Beer, tears and roses- Our last night in Oaxaca

Our last night in Oaxaca as a group was a very emotional one. We our final papers due at 5pm, and most of us, including yours truly, were rushing to get it done. It was a lot of work!

Dia de los Muertos

Thanks Mercedes for this awesome photo of Panteon Principal!

Well, Los Muertos is actually on November 1st, but that was a really rough week for me and I just forgot to write about my experiences.

Dia de los Muerto is a syncretism of pre-Hispanic rituals and Catholic beliefs that forms this holiday in honor of those who have passed on. Loved ones who have passed on "come back" and families will go to cementaries at night to pray, many spending the entire night. We had group activities planned for this holiday, the most demanding being the altar building. We had to buy and bring all the materials (which was a lot of stuff) to the Panteon Principal in Oaxaca on October 31st in the morning. We made a trip to Mercado de Abastos, the largest open air market I have ever been to, and bought everything we needed for the altar. Ugh, we had to carry all that stuff from the market to our school, which was at least 10 blocks, partially uphill. Massud and Ricky were our strong men that carried the sugar cane! I think I promised I would treat them to ice cream, but I forgot...

We had our altar ready by the evening, which was when the cementary opened to public to display the altars for the weekend. We had tons of flowers and sugar cane and paper mache and cardboard, well, it took me back to the days when I was in Odyssey of the Mind. The traditional elements of the altar include marigolds, or zempazuchil, and many flowers, sugar cane, foods and drinks like mole, fruits, candy, soda, water, tamales, and always, mezcal. The food is an offering given to the deceased loved ones, because surely they are hungry and thirsty after their journey from the dead!

The next two nights October 31st and November 1st, we took tours to the various cementaries around Oaxaca to see Dia de los Muertos celebrations. On October 31st, we visited Panteon General in Oaxaca, where we built our altar, then we went to Xoxo, a suburb of Oaxaca where they have lots of events at their cementaries. Max and Alice dressed up in Halloween costumes, Tigger and a lady bug, respectively, and kids would run up to Max and take photos with him!

The following night we went to Etla, a nearby city that has a "monster bash" and it was a really long night. We arrived before the parade, and stood around for at least an hour before any activity began. We werent bored, though, because we we are such a fun group that we have can entertain ourselves easily...and we were drinking :) Senora Esther has been our tour guide for most of our activities in Oaxaca, she is a sweet, energetic and lively woman, surely in her 60's, and she bought bottles of crema de nispero, a very sweet liqour, and shared with everyone in the group. She can party hard for her age...I want to be like her when I grow up!

Although I have heard about Los Muertos in the US, my family never really did much to celebrate this holiday. In the Northern states of Mexico, where my family comes from, this celebration is not a preserved, and so I was never really exposed to it. I am so glad I got to live this holiday in Oaxaca, where traditional beliefs are strongly retained as a part of the identity of this city and of this state.

Leaving paradise has never been so good

Written on Novemer 22nd, the day before we left Puerto Escondido.

I have never been more glad to leave paradise. We were warned that being in close proximity to the group may cause some problems in our group dynamic, which according to our superiors, is the most cohesive and friendly group they’ve had in the 3 years of this program. While it has been friendly enough, people are getting really anxious and annoyed with each other and I do not like being in negative environments. Luckily, when I need to escape, the beach is a block away. In addition to grumpy people, close proximity has propelled a mini-epidemic of a raspy cough and we were threatened with pink eye. Guys, I love you, but I need my space!

My roommate Jennifer and I have been surfing a lot, and we have been taking lessons with Brenna and Yadiras boyfriend, Cipi. It’s been nice to have surf buddies! I have taken 2 classes and I have already been able to get up on the board, but taking formal classes has really helped me become aware of technique to help me ride the waves to shore and get up on the board quickly and with more solid footing. I really havent been able to surf too much this week since I am sick. Que lastima.

