May 31st - Santa Ana Zegache

Today we went to Santa Ana Zegache. This is a bigger village close to the one we went to previously. They have a population with a little over 3,000 people. There were many more animals in this area than we had previously seen. There was even a whole heard of goats that ran into a house at one point of the survey. What I loved the most today was seeing some of the women making tortillas on the comal. This is similar to the idea of a griddle and was just outside the door of the house in a covered patio area. My team was able to complete 7 surveys in this new community. It was a very successful day!

May 30th - San Isidro Zegache

Today we went to a very small village in the mountains.This tiny town is reported to have 387 inhabitants. We were asked not to bring cameras and to dress very conservatively. We were only able to do about 1 to 2 surveys per team. The kind lady that my team talked to had a 6 month old baby, born about the same time as my son. The baby was very cute but also much smaller than my baby. (Granted my baby weighs 22 pounds and may be a bit stocky.)

When we first came into the village we waited to talk to the President. He gave us permission to interview families but not to walk around the town. (There had just been a funeral and it was not a good idea to be walking on the streets.) We were escorted to the local police station and a general announcement was made over an intercom system that we would be there for surveys. It was interesting to see the dynamic of this little community.

Irene in her poncho! We have taken more precautions now that we are aware of how fast the rain can turn into a river!

Oaxaca Today

• Its name comes from the Nahuatl word "Huaxyacac", which refers to a tree called "guaje" (Leucaena Leucocephala) found around the capital city. 
• The state has a total population of about 3.5 million, distributed in 570 municipalities. 
• While there are officially 16 indigenous groups in Oaxaca, every group actually has hundreds of subgroups, each distinguished by unique linguistic and social traditions.
• The historical center of Oaxaca and the archeological site called Monte Alban were recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987. The prehistorical caves in Yagul and Mitla in the Valley of Oaxaca, were also recognized with this title in 2010 for the "earliest known evidence of demesticated plants in the continent, while corn cob fragments from the same cave are said to be the earliest documented evidence for the domestication of maize."
• Oaxaca's principal industry is tourism.
• Oaxaca is considered one of the poorest states of Mexico - in average income, in modern and efficient services of water, drainage, electricity, health care, and quality of education. 

A Brief Introduction to Oaxaca's History

1. The Zapotecs were the earliest to gain dominance over the Central Valleys region. The first major dominion was centered in Monte Alban, which flourished from 500 BC until AD 750. At its height, Monte Alban was home to some 25,000 people and was the capital city of the Zapotec nation. 
2. From about 1200 the Zapotecs came under the growing dominance of the Mixtecs from Oaxaca's northwest uplands. 
3. Expansion of the Aztecs into the region began in the 15th century. In 1457, Moctezuma I invaded Mixtec areas, gaining control, demanding tribute, establishing military outposts, and beginning to take control of trade routes in the area and part of the Pacific Coast. By this time, the Zapotec were led by Cosijoeza with the government in Zaachila. However, Aztec rule in Oaxaca would last only a little more than thirty years.
4. Cortes sent an expedition to the Pacific and into the Sierra looking for gold. The reports led Cortes to reserve for himself the riches of Oaxaca territory, claimin the title of Marques del Valley of Oaxaca on November 25, 1521. 
5. Oaxaca City was founded in 1529. 
6. During the colonial time, Oaxaca territory had a decimated and impoverished remnant of its original inabitants, deforestation and erosion began, and the mestizo population seeking its place in the hierarchy started to grow rapidly. 
7. By 1810, the city of Oaxaca had 18,000 inhabitants, most of whom were mestizos or mixed indigenous/European. During the Mexican War of Independence, the government of this area remained loyal to the Spanish Crown. 
8. July 29, 1821: Troops under Antonio de Leon won the decisive battle agains Spanish General Obeso at Etla and from that date Oaxaca considered itself independent - nearly one month before the signing of the treaty. 
9. Oaxaca's territory became a state in 1824 with Jose Maria Murguia named as its first governor. In 1824, the total population of Oaxaca was 457,504, of which approxiamately 17,000 - mostly mestizos and criollos - inhabited the capital city of Oaxaca.
10. Benito Juarez, Ricardo Flores Magon, Porfirio Diaz and Jose Vasconcelos are the most known Oaxacan people that took an important part in Mexico's history during the 19th and 20th Century.
11. During the second half of the 19th Century and the beginning of the 20th Century, Oaxaca remained basically an agricultural community with little industry. The mineral deposits were exploited in a few communities on a small scale. Roads were built, but the coming of the automobile changed the pattern of travel, leaving villages, which had been important in earlier epochs, totally outside the new communication network. Centuries of deforestation resulted in areas of widespread erosion, particularly in the Mixteca. As early as 1900, people in search of a better life began emigrating to the cities, and to agricultural areas in the north and the United States. 
12. In 1928, a series of earthquakes destroyed many of the building in the capital. A much larger earthquake in 1931, was the largest in the state's history, devastated a number of cities along the coast. 
13. Teachers' strikes had been frequent since the 70's, culminating in the 2006 uprising in Oaxaca City. which brought in groups protesting the heavy marginalization of the poor. Oaxacans took over the state capital demanding the ouster of PRI, Gobernor Ulises Ruiz
14. The PRI lost its 80 year hold on the state government in 2010 with the election of the Convergencia Ciudadana (PRD, PAN and PT alliance) gubernatorial candidate Gabino Cue Monteagudo. 

