(7/4/05)

So, I’m not as secluded as I thought I would be...OK, let me rephrase. I’m in the middle of nowhere living with chickens, dogs, donkeys and other farm animals that walk in and out of the house, tucked away in the mountains of Oaxaca state, but I do have internet. I'm still not sure how that is possible being that I don't even have a toilet, but hey, go information age. And the donkeys don't necessarily walk into the house but everything else does. Our family owns a store and the first night we, my partner and I, were sleeping in the room just behind it when I started hearing weird noises and seeing strange shadows. This is my first night in this strange place so I didn’t really want to know what was creating a ruckus in the other room. There was chewing, breaking noises, and a symphony of other sounds as I got deeper under the covers. Then I saw it peaking its head out, one of the dogs had gotten into the store and decided to make a feast of some Doritos. But I was not sure if I had dreamt this because it seemed so surreal until I found the mess the next morning.

You must understand that dogs in Mexico are different than in the U.S. They are clearly not the masters like it sometimes seems to be in the U.S. They do what you say or face being pelted with a rock...and while this might seem cruel, I've never seen dogs obey so well. Perhaps corporal punishment is the way to go (there are no dog lovers on this list I hope). They definitely don't sleep in the house so the dog was being sneaky. For a people who doesn't really pay much attention to dogs, it's amazing how the city is running rampant with them. The dog next door just had five puppies, the other is pregnant, and the house where anotehr volunteer is staying has 7. I now know all their names and am allowed to throw rocks at them anytime I want. I've been initiated.}

But I'm sure you weren't waiting to hear from me so I could ramble on about dogs. So, I got to my town exactly a week ago. Its called San Martin Huamelulpan and it's spectacular. I go hiking almost every morning. I have my own Aztec pryramid to climb and a sacrificial pit to walk next to. The view presents a beautiful countryside dabbed with red clay, green trees and the deep yellow hue of the setting sun. The donkeys are always complaining about not getting fed and make sure everyone else knows about it as well. And the house I´m staying in is quite beautiful. It's open with lots of patios and brightly painted. Ana (the other volunteer) and I have been given the master bedroom so basically we have our own apartment. This wasn{t the plan but when Ana's cot refused to work the parents gave up their bed and have taken one of the sister's beds. Our trying to convince them that sleeping on the floor was just fine didn't work. Altho my back has never felt better after those two nights of trying it out. The only inconvenience is the latrine that probably should've been dug deeper. The fact that it's rainy season and always pouring doesn't help. But at least I have running hot water for the shower, unlike in Oaxaca city where we had training, and I have not reverted to bucket showers like in Senegal.

And we've been busy since day one. The first day was graduation for the primary school and all the kids performed traditional dances except for the kindergarteners who dressed up as chicks and waddled around. I was quite impressed by the realism of these costumes. Pictures will be coming as soon as we find the software to download the digital photos. The following day we began our English classes, what the town wanted
most. The way Amigos de las Americas works is we go into a town and talk to the committees to see what the town wants, we then implement the different projects based on the town's suggestions. Since the first day we knew English was key when we were dragging our suitcases up the 2 mile stretch and a truck stopped us and yelled "when do classes start?" We still hadn't met anyone yet! So now we are teaching 3 classes a day 2 hours each and have about 20 students in each class. I think everyone is enjoying it though. Most of the young men leave to work in the U.S. so they are interested in conversational English, and the kids as well as the adults want to learn also. I just don't know how we will get the other projects done. We are working with the local museum which is quite impressive. It shows archeological findings from earthenware to mummies as well as traditional medicines. One of the volunteers is in charge of translating from Spanish to English, another to make a brochure about the town to give to the tourist centers in Oaxaca, and I get to translate the museum texts into French. They are really into attracting tourists to their tiny village. I am also in charge of a mural project and will be getting the towns people to help me paint a building or a billboard on the side of the road. As for my personal project I am researching folklore in the area. I will be writing and illustrating a children's book around this folklore. As a long term goal I hope to get it published back in the states and send the proceeds back to the town. If anyone has any contacts in the publishing world, let me know. But I can worry about that later.

So I have a lot on my plate and I still need time to hike, hang out with my crazy family. Oh yes, they're crazy. I have two sisters 22 and 20. The oldest one has a 9 mo old baby. The husband is working in South Carolina. The baby has taken a liking to my dreadlocks and pulls them each time I walk by. Half the time he only wants me to hold him so I get stuck with him a lot. I also help out in the store. I’m a master of giving change in pesos now. We also laugh and joke a lot with the family who has really made us feel at home. Then there is soccer time with the school children. I’m always picked first now that they know I can play. We eat way too much. I've never had so much corn in my life, in the form of tortillas, this wonderful type of drink, soup, etc.

Oh, and I'm recovering from yesterday. Other than the fact that its rainy season and didn’t stop once...well it wasn't raining in the morning when I did my laundry (I think Ill try to avoid doing it for the rest of the time here. if anyone has ever washed with a scrub board, you will understand the backbreaking process). 24 hours later it decides to stop raining. But that didn’t stop the annual festival that started with a life brass band playing music all the way to church, a lengthy mass, and then about 9 hours of eating, drinking, and dancing before going back to the church while some members of the community carried wooden/paper mache bulls on their backs before lighting the firecrackers sticking out of them on fire. I felt like I was in a war zone. I have never had to dodge flying fire before. At 11 Ana and I escaped. We had already suffered dancing with all the old drunk men in the town. Remember, there are no guys are age here. They're all in America. It wasn't too bad though because the dances were fun and most of them involve nothing more than holding your partners hand while keeping 2 feet between you. I have some funny pics of this as well. Oh, I forgot to mention the mud. The town is covered in mud from the rains, which meant everyone else was covered in mud as well. I should've started a mud wrestling party...

And the party continued into the night. I think the music stopped at 3 am and started up again at 5. I didn’t get much sleep needless to say as the speaker was right outside my window.

Anyway, the computer lab is about to close. I don't check to often but I'll try to respond to anyone that writes. You can also send me snail mail!

Love y'all

Maya