global212

Getting to these little Mixtec pueblos takes some maneuvering. The pickup truck left a bit earlier and I stopped to talk, so I missed it by 15 minutes. Cursing myself since I would have to go the next day and have one day less of interviewing San Jose Lagunas, a Mixtec town of 800 that has 200 of it´s residents in NYC, I went into a small tienda to buy a phone card to tell the señora where I am staying that I would be coming back for the night. The man in the tienda asked where I was from and told me he had worked in New York, not a surprise since half of Tlapa has spent time in NYC. He told me he worked in Manhattan and when I asked where, he said¨at 96th St. and Broadway - at a taco truck...I almost fell over when he told me since I have been doing an ethnographic study of that very truck since October. As it turns out, he and his sister are the founding owners of the taco truck. I happened to have my computer to show photos of the truck and the workers. I sat and talked with him and his family for more than three hours in the tienda, getting all of my questions about the taco truck answered. So as it goes, just when you think everything is in a mess, it´s really the way it´s supposed to be - so enjoy the moment.

All has been fairly calm in Oaxaca, just silent protests to the zocolo after the two weeks of commercialized Guelaguetza`s. Just quiet marches down from the auditoriom, where the t-shirt sellers camp out...just 100 pesos. APPO t-shirt anyone? Apart from the radical group bombing the local Sears last week, no altercations have taken place. Thanks to all of you who wrote your concerns, but my response was "what bombing?", since it made the international news before I checked the local newspaper...Not to make light of it, as this group has been going around the country bombing gas stations - and bombs and gasoline do not mix - but it`s all in response to Carlos Slim, who owns half of Mexico, being named the richest man in the world...the wealthiest lives in one of the poorest - and this inequality is just what generates all this protest.

I enjoyed the markets and the ruins and I finally feeling like I am making some progress with this challenging tonal indigenous language. Kuni mee ka'an tu'un savi va'a. (!Quiero habler Mixteco bien!/I want to speak Mixtec well!) I am now in the neighboring state, in Tlapa, Guerrero, visiting a small pueblo for a few days, where I will practice the language and visit families who have family in New York. More soon.
Saludos.