Sunday, November 14, 2004

Oaxaca 2004






Subject: John from Oaxaca I: detenido en Puerto Angel, 11/14/04
Greetings from Lupin's tienda. Mid-afternoon Sunday, the sun is still so hot any movement results in profuse sweating (True, I am a sweathog).

'Caught the redeye to Dallas on Tuesday night, joining sister Mary there at 5 a.m. Í need to have a list of what to pack in the future so I don't forget my glucosamine, etc, flashlight, flip-flops, Eng-Spanish dictionary, 2nd bathing suit. But, I got the essentials--ticket, snorkeling gear, one bathing suit. Hopefully I'll find big enough other clothing to buy as needed.
Our Dallas and Mexico City connections were ample, so we didn't have to rush, but we did use up most of Wednesday traveling. After renting a VW bug at the Oaxaca airport, we made our way to a nice B&B for the night, joined at breakfast by Andrea, NPR San Francisco, here for a month to learn Spanish to better report on California.

The drive over the Sierra Madre del Sur was slow. Lots of potholes and topes (speedbumps), many unmarked and hard to see ('Sorry Mary), greeted by several trucks and buses rounding corners on our side of the road. We took a sideroad in search of an organic coffee finca. Fortunately we turned back upon being stopped by work on a landslide, or we likely wouldn't have gotten back to the "main" highway before dark.

Casa de Huespedes (guesthouse) Gundy y Tomas in Puerto (Pto) Angel had a room for us, complete with fan, mosquito netting and bath down the hall, considered private because no other guests used it. Gundy (Tomas died some years ago) attracts mostly Europeans, plus expatriate Americanos, some of whom rent by the month elsewhere and spend a good part of their time chatting with Gundy (German) and her guests. All (the cabbie today too) share amazement at our election results.

'Found the volleyball game the first afternoon, but the gals I played with last year have been pushed off the sand by the mas fuerte (stronger) guys. I was a bit of a liability to my team and joined Mary for margaritas after we were forced to the sideline by losing.

Friday we snorkeled a couple of places. The first was punctuated by my dive to get a shell. Flailing to return to the surface, I ran into a sea urchin's spines, 5 embedding in my thumb. Unsure if they might be poisonous, we consulted local fishermen and were told to put vela de cebo (animal fat candle) on the wounds. That was our first visit here to Lupin's tienda. He served as nurse, dripping the hot wax on my thumb. When I winced, he began dripping on his own arm, exclaiming; "¿Que es el problema?!"
We drove to the Estacahuite bluff above 3 pretty beaches for our afternoon snorkel. I wisely stopped before descending a slope so badly eroded we surely would have gotten stuck. I also thought to remove the plastic tag from the keys, thinking it might get water trapped in it. After snorkeling and climbing back to the car, it occurred to me that I should have taken the precaution to remove the plastic security key from the key ring as well--it fits in to a slot on the dash and enables the key. Sure enough--after being immersed for an hour in the ocean, it didn't work and we were unable to start the car. This saga could go on for pages. The short version: 2 days later, our 500 pesos/day (best exchange, 11.3 pesos to the dollar currently) rental bug is still sitting on the bluff. My hikes and cab rides back with the security key, after treatments with hair dryer and the hot Mexican sun all day, plus borrowing a look-alike security key from a local bug owner have had no positive resulto. This morning Mary caught a ride with a young German staying at Gundy`s, to not miss the beginning of our comfy week at Casa San Felipe in Oaxaca and meet our fellow guests found on Lonely Planet´s Thorntree chatroom. I remain in Pto. Angel, waiting for the Mexican equivalent to Fed-Ex to deliver the second set of keys, tomorrow, or Tuesday or...

I caught collectivos (trucks and cabs that fill up) to Mazunte today, snorkeling in search of sea turtles. Mazunte was a harvesting site for turtles until such was outlawed by the government in 1990. No luck finding turtles, but the snorkeling at both ends of the beach was fair. The coral is much less developed here than in the Carribbean, but the schools of fish are indeed awesome.

The sun is dropping. Time for one more trek to the bug, see if another day in the sun for the security key has done the trick, catching the sunset on the way back. Then probably dinner again at El Rincon, perched on the hill above the crashing waves. `Looks expensive, but fresh fish meals are 40-70 pesos (I've been doing the math. Your turn.).

