The kids playing and having fun at Poing Poing in Oaxaca

Like most people, we bought a couple of guidebooks before traveling to Oaxaca. However, as is typical, NONE of the guidebooks discuss anything helpful if you are looking for fun activities for kids. Fortunately, I had other resources. Riding home with the girls everyday from the girls school in Oaxaca on the bus, I met a man and his daughter coming from the same school. I asked them about the best activities and places to go for kids in Oaxaca. There answer was “Poing-Poing.” I took the kids to Poing-Poing on Friday, and I think that they agree with that assessment – they told me the afternoon they spent there was the best time they had in Oaxaca. The kids had a great time playing all afternoon.

Poing Poing is similar to indoor playgrounds I have seen in the states, with a large climbing gym about 3 stories tall, several “ball pits”, and a game area with foosball and air hockey tables. Mexico does not have the obsession with safety that we have in the U.S. – for better or for worse, so they also have large trampolines, and a bungy jumping game. Poing Poing is a very large venue, and had plenty of fun to keep the kids busy all afternoon. They played actively from 12 until 4 – at which time I had to leave to make my way to my 5 pm Spanish class. They were still having fun when I dragged them home.

The kids playing in the ball pit at Poing Poing in Oaxaca

Andrew & Arianna on the peak of Piedra Larga in the Sierra Norte Oaxaca

Arianna and I took a trip with an ecotourism organization (Expediciones Sierra Norte), up into the mountains northeast of Oaxaca. The organization is run by a group of small pueblos in the mountains as a way to bring income into these small and isolated communities. They have a number of options they offer for ecotourism in and around their pueblos including guided day hikes, 2-5 day camping trips, trips on horseback, and rock climbing. Arianna and I chose a day trip up to a tall peak with a beautiful “mirador”. Rebecca stayed home with Ostara because her asthma has made it difficult for her to enjoy activities at high altitudes, here.

The trip began at the second class bus station at 6:45 am, when Arianna and I caught a 2nd

Typical second class bus in Mexico

class bus headed for Llano Grande in the mountains. When I was 20 years old I traveled through northern Mexico on 2nd class buses, so I knew what to expect. For Arianna it was a new experience. We had come 2 days earlier to buy tickets, so we had reserved seats on the ancient retrofitted Bluebird x-schoolbus – others coming in the morning had to stand in the aisle of the crowded bus. Most of the people on the bus were heading back to their homes in the mountain pueblos with goods from the market. The bus smelled strongly of fresh onions and garlic, as there were bushel bags filled with them in the luggage racks.

Not far from a village, we passed this cave. The floor looked like it had been level. I have heard that in many pueblos such caves are used for small traditional rituals.

The bus ride started with confusion about our reserved seat – a mother with a young child had tickets for the same seats as ours. We compared tickets, and I pointed out to her that her tickets were actual for the following day.  It ended up working out fine, as some friendly young tourists offered to stand so that Arianna and I, and the mother with the other child would not have to stand for the entire trip.

The initial road out of Oaxaca was very smooth and modern, not much different than a U.S. highway. But after 30 minutes we turned off this highway at Tlocolula, and headed into the mountains.

One of the many beautiful mountain flowers we encountered in the forest.

The mountain road was twisty and turny with many switchbacks, and was FILLED with giant potholes. The bus driver was constantly accelerating and braking rapidly, and swerving wildly to try to avoid the worst of the potholes. After an hour of driving up the mountainside, an unfortunate gringo raced up from the back of the bus, frantically yelling to his girlfriend in English “tell the driver to stop and open the door, I have to throw up.” His girlfriend didn’t have to translate, apparently the driver caught the drift – all the passengers on the bus sat quietly listening to 5 minutes of violent retching, and we were off again, bouncing, swerving, and lurching our way up into the mountains.

Starting the hike with Rico, Terri, and Arianna

After 2 and 1/2 hours we arrived at Llano Grande. There was nothing “grande” about it. It was a collection of about a dozen houses on a small flat plain in the valley of 2 mountain peaks. We were greeted by a young man who lead us to the tourist office where we met our guide, Rico and his dog Terri. We started off on our hike through pine forest, initially at a gentle climb. On the way, Rico pointed out much of the vegetation in the area: different types of pine trees, medicinal plants, bromeliads, and cacti. The path then began to climb steeply. This is when Arianna started to feel very sick – she developed a severe headache, with dizziness and a stomach ache. I had heard of altitude sickness before, but have never witnessed our experienced it – I tried to sift my brain for what to do and could think of nothing.

