Encounters

In Oaxaca, I keep meeting people in public places and then see them again to deepen the friendship, in ways that would never happen in the States.

There is a market 2 blocks from our house where we shop for staples (tortillas, fresh juices, salsas, fruits and vegetables, occasional meats). There a woman selling embroidered napkins and such called to me one day and asked if I was from Japan. When I said yes, she said she has hosted visitors from Japan and other places in her house in Huautla, a mountain town in the part of Oaxaca inhabited by the Mazatecs, another one of the major ethnic groups here. To those who know about these things, it's known as the home of Maria Sabina, the culandera who made the hallucinogenic mushrooms famous.

Inez invited us to visit her family in Huautla. She came over to our house to meet my family and chat. Just yesterday she brought over her husband. It turns out Inez and Juvenal also hosted an American anthropologist who looked at their community. Dan sent him emails of greetings from them, and it seems they are completely genuine in seeking friendships with visitors. We talked about visiting during a town fiesta in February, which fell through because we got busy with other things. But now it seems we will make a trek down a canyon and up mountains next week, the semana santa. Inez and Juvenal sat in our living room, basically told us what it would be like in a very concrete manner, gave us a list of things to take, told us that they think we'd like it and they hope we will come.

This is no quick trip as it will probably take us 8 hours one way driving on steep, curvy mountain roads that may not be in good condition. As I get carsick, I'll have to drive almost all the way, taking care to not get the kids sick. When we get there, we'll stay in Inez and Juvenal's palm walled house on the floor in sleeping bags. We plan to go further to another town where there'll be a fiesta and a beautiful river. Despite its location in the mountains, Huautla itself is rumored to be a rather ugly town. Dan wants to take a side trip on the way home to see the green macaws nesting. We'll see.

A similar encounter I had was with a woman who sat across from us in a downtown cafe where I was having a snack with the kids. She introduced herself as a mother of teenagers going to the university here to get her law degree. She said she lives in Zaachila, a town in the Oaxaca Valley known for its Thursday market. She said the next day there was going to be a wedding and we could come if we wanted. She gave me her cell phone number. We did not make that event as we ended up splitting doing different things, and I thought that was the end of it.

Last week as I was parking in Zaachila to take my sister-in-law and niece to the Thursday market, a friendly woman started talking to my SIL. I recognized her from the previous encounter. She invited us to join her family for the semana santa festivities in her town next week, and walked us over to the market. Although some of the events sounded very interesting, we can't accept her generous invitation again because we'll be in Huautla.

Other encounters I've had here include a vendor in a market from whom I bought a vegetable (can't remember what it was) offering me a bite of her tamal. This is a woman sitting on the floor against the wall of the market building, surrounded by the vegetables and herbs she sells. Another one is a guy who lives in our neighborhood that we see from time to time at the memela stand. A memela is a snack of freshly made tortilla with toppings like refried beans, cheese and salsa. It's a popular street food, and there's a lady who has a stand on the corner. He started talking to Dan one day, another day the three of us talked, and I started running into him around town.

What I like about living here is that when you meet people they take the time to know you, and conversations with strangers often deepen quickly. I also met interesting Japanese people. I'll have to post about that another time.