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Mixteco speakers from Guerrero, Oaxaca and Puebla from the Mixteca region as well as speakers from Baja California/San Diego attended the annual Mixteco Congreso in Tilontongo. About 2 1/2 hours east from Oaxaca City, Tilontongo is considered the cultural heartland of the Mixteco culture as the ruins of Monte Negro were the ceremonial grounds for the ancient Mixtecs. The ruins are only partially excavated so far, but are of equal importnce as Monte Alban and Mitla, two other archaeological sites closer to Oaxaca. Mixteco has primarily been an oral language for hundreds of years and only in the last 15 years has there been a movement to create a standard written language, but yet keep the 48 different oral varieties distinct. It's in these yearly Congreso gatherings, where they discuss and flesh out all these important issues relating to the revitalization and maintenance of the language.

Mixteco is turning out to be quite challenging. Apart from it being tonal, meaning that each word has about ten zillion meanings depending on the pitch, it's also very glotal and nasal, sounding nothing like Spanish - or anything else you've probably heard. The 48 different varieties makes it difficult to communicate. Just when I think I have something mastered, I come to find out they say it one way in western Oaxaca and an entirely different way in eastern Guerrero. However, crosscutting all varieies, the language is very beautiful, focusing a great deal on nature, the self and how it all relates to the community. It's very metaphorical. For example, "kata ye'e" is to sing, literally translated to running mouth. To dance "kata yu'u" is running feet and "kata yivi" is running people, but not to be confused with "kata yi'vi", running excrement, otherwise known as diarrea.