terms of study in Puebla) and we unintentionally got caught in the middle of a big protest parade. The town square was getting so packed with people and protesters we could barely move. After not too long we decided it was time to get out of the madness and went up to a fancy restaurant just off the plaza where they gave us free corona sombreros for buying beer. It was super! We soon discovered that we had an awesome vantage point to witness the Mexican tradition of the fireworks tower. After the tower had properly exploded and the crowds dispersed, we came down from our balcony refuge and wandered to our respective homes for a good nights sleep. For tomorrow would be the Guelaguetza.