We encountered some bromeliads on the trees as we hiked towards Piedra Larga.

Arianna was miserable, and, since misery loves company, she was doing her best to share her misery with me in the way only Arianna can. The guide was incredibly patient with us – we crossed a road, and he asked if he wanted us to call for a car and end the hike. I was thinking at that point it was a good idea, even though I had been looking forward to this experience for several weeks. But Arianna adamantly refused, and promised to stop her whining. She kept her promise fairly well from that point on, and we pushed on to the mountain peak.

When we arrived at the mountain peak, at 3,350 meters, we had an amazing view of the surrounding valleys and mountains. We sat and ate our lunch, watching the clouds roll in over the mountains to the north of us. After eating, we had fun scrambling around the crags and rocks at the peak of the mountain.

Arianna on the ridge as we neared Piedra Larga. We stopped to watch the clouds rolling in, over the peaks to the north of us.

We then began our descent. On the way down the mountain, Rico pointed out a tree that had leaves used to treat altitude sickness – Arianna chewed on these with excellent effect. She said they tasted absolutely terrible, but they completely took away her symptoms for about 30 minutes. Fortunately, I filled my pocket with a half-dozen, so she had plenty to chew on as we worked our way down the mountain. On the descent Arianna was absolutely exhausted, but by the time we completed the 8 mile hike in 6.5 hours, she had a great feeling of accomplishment.

After the hike, we were treated with a simple Mexican country meal of arroz, frijoles,

Arianna sitting on top of the world, on Piedra Larga

chicken with salsa verde, and chili relleno (muy picante!). The food was excellent, especially after a long day of hiking. After eating, we left the restaurant to wait along the country road for a “collectivo” back to Oaxaca. A collectivo is like a taxi that always runs a specific route, is shared by others (until the small Nissan is packed full of 5 passengers), and is very inexpensive ($4 for a 2.5 hour trip back to Oaxaca). We only had to wait 5 minutes before a collectivo screeched to a halt in front of us, and we were off racing down the mountain side (again, swerving, screeching, and lurching to avoid the potholes that could have swallowed our car whole). We arrived back in Oaxaca after an exhausting but exhilarating day.

One last look before we began the descent from Piedra Larga

I had planned to be there around 9 p.m., hearing that there is a dance class offered an hour before the band plays. I guess that is only on Thursdays though. Tonight the dance class started around 10:20 and the band began a little after 11. I was hoping I had the energy for this, considering it was already an hour later than I thought it would be. But there is something about live music that is totally contagious, the Candela band is amazing — replete with saxophone, large hand drums, regular drum set, guitar, bass, and a beautiful lead singer. There may have been more brass but to be honest, the dancers were the main attraction for me. The dance floor was a very small, wooden platform in front of the stage where the band played. It was surrounded by two rows of cafe style tables and chairs, a bar and two small rooms for those wanting a little more privacy.

The salsa dancing there is HOT! When I wasn’t on the floor myself, my eyes were glued to the amazing couples out there shaking it for all they were worth. I didn’t recognize many of the basic steps I had learned in Rochester; most people were far beyond that. Plus, I later found out that the band played different styles of latin dance music like cumbia, cha-cha, bachata and cuban style salsa, not to mention salsa that ranged in tempo from slow to mind-boggling fast.

I was nervous that it would be difficult to find guys willing to dance with a relative newbie like myself. The night started off rather slowly but as more and more people came into the club, I received more requests to dance. After three dances with three different men, I met Oscar. He was a very good dancer and we seemed to work pretty well together. He asked me to dance a few more times and before I knew it, we just stayed on the dance floor and kept dancing together for the rest of the evening. As we got to know each other better, I barraged him with questions about the other types of dances and the music. He was a very patient and excellent teacher, explaining the various cadences in the music and how they were signals to turn or change your steps. He seemed very happy with the quick progress I made but teased me because I shied away from what he called “the sexier moves”. What can I say? I am a good Quaker girl, after all!

The band stopped around 2 but there was still canned music to dance to, although the crowd thinned out a bit. I should have left then but there were a few guys that I had been talking to and I was afraid that they would try to follow me home. I decided to wait until my Spanish teacher was ready to leave, which was very late — like, 3:30 a.m. late! Oscar volunteered to walk me home too, but I was afraid. It’s so difficult to know how to trust these days. So I bided my time talking to some other guys, one of whom volunteered to give me a back rub. That quickly ended when he tried to kiss me. Eww! Finally Mari and her friend were ready to go and I was walked safely back to my apartment a block away. The only problem was that I was so pumped from dancing, I had a difficult time falling asleep. I think I drifted off around 5 a.m. and then I heard Andrew’s alarm ring at 5:30 for his adventure in the mountains. And so ended my amazing time at Candela in Oaxaca!