Oasis Surf and Language school is our host school in Puerto, and our surf instructor, Roger, is a local shaper (person who makes surf boards) and he is married to Sol, the head Spanish instructor, and they are an awesome couple. He is a pro-surfer who won last years Puerto Escondido surf tournament and she won this year’s boogie board competition. See, aren’t they a perfect couple?

Speaking of couples, here is a thought: Mexicans really like their güeras (blondes) and so when I go out, all my white girlfriends will get picked up on, and I won’t get any love :(. A local guy who befriended our group told me he thought I was a local girl who hung out with the group because he thought I was a host sister. I guess it’s cool to be confused for a local, but people don’t look at me as American. There is a French chef who is staying here at Casamar who I met on the beach, and, possibly partly because of the language barrier, he did not understand that I was American, and not a local. His bias against Americans was quite obvious after he understood I was from California...so I changed topics. But back to güeros...could my Mexican heritage have influenced my preference for partners? After pondering this while sunbathing on the beach, I decided not. Afterall, all my best friends since childhood have been white kids. At my elementary school at the time I was there, there weren't very many Latino kids, and first grade on, I entered the advanced courses, where there were even less Latinos, let alone minorities. In high school, Latino kids really didnt like me because they thought I was stuck up for various reasons. Now, I'm a lot of things, but stuck up is not one of them. Mom used to call me a coconut, brown on the outside, white on the inside. Is being acculturated a bad thing? Well, after taking this class, acculturation does have negative health outcomes, but nevermind that. Is my preference for white boys a result of my environment or my cultural influences, or both? Intersting stuff....

Anyways, I am sick like a dog right now and I havent been sleeping very well because I get these coughing fits in that wake me in the middle of the night. I feel bad for Jennifer because she is in the same room, but she says it doesnt wake up, so thats good. Maybe I got sick from going out a lot. No matter, I decided I do not like going out in Puerto and I didnt for the past few nights. You know, you would think it would be a fun party scene, but its too chill, no one dresses up to go out here. The music is weird...I can dig indie and jazz fusion type music, but not at a club. I tried to make it fun, but really, I would rather watch TV than go out to the bars in Puerto. I actually miss Freebar, even with is creepy old men and the mob of 14 year olds humping each other on the dance floor.

I miss Oaxaca...but when I go back its going to stressful because we have a ton of work to get done before December 6th. Oh, my time here is wrapping up...

Sex jokes and frankenbreasts- I love gyno!

Hospital ISSSTE
October 28, 29, 30 and November 5,6,7

My last rotation before leaving for Puerto Escondido was at Hospital ISSSTE, which stands for Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales para los Trabajadores de Estado (Institute for Security and Social Services for State Employees)which is their system of medical insurance and care. Hospital ISSSTE is different from my other rotations because unlike the open access systems, like Centros de Salud and Hospital Civil, I got to be around patients of a higher socioeconomic status. ISSSTE is the state employee health care system, like teachers and law enforcement, so it was nice to see that not all lived in extreme poverty. Seeing really poor people with little access to or knowledge of preventative care come into a hospital setting for urgent care (as is the case for Hospital Civil) is very different from people with higher education and economic status.
After taking a mini-hike up the hill to get to the entrance of the hospital, I walk into clean, well-maintained hospital, without the long lines and unattended children scattered along the entrance. We waiting a 1.5 hours to get our assignments and I was once again assigned to Ob/Gyn, which I thought would be more birthing, but I was pleasantly surprised. I actually did not get to see a single birth in ISSSTE, I saw gynecological surgical procedures instead! I saw a hysterectomy and several HPV growth removals from the cervix using a laser to cauterize the growth. I was exposed to breast cancer and cervical cancer, the leading causes of cancer deaths in both Mexico and the USA.

