Things Mexicans Like #6 - Converse

Volkswagon : Los Coches (cars) :: Converse : Los Zapatos (shoes)
They’re everywhere. Worn by people of all ages, shapes, sizes, and colors. Now of course, converse is a popular brand of shoe, but here, it’s like the only shoe that matters. Generally low-top all stars. I constantly look around at los niños en la calle (the kids on the street), la gente en las tiendas (people in stores), y a mi maestro (and my teacher) and wonder, “why the hell did I leave my beloved high-top chuck taylors behind in the States?” The answer – because it’s fucking hot here and I wanted to pack light. That’s how I ended up with this wicked Chaco’s tan.

Thing I won’t miss #3
I honestly am not sure how to explain this, but you’ll come to realize that most of the things I won’t miss are things that go bump in the night. Or rather, anything that goes bump whenever I try to sleep. One of my vecinos (neighbors) has an animal. I don’t know what kind of animal it is, but I liken the noise it makes throughout the night to a monkey being sodomized with a hot curling iron. This is not to say that I’ve ever heard the noises a monkey makes while being sodomized with a curling iron, nor do I know if this particular event has ever transpired in the history of the world. I hope it hasn’t. The point is, this animal (in reality it is more than likely some type of bird) makes this awful, terrible, no good, very bad sound all through the day and night. While I’m studying, sleeping, reading, taking a nap, etc. It sucks, and I won’t miss it. The end.

Thing I will miss #2 - The Llano
The Llano is the casual name for Parque Juarez, a park just a few blocks from both my house and the Institute. It is one of the first places I explored on my first day in Oaxaca when I got lost looking for ICO (my school). If Oaxaca were NYC, the Llano would be Central Park. In truth, there are many places in Oaxaca where people go to pass time on a daily basis (Zocalo, Santo Domingo, Parque Conzatti, etc.), but the Llano is my favorite. It is so full of life. I love just sitting and watching the families playing soccer, boy scouts having their weekly meetings, couples pushing babies in strollers or walking dogs, men shining shoes, women selling elotes (corn on the cob), and little kids racing around the paths on their tricycles. Despite the incredibly unnecessary construction on both the north and east sides of the park (yet another example of corruption and misuse of public funds in the Oaxacan government), it is a very serene place and I will miss it greatly. (Pictured above: the statue of Benito Juarez located in the center of the Llano.)

This past week has been so crazy! Several of my classmates returned to the U.S., leaving only TWO of us in class! It’s really nice though because I basically get a private tutor. I do, however, miss the kids who left. We partied on Thursday and Friday to celebrate their leave-taking. Both nights we went to see my teacher’s friend’s band named Sesenta y nueve. If you know your numbers in Spanish, then you just had a little chuckle. They were nice guys and they played a Frankie Valli cover on Thursday which took me by surprise. On Thursday I also went back to Monte Alban, because I realized that during the reforestation project I didn’t actually get to see the principal part of the ruins. WOW. I am way too sentimental, emotional, and nerdy about this kind of thing to even describe it, but there will be pictures on facebook by the end of the nite. Also, I thought there would be no better way to kick off MI ULTIMA SEMANA EN OAXACA than by reading Derrick Brown poems in the sand, so I took an impromptu road trip to Puerto Escondido and saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time! Once again, pictures on facebook. Not en este momento (at this moment), but soon. I stayed in a hostel para mujeres (for women) owned by an artist named Esperanza who I’m pretty sure was doing the nasty when I arrived, so I didn’t have to pay until the next day. Also, she smelled like weed. The ride to Puerto was through the Sierra Sur, a MASSIVE mountain range, so a trip that is the same distance as Nashville to Memphis took six hours. At first I thought it was awesome, being a part of the mountains and ascending from the valleys up until we were in the clouds, and then going back down again… but it made me really dizzy and sick like being on a wooden roller coaster that jerks you around a lot. On the way there I thought to myself, “dude, this would SUCK in the rain.” And the next day I found out, that yes, it does suck in the rain. I basically prepared myself for my death. I put my ipod on shuffle and had faith that only the songs that I was meant to hear before my demise would play. I also wondered if I would attempt to save my stuff or other people in the event that we found ourselves upside down in a gulch somewhere. I decided that were I not too disabled, I would follow the old “women and children first” rule. I should also point out that illusions of safety, such as guardrails do not exist here. Not even on the side of a mountain, 3,000 ft above anything. The good news is we lived, and there was much rejoicing.

DISCLAIMER- no monkeys were harmed in the making of this blog.