Oaxaca...Antes. Pt. 1

January 17, 2005-February 17, 2005
So I have arrived in wonderful, beautiful, magical Oaxaca and I now know why I felt the need to come back. The bustling city, so noisy and full of stories and life. I can only compare the architecture and general feel of the city to those of Europe that I haven´t seen myself...the colonial buildings and lack of skyscrapers...aaah...but this Mexican city has that congeniality and amazing happiness that only the underlying poverty can bring. It is absolutely amazing how bright a smile can be on a sun-browned wrinkled face that has known nothing but hard-work.

I am staying at a hostel I stayed at before and I am speaking primarily Spanish everyday. I really like the hostel. I love the boys and 1 Mexican chica that run the place. They are all so nice and welcoming. I have also already met three women who are all traveling alone...1 German and two gringas. They will be here for varying amounts of time, but I am excited. My Spanish is getting better and better as is my salsa dancing.

Other than that, I am excited for when my gringa friend Maria comes to visit, but right now I am pretty tired after dancing the night away last night and then going out for late-night tlyudas (Oaxacan style pizza-mas o menos)...

...Well, I have survived another week and half in sunny Oaxaca. I feel like I have done so little and so much at the same time, that I don't even know where to begin. It all still seems like such a dream. I hope that when Maria comes, her presence from my "real life" will bring this whole Mexican experience more into reality.

Pues, I have just gotten to know the city more and more. I have found a school that has meditation, yoga and astrology classes at night and I have also been taking Spanish lessons. I think I may be settling down here. The people I live with are great...there is a German/Mexican couple in particular that have become my good friends. The girl is German and the guy is Oaxacan and we just speak Spanish all the time. I like the hostel a lot because the laid back atmosphere attracts people who come to Oaxaca to stay for awhile so the scene is not as transient as it has been in other hostels.

Anyway, a week ago a group of seven of us all went out to a little town in the mountains for an adventure that none of us will forget. We were two German girls, two Mexican boys and three Gringas and we all went to do a temescal. A temescal is the ancient, indigenous form of a sauna and is said to have curative properties for both the body and the soul. We went to a town called Capulapan and stayed the night at a health center where they do massages, births with midwifes, herbal cleansing as well as the temescal. All of of got a massage as well as a "cleansing" which involved being swatted with herbs and then rubbed down with an uncracked egg. After being rubbed down with the egg, the woman cracks the egg into a glass of water and tells you what ailments she can see. It was crazy because as we each went into the room one by one and not one of us had a physical ailment. We all were confronted with whatever demons we are facing at this point in our lives. The cleansing is what began the rest of the battle.

Our intention was to the temescal that night which means that you can not eat for two hours before going in so you don't get sick. However, after trying to heat up the temescal ourselves two times, we realized that we may have to wait until the morning to have a really hot temescal. So we all stayed up that night playing cards and laughing deliriously all wishing that we had some food to eat before going to bed. Pues, the next morning we woke up and the temescal had already been prepared and we all jumped in. Remember we haven't eaten anything substantial for about 18 hours.

Well, when most people stay in the sauna for two hours, 15 minutes passed before Lalo looked at all of us and said, "I think we need to get out here."

The difference in temperature between the inside of the temescal and the outside is quite shocking and one by one as we exited we all started fainting. It sounds a lot worse than it actually was. The fact that we all cuddled up into the same bed...all 7 of us and basically slept away our delirium along with the rest of the day. It was this amazing bonding experience that when we returned to the hostel and were asked how it was, Lalo responded by saying, "We are all warriors that have returned from battle."

Other than that...I have just been dancing the week-ends away. Now, I am just waiting for Maria to come. I am pissed though because she was supposed to come in today, but her flight got cancelled and she can't get in until tomorrow. Pinche United!!!! But, we have a big two weeks planned. We are going to go out into the mountains with a Mexican friend of mine and then do some shopping and sight-seeing in the city the next day. Then off to the beach for at least a week I imagine. We'll get back to Oaxaca in time for a concert by Lila Downs who is supposed to be fantastic and the concert has already practically sold out.
I am so excited...