The Ob/Gyn surgical staff was really cheery, and laughed and joked around a lot during surgery. During the HPV growth removals, one woman in her 50s was really shy about being in gynecological position and scared of the procedure. The head surgeon, a woman, asked the patient if she had ever been in this "position" before, and woman said that only when she got her papanicolao (pap smear.) Then the surgeon implied that the woman also got in this position for “special occasions,” of course implying sex, and we were all laughing so hard, that the patient relaxed and the procedure went smoothly. Isn’t it funny how a little humor can make the difference between an uncomfortable, scared patient and a confident one? I really enjoyed gynecology and obstetrics, but after 3 weeks of staring at vaginas and breasts, slimy babies and cancerous uteri, it was time to move on.
I asked the head instructor of education at ISSSTE to reassign me to another department, and after some convincing, I got into oncology! Here is a little background on my interest in cancer: My maternal grandfather (who was a Mexican physician) died from an unknown cancer at a really young age; so young that my mom never knew her father. My paternal grandfather died from pancreatic cancer at 65 years of age, when I was 5 years old. My maternal aunt had cervical/uterine cancer which went into remission and then returned 10 years later, but was detected too late. She died from renal failure in summer of 2007 at 52 years of age. Many others who I loved (or did not get the chance to love) have been affected by cancer, and I don’t know why, but I feel compelled to fight cancer. Cancer knows no limits, it is unpredictable, affects all and anyone, and it just seems unfair and absurd that given our technology, we are no closer to finding a cure. Yes, while treatments and detection are advancing by leaps and bounds, the genetic and environmental factors are not yet identified for most cancers. I worked for a breast cancer prevention study at UCDMC because I like being part of “the fight.” (It didn’t pay very well and I had to commute 30 minutes by bus, so it was not the easiest job for me, but the people who worked there were amazing and made it worth the while.) So when the time came to apply to UC’s during community college, I decided on majoring in genetics to get a firmer understanding of cancer and go into finding a cure.

So I was happy to get into oncology with Dra. Guzman…and guess what I see all day? More vaginas. More breasts. Yep, most of the cases the oncologist saw were breast cancer and cervical cancer. The most impressive part of the oncology consultations was breast lumpectomy patients, in which parts or entire breasts were removed due to a tumor. It was sad to see woman take off their bras, to reveal one beautiful, healthy breast, and unravel a piece of rolled up fabric or a sock where their cancerous breast once was. A 35 year old woman had a breast reconstruction, where her surgery removed 80% of her breast, and was filled in with tissue from her thigh. It looked sort of Frankenstein-ish or like Sally from Nightmare before Christmas, with big dark stitches encircling the center of her nipple-less breast. Scar tissue built up around her breast “filling” and so when you touched her breast, it was lumpy, uneven, and did not hang down like a real breast would. I admit, as a woman myself, it was hard to imagine not having one of my breasts 12 years from now.

After I left the first day of oncology consultation, I had a fond appreciation of my beautiful, healthy breasts. With the breast cancer stats being what they are, my risk of getting breast cancer is increasing as I age, and factors like my weight, smoking and drinking, birth control use, number of pregnancies, all factor into my predisposition. Luckily, no one in my family (that I know) has had breast cancer, so I got that going for me, since breast cancer risk increases with heredity. After 3 days of consultation, I finally go into the operating room with the oncologist. She had a very complicated surgery that was going to last 6 hours, and she had asked me to scrub in and assist her during the surgery. Yes, I could have assisted in a surgery! But I didn’t- after the shit I got for giving vaccines to babies, I can only imagine the shit I would have gotten for assisting in surgery. This has been my biggest regret thus far because it was an amazing surgery. If it comes up again, I will take it in a heartbeat. After a lengthy incision and difficult time clamping all her layers of fat and enlarged organs, it turns out the patient had a large tumor on her pelvic bone and would not be able to perform the hysterectomy, so Dra. Guzman removed the patient’s cancerous bladder and created a new one by using a piece of her large intestine. The patient would have to live with colostomy bags hanging from her side the rest of her life- one for her liquid waste (pee) and the other for her solid waste (poop.) Crazy stuff, huh? One can’t help but wonder how her life is better because of the operation. Although her life has improved in quantity, how improved is the quality if she is carrying her own shit in a purse everywhere she goes? I guess if it’s a Louie Vutton colostomy bag, it might be kinda cool.