Today's Mexico

• Name: Estados Unidos Mexicanos
• Mexico's territory covers almost two million square kilometers (over 760,000 square miles)
• Its population is over 113 million. It is the most populous Spanish'speaking countries in the world.
• Mexico is a federation comprising 31 states and a Federal District, the capital city.
• 62 indigenous languages are still spoken in Mexico. The indigenous languages with most speakers are Nahuatl, Maya, Mixteco, Otomi, Zapoteco, Tzeltal.
• The three states with the greatest proportion of indigenous residents are Yucatan, at 59%, chiefly Maya, Oaxaca, with 48% of the population, the most numerous groups being the Mixtecos and Zapotecos; and Quintana Roo at 39% , chiefly Maya. Other states with a considerable amount of indigenous people are: Campeche, Chiapas, Hidalgo, Puebla, Guerrero, San Luis Potosi, and Veracruz.
• Since the promulgation of the Law of Indigenous Linguistic Rights in 2003, the indigenous languages and their 364 recognized varieties have had status as national languages, with equal validity with Spanish in all the areas and contexts in which they are spoken. 
• Mexican population is considered mainly "Catholic" but, as a result of the blending of indigenous cultures and the Spanish Catholicism, there are indigenous rituals and symbols that are included in catholic practices: the Santa Muerte, the Virgen de Guadalupe, animal sacrifices, ceremonies in natural spots, the rituals with curanderos...
• Mexico ranks sixth in the world and first in the Americas by number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites with 32. In 2010, Mexico was the tenth most visited country in the world, with 22.5 million international arrivals.
• Mexico is one of the 18 megadiverse countries of the world. With over 200,000 different species, Mexico is home of 10-12% of the world's biodiversity. Mexico is also considered the second country in the world in ecosystems. 
• Some of Mexico's native culinary ingredients include: chocolate, avocado, tomato, maize, vanilla, guava, chayote, epazote, camote, jicama, nopal, tejocote, sapote, mamey, many varieties of beans, and an even greater variety of chiles, such as the habanero and the jalapeño. Most of these names come from indigenous languages like Nahuatl.
• Mexico is the tenth largest oil producer in the world, and the largest silver producer in the world. 
• In 2014, the minimum wage is 67.29 - 63.77 pesos for eight working hours. This is equal to about $5 a day. From 2006 to 2010, population living in extreme or moderate poverty rose from 35 to 46% (52 million persons)
• The telecommunications industry is mostly dominated by Telmex )Telefonos de Mexico),privatized in 1990. Carlos Slim, the second richest man in the world in 2013, is the chairman and chief executive of this company. 
• The remittances from Mexican citizens working in the United States of America account for 0.2% of Mexico's GDP which was equal to US $20 billion per year in 2004, and is the tenth largest source of foreign income after oil, industrial exports, manufactured goods, electronics, heavy industry, automobilies, construction, food, banking and financial services. 