Arianna at Hierve el Agua

On Sunday, as a part of our day long tour, our family made our way to the final destination of Hierve el Agua after traveling to the weaving village of Teotitlan and the ancient ruins of Mitla. Hierve el Agua is high up in the mountains on the eastern side of the Valley of Oaxaca. The site is a crystallized water fall created from a mineral spring that over many thousands of years has deposited salt crystals on the mountain side. You can see the crystallized falls behind Arianna in the picture on the right — they look like frozen waterfalls. The name Hierve el Agua means boiling water – this name comes from the fact that the springs bubble up through layers of deposited minerals in a way resembling boiling water. The springs are not “hot springs” — they are around 72 degrees Fahrenheit, a fine swimming temperature for my northern girls.

Adventure on the road to Hierve el Agua: Herd of goats

Getting to Hierve el Agua was an adventure in and of itself. Hierve el Agua is high up on a mountainside, and getting there requires traversing a narrow, poorly maintained dirt mountain road shared by goat herders, horseback riders, moto-taxis, and various others. Ostara really enjoyed looking out the windows to see the goats, sheep, horses, chickens, donkeys, and other interesting sights along the way. Rebecca and Arianna were both too carsick to enjoy the ride. At several points the driver had to stop the van to have one of the passengers get out to remove obstacles from the road to continue on.

View from Hierve el Agua

The view we were greeted with a Hierve el Agua was amazing, and made the arduous journey worth it, even for Arianna and Rebecca. The water from the springs collected in large marine blue pools that beckoned the girls in to swim. The view from the cliff over the valley 6,000 feet below was astounding. Since we arrived at about 5 pm and the elevation was around 8,000 feet, the air was quite chilly. This didn’t stop the girls from plunging in and swimming happily for a half an hour or so. Rebecca and I took turns watching the kids and exploring the cliff top. The water from the springs ran over the cliff top creating crystal pools of various sizes. I had to take my shoes off in order to enjoy the pleasure of wading through the pools.

Ostara in front of blue agave plant, trying to stay warm after swimming

Our family only had about one hour at Hierve el Agua before our tour returned to Oaxaca. After getting out of the warmish water into the cool mountain air, the girls were very cold. Unfortunately, Rebecca and I were not prepared with warm clothes for the kids, so I wrapped Ostara up in Rebecca’s extra T-shirt. Here is a picture of her in front of a blue agave plant, common in the Oaxaca valley, shivering from her afternoon swim.

Ostara & Rebecca at Hierve el Agua

I think our family is in agreement that Hierve el Agua was one of our favorite places in the Oaxaca valley. The kids loved the chance to swim in the beautiful pools, and Rebecca and I enjoyed the panoramic views from the mountain and the unique crystal waterfalls. I wish that we had more time to explore the mountain side and to swim when the air was warmer. I am trying to convince our family to return for another visit, but the trip there is daunting because it is 1.5 hours from Oaxaca on a difficult road for people who get carsick. Well, we still have many other interesting places to visit in and around Oaxaca . . .

Teotitlan weaving workshop: A family business

On Sunday, Rebecca, the kids and I took a day trip via a local tour company from Oaxaca. Our family trip included stops at the Tule tree, the village of Teotitlan, the ruins of Mitla, and Hierve el Agua (more on the latter two in later posts). The village of Teotitlan is a village centered around the business of weaving “tapetes” or hand-woven wool rugs. Our tour stopped at a family run workshop and watched an overview of the process of creating the dyes, the yarn, and then weaving the rugs by hand. The process was so fascinating it enthralled our entire family as we watched the 30 minute presentation by the weaving family. The presentation evenheld  our 4 year old’s attention.

Harvesting of the cochineal bug from the cactus

One of the main dyes used in the wool yarn is from an insect that infests the cacti in the local area called the cochinilla. Here the gentleman is harvesting a few with his fingers — he then passed them around (again, the kids really enjoyed the hands on aspect, though Ostara wouldn’t touch them!). The cochinilla are then dried and crushed. When they are crushed, they make a deep red powder. When mixed with water, it makes a beautiful rich, rust red color (similar to what you see in the rug behind the man’s shoulders in the picture.