Puerto Escondido: a mini-blog

Due to poor internet access in Puerto Escondido ( and maybe a little bit of lazy beach bum attitude) this blog is a summary of the events. Photo posts will be added later!

It has been a whole week sense I have been here in this beautiful beach town! I am tanned, relaxed and having a great time. Although I still have classwork, this is a much needed vacation for me, as my studies at UCD have been uninterrupted (no summer or winter vacations since 2006!) The group is staying at Casamar, a condo style hotel place that is really nice and I am sharing a room with Jennifer and Yadira. The surf is nice here, as it should be, seeing as how Puerto Escondido is the surf capital of Mexico. There was a Vans surf competition for the past 5 days and I got to see a little of it, but mostly got to drink the cheap beers and enjoy the weird music they played. The nightlife here is super chill; most people stand around to drink at bars but I like to dance, so it's just not my scene. The beaches here are nice, so far my favorite is Playa Carrizalillo, which you need to go down a series of stairs to get to, but when you get to the bottom, you enter into a hidden little bay. It can be quite exhausting to get up and down from the beach, especially when you are carrying a surf board, but its a really cool beach. The surf here is calm, so its good for beginners (this is were I took a surf lesson) but I am getting bored here and want to get knocked down and tossed around by some bigger waves, so I am hoping to surf on bigger waves at Playa La Punta. I am in love with Squalo, a Mexican surf brand that has a really cute shop on the Zicatela, or the main beach strip of Puerto Escondido.
While I am not doing any clincal rotations, we did attend malaria, chagas and dengue brigades with a state agency responsible for mosquito abatement and vector borne disease management. It was really neat! We would hope into the back of pick up trucks, ride into the jungle and visit the families that were ill or at a high risk of acquring a vector borne illness. It was hot, sweaty, dirty, but I loved it! This is the mechanism of public health- going out into the marginalized communities and taking preventative and palliative measures to control transmissible diseases. Prevention is mostly involved by educating communities about the insects that carry the disease and how to decrease the opportunity for the insect to cause illness. Methods like mosquito netting, painting the house with a substance made of chalk to repel insects in the home, and cleaning the home to remove places where the insect can nest and live are the primary methods. I also just finished my first Paul Farmer book, Pathologies of Power, and am all fired about about international health and epidemiology. Although I want to pursue a career in medicine, I am finding that I get so fired up about epidemiology and the social/economic/political implications of health outcomes.
More to come...

Hospital Civil

I kept putting off this blog because I did not know how much I wanted to divulge...but, well, you'll see.

Hospital Civil- October 15-17, 22-24.

This was actually my 2nd clinical rotation site and this is where I first discovered that I love gynecology and obstetrics. The first day was slow because I did not bring my scrubs, so I sat with interns while they filled out paperwork. LAME...but necessary. So next day, I bring my scrubs, and I am ready to see some babies pop out, but since I am only in clinic for 4 hours, none of the women where ready to go into labor while I was there. So all I got to see was a cesaerian birth, while also beautiful in its own way, I wanted to see a vaginal birth. I learned a lot about gynecology those first two days, but I had yet to see the screaming, bloody births I have heard so much about.

But the third day....

Alexa and I come into start our rotation in the the toco, the surgical and birthing area of gyno, and there were 2 cesaerians coming up and 3 women in labor, ready to pop. So the interns are scrambling, making rooms for these women, preparing the operating room and it is pure chaos. Two women were giving birth in the sala de expulsion (birthing room in Spanish is litterally translated "room of expulsion!") and it was so exicting, so much adrenaline. These women are going into labor, no epidural, no private room, and they are alone, as no family members are allowed in the birthing room. One doctor is at the receiving end, the woman is in gynecological postion, plastic sheets are carefully placed under the woman to catch the liquids and final product. "Empuja, mi amor! " Tradition Mexican beliefs about women and labor follow an idead called aguantar, where women are supposed to have children and are supposed to suffer during the labor, so making a fuss and screaming and crying is looked poorly upon, because you are less of a woman if you show pain.

