October 26, 2006

Yep, I really made it down here and life is good. I’ve been here for three weeks now and have already explored some huge caves, gone swimming in a beautiful river, spent a three-day weekend at an incredible beach, and have also been teaching at two different schools. The weather here is pretty much like Portland in July. Like Guatemala, there are really only two seasons here – rainy and dry. It’s rained here once since I’ve been here as dry season is just beginning.

Alder has shown me all around town. We’ve gone to the best markets, great cafes, hoppin bars, big stores, nice restaurants, etc. While she’s busy, I’ve been making my rounds visiting all the English schools in town. There are over 10 schools that I know about and I’ve checked most of them out by now. Most of the smaller schools are having a hard time keeping classes full due to the current political situation, but the bigger schools continue to keep busy. Several schools have offered what classes they could and I’m working at two schools that have offered me the most. As soon as I decide to get a cell phone, I’ll start teaching private classes as well. It’s nice not to have a leash for now.

As far as the current political situation, it’s not as bad as I imagined. There are many roadblocks of which most are cleared during the day as well as anti-mayor graffiti everywhere – even on churches! Lots of teachers and protesters are camped in the central plaza and are making quite a mess, but I haven’t seen any violence whatsoever. People here are a little tense, but mostly just sick and tired of the mess and inconvenience. The protesters are trying to show that Oaxaca is not governable so the current mayor will be removed from office. The sooner this happens the better. I did see an army truck full of soldiers pass through town last week and it was a bit unsettling. Everyone really hopes that this will be resolved peacefully.

A couple weeks ago, Alder and another couple and I went to some big caves and a beautiful river about 1.5 hours south in car. We had fun exploring the caves before having a picnic and taking a dip in the river. Last weekend we went to a beach town called Zipolite and stayed in an awesome bungalow on the beach. It’s much hotter on the coast, so we spent lots of time in the water. It kinda reminded me of Maui, but a bit more primitive. Check out the pics I uploaded on Webshots at

http://travel.webshots.com/album/555115808aluNum

Well that’s it for now. I’m considering starting a blog but haven’t yet. You’ll know when/if that happens. If everything goes as planned, I’ll be heading back to the NW in June for a visit. But hopefully you can come down before that and help me soak up some of this sun.