A Brief Introduction to Mexico's History

1. Mexico before Columbus and Cortez: Mesoamerica During the period from 1400 to 1521, the Aztecs, based in the city of Tenochtitlan (the future Mexico City) built an empire based on tribute that extended throughout central Mexico. The Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan is believed to have had a population of 250,000 in 1519, larger than any European city at the time. The Aztecs studied astronomy, practiced irrigation, built great pyramids, temples and cities, and had a written language. Their religion required human sacrifices to pleas the gods of the sun, rain and warfare, among others.
2. Spanish Conquest of Mexico Cortez formed alliances with the subject people of the Aztecs, and those subject people provided him with thousands of troops. European diseases to which the natives had no immunity also played an important part in the conquest. Between 1519 and 1521, Cortez succeeded in conquering the Aztecs and then in the next decade he and his men extended their control over most of the other native people.                                                                                         
3. Colonial Mexico The Spanish conquest devastated the indigenous population which dropped from a peak as high as 25 million in 1519 to as little as 2.5 million in 1600. Thousands of Spaniards immigrated into Mexico. The Spanish rulers gradually took control of the land, wealth and labor of the country; they eventually established great haciendas, plantations, ranches, and mines.
4. Independent Mexico The first independence movement was led by radical Roman Catholic Priests, father Miguel Hidalgo y Castillo and by Morelos y Pavon. But the radicals were defeated by the Spanish, and independence was eventually won under the leadership of conservative land owners. For most people, Mexico's independence did not change their lives very much.
5. Mexico Loses Almost Half of its Territory Agustin de Iturbide, a Spanish military leader who had switched sides to fight for the creoles, set himself up in Mexico City as Emperor. During his Empire, Central America accepted an offer to join Mexico. Many Central Americans chafed at Mexican rule, and there were several battles between Mexican forces and Central American patriots. In 1823, Iturbide's empire dissolved, and the chaotic situation that followed in Mexico led tCentral America to strike out on its own. Between 1836 and 1854, the United States took more than half of Mexico's territory, first through the secession of Texas from Mexico, and then through the U.S. - Mexican War of 1847. In 1853, Santa Anna, the dictator of Mexico, sold the Mesilla Valley, in what is now southern Arizona and New Mexico, to the United States for 10 million dollars -the Gadsden Purchase - and he used much of the money for political ends.
6. Benito Juarez Years and the French Occupation In 1858, Benito Juarez, an indigenous Liberal lawyer from Oaxaca, became president. In 1859, he implemented the Ley Lerdo -- separating church and state, abolishing monastic orders, and nationalizing church property. In the 1860's, the Conservatives invited the French Emperor Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III) to come to their aid in their battles with the Liberals. Louis Napoleon's French troops invaded Mexico and established the Austrians Maximilian and Carlotta as the King and Queen of Mexico. Benito Juarez led the Mexican people in their struggle against the Conservatives and the French conquerors. May 5 (Cinco de Mayo) celebrates a Mexican victoy over the French at the city of Puebla during those wars.
7. The Porfirio Dictatorship Porfirio Diaz became president in 1877 and, except for four years, ruled as an absolute dictator until 1910. During his reign, Diaz encouraged foreign investment and attempted to modernize the nation. He expanded both exports and imports, and built more than 15,000 miles of railway. He also gave away huge concessions of land to friends and foreign speculators. Eventually the Diaz dictatorship became identified in the minds of the Mexican people with those forces: Federal Army, rural police, Mexican landowners, the Roman Catholic Church, and U.S. and other foreigh corporations. By 1910 more than 95 percent of rural families had become landless--debt peons because of government expropriation of communally held farm villages.