Crushing the dried cochineal into a red powder

After crushing the powder, the gentleman passed some around to volunteers to place in their hands with water to mix. It made a deep red liquid. Then he passed around a lime – when mixed with lime, the deep red changed to orange (due to the pH change).

They then passed around wool dyed with the oranges and reds, making very dark or very light colors depending on the underlying shade of the wool — ie. the original color of the sheep. Black sheep make very dark colors, white sheep very light, etc. Again this was all like magic to the kids.

Green tones were made from dye created from rock moss

Next they showed us how other colors were made using vegetable sources of dyes. Shades of green were made from a rock moss gathered in the nearby mountains. Yellows from marigold blossoms and blue from indigo leaves.

The woman in the picture on the right is holding a bowl of green rock moss in one hand and three shades of green wool made from it in the other. All the yarn is made from the exact same dye — the dark green from black wool (bah, bah, black sheep!), the light green from white wool, and the middle shade from gray wool.

After showing us the dyes, they then gave us a demonstration of how they weave the tapetes. We watched as the woman wove a complex pattern with a dozen different colors at a rapid pace, from memory.

Weaving demonstration

Our tour guide explained that she didn’t need a picture for a guide because it was a well-known pattern that she knew from memory. She just had to keep count of the rows. It was amazing to see the tapete begin to take shape in front of our eyes.

After the demonstration, we were lead to the showroom where there were thousands of beautiful handmade tapetes for sale.

Geometric designs on tapete from Teotitlan

Our tour guide explained some of the geometric patterns frequently seen on the tapetes. They are ancient designs — I recognized some from the pyramids of Monte Alban and the tombs of Mitla. The picture on the left shows a small tapete that our family purchased at the workshop that shows a lot of the aspects of the work that we really appreciated. Note the stair steps moving up into a spiral “maze” shape – this is said to represent the cycle of life. We are born at the bottom step, move up the steps throughout our lives, and then die at the top. In death, we enter the spiral and work our way to a new beginning, or rebirth.

I loved this tapete because of the geometric designs, and because it shows many of our favorite dyes from the cochinilla insect and the vegetable dyes.

Tree of Life Tapete

The other small tapete that we purchased was a depiction of the “tree of life” filled with different kinds of birds. We bought a very tiny version because we loved it so, although the one we truly fell in love with is this huge wall sized tapete with intricate detail.

This was one of the first stops of our Sunday family tour from Oaxaca. We knew the kids would enjoy the ruins and love swimming at Hierve el Agua. We were pleasantly surprised that they were also enchanted by the weaving workshop in Teotitlan!

Arianna & Ostara in the Museo Palacio in Oaxaca

Arianna’s class in Colegio Teizcali visited the Museo Palacio in Oaxaca a couple of weeks ago, and she really enjoyed it and asked to go back with the family. This museum is not in the gringo tourist guidebooks – since the standard guidebooks discussing Oaxaca are not really aimed at traveling with children or families.  We never would have known about it, if not for Arianna’s school. An extra bonus, the cost of entry was about $2.00 (US), and free for children!

The Museo del Palacio is a interactive museum aimed at Mexican families and children with exhibits about the sciences (biology and space), history and culture (primarily but not only Mexican). On the staircase up to the second floor, where most of the exhibits are, there is an amazing mural detailing 3,000 years of Mexican history. At the top of the stairs is a computer running a video displaying the “story” of the mural. I wanted to take some time to view this amazing mural, but the girls were anxious to get to the more “child friendly” parts of the museum. Such is life, when traveling with kids.

Arianna served as our very enthusiastic tour guide

Since Arianna had been the Museo del Palacio before, she was eager to be our tour guide. She lead the way to the most exciting exhibits, and enthusiastically explained all the exhibits. Since I have a fairly solid background in science, going through the science portion actually helped my Spanish because I had background to help me understand the text explaining the exhibits. I served as “interpreter” for the girls, translating the Spanish signs into English. I was surprised at how much I understood – I have come a long way in the past month!

Ancient Mexican Children's Game

By far our families favorite section of the Museo was the game exhibit. This exhibit showed about 2 dozen ancient Mexican games from Zapotec, Mixtec, and Mije cultures. There was a staff member who was there to help us. She was delightful, and eager to show us all the games we were interested in. Some of the games were active, similar to hopscotch. Others were strategic board games. The kids played in here for more than an hour, trying out new games. Again, I served as translator since the museum staff member only spoke Spanish. Again, I surprised myself at how well I understood her speech – she was kind and spoke very slowly for me!