I got a front row seat of the vaginal birth and all I can say is that God must have a dark sense of humor. Among the blood and goo, ripping flesh, unintentional bowel excretions, comes this beautiful new life into the world. Watching the baby's head crest through this unlikely tunnel was intense because in a matter of seconds, there was a fetus and then there was a baby. Humans think we are far superior to any other creature on Earth, but after all the biology classes I have taken, human embryology is not so markedly different than that of other species, and seeing this little purple and blue baby, I couldnt help but think how similar it looked to newborn puppies, piglets and mice.

After the baby came out, they presented it to the tired mother, and rushed it to the table get it breathing. They suction the goo from their mouths and throats, and we wait patiently for the baby to start crying. It doesnt, so they give it oxygen, and it still doesnt. The doctor gives me a concerned look, and at this point, I have a knot in my throat, my heart is pounding, and I am scared shitless. It only been a matter of minutes, but this baby needs to cry soon or it could indicate some serious problems. Then, a cry, a hiccup, and wild cries of relief come from the baby's body. He is going to be okay, and as I hear his tiny little body produce big cries, I also start crying. The birth took 15 minutes at most, but in those 15 minutes I experienced excitement, disgust, concern, fear and joy. It was wild; you cannot write plays or songs that induce that much and as wide a range of emotion. I stand in the corner, watching the interns measure and care for the new humans, and I had never been more happy to have a face mask and glasses, so my controllable sobbing didnt feel so obvious.

The rest of my time at Hospital Civil was spent in gynecology, although most of what I saw was obstetrics. I got to see several more births, both cesaerian and vaginal, and I as a woman, I definitely want vaginal births. Cesarian, while necessary, seem so unnatural; its just another surgical procedure like an appendectomy, and that makes birth less special. Also, the recovery for cesarians is harsh and the women who give vaginal births can walk of the hospital and continue their normal lives in a matter of 36 hours. And this experience has not deterred me from wanting children- I am ever more so excited about being a mom and having the experience of pregnancy and birth. It is so unique, so much bigger than anything in our lives. I feel a deep spiritual peace in the birthing room, like all the crap in world seems so minimal compared to the first breath of life, to be the first person to make eye contact with this human, and to have the baby clench its little hands around your finger, as it learns about what his little body is capable of doing. Money, career, relationship problems seem so stupid when you hold this new life in your arms and I hope to keep this feeling of peace in me for the rest of my life.

Mexico, lindo y querido...y peleoneros!

" Mexico, lovely and beloved...and bullies!"

Sixteen people from our program decided to take a 3 day weekend trip full of shenanigans (thanks Reza!) to Mexico City, which was a 6 hour bus ride from Oaxaca. We went first class, overnight to the second largest city in the world. Growing up, I had seen all the Mexican novelas (soap operas) that showed Mexico City as this glamorous, exciting place, but everyone I talked to about the trip said "oh, be careful!" or " ooo, its really dangerous" or "don't walk alone!" Nah, its not that bad, it is manageable...unless I am just a really tough chick :)


Friday October 24, 2008



11 from our group stayed at a really great hostel right next to the Zocalo and Cathedral, called Hostel Cathedral. If you go to Mexico City and need a hostel, stay here! We checked in early and hired a taxi service to get us around all day.

Tlatelolco

Tlatelolco is a site of Aztec ruins that is preserved right in the middle of the city. There is a plaza there called Plaza de las Tres Culturas where the infamous 1968 student massacre happened. It's like Mexico's Tiananman Square, but more gruesome. Read more here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlatelolco_Massacre

Basilica de Nuestra Senora Guadalupe

Being in the presence of the original image of the Virgen de Guadalupe was one of the most spiritually enriching experiences of my life. As a Catholic woman of Mexican roots, making a pilgrimage to her Basilica was fullfilling and powerful. I have conflicting beliefs with my Church, one of them being the role of the woman. Women who are revered as much as the Virgen de Guadalupe mean so much more to me because of my strong belief of gender equality in our Church.