8.  The Mexican Revolution Francisco I. Madero, a wealthy landowner and industrialist, but part of a group which had been excluded from power by the Diaz dictatorship, attempted to run for president; but Diaz had him jailed. Escaping from Mexico to the U.S., Madero then launched the revolution on Novemeber 20, 1910. Madero's rebellion attracted support of small ranchers, poor peasants, small ranchers, railroad workers and miners, who were fighting not only for democracy, but also for land. Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata, and Madero were the principal leaders of the revolution, and altogether succeeded in overthrowing Diaz. An election was held and Madero was elected president. Madero was overthrown and murdered by the counter-revolutionary Victoriano Huerta. Once again the revolutionary forces rose, this time under Venustiano Carranza, Alvaro Obregon, Villa and Zapata, and once again they were victorious by 1915. Zapata was killed shortly after Carranza came to power, but his ideal of agrarian reform (demanding land and liberty for the peasantry) became a cornerstone of the revolution. The major accomplishment of Carranza period was the Constitution of 1917, which sout to destroy the feudalism that had existed in Mexico for 400 years. After more fallin outs, with more murders and betrayals among the revolution leaders, Alvaro Obregon became president in 1920, ending the most violent phase of the revolution. It is estimated that the war killed 900,000 of the 1910 population of 15 million.
9. The Results of the Mexican Revolution Between 1920 and 1940, particularly under President Lazaro Cardenas (1934-1940), the Mexican revolutionary government radically altered the economic and social system in Mexico. First, haciendas' land was divided up and distributed to Indian communities and to peasants in the form of "ejidos." Second, the Mexican government recognized the labor unions and peasants organizations. Third, Cardenas expropriated the foreign-owned oil industry and created the Mexican petroleum company (PEMEX). Fourth, a new Mexican business class grew up more based in banking and manufacturing than in land.
10. One-party Rule: the modern Mexico In 1928, the president Plutarco Elias Calles founded the National Revolutionary party, the predecessor of the Institutional Revolutionary party (PRI), which ruled the country until 2000. In 1942, the Bracero Program was launched for the exportation of temporary contract laborers from Mexico to United States. By the time it ended in 1964, more than 4 million Mexican farm-workers arrived in the U.S. under this guest worker program. Scandals over the exploitation of guest workers led the Department of Labor officias overseeing the program to denounce it as "legalized slavery" In 1953 Mexican women are granted the right to vote in national elections. On October 2, 1968, the government used its forces (military and police) to suppress political opposition. The massacre occurred 10 days before the opening of the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. More than 1300 students and civilians were arrested. There has been no consensus on how many were killed that day in the plaza area. In 1982, Mexico faced a severe economic crisis. Mexico had fallen heavily in debt and was now unable to afford the interest repayments. The debt repayments were rescheduled but only at the price of an austerity program. There was rapid inflation (at its peak it was over 100%) and wages rose much more slowly than inflation, cutting living standards. In 1985 unemployment stood at 25% of the workforce. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank became key players in Mexico, and the new technocratic presidents--Miguel de la Madrid, Carlos Salinas de Gortari and Ernesto Zedillo--imposed a new economic order on Mexico based on privatization and deregulation, free trade and foreign investment, and cutbacks in government spending for social programs. European, Japanese, Korean and most important U.S. multinational corporations expanded investments in Mexico. Between 1988 and 1994, Carlos Salinas sold off about 1,000 of Mexico's 1,100 state firms. Under president Zedillo, the financial end of the Social Security pension system was privatized, as were the railroads.
11. Unrest in Chiapas and End of One-party Rule President Salinas embarked on a program of neoliberal reforms which culminated with the signing of the NAFTA, which came into effect on January 1, 1994. The same day, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) started a two-week-long armed rebellion against the federal government. EZLN staged an uprising throughout Chiapas in protest against the Mexican government{s treatment of Mexico{s large but impoverished Indigenous community. The 1994 uprising left at least 140 people dead, and it sparked an ongoing struggle that raged througout the southern state of Chiapas and claimed between 300 and 600 lives in the ensuing years. In 2000, after 71 years, the PRI lost a presidential election to Vicento Fox of the opposition National Action Party (PAN). In the 2006 presidential election, Pelipe Calderon from PAN was declared the winner, with a very narrow margin over leftist politician Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Calderon's government ordered massive raids on drug cartels upon assuming office in December 2006 in response to an increasingly deadly spate of violence in his home state of Michoacan. The decision to intensify drug enforcement operations has led to an ongoing conflict between the federal government and the Mexican drug cartels.
12. PRI: Again Enrique Peña Nieto was sworn in as president of Mexico on December 1, 2012. H won with 38.12% of the votes, followed by Andres Lopez Obrador, the left-wing candidate, with 31.59%. Obrador claims that the PRI handed out gifts to lure voters to cast their vote in favor of them.

