Arival

We arrived safely in Oaxaca yesterday afternoon. While driving to Sta Helena Plaza , (where we´ll be staying until we move into our host families on Sunday afternoon) we began to notice the sights of the city. The stores are all set up in sections. For example, there is a block that sells mostly music electronics and another block where mostly mechanics work. The streets are narrow and the town small, but there is a lot of automobile traffic. Locals flood the streets, making their living any way they can. I was reminded of a modern Latin American version of the market place scene from the musical Oliver as I saw a man weaving between the cars selling limes and a woman a little ways away selling chocolate. Like any city back home, graffiti adorned buildings and shops. I don´t know what it says since it´s in Spanish, but Mrs. Garcia explained to us that when there was political unrest in the city three years ago, many people used graffiti as a form of protest.
Today we are going to visit the Zocalo where the teachers are currently holding their annual strike. Today is supposed to be their final day of protest for greater local union control and better pay.
We all tried a typical breakfast with Oaxacan coffee (with cinnaomon), hot chocolate, tortillas, black beans, eggs with chile, tomatoes and onion, fresh squeezed orange juice - not a bad start at all!
So far we are still getting our bearings, but we´re happy and looking forward to meeting the kids we´ll be teaching on Monday. (this morning´s writer in residence - gracias a Gaby)