I would highly recommend Museo del Palacio to other families visiting Oaxaca. We had a great time, and it was a nice break for us because it was very low stress and fun for the kids!

Tonight, while Andrew put Ostara to sleep, Arianna and I sat on the rooftop terrace searching for some Geminid meteors and just chatting. We talked about constellations and our favorite Mohawk stories about the stars and our favorite goddess stories about the moon. Arianna has an amazing memory for stories and recited several to me. Then we went downstairs and played a game of cards before she went to bed. So sweet, so simple, and yet something that is so difficult for me to do when I am at home.

In addition to more Spanish, I hope to take home a different way of life. One where I make more time to spend together as a family and nurture the special connections that I share with my husband and my children. The girls have grown up a lot during this trip and both have realized they have an inner strength and beauty that shines regardless of where they are or how many difficulties they are facing. I hope they always remember that. And I hope that no matter how old they get, they will continue to appreciate and honor the importance of family and friends.

When Ostara was having a difficult time during her first week of school, I made up a story to help bolster her confidence. It went something like this: Once upon a time, there was a family of dragons. There was a big mommy dragon, a big daddy dragon, a big sister dragon and a little girl dragon. The little girl dragon felt very small compared to the big dragons in her family. One day, the mommy and daddy dragon had to go to a special dragon school and the girl dragons had to go to a new school with lots of other little dragons that spoke different dragon languages. The little girl dragon was very nervous when she went to school by herself on the first day. But then she remembered what her mommy dragon told her, “You may be small, but inside of you, there is a fire that is as big and hot and bright as the fire from the biggest dragon. You don’t ever have to be afraid of anything because you are as strong as a big dragon.” The little girl dragon took a deep breath and started talking to another little dragon next to her. And before she knew it, they were playing together and having fun. When the little dragon came home, she told her mommy, “You were right! I was afraid to go to school at first, but I was brave and I made a new friend today.”

The story seemed to have an impact on Ostara. When she returned home from the first day of her second week, Ostara said, “Mommy, I didn’t cry in school at all today. I was very brave!” Her teacher reported that she was much happier and played with the other children that week. And it has been getting easier for her ever since.

Arianna didn’t cry in school but she did have to deal with a boy that was making fun of her because she couldn’t speak Spanish. He had to apologize to her in English, which he doesn’t speak very well. She has also been having a great time helping her teacher learn more English after she eats lunch. When Arianna wrote in her journal about how proud she was of how much English her teacher was learning and how much she looked up to her, her teacher wrote back “For me, it is very difficult to learn english, but for you, I’d like to know more.” I think we have all learned that you can still make connections with other people despite barriers of language and culture. And once you realize that, what can stop you?

This trip has been challenging and difficult but the most amazing thing that we are discovering is the value of being a citizen of the world. Here’s to celebrating the first of many stamps in the passport books of my dragon girls!

Today we went to a piano and cello concert in the Museo Nacional de las Culturas, next to Iglesia Santa Domingo. The concert was excellent. Afterwards, the girls were doing very well, so Rebecca and I thought it was a great opportunity to see the museum. The girls were very patient with us as we worked our way through the museum, but we did have to move through the exhibits pretty quickly. We both would like to go back and spend more time reading and viewing the details of the museum

The Museum is in the ex-convent of Santo Domingo, built in the 1600′s. The architecture and the building itself is as fascinating as any of the exhibits. The building is amazing, all constructed of stone, with beautiful archways, amazing domed roofs constructed of brick and multiple courtyards surrounded by arched balconies.

I was fascinated by the ceilings. Many of the ceilings were just bare brick laid in concentric circles to create the domed shape – that was amazing in and of itself. And then there were ceilings like this ornately decorated ceiling (see below) with carvings  andpaintings of intricate religious motifs.

The museum was laid out in a temporal format, the first room showing artifacts from around 3000 years ago from indigenous cultures. Following rooms showed artifacts from later indigenous cultures of Oaxaca. Eventually we came to rooms showing artifacts from the Spanish conquest in the 1500′s. It was a very interesting pictoral history of Oaxaca.

The girls really enjoyed roaming around the building, climbing the stairs onto the balconies, looking off into the gardens, and enjoying the view outside.

