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.

Playing catch up!

I AM SO SORRY! To all my loyal fans ( that's you, Mom!) who have been dying of anticipation for my next post, your wait is over. Teeheehee, just kidding, I have been really busy these past 2 weeks. Seeing as how so much as happened in the last 2 weeks; Mexico City Trip, Hospital Civil, Dia de los Muertos, Caves and Zip Lining. So I will be posting more than one blog- one for each subject. It will be a lot of blogging, lemme tell you.


It has been an emotionally stormy these past two weeks. I am just over half way done with my trip and I am realizing some peoples true colors. While I am having fun, making new friends and such, I need to know that "my persons" (to quote Greys Anatomy) are thinking about me . The distance of both time and place has really shown me who cares about me, and who doesnt care as much as I thought they did. It is painful to make certain realizations about those whom I love and trust, but it is better that it happens now and not years later, when I am bittered and hurt beyond repair. There are some friends I didn't even realize cared about me so much- I get emails and messages (and blog comments, hint hint) from people who really care about me and I know I need to cherish them more.

So how does Samantha get out of an emotional funk? PARTY!!! I have gone drinking and dancing 5 nights in the past week! Uh, maybe a little too much drinking one of those nights, but hey, I am studying abroad with an awesome bunch of people and how many times in my life will I be able to say that I partyed in Mexico for Los Muertos?

So today, I am feeling better, but I am not going to let anyone or anything bring me down anymore. This trip is about me, and I am going to enjoy it. No one or nothing will bog me down ever again!

On being Mexican

*** This was actually posted on November 4th but written on Oct 22*****

So, this past week was busy because I had a midterm due on Saturday. I did not procrastinate (yeay!) but I did want to get an A really bad so I stressed out a little. But it got done, I felt good, and Saturday night I drank and danced the night away! I love the nightlife in Oaxaca, its so diverse. We went to a super packed bar, our group's preferred location, FreeBar. Then we crossed the street to La Tentacion, a cumbia/merengue/salsa club where people were so chill and dancing their hearts out! I taught Max how to cumbia! Then we went to Sabina, which is my new favorite spot, because there was enough room to dance comfortably and the music was fun! I went to the bathroom, and the Shakira song "La intuicion" was playing, and all the ladies were a little buzzed, waiting in a long line (typical of bars and clubs) and we just started singing and dancing while we waited our turn. By the way...I like that Coronas are only $1.50 or 20 pesos and I especially like it when I dont get hangovers from cheap, delicious beer :) I thought I would be sad to go out without my boyfriend, and I was thinking about him a lot that night. But we have had a lot of fun together in the past, and we will have many more opportunities in the future to drink cheap Coronas and dance together.


Our new professor, Dr. Melnikow, started her term with us on Monday. She is here for two weeks, so it feels like we dont have very much time, but we actually have learned a lot in lecture. It has been a very relaxed few days of classes, mainly because most of us didnt do our assigned readings because of the midterm. Guilty as charged! Well, I can't be perfect, plus, it has been a lot of hard work in the past 4 weeks!

So something that keeps coming up is this whole "being Mexican" idea. In the US, if someone asks me that dreaded "what are you?" question, I feels like Mexican is not accurate, but no one wants to hear that I am American, because after all, I am brown. So then I start rambling about how I am American of Mexican decent, and people look at me with blank, confused stares, as though the idea of me being American still doesnt penetrate through their skulls. So why am I not Mexican-because I was not born in Mexico and while my parents were, they are now American citizens. My dad served in the US Marine Corps and works in law enforcement for crying out loud! Why am I not American? Because I am not white, which by the way is not an accurate description of American, neither.

Oh, my country tis of thee, why must your people fail to recognize me as a product of your beauty? Why I am looked at differently than children of Irish or Polish immigrants who came through Ellis Island? Why I am discriminated against in the the country I pray for, the country I vote in, and the country I want to die in? Why must I feel foreign in the only place I know as my home? Being in Mexico has given me a sort of confidence I have never before felt in my life- I walk the streets and see brown people in all walks of life- from doctors to street vendors, and not only as bus boys and janitors. My self esteem is boosted by seeing so many beautiful, curvy, Latina women and hearing my American friends talking about how beautiful Latina women are. I dont look different, and this sense of belonging is unknown to me. Whereas in the US, especially in Davis, I feel like people look at me like this exotic, cheap Mexican import, no different that that 6 pack of Corona beer that was purchased at the Nugget. Lets face it- Americans discriminate against my type-Latin American immigrant children. My Oaxacan host mom showed me a local paper which had as its top story, front page, a headline that says "Increase in discrimination against Mexicans in the US." Much has changed in America, but we have a long way to before I can say I am American without judgement.

