Two stories

What to say about Oaxaca...if you have never been, go. Really, of all the places I have been, this is one of my favorites. The climate is perfect, the people are generous and kind, the streets are as safe (or safer) than city streets in the US, the food is outstanding, and it´s a very modern, hip, and clean place. I can feel the pace of life slowing down.


"Entre los naciones y los individuales, el respecto al derecho ajeno es la paz". -Benito Juarez

This is a quote by a very famous and important political leader from Oaxaca, which translates roughly as "Between nations and individuals, respect for the rights of others is peace (creates peace)." But so far, the hardest part of being in Oaxaca is "adjusting" to the machismo culture. My Spanish teacher is definetly Mexican, and definetly takes part in the the machismo culture. There is one other young, male American student in my class who seems to enjoy the machismo culture, and plays along. Yesterday, when they were joking around about one of his friends being a "specialist of women", perhaps even a qualified gynecologist, I felt my angry, jaded, feminisit self kicking in almost as strongly as I did in China. Are women really treated this way all over the world¿ The men here check me out like it´s their job, and cat calls and whistles aren´s considered "offensive". My professor won back my respect today with two really interesting conversations about a woman´s right to vote in Mexico and homosexuality and Catholism in Mexico. And that´s the thing-he´s a really good guy, and I´m sure that most guys really are-they just don´t see machismo as degrading to women in any way. So I just wonder, when Benito Juarez coined his famous quote above, whether or not he (or his audience) had women in mind.


"La cocina antigua es la más bonita" -Soledad, my cooking teacher

I had the most wonderful cooking class yesterday afternoon with an older woman named Soledad. We also had a really interesting discussion about the plight of women in Mexico, but she was most passionate about her cooking. Her quote above translates as "The old way of cooking is the most beautiful." She proceeded to speak passionatly about the importance of putting time, and above all, love, into your food. Soledad, as best I can remember : "If you don´t enjoy cooking, your food won´t taste good. You need to put in a lot of love, to enjoy what you are doing, for the food to come out its best. I never eat in restaurants, because you can tell that the food has no love in it. It doesn´t have the same kind of flavor. But made the old way, with time and love, this is the best food." She went on and on about it, in her sweet and quiet way. We made atole de chocolate, a sweet corn juice and chocolate drink, which was delicious. I look forward to cooking again with her today.

PS The keyboard in Mexico is somewhat different and spell check is in Spanish only...hence all the typos!