Goodbye Oaxaca and onward

"Often I feel I go to some distant region of the world to be reminded of who I really am. There is no mystery about why this should be so. Stripped of your ordinary surroundings, your friends, your daily routines, your refrigerator full of your food, your closet full of your clothes -- with all this taken away, you are forced into direct experience. Such direct experience inevitably makes you aware of who it is that is having the experience. That's not always comfortable, but it is always invigorating. --Michael Crichton, Travels (1988)

redchurch

"I can't think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything. Suddenly you are five years old again. You can't read anything, you only have the most rudimentary sense of how things work, you can't even reliably cross a street without endangering your life. Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses."
--Bill Bryson, Neither Here Nor There (1993)

farewells

Well, i just can't believe that our time in Oaxaca had come to an end. It's difficult for me to summarize my experience there. We are in Seattle now - and Mexico is starting to feel so far away. I will miss the icons and flowers tied into the front of buses like this one. I will miss the relaxed pace, the walkable city, the old churches, the people, the brightcolors, and the warm sun. and so so much more.
What a wonderful year it has been and i want to also thank my good friends I met in Oaxaca (you know who you are). Thanks for the great memories of spontaneous poetry, deep conversations, firework adventures, popcorn, movie nights, and general silliness. L