Last day in Oaxaca. I’ve been feeling rather sad. The city is overflowing with people and cars and dancers and music and excitement, which is making it feel like I’ll really miss out but also the city is starting to be unrecognisable. There are vast tents set up on some streets, and filled with stalls selling crafts from around the state. I bought a couple of small bits and pieces, notably a pair of silver earrings that I had seen in a shop and then could not find the shop again – it turned out that the same person with the same earrings had set up in one of the stalls.
For my last dinner I went to the taqueria, and this was an excellent decision as I walked through some very lively, music and dance filled streets, had an excellent dinner (which didn’t poison me) and got back to pack around 10. And now I am packed, waiting for my earphones to charge, and then I’ll plug in the mosquito coil and sleep.
My final day of class was very pleasant even though Vida Loca was there as well – I really like her, but I definitely prefer having classes to myself. She had brought croissants for everyone, so that kept me going till the homestay’s late lunch (my prudent insurance against food poisoning just before a flight, until I decided to have tacos for dinner), my teacher gave me a little pair of earrings (not my style but still very sweet of her), and the school’s owner gave me a little woven bag that has become my medicines bag.
This is what I have left behind at the homestay:
- One fat little floor cushion covered in a grey velveteen like fabric
- A little set of cutlery: chopsticks, fork, spoon, case
- A plastic plate with a picture of the updated Strawberry Shortcake cartoon, only in Spanish (Rosita Frescita or something)
- A plastic box
- A plastic water jug that I had been using for my drinking water until I noticed, yesterday and to my horror, that the lowest 2 centimetres of water had turned green
- Three avocadoes which didn’t ripen in time
- Half a bag of beans which I had planned to use for cold compresses for my achy arm but never did
- A bottle of shampoo, mostly full
- An empty yoghurt jar, formerly used as a cultery stand
- A Givenchy consmetics bag, formerly used for charging wires etc
Here is what has been added to my baggage in Oaxaca – I fear it has tipped me over some luggage limits so I shall have to lighten my luggage in other ways:
- Six alebrijes of hummingbirds, found from a women’s collective. There are lots of alebrijes of hummingbirds available in Oaxaca, but these were almost unique in having thin, fine beaks, fine painting and good non-fluorescent colurs
- A pair of silver filigree earrings set with small black stones
- A woven cloth bag to be used for medicines etc
- A woven carpet bag in natural dyes, used for charging wires, etc
- A small clay cross
- A cotton huiple, Istmo style, embroidered with insects
- A pair of wooden earrings in the shape of blue hearts with a vividly painted flower
- A notebook and some handouts for Spanish
- A pen
- A handwoven tea towel from Ocotlan which, in Oaxaca’s more touristy areas, seems to be available in pairs, sewn together into a huiple
- A clay armadillo and a box to put it in
- A kitchen knife with a hilt in the shape of a dog’s head
- A laughably large leather scabbard for the knife, complete with belt loop