Crashes, floods and infections; the honeymoon is over

It was the dawn, 5 am, when I woke up to the sound of two cars screech and crash into each other. I jumped out of bed, a little frightened but aware of what happened, stepped outside and looked down from my second story patio to see shaken people walk out of their crumple metal cans and motocycle and foot patrol cops came flooding from all areas. People in the hotel across the street from me were taking pictures from their windows. This is an all too common sight; last weekend an accident on the same intersection during the night claimed 2 lives.

In the centro historico, where I live, all the streets are one way only and the street light flash red during the night and wee hours of the morning. According to a taxi driver, the law states motorists do not need to stop at red lights if there are no cars around. Driving in Oaxaca is dangerous- streets are poorly paved and narrow, no respect for other cars or pedestrians, and speeding is common. Dr. Tenorio, our medical director in Oaxaca, says his main concern for student safety isn't kidnappings or assault: its the fact that every day, there is at least one pedestrian fatality due to automobile accidents. Most people don't think of car accidents as a public health concern, even though they are the leading cause of death for Americans between the age 15 and 25. Think about this next time your buddy decides to drive home buzzed.
------- Post Script 11:30pm- Another car accident just happened, this time, involving alcohol. What are the odd of two crashes within 24 hours of each other?-----



On a lighter note, OMG, freakin' Noahs ark almost landed in Oaxaca today. I had been locked in my room all morning and afternoon, reading and writing my midterm paper ,when around 4:30 pm, big fat raindrops started to fall, and then it came down hard for 40 mins. Flash flood alert! I stepped outside me room to take these photos,







Centro de Salud Santa Cruz Xoxocotlan - October 1-10, 2008

This week had been work, work, work! This was the last week at our first clinical rotation site. Alexa and I really enjoyed our time at Centro de Salud Xoxo (ho-ho) and we are bummed to leave. We became good friends with the nurses, the physicians, the nutritionist and the other workers. Dr. Raymundo Murguia was our preceptor for the majority of our time there. He is a really great person; as a physician, he is thoughtful and thorough, and as a person, he is really caring and energetic. The first day of clinic, we drank a shot of mezcal together! But sometimes we felt a little uncomfortable with certain behaviors. For example, he has a prosthetic leg and in order to not have him stand up from his chair when I have a question, I will kneel beside him at his desk. While I ask the question, he would caress my cheek or brush my hair, which would be major sexual harrassment back in the States. It is not meant as being sexually forward- at no point did Alexa and I think he was doing so- but is part of the machisto culture. We are young women, lower ranking in the health care strata, and he feels a sort of tenderness or affection towards us. We are nice looking, we are excited about medicine, and he finds it endearing. But if you know me, you know I have a hard time with male dominance bullshit- it took a lot for me to not be offended.

When we weren't in consultation with Dr. Ray, we went on vaccination campaigns! AWWW YEAH, PUBLIC HEALTH ROCKS MY SOCKS! This is the motor of public health-going out into the community to educate about health and prevent illness on a mass scale. Every couple of months, a team from the clinic goes out into the public schools to give vaccinations and other preventative measures. A group of clinic workers hopped on the back of a truck, drove to the rural colonias (or regions) of Xoxo, and did a thorough job of reaching all target children. Alexa went on a tetanus vaccination campaign in Colonia Los Angeles (which BTW is at the foot of the mountain where Monte Alban is!) and I went on a anti-parasitic and vitamins campaign in Colonia Rufino Tamayo. Kids were given a small bottle of albendazol, an antiparastic treatment, and federally sponsored vitamins and minerals to supplement their nutrition. We had to make sure all the children drank the bottle of albendazol in front of us- some kids loved the taste of it, claiming it tasted like coconut, banana, strawberry, while a few kids were gagging and needed to chase it with fruit juice in order to keep it down. Oh, one kids spit on me on accident- he was gagging and ran out of the room to throw it up and started spewing near me!

So here were the highlights of my time at Xoxo- Reader Discretion Advised!

- Learning procedures. I learned how to: administer intermuscular and subcutaneous injections; perform and teach patients to perform a breast exam; perform a thorough general exam of the eyes, nose, ears, mouth, teeth, throat, neck, abdomen, feets and legs; determine the developmental stage of a fetus, find its heart beat and determine what position its in; and finally, how to interpret laboratory results for infection, anemia, diabetes and renal failure.

