Week 4: A week of ecological adventures

Hey there, it’s Caroline and Madeleine! We’re super happy that you’re joining us on our Oaxcan Journey! We’re sitting in our courtyard right now of our homestay, which is full of succulent plants enjoying the beautiful weather. Let’s rewind this mixtape to the beginning and get this party started.

Last Sunday, most of the group went to Hierve del Agua, which is Spanish for “Boil the Water”. We rode a bus to Tlacolula, which is a town outside of Oaxaca city. Every Sunday, they shut down the town to have a giant market. From there, we rode another bus to a town called Mitla, and then rode in a truck (the form of transportation they have to arrive to Hierve El Agua) up a mountain road to find petrified waterfalls with pools of light blue water glistening on top! Dipping our bodies in water was very refreshing, and was a great start to the coming week. We love being in Oaxaca, but sometimes the noises, smells, and crowdedness of the city can be draining. It’s great to spend time outside of the hustle and bustle of the city.

This week was our third week of Solexico Spanish class-it’s crazy how fast time is going. On Wednesday evening, some of us took the opportunity to get to know our Spanish teachers a little bit better at a “café social”. We practiced our Spanish with our teachers and other people in the school from Switzerland and England. We had to call it an early night because Thursday was going to be a big day.

On Thursday, we went for a long excursion. We met the group in a park near our house. For a while, we waited for everyone in the middle but it turns out, they all congregated in a corner. (Who meets in the corner of a park?!?