more of oaxaca

at hierve el agua, a mountain of mineral deposit (sideways).
at heirve el agua
at hierve el agua
Went to Hierve el Agua on Saturday and forgot that I had changed my camera setting to .txt so all the pix from there and from the mescal factory are poor and in black and white. I made one watercolor in my sketchbook that does absolutely no justice to what I actually saw. A really beautiful place, quite a distance form Oaxaca city, about an hour and a half. But worth the drive. The countryside is very like New Mexico and Arizona, very similar plant life. Agave farms and mescal factories everywhere.

Today was my first day of class. We had a placement exam and am in the right spot I think; there are 5 in my class and we are all floundering with different things. Perfect. So 4 hours of nouns and verbs, an hour of conversational description stuff, a break then making pinatas for 2 hours, learning songs and other cultural things related to the christmas season. Tomorrow there will also be an additional hour, called Intercambio, which will be with someone who wants to learn english. We are supposed to teach each other. I hope that whoever I get to talk with wants to go out and get a coffee or something because at the end of 7 hours I am so ready for some caffeine (Casey says I am addicted. Maybe it is true, but it sure helps get through a day of concentration...)

Tomorrow I hope to remember to take my camera to class so I can post pix of the beautiful grounds of the Instituto, and whatever else I see. Am hoping to find some wonderful political graffiti again that I saw the other day (without my camera) and will post those too. if I find them.

Politically it seems pretty stable right now, there have been a couple of rallies for APPO but no-one seems to be able to tell me what that is all about. It is no longer the teacher's strike of 2 years ago, it is changed to something more like deposing the governor of the state but no-one seems too certain. I hope to find out more soon.