-Observing procedures- Pap smear (papanicolao in Spanish) and pelvic exam on a woman with a pelvic inflammatory infection (aka: white liquid spewing from what may be her uterus, since we were at her cervix and it was still coming out); suturing of a stabbing wound in the rib cage of a arma blanca (domestic violence)

- I was impressed with the high rates of diabetes. I knew it was a problem, but geez, its monumental! Feet exams are important to see if diabetes is affecting circulation. Diabetic feet are characterized by edema (swelling), uneven or discolored skin on the calves and feet, bed sore type wound that health slowly, little or no pulse in feet, and in the late stages, tough and hard black or purple skin on the feet. Also, diabetes is the leading cause of blindess in the world- Oaxaca is no exception. Retinopathy occurs when excess amounts of glucose (aka uncontrolled diabetes) cause the tiny veins in your eye to burst , causing blurring vision, and later, causing your retina to seperate from the macula causing permanent blindness. Crazy.

- There is little education on hygiene. This gets is where it gets a little gross. Cleaniness is important to be healthy, such as in this case. We had a 17 year old pregnant woman come in who had a UTI and vaginal infection for what appeared to be months according to her lab results. UTI was caused by a long term vaginal infection that wasn't treated. The vagina is a great place for bacteria to grow- its warm, moist, and dark. When bacteria begin to grow on the surface, it can enter the urethra by wiping forward after going to the bathroom or by sexual intercourse, causing urinary tract infections or worse. A lot of things cause vaginal infections and UTI, but sexual activity is a main contributor, and we talked to her about hygeine practices to prevent more UTIs. She brushed her teeth once a day (which was a lie), bathed every other day (I doubt it) and changed her clothes every other day. While there may be a socioeconomic factor playing into certain hygiene rituals, but poorer people than her are cleaner than this. After talking to Dr. Ray about hygiene education, and after a few more clinic visits, it became clear that genital hygiene is not addressed as part of general hygiene.

- Echoing on this past case, education about hygiene comes from the parents, and there is a lot of shame in talking about sex between parents and children. Dra. Gloria, another physician at Xoxo, said she will get young girls come in for a visit, worried because they think they injured themselves "there" because they are bleeding. Seriously, that still exists. Another case of this was when a mother brought in her 8, almost 9, year old daughter who was complaining about pain in her left chest. After talking to the young girl and examining her chest, we noticed her left nipple was sprouting. Her mother began menarc (her first menstruation) at age 12, so this little girl was beginning puberty, since the first menstruation is towards the end of puberty for girls. I understand the mothers concern, but couldn't the mother have looked at her own childs breast?

- Another woman, in her 40's with 3 children, did not know how to do a self breast exam (SBE's). No problem, a lot of women dont know, but she was embarassed to touch her own breasts and refused the exam. Alexa and I were going to show her how to do it, the male physician wasnt not going to adminsiter it, but regardless, she refused. Okay, you breast fed 3 kids, and you are ashamed to touch your breasts? I guess this shouldnt really surprise me, since people are shameful of their bodies in the USA too, but when breast cancer is the most prevalent and deadly cancer for this population, it is very frustrating that these cultural nuances get in the way of effective preventative measures.

So far, I have really enjoyed the primary clinic setting. As of yet, I still want to be in primary care and this experience got me more excited about prevention and treatment of illness. But next week I begin at Hospital Civil, a large general hospital with many specialties. I am most excited about oncology, general surgery, OB/GYN, and internal medicine.

Ugh, back to work on my midterm. We have entirely too much work this week. I cannot wait till weekend...again...5 days away.

Para todo mal, mezcal. Para todo bien, tambien.

" For all the bad, mezcal. For all the good, also." -Traditional Oaxacan saying

Besides having killer bloating and painful GI movement, it was a good week. Last week was the first week of clinical rotations and classes. It is a pretty packed schedule.

Mondays and Tuesdays we have UCD courses from 10 to 3 pm, Tuesdays and Thursdays we have Spanish classes at Becari Language school from 5 to 7pm, and clincal rotations are Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays for 4 hours each day. We also have to accomodate to family meals, which consists of breakfast and la comida, which is the biggest meal of the day, usually between 2 and 3pm. It is kinda hard to get used to eating meals at 8 am and eating again at 3pm, but I usually get a snack around noon. The host family took me and Alexa (my housemate who is from UCSB) to a mayordomia, which is a celebration each parish has for their church. It is on the saints day on which the church is named after, and one family from the community is given the honor of preparing the food for the entire community. It is a very traditional celebration, where a mass is celebrated in honor of the saint, and food and dancing follow. Madrinas (or sponsers/godmothers) are also a part of the celebration. They help prepare for the celebration by decorating the church, providing desserts, and more. The little girl in the photo is a madrina infantil (child sponsor) and she was so proud to carry around that basket of goodies, to be handed out to the community after the meal. They prepared mole negro, a Oaxacan icon, and drank a shot of mezcal! Okay, since I had been ill, the nun sitting across the table from me highly encouraged me to drink it, because it helps digest the highly greasy mole. It is INTENSE! Mezcal is made from the maguey plant, which is the same succulent that is used to make tequila, but processed differently. Tequila comes from Jalisco, while mezcal comes from Oaxaca. So mezcal prevents indigestion and helps break down fats and other lovely stomach problems from occurring due to the Oaxacan party foods. I also drank a Corona and some tepache, or pinepple beer. It is homemade fermented pineapple rinds and sugar, and it is pretty good. Hey, if a little alcohol helps with indegestion, more alcohol helps more, right? Then on the drive home, my host sisters wanted some cotton candy, and made our toungues insanely colorful. Car ride+ sugar+pre-school children= awesome!