A quick and dirty story on La Virgen- Juan Diego, an indigenous man, saw aparitons of the Blessed Virgin who looked like an Aztec princess and who spoke Nahuatl, the native language of Juan Diego. She asked him that a church be built on this hill, Tepeyac (where the Basilica currently is) and that he must go talk to the bishop. He went to the bishop, who didnt believe that he saw visions of a virgin and asked that he bring a sign to prove what he saw. The Virgin instructed Juan Diego to collect flowers and placed them in his garment. He went to the bishop to present him with the flowers, and when the flowers fell, the miracle of the icon of the Virgin appeared on his garments. The Basilica has the original garment that Juan Diego wore, and he was cannonized as a saint in 2002, making him the first ingidegenous American to receive this title.

It is experiences like the one that reienforce my belief in God and in the sanctity of Jesus Christ. Some people who are religiously apathetic claim that there is no proof that a God exists, and yes, organized religion has done a lot of wrong in the world, but I love my church and I felt the presence of God and of the Blessed Virgin at the Basilica. It's a feeling of numbness, overwhelmed by something greater than I could possibly begin to understand, a weakness in the knees, a heat that concentrates in your core, I dont know, its exciting, scary, and real. Above all, it was real and thats all the proof I need.

Teotihuacan

This is the site of the largest MesoAmerican pyramid and we got to climb them! I have been to other site before, and while Teotihuacan was not my favorite (top honors still goes to Chichen Itza) it was impressive and exciting. The sheer massiveness is impressive, but the design is cool too. We went to the Pyriamid of the Moon, which is the smaller of the two, and then walked down the Avenida de los Muertos ( Ave. of the dead) to Pyramid of the Sun. This was a challenge- it was a hot and dry day, and climbing that thing without an inhaler was tough on my poor asthmatic lungs. But again, how many times in my life will I have the opportunity to climb the largest Meso American pyramid! At the top of the Pyramid of the Sun, it is believed that if you stand and raised your arms, you will acquire the suns energy.

Juanes at Auditorio Nacional

After this, we went back to the Centro Historico, which is a beautiful downtown area near our hostel, and had dinner. We cleaned up at the hostel, hopped in our taxi and went to see Juanes at the Auditorio Nacional. JuThis auditorium was huge and is ranked one of the worlds best, and even in the nosebleed section, we enjoyed the concert. Yadira and I were living it up, we know his music by heart, and the other Chicanos must have had a blast too. While only a handful of us knew Juanes' music, we all had a good time because songs like "Camisa Negra" and " La Noche" (otra, otra noche, otra!) are popular in the US and you cant help but dance to his music. Afterwards, we attempted to go clubbin' in the Zona Rosa, but it was midnight and the clubs were not yet hoppin' so we went back to the hostel bar and hung out. By the way...did you know you could drink alcohol inside liquor stores in Mexico? You can't consume alcohol on the streets, but it was cool at the 7-11!

Saturday October 25, 2008

The next day, all the boys (minus 2) were too hung over to get up early, so Alice, Jennifer and I went to the Zocalo and got a limpia, or a spiritual cleansing. This is of prehispanic origin, the belief that bad energies need to be removed by a ritual and many Mexicans still practice it.

Then Alice and I took the Metro to purchase Avenue Q tickets for a performance later that evening. The Metro in Mexico City is huge! Its also one of the worlds largest systems, and it was only 2 pesos for a one way trip! We went to Centro Cultural Telmex and had Chinese food from a restaurant with Chinese people who spoke perfect Spanish. It was weird. We met up with the babies, I mean, boys, at midday and walked around the shops in the Centro Historico.

Palacio Nacional

The former site of Mexico's goverment ongoings. It is beautiful, there are Diego Rivera murals all along the top story, and it told the story of Mexico, from prehispanic people to the conquest.

