Water from Stone

Hello All!

Monday was a holiday here and we started our week on Tuesday. We are adjusting well to this new fascinating culture and our classes. Spanish classes are great fun. In Gustavo Esteva’s class this week we discussed the concept of communality and friendship. We learned the importance of the concept of friendship when forming community or a commons. What Gustavo conveyed is that friendship provides a base of relationships which provides a base for communality and common interests. It is through friendship that we begin to understand common interests and our own responsibility within our own community be it your town, organization, or your student compadres in Oaxaca.
On Thursday, we took a field trip to San Andres in Huyapan. In this small Zapotec community and growing bedroom community, we explored an area of land where the Zapotec owners are using techniques to reestablishing grown water into the aquifers down below. Amazingly, several men in the village have hand built long foot deep terraces (looks like topographic lines) all along the mountainside to slow down the torrential rains when they come which allows the water to seep in. They have also planted reed-like vegetation along some of the deeper earthen culverts that prevent erosion and again slow the pace of water runoff. Some of the water is captured in small ponds and is pumped into a green house in order to grow both tomatoes and native tree saplings of the area for reforestation. This center is a demonstration site where people from other villages come to learn different ways for restoring and sustaining sources of precious water in their communities.

Back in town, some of us visited an art opening on Friday. ASARO, a local graffiti collective, displayed a series of silk-screened t-shirts about Palestinian resistance. Their main idea is to pass on political messages to the community through their artwork.

Part of Gustavo’s syllabus includes a small group project. This week we broke off into groups and began the process of research. The five topics of the small groups include Oaxacan art, education, mobilization, food systems, and healthcare. As of now every group is defining their thesis and research methods. In the next month, groups will explore their questions through hands-on studies within the State of Oaxaca.

Tonight, Sunday, we are gathering for dinner at Mary Lou’s apartment to celebrate Jess’s and Ariel’s birthdays. Jess’s birthday was the 5th and Ariel’s is the 9th. Dinner gatherings are a good time to catch up and spend some quality with the community we are creating in Oaxaca.

Peace and warmth from south of the border. Hope everyone staying warm in the north!

Meg and Jordan

Mexico is wonderful and warm

Hierve el Agua (click to enlarge photo)

This week marked the beginning of our Spanish classes and Anthropology course with Gustavo Esteva. On Monday we split into small groups of 4-5 people at Solexico Language School. Five days a week, three hours each morning this format will be repeated. By many accounts the Spanish instruction so far has been helpful and fun, with the instructors incorporating games, field trips, and conversation into the grammatical lessons. On Mondays and Tuesdays we have Gustavo's class directly after Spanish, where we have so far discussed culture and current politics in Oaxaca, as well as a "salad" of other topics which arose in the first week of our meetings. A few of these spare but important topics have been farm subsidies, "what is neoliberalism", and healthcare. In the future we will also be holding discussions on: Power, Social Transformation, Personal Agency, Helping (Right of Intervention), Zapatistas, Culture Issues, Ways of Knowing/Alternative Forms of Education.

Typically after class we go back to our houses for most important meal of the day, or comida. Comida is usually taken around 2:30 or 3:30 in the afternoon, then we are free for the rest of the day to explore the city, take salsa, or yoga classes at Solexico, play soccer, take in a free movie at the open Pochote Organic Market, or sleep!

This Thursday we took a field trip to CASOTA, in place of Gustavo's class in the afternoon. CASOTA is a collective, autonomous space which features free showings of documentaries/cultural programs, grows a community urban agriculture garden on its roof, hosts visiting activists in their 5-cot dormitory, and runs a cafeteria which serves full, nutritious meals to low-income oaxaqueños. Collective members described the space's purpose to create an autonomous area in which people can be self-sustaining.

Besides our classes, we've also been learning a lot by walking around the city and talking with local Oaxacans. This past weekend some of us went to Hierve el Agua which is this little town with beautifulnatural springs. The bus ride was interesting to say the least--we took a little pick-up truck up and around the mountain for an hour to get there--but it was definitely worth it. The springs were absolutely beautiful and it was a nice change of pace from the busy city.