But the highlight of the week (the cherry on top of a sundae I was too sick to eat) was clinical rotations. Alexa and I were assigned to Centro de Salud Santa Cruz Xoxoctlan, which is in Xoxocotlan (ho-ho-koh-tlahn) a suburb of Oaxaca, a 20-40 min bus ride south of the centro historico. Centros de Salud are government run primary care clinics and are open access- that is, anyone (insured or not) can receive care. In Mexico, 54% of spending in health care is private and the shotty condition of the public system is a big reason for it. Xoxo has a fairly basic centro de salud, with a handful of primary care physicians, slightly more nurses, a dentist, a psychologist, a nutritionist, a pharmacist, and a community health representative. The only x-ray machine is for dental; no ultrasound, and hells no on an MRI or CAT, and all paperwork is completed by typrwriter-yes-typewriter. All instruments are heat sterilized on site-no sterile and disposable instruments like plastic caps on the otoscopes (the instrument used to view in the ear and nose), no one time use thermometers: seriously, they have the basic stuff.

So what is the common Oaxaquenos ailment? Well, DIABETES, DIABETES, DIABETES. 7 out of 10 patients we see in consultation, and nearly all patients over 40, are diabetic. More to come on clinic in next weeks post!

Sunday was eventful! Our new exchange student sister from Holland came on Saturday, and we invited her to our outing today. Alexa, Kirsten (my Dutch Oaxacan sister), Prof. de la Torre and I went to Mitla, a village about 1 hour outside of Oaxaca that is home to small, but interesting mixtec ruins.

It was small, not nearly as impressive at Monte Alban, but the detail of the buildings were really neat. They did not use any adhesive or clay to make their designs- everything is carved and places in a position and weight is applied to keep it in place. It is 95% original, with restoration only for preservation or safety of visitors.

After we returned from Mitla, the family took us to have la comida at Santa Maria del Tule, a small suburb outside of Oaxaca to get some empanadas, tlayudas and quesadillas. This town is famous for the worlds biggest tree- biggest girth, not heigth, since Sequioas are the champs- but this tree is 14 meters (approx 43 ft) in diameter. Its volume is 816,829 cubic meters and weighs 636,107 tons!

It's the kind of tree I dream of living in, like the ultimate treehouse. You get that feeling of inferiority; as though the human species isn't as bad ass as we would like to think. Sure, we have cognitive processes and opposing thumbs- but can we live 2000+ years? No, this tree has more power, more experience, more fitness than we (humans) could ever imagine to achieve.

Moctezuma hit hard

Sorry I have been lagging on my blog! Its been over a week since I gave any juicy deets, but I have been majorly sick! I dont know what got me sick, but I had major stomach bloating and cramps, fever, nausea and diarrea. I have been sleeping a lot this past week and was prescribed some anti-parastic meds, which helped a lot. After 7 days of being sick, I am so glad to feel healthy! I guess I take being healthy for granted! I was also feeling a little homesick, mostly because I am a big baby when I am sick and need my family, friends and Cole around to kiss my booboos. I have so much to share, but I will catch up on my blog tomorrow.

Alright, a quick little teaser of last weeks events!

Pic 1-On Sunday, my host family took the students out to eat at Santa Maria del Tule, a quaint village/suburb of Oaxaca that has the world biggest tree. You may be thinking "but Sam, sequioas are the worlds biggest trees." Well, yes, but they are tall, and this tree is MASSIVE.

Pic 2-Also, drink to your health has a new meaning for me, since mezcal (which is super strong liquor made from the same plant as tequila) is a preventative treatment for...read tomorrow for the answer!

Pic 3-And finally, no, that last pic is not a glamour shot, it was taken in an ancient Zapotect ruin in Mitla.

Alright I got to catch up on reading, there will be more to see tomorrow!