 

May 29th - Monte Alban

I stole this from the wikipedia website because I figured it could explain where we went a little better than I could.

Monte Albán is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site in the Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán Municipality in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca (17.043° N, 96.767°W). The site is located on a low mountainous range rising above the plain in the central section of the Valley of Oaxaca where the latter's northern Etla, eastern Tlacolula, and southern Zimatlán & Ocotlán (or Valle Grande) branches meet. The present-day state capital Oaxaca City is located approximately 9 km (6 mi) east of Monte Albán.
The partially excavated civic-ceremonial center of the Monte Albán site is situated atop an artificially-leveled ridge, which with an elevation of about 1,940 m (6,400 ft) above mean sea level rises some 400 m (1,300 ft) from the valley floor, in an easily defensible location. In addition to the aforementioned monumental core, the site is characterized by several hundred artificial terraces, and a dozen clusters of mounded architecture covering the entire ridgeline and surrounding flanks (Blanton 1978). The archaeological ruins on the nearby Atzompa and El Gallo hills to the north are traditionally considered to be an integral part of the ancient city as well.
Besides being one of the earliest cities of Mesoamerica, Monte Albán's importance stems also from its role as the pre-eminent Zapotec socio-political and economic center for close to a thousand years. Founded toward the end of the Middle Formative period at around 500 BC, by the Terminal Formative (ca.100 BC-AD 200) Monte Albán had become the capital of a large-scale expansionist polity that dominated much of the Oaxacan highlands and interacted with other Mesoamerican regional states such as Teotihuacan to the north (Paddock 1983; Marcus 1983). The city had lost its political pre-eminence by the end of the Late Classic (ca. AD 500-750) and soon thereafter was largely abandoned. Small-scale reoccupation, opportunistic reutilization of earlier structures and tombs, and ritual visitations marked the archaeological history of the site into the Colonial period.
The etymology of the site's present-day name is unclear, and tentative suggestions regarding its origin range from a presumed corruption of a native Zapotec name such as “Danibaan” (Sacred Hill) to a colonial-era reference to a Spanish soldier by the name Montalbán or to the Alban Hills of Italy. The ancient Zapotec name of the city is not known, as abandonment occurred centuries before the writing of the earliest available ethnohistorical sources.

 Most of our group.

Austin, Danielle, Laura, Marina, Nikki, Deborah, Irene, Kari, Caroline, Mary

 A mold of the ceremonial area of the city.

 The archaelogist that did most of the excavation of Monte Alban

 Roommates by the pyramid.

 Another pyramid.

 Spanish, phonetic Zapotec, and English

 Stone Steps

 Ruins

This area is thought to be a medical area.

 A closer look at some of the tablets. There are a few theories about what message they are trying to give. Many people believe that they are about birthing and others believe that they were used to warn against marrying within the family as it may cause deformities.

 There are many vendors that try to sell to the tourists. This man captured my interest because of the way his merchandise (a mask) was looking back at him.

 Caroline looking to the horizon.

(Armando and Austin were talking about their cameras)

 Climbing down is always the hardest part!

Irene with the original work of the Zapotecs

The flowers on this tree would open and inside would be a fiber similar to cotton. The upperclass would have this fiber made into a pure white cloth and then dye it in rich beautiful colors to make their clothes.

May 28th - A few of my favorite things

 Sorry that I have not updated for a few days. We are beginning the rainy season, and when it rains the internet does not work at our house. Today we had Spanish class and a presentation about the history of Mexico and Oaxaca. I will talk more about the history of Mexico and Oaxaca in a future post for those who are interested. For now I would like you to see a bit about our host house.

Our host mom is cute and always makes sure that we have a well presented meal. This is breakfast! Each day she makes fresh orange juice and gives us a fruit. (Today it was grapefruit.) She also gives us cereal, bread, yogurt, and sometimes tomales.

 This is my roommate Irene. We knew each other a little bit before coming to Oaxaca. She is a fun roommate and we have a very similar humor which makes for a great time and sometimes late nights.

 I left my essentials on the counter and came home to it in a pretty little basket. Our house has a maid that comes five times a week. She also folds the toilet paper end and makes sure that it stays tucked in with a sticker.

 This is fresh water for us to use while brushing our teeth.

 Irene after our walk in the rain.

 

Me after our walk in the rain.

 Irene bought honeycomb from the market. It was delicious! We decided that we could be bears and we would eat honecomb all day long and be happy.

 This is my room with Irene on my guest bed. We visit one another often.

This was posted in my room. They are so welcoming! Our host mom loves to do cute things like this.

May 27th - Clinica Del Pueblo

 Today we went to visit the Clinica Del Pueblo. This facility is small but very beautiful. It was interesting to find out that most of their equipment had been donated from the U.S. I had never thought before about where our old medical equipment goes when hospitals are updated. There was one area of the clinic that had a small waiting room with three different doors. One was for the gynecologist, one for ultrasound, and one for the eye doctor. There was a large homade poster in the waiting room about lactation. I recently had a baby and I recognized many of the instructions. The doctors that work at the clinic seem to be very kind and warm. Most of them also have to work somewhere else because they do not make very much money at the clinic. In fact, some are donating their services. It is a very impressive place. This is the clinic that we will be doing surveys for. They provide services for some of the nearby villages and wanted a needs assessment done to see how they can best serve those communities.