Hasta pronto


SECOND POST, Thursday pm, 11/18
Saludos from Casa San Felipe, a lovely old colonial mansion now 8 comfortable studio timeshare units, 4 blocks from the Zocalo (Central plaza) in Oaxaca. I caught up with Mary here Monday afternoon. Sunday, after leaving the security key in the hot sun for a second day, I trudged out to the rental car once again, expecting the same negative outcome. To my delight, the key worked. I quickly drove in to town, expecting it was a fluke and wouldn't work twice. But, it´s been acting like it´s suppose to ever since. I tried to alert Alamo, the rental agency, that they no longer needed to send the extra set of keys, but didn't reach them, due to helper and/or phone system ineptness. Here in Oaxaca, I agreed to pay for the special delivery to the beach. They asked me to pay another $20 to mail the keys back, but it´s going to work out for Julie and Mark to be my couriers.After several un-named others all bailed on joining us, the second studio here at San Felipe was left open. Lonely Planet, the travel publisher for backpackers, has an online bulletin board by region, Thorntree (recommended before you travel). I put out word of the studio and Julie and Mark replied. They stayed here Sunday through Tuesday nights and became our regular companions, climbing in to the back seat of our VW bug, until we put them on a second class bus yesterday to go trekking in to the highlands NE of here. While I consider myself something of the international adventurer/risk taker, they make my exploits seem tame indeed. Julie is still recovering from wrenching her knee, which may have saved her life, arresting her fall during their ascent of Wuini Wainu (sp?) by moonlight, the last Incan pinnacle stronghold seen in the background of the familiar Machu Pichu panorama. I recall how precarious that climb was during the day.We also made fast friends with Eliana, a Brazilian transplant to Queens. Traveling by herself, she too squeezed in to our back seat. She opens up for the Wall Street Journal. Uncharacteristically she slept in on 9/11/01. Her usual habit was to catch the subway early. Before starting work at the Financial Trade Center, she often browsed in a bookstore under the World Trade Center next door. Late that day, her train was stopped just before the twin towers. She spent the day literally running at times, mostly walking, eventually back up to 42nd Street before finding a working train to take her back to Queens. She was covered in white ash after the collapse of the first tower. On Tuesday, the troop of 5 took in Monte Alban, Zapotec capitol on a mountaintop just outside Oaxaca. We then found our way through traffic-clogged, incessantly toped (speed-bumped) streets to Arrizola, the village where most wood figurines are made, visiting several in-home shops. Wednesday, after sending Mark and Julie off on their trek, Mary and I began serious shopping in Teotitlan del Valle, center of textile weaving. Mary caught sight of a small cemetery, still filled with flowers from the recent Day of the Dead. Mary struck up a conversation with Antonio, an English-speaking Zapotec Indian. He explained that the afternoon was marked by a ceremony for a 12-year-old tragically killed by a drunk's unintended discharge of a gun last week. We were invited to partake of mescal and cerveza, then drive Antonio and other family members to their home, where we were introduced to their looms and weavings. Lacking money (left in the safe back in the hotel) we promised to return today to buy a couple of special rugs, with softer colors made naturally from plants and insects. We proceeded to make multiple purchases from several street vendors in Teotitlan ('Tougher to find gifts for guys). Before driving back in to Oaxaca, we visited a mescal distillery.I turned in the rental car this afternoon. Driving in this city--in reality, most of this country--is maddening. The price of a cab to the airport Saturday will be a fraction of the daily car rental. I have yet to check out several of the handicraft shops here in Oaxaca where I enjoyed bartering last year. Mary still hasn't been to the museum. Saturday morning and the flights home will soon be here.

Oaxaca 2004, the closing chapter, 11/22

It's memories now. And my shopping scores, for Party door prizes. 'Took my army duffel empty. 'Brought it back stuffed, as well as a full cloth bag of many colors purchased in the market. This by a guy whose eyes glaze over just walking in to a department store around here.

On Friday Mary and I were delighted by the organic farmers' market in Oaxaca (For those going there, it's open Fridays and Saturdays, now on Garcia Vigil, a block west and a couple of blocks north of the museum/Iglesia de St. Domingo). A mix of Mexican and gringo vendors, including a guy selling his own chocolate. He left the States in 1969 (read draft dodger) and is happy to stay away. Great products (breads, meats, coffee, homemade jewelry), a brass band, cordial sellers and shoppers. We proceeded to the city food and craft markets, content to barter prices down some, knowing there was still some profit in the "ultimos precios". Many--hand-woven things, bark paintings, etc.--requiring many hours of painstaking labor.

Oaxaca is famous for its cuisine in general and mole in particular, a chocolate-based sauce. We enjoyed several restaurants and risked a few street purchases, like the huge lime-soaked fruit cups. For breakfast, we found a panaderia (bakery) near Casa San Felipe. Big tin platter and tongs in hand, we splurged, snagging several from dozens of baked choices, the tally coming to $2-$3. And, true to form, I returned home 5 pounds lighter, and only a brush with tourista.

Besides Mezcal, we bought a bottle of aged Cuban rum, believing the duty-free sales person's assurance that with a Mexican sales slip there would be no problema with customs. Wrong. Likewise with the Cuban cigars. I considered joking about protocol, if crossing the border the other direction, of slipping them a bill to look the other way. 'Good thing I bit my tongue. 'Paranoid thought that they somehow knew we are Dubya haters. I heard mention of Bush Airport. Aren't you suppose to wait 'til someone dies to immortalize them?!

Mary and I parted in Dallas. Her last leg was to Portland. My 3.5-hour flight to Seattle shortened by the companionship of J Poehlman, a pleasant former Boeing interior decorator turned photographer in his retirement years. He submits his slides to magazines and has had success, including Oregon Coast Magazine. My animated conversation about our Beverly Beach cottage, Whistler and timeshare exchange opportunities was interrupted by the lady in front of us. I expected she was asking for an opportunity to rent from me. In fact, she asked if I could speak softer! 'Didn't dampen my enthusiasm much and she did later turn again and chat with us about her recent traveling in Spain and France.

For next year, I'm already thinking about doing some things differently. When I started planning this trip, I expected to get no further than Mexico City, Distrito Federal (DF) with my American Airlines frequent flyer awards. I was delighted when the American agent informed me an affiliation with Mexicana could get us all the way to Oaxaca at no extra cost. Now, I have figured out it's possible to do an "open jaw" (land one place, leave from another) that will reduce the long trip over the Sierra Made del Sur to one way, rather than round trip: fly from DF to Huatulco, on the coast near Puerto Angel and fly back from Oaxaca. The only thing about this trip that wasn't a "deal" was the car rental, about $45/day for the cheapy bug. Mary and I agreed we could have done without it.

So, it's back to the gray Northwest, to property management* and eventual resumption of tax return preparation. But, getting ready for Lowry Rentals Party III comes first!

John

*I need to find an effective advertising vehicle for Pop's Cottage--the Oregon Coast bluff cottage. With travels this fall, I haven't done a good job of keeping it occupied, in spite of offering short-notice discounts. And, then there's rates to family & friends. Check it out--it's a great winter retreat--www.lowryrentals.com.