Besos de Oaxaca (Kisses from Oaxaca),

Lindsy & Renna & the rest of the UVMers

Back in the City

Hola from Oaxaca! We returned to the city from our retreat on Friday. As we settle into our homestays, we thought we would give an update of our first week in beautiful Mexico.

For the last week, we have been at a retreat center in San Lorenzo de Cacaotepec, about thirty minutes outside of the city. In the mornings, we received cultural, political, and historical briefings with Gustavo Esteva, which were interesting, challenging, and insightful. Several afternoons, we had guest speakers elaborate on the culture of Oaxacan communities. We also participated in team building exercises with Sergio, our guide from Universidad de la Tierra. UniTierra is a learning center in the city with no teachers, no classes, and no grades. Our other guide, Luisa, also works with UniTierra.

Last Friday, we went on a unique tour of the city that was based on different neighborhoods and socioeconomic classes. Our tour was cut short because the teachers in Oaxaca had organized a protest in which they blocked off many of the main streets. It was a peaceful demonstration that occurs annually as a method of salary negotiation with the state. We did not see much of the action, but it was interesting to talk to locals and hear their take on the situation.

Later that night, we arrived at our retreat, Casa Hacienda el Encuentro. The rooms were simple yet charming, and our meals were delicious and authentic. We spent Saturday working on group-building and adjusting to the new setting.

On Sunday, we went to Monte Alban, the oldest Zapotec ruins in Oaxaca. The scene was breathtaking: you could see all three valleys that surrounded Oaxaca city. We had a wonderful tour guide, who elaborated on the different types of trees, construction, astronomy, and traditions. After a traditional lunch of mole and rice pudding in the city, we went to El Museo Cultural del Santo Domingo. This incredibly expanisive musuem houses much of the jewelery, books, and other artifacts found in and around Oaxaca.

We spent Monday in classes and orientation at the retreat center. On Tuesday, we attempted to watch the inauguration via satellite. It was shaky, but we caught a bit of the speech. It felt like the old days, gathered around a radio, hoping the connection wouldn't fade. Later that day we went on a field trip to San Augustin Etla, a village near the retreat. We went to the home of two women, Rosario and Lydia, who live almost entirely self-sustainably. Their house is made out of adobe, replete with compostable toilets, water jugs for windows, and furniture that they had contstructed themselves. They grow their own vegetables, both outdoors and in a small greenhouse. They also work with local women in the area to prevent domestic violence. Rosario and Lydia were incredibly inspiring and intelligent, and the trip was enjoyed by all.

Wednesday brought challenging classes with Gustavo, which left everyone a little pensive and overwhelmed (in a good way). We spoke of the challenges of sustainable development and the perpetuation of capitalism under the guise of globalization. That afternoon, Nicole Kast, a recent Swarthmore graduate, spoke to us about the culture of indigenous Oaxacans. Nicole recently moved to Oaxaca and is a history teacher and anthropologist.

Thursday, Gustavo answered questions that we all had about the readings he had assigned about Zapatistas and the Oaxaca commune. We then heard from Ruben Valencia, a community leader for young adult activists. After we ate lunch and laid in the sun for a while, Benjamin Maldonado spoke to us about the cargo system in traditional communities. In the cargo system, community members are assigned certain jobs or positions which they must complete in order to move up the ladder and gain respect. This is a way to maintain communal bonds and ensure that the work will be completed.

On Friday, we had our last session of orientation with Gustavo and Mary Lou. After lunch, we hopped on the buses back to the city, where we waited anxiously for our homestay families to pick us up. It felt like the first day of kindergarten all over again. Our families met us with open arms and warm smiles, making us feel at ease in our new homes. The last two days have been spent relaxing, exploring the city, and getting acquainted with our families.

Tomorrow, we start class at Solexico. We will have Spanish in the morning followed by Culture, Sustainability, and Social Change in Oaxaca with Gustavo. You can expect to hear more from us within the coming weeks. We will be dividing up the task of blogging between the homestays, so everyone's voice should come through eventually.

Adios!
Erin, Kiren, and the rest of the group!


(You can click on these pictures to make them bigger)






This is our tour guide at Monte Alban. He was very animated and knowledgeable of the local ecology and history.





This is the group at the retreat center.








This is the courtyard of the retreat center, where we spent time eating and soaking up the rays.