This mission statement, roughly translated, reads:

 We are a civil nonprofit institution that provides comprehensive health services with quality and warmth in a community primarily of people with limited economic resources, so as to help improve their quality of life.

This was a parade we saw in the street from the back seat of the taxi when leaving the Clinic.

May 26th - Grasshoppers

 Today was the first day of school! As always I was very excited for school and decided to wake up at 6 30 to make sure that I was ready. However, my phone has not switched over well and so what I thought was 6 30 was actually 4 30. I pumped, took a shower, got ready, and even had time for some reading and a nap all before breakfast was served. Breakfast was delicious with fresh squeezed orange juice, milk, toast with jam, mango, yogurt, frosted cornflakes, and sweet tomales. Then, our host mom was nice enough to drive us to our first day of classes. We had Spanish class for 2 and a half hours and I loved it! Afterwards we had a snack and a process group to check in and see how everyone was adjusting.

 Chapulinas or Grasshoppers make a tasty and salty snack! (I now know from experience.) The lovely lady behind me is my professor. She does not eat chapulinas as she is a vegetarian. (A likely excuse.)

 I got this little guy for one of the other students she couldn't look through the baggie of chapulinas without squirming. She wanted one without legs. I am told that the grasshoppers are more delicious if they are fried, of course, aren't most things better fried? Regardless, I ate a grasshopper today.
Bugs: 0
Nikki: 2

 

 

For those of you who are a bit less daring I would recommend the sabritas in the Adobadas flavor. The adobo flavor is a mix of chilies and spices that could be considered a sort of Mexican BBQ style, a bit spicy, a bit sweet, and certainly delicious!

 

On to other adventures! Tonight the students decided to go to Santo Domingo which is a beautiful church and the area around it is similar to a town square. There are hundreds of vendors for local goods and a bunch of adorable little children trying to sell trinkets. Ah! They were so cute and it made me miss my little family terribly! At the town center a few people ordered drinks and I ordered caramel ice cream. It was good to get to know the other students a little bit. It is a diverse group in age and experiences. Our youngest member is 19 and our oldest is 49. (Not including the 2 professors and their 15 yr old son.) Most people have traveled to other countries but not everybody has really lived in other countries. We have 11 students total that are from four different majors. (Nursing, ethnic studies, family and consumer studies, and social work.)

To end the evening we took a bus home. It was my first bus in Mexico and I ill admit I was a bit nervous. I asked the bus driver if he was going near our house. He said that he was and so we hopped on.  I am unfamiliar with the streets and so I asked the bus driver to please help us by telling us where we should get off the bus. He stopped about a block away from our residence. Kee in mind that I had to have this conversation only in Spanish. A success to be certain!

Bugs! Oh My!

I guess the adventure starts tonight! I went into my room and there was a very large flying bug that attacked me! I squashed it with my flip flop. I took a picture, but  I do not know how to upload pictures yet. When I do you can see this awful creature!

I will be keeping score.
Bugs 0
Nikki 1

I figured out how to download pictures!
I also found out that it is a flying ant.

 This large bug is a non fying ant.

Chicatana

May 25th - Flying, flying, flying

Hello All! I hope you are in for another fun adventure. This time in Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico! Today was a day filled with... you guessed it.... flying! From Utah to New York, New York to Mexico City, and Mexico City to Oaxaca! I am here with a wonderful host family who fed me immediately after arriving and then told me to get some sleep. (I politely asked if I could first use their computer. They said yes.) For all of you who plan to travel in the future I have a fun fact. At the first point of entry to a country you have to pick up your baggage and take it through customs. This means you have to take it off the conveyor belt, make it through customs, and then place it on another conveyer belt so that it will go to your final destination. If you fail to take these steps they will send your luggage back to the United States. (Thankfully, I did not have to experience this first hand.) If you can manage it, it is much easier to have your final destination be your first point of entry. This should be an exciting adventure that all starts tomorrow!

 These are the flowers I was given by my host family when they greeted me at the airport.