Every time we left a room of the museum, we were greeted with an amazing view of the gardens and mountains surrounding the ex-convent. See the image below — this is just one of dozens of portals overlooking the gardens. This is actually an ethnobotanical garden with acres to explore and are worth visiting in their own right. We plan to return to visit the gardens on a future trip.

Andrew in front of Santo Domingo in Oaxaca.

6:15 am – the girls wake us up, very eager to go to school. I make them breakfast and pack their lunches, and have just enough time for a cup of coffee before heading out the door to catch the bus.

7:15 am – We head out to catch the bus. Our street, Pino Suarez, is on a major bus line. Sometimes our bus is going by just as we open the door – we flag it down and we’re off. Other times we have to wait up to 20 minutes. There is no bus “schedule” – the buses just come periodically, every 5-20 minutes.

7:30 am – The bus ride is always interesting in the morning, because it is very crowded. We have to squeeze on, and often times we are perched right next to the driver. Arianna and I usually place Ostara between us so she doesn’t fly off when the bus screeches around corners, or lurches to a halt to pick up another passenger.

7:50 am – drop the girls off at Colegio Teizcali. Arianna just heads off to her class independently. I take Ostara to class, and often times there is no teacher there yet. Since Ostara is still a little bit anxious about being left, I stay until her teacher comes. I have fun talking to the 4 years olds in my broken Spanish – they enjoy teaching me things. I ask them: Who’s that guy in that big red suit? “Es Santa Claus!”; Who is he? He brings us presents on Christmas!, etc.

8:15 am I return via bus to our apartment and have a few minutes to talk to Rebecca before heading off to language school.

9:00 – 12 noon – Rebecca and I spend our mornings in language class. Since our school is small, much of the time has been one-on-one tutoring, which is awesome, but it is exhausting because we have to be thinking all the time.

12 – 2 pm – Early afternoon is often time for Rebecca and I to do intercambios with students learning English at our school. If we don’t have intercambios, sometimes we’ll slip off to a neighborhood market, buy a few grocery items and have a quick lunch. Sometimes I will take an hour for a mid-day jog up El Fortin.

2 pm – time to catch the bus to pick up the girls at Colegio Teizcali.

3 pm – Return to the apartment with the girls. At this time, they are completely wiped out from trying to understand Spanish all day. We have learned, through experience, that it is important to give them an hour or so to decompress – usually this involves playing on the iPods. I take this moment to make dinner.

4 pm – We eat an early supper, usually rice and beans, pasta, or something else simple that we can make in our tiny kitchen with limited utensils.

5 pm – After supper several days a week Arianna has an intercambio with her new friend Anna Paula. After that, we all head out to the neighborhood park, Llano, and the girls play. Sometimes we will have an ice cream or popsicle from the local Popeye’s.

6 pm – We start getting the kids settled down for bed. Arianna spends an hour or so doing homework – and creating “English Homework” for her teacher. Ostara listens to a story. We have picked up a number for storybooks at the local “Oaxaca Lending Library”: “Los Tres Cochinitos y Los Lobo Feroz,” and “Donde Esta Waldo?”. We also found a few English language books, which Ostara treasures now.

8 pm – Finally the girls are in bed. Rebecca and I now need to work on our Spanish homework, and then we usually have some time to talk. Oftentimes we go out on the rooftop patio to look at the moon and stars, which are very bright here particularly for an urban environment. We are often rewarded with fireworks a couple blocks away at the Santa Domingo church, or a parade marching up Pino Suarez honoring some saint or other, or promoting a political candidate.

9:30 pm – We crash in bed, exhausted, ready to start another day . . .

On the weekends we have tried to do some touristy things, but on Saturdays the girls are wiped out from the week. This weekend we realized they were in no shape to take them to a museum. Today, we are going to attempt to bring them to a concert.

Also, on the weekends we have various chores to perform – the usual cleaning. Also, we need to gather our laundry and take it to the lavanderia. For $10 pesos/kg (about 80 cents) we have our clothes washed, dryed, and folded – but, we still need to hoof it several blocks with 13 kgs of laundry on our shoulders. We also need to do grocery shopping, etc.

Well, anyways, that is our daily life in Oaxaca, which, over the past week or so is about all there is to it. We are all enjoying our Spanish lessons, the new friends we are meeting, and the lovely weather in Oaxaca. We are hoping in our last week, after our schools are completed, we will have some time to “be tourists”. We are planning to head to the beach, swim, snorkel, and basically just relax before heading home.