I started off day two with a group run (Jefe, Logan, Sarah, Sarita, Rachel, and Hannah). We followed Jefe for a good 45 minutes. Hannah told me, “running is the best way to see a city” and I believe it. Although we look a bit ridiculous running in a line down the street, it was nice to travel to different areas and see the morning in a new city.
We returned back for showers and breakfast. I can say that breakfast throughout this trip was never something I looked forward to. The beans here have anis (black licorice) flavor in them so I often avoided them. The eggs were not much better either. I usually mix beans with crappy eggs but I just couldn’t handle the licorice flavor. That being said, I will not be emphasizing much what I ate for breakfast.
After breakfast, we headed to CASA Chauplin. They are our host organization for our entire trip and set up all our conferences. Andrea is our host. She is originally from Uruguay (an interesting accent to listen to) and has lived in Oaxaca for two or three years. Side note: all our presentations and conferences are given in Spanish and not translated into English. CASA is a coop of organizations for solidarity in Oaxaca. We started the presentation with a general overview of the week and by watching a TED Talk video (I need to get the name from someone because it was awesome). This video emphasized how one story about a people or place can skew your understanding of that people or place; there are multiple stories that represent a people or place. I found this to be very true as we saw different aspects of Oaxcaca. The second level office of CASA has a nice view of Santo Domingo and the surrounding city (see Facebook).
Before and after lunch, we had some free time to wander and explore the market and socala. Lunch today was steak fajitas – so yummy! After lunch, we returned to the CASA house for a conversation with Simon. To start, Simon is the type of radical chicano who participates in protests and advocates for workers rights that my parents would not want me to bring home as my boyfriend but is the same youth activist who would suck you into the struggle for solidarity and the lucha of the people. Bottom line: I am a fan. He grew up in Houston with few opportunities and spent some time working on the streets. He spent some time working in Oaxaca and was fully committed to the Oaxacan people’s movement after being arrested in rally in Mexico. He was outraged by police brutality and the system. He was arrested for participation in a peaceful protest rather than anything illegal he had ever done before. He was shocked that when he finally did the right thing, he was punished. He spends a lot of time working with youth organizations to talk about their rights, organize police brutality watch and documentation, and prefers to live in the community he feels protects him in Oaxaca. He talked to us a lot about bureaucracy and how life was difficult for the average Oaxacena. The Mexican system is incredibly corrupt and the people of Oaxaca have been rising up in resistance. In 2006, spawned by a teacher protest, the entire state of over 1.5 million people took to the street in protest of the state governor. He was incredibly passionate and shared his story with us. He spends some of his time traveling in the states to share his story and his fight with college students to advocate and watch out.
For dinner, we went to a fancier restaurant recommended by our tour guide. He told us there was fish so that was incentive for some people. Unfortunately for some, shrimp was the only fish option. Jefe and I shared a giant meal for two. It included a giant tamal with chicken, three mini tortillas with shredded meat and minced onions, four empanadas, four fried platanos, shrimp salad/ceviche, and this amazing braised pork. So so delicious! Thankfully Jefe can pack away the food so there was not much to waste. Other people sampled the mole, a sweet and spicy salsa, and some of the individual items that came in our combo plate. I am really glad I got to try everything. It was definitely worth it!
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