Avenida Q

Alice and I left the group and took off to see Avenida Q, the Spanish version of the popular Broadway show. Mom had always told me Broadway was popular in Mexico City, and so it was a priority of mine to see a production, especially one I had not yet seen in the US. They skipped a few songs and some of the jokes werent as funny out of the American context, but it was really funny, it is a paradoy of Sesame Street and based on "real life." Go see it!

Cafe de Tacuba

Then Alice and I went to a super cute restaurant called Cafe de Tacuba, and it is built in an old monastary, so all the servers were dressed as nurses and nuns. There was a mariachi playing, and the vilhuela player kept eyeing me all night, then he came up to me and told me he thought I was beautiful. So I took a picture of him.




Then more shenangians at the hostel bar...

Sunday October 26, 2008

Chapultepec

I have never been to New York, let alone Central Park, but I imagine it is very similar to Bosque de Chapultepec. Its a huge park, right in the middle of Mexico City. We walked around, it was Sunday and so all the Mexican families take their kids to the zoo and lake. We were all ready to go to our soccer game that evening, so we were sporting our team jerseys! We went to the Mueseo de Anthropologia, but we didnt have enough time to walk around. So we ate at a really good food court area in the park.

Chivas vs America- El Clasico

We decided to experience Mexico City the way locals do, and we got more than we could handle. We took the metro to the game, and they were PACKED. It was insane how many people crammed into the trains! You literally have to push and run into the train when the doors open because other people will push past you. You have to be an aggressive commuter! We got to Estadio Azteca and it was plain madness. SO MANY PEOPLE, THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE! The stadium held 140,000 people! We all had to hold hands so as to not lose our group; a valuable lesson learned in kindergarten! Nick, Jennifer and I waited for Yadira and her boyfriend to bring the tickets, but they got stuck in traffic and we didnt get into see the game until halftime. The riot police made a barrier that kept pushing people out of the stadium, and we almost bought scalped tickets. Finally, Yadira and Cipi get there, but it was packed to capacity, we couldnt get to our seats, so we wound up in the nosebleed section. It was still fun, but honestly, I was in a bad mood the whole time. Corona for 30 pesos helped with that, and by the time the game ended, it was good to be back with the group.

Chivas side left, America side right. Freakin' Chivas fans snuck in fireworks and flares, and were throwing them a tier below where all the America fans were. It was kinda scary, you could see flames where they landed.

America is the home team and Chivas is from Guadalajara, and they are long time rivals. Chivas won the game, 2-1, and America fans were not happy. We had two guys ( a blond and a redhead, to boot) in our group wearing Chivas jerseys and while we felt safe enough at the stadium, the metro station was a whole different story. We arrived at the transfer point, where we heard a roar coming from the bottom story. A drunk, angry America mob had just passed through and were baning on their drums, chanting and screaming while waiting for the train. The police had our two boys isolated behind a police barrier until the mob passed. Well, the mob did pass and the cops left, and the Chivas fans were bunched up in the corner when ANOTHER drunk, angry mob of America fans come in. Well, here are the Chivas kids all alone, hudled together, and the America mob comes swarming in, surrounding the Chivas fans like lions who are going to feast on a gazelle. One guy come skipping along, chanting, and without warning, walks by Nick and punches him straight in the nose, and then walks into the metro station. Nick was bleeding a lot, and so security evacuated the Chivas fans and our group out of the metro station. This was when we all freaked out a little. We were alone, fully responsible for each other, and we didnt know what we would do if Nick didnt stop bleeding soon. For our safety, I convinced him to put on my America jersey, which he did reluctantly, but we were off and finally got back to the Zocalo, where he shortly thereafter stopped bleeding. We sat down to eat a meal of McDonalds and their McNificos hamburgers, a little shaken but a little wiser. We got the midnight bus, feeling a grand relief come upon us as we dismounted the bus and walked into the calm, quiet streets of Oaxaca.