Last night I arrived in Oaxaca City. This is my second time in the City and I am happy to be back in this climate. It is less hot and humid here than the coast. (although the humidity was nice to my skin).
I traveled through the night on the bus from Ixtapec with Frank and his Cousin. Frank is a mediator and lawyer that I met in Salina Cruz. He is my age. I stayed one night with his family at their house in Ixtapec. We are now at his family´s second house in Oaxaca city. I didn't sleep much last night because the 5 hour bus ride from Ixtapec to here was very curvey! When we arrived, the house was full of people. So his cousin, Danae, and I shared the futon after we arrived at 5am.
Today everyone left and Frank is going to Mexico City. tonight to get his lawyer license, having just finished his education and passed the exam to be a lawyer. Thus, tonight it will just be me and his 17 year old Danae in the house. This will be the first night that I will have a bed to myself in over a week! I am not complaining though, I have had free lodging for the past couple of weeks and have made lots of new friends. Lookout though Oregon. I have invited all my new friends to stay with me if they ever want to visit and I think that I will be taken up on my offer.
Today began a little to slow for my liking. I made scrambled eggs and oatmeal for us and then we hung around the house doing nothing. I had planned on going to the mediation center here in Oaxaca early in the morning, but Frank had things to do. Finally I decided to take a Taxi to the mediation center.
I had a few great hours with some really nice mediators that let me ask them questions about mediation in Oaxaca. And they replied in slow, understandable Spanish! It was such a nice change of pace! I am excited about what I am learning about mediation here...and I can´t wait to get started on my thesis. I have a lot of questions I still need to answer though.
I left the mediation center at 3 pm in search of a Taxi to get back home. However, there was a some sort of strike and all the city buses were parked to block all the roads. The whole city was one big traffic jam! And there were no Taxis to be found. I made it the central bus station with the help of one of the mediation employees. This person left me at the station extremely apologetic but not being able to do anything for me. We called Frank and he said he would get me when they moved the buses.
By this time it was around 4 o clock, and finally being on the Mexican eating schedule, I decided to pass the time by having lunch. I ordered two quesadillas across the street and sat on a door step just out of reach of the rain to eat. Man, the food here is soo delicious. Those fresh warm made by hand corn tortillas are amazing.
From where I was sitting I could view a four way intersection, each street blocked by a bus (this was a protest because taxes were raised for the bus passengers recently). A lot of people were yelling and some kids (malos muchachos) threw rocks at one of the buses and broke out the windows. Soon after that the buses were moved from here and Frank arrived in a VW bug with a friend to pick me up. However, there were still bus blocks around the city and we drove around for two hours trying to find an open path home. During this adventure I got to see more of the city than I knew existed. I also saw one girl pierce the tongue of her friend in the middle of the sidewalk...no gloves, no nothing. Blood trickling down her tongue... ewwe.
After many turns we came to a street that had turned into a river from all the rain. After sitting at the mouth of it, contemplating whether or not to go through, and watching other cars (some successful and some not) go through, Frank's friend decided to give it a go. I protested that our car was too low. Two big trucks that passed us from the other direction shook their heads at us, "I wouldn´t do it amigo. The water is really high" they advised.
The friend, confident his VW bug would be fine, rushed into the water, and moments later, water rushed into the car. I stayed dry by pulling my legs up onto the seat, but Frank and friend were not so lucky. Soon after that the engine died and we sat in the middle of the river for a few moments before being able to slowly return from whence we came. Many minutes later we were turned around, which was another amazing feat considering the traffic at this point. We pulled over and let the engine dry out.
Around 7 o clock we finally made it home, we stopped at the store for milk and sweet bread and enjoyed hot chocolate at home. A perfect end to a very rainy and somewhat cold day. But what an adventure! I can´t wait for tomorrow! Ohh and I have pics of all this. I will post them soon!
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