Poco a Poco (Little by Little): Week Long Trip to Oaxaca, Mexico!!!

To get to Oaxaca, Mexico we had to take a microbus to Tapachula, Mexico from Xela and then take a larger greyhound type bus to Oaxaca. The microbus is always an interesting mode of transportation. There were a total of 14 of us that had to squeeze ourselves into the bus, including some of our bags that did not fit on top of the roof. Luckily we have a really awesome driver named Oscar! It took about three hours to get to Talisman, which is right at the Guatemalan/Mexican border. Once we got to the border we all had to go inside and get our passports stamped. While we were in line, Oscar watched our bags on the roof of the bus. Mexico and Guatemala are countries were corruption is at its finest. We were told by one of the border protection “officials” that we could either pay him off (I don’t know the amount) or we had to take down our bags so they could search them. We of course did not pay them off, and had to go through the hassle of taking them down, only to have them skim through the bags and not really care what was inside of them. Oh well, I have learned that in Latin America you have to just go with the flow or else you will go insane constantly questioning why some things are the way they are.

Mexican Flag in the Zocalo (Central Park)

Once in Tapachula, which is a few kilometers from Talisman we boarded a larger bus to Oaxaca. The bus ride was a long 12 hours but luckily it was overnight so I was able to sleep a decent amount. We arrived to Oaxaca around 9 in the morning and then took taxies to the Don Antonio Hostel. An extremely nice family and their cute little dogs run the hostel. The rest of the day we ventured around the city of Oaxaca and rested a bit from the long travel. The following day the family made us all a delicious breakfast of chilaquiles, which are a traditional Mexican dish that consists of tortilla chips simmered with a sweeter red salsa and topped with cheese. Son muy deliciosos! We then had an Orientacion (orientation) and Taller (workshop) at CASA Chapulin. CASA (Colectivos de Apoyo (Support), Solidaridad (Solidarity), y Accion (Action)) Chapulin is a solidarity organization comprised of allies organizing with grassroots efforts in Oaxaca, Mexico http://www.casacollective.org/casa-chapulin . They collaborate with indigenous communities, women’s cooperatives, political prisoner advocates, human rights organizations, community radio projects, and popular education centers. Their work began in Oaxaca in 2006 in the time of extreme repression and resistance during the popular APPO movement, which stands for Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca ( Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca). This movement was a public demonstration and a teacher’s strike calling for the resignation of the Oaxacan governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz. For more information on this movement I highly recommend seeing the film “Un Poquito de Tanta Verdad” (A Little Bit of So Much Truth). Oaxaca is known for its people being strong activists. While we were there, there were several marches and peaceful protests about various things.

One of the many marches in Oaxaca

More signs to promote justice

The group with one of the hostel family members

Courtyard of the CASA Collective

The following day we had a charla (chat) with COMI (Centro de Orientacion del Migrante de Oaxaca). http://comi.giving.officelive.com/english.aspx This center is a non-profit organization that supports illegal immigrants from other Central American countries. They offer housing and food for three days in order for the immigrants to get back on their feet. They also provide medical assistance through the collaboration with La Clinica del Pueblo (The clinic of the people), which we visited on Friday. It was very interesting to see the same issues in Mexico that we have in the US in regards to immigration and it was nice to see the compassion these people had to start this organization. In the afternoon we had another Taller (workshop) with an organization called Nueve Lunas – Parto Humanizado http://nuevelunas.org.mx/ . The woman who spoke with us is a Comadrona (midwife) and she works with women rights and sexual rights as well as focusing on birth and certain birthing options. She explained how Oaxaca has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in Mexico and that many factors play into it. She also explained how birth (parto) has become very dehumanized and it is important that the woman’s culture be taken into account when giving birth (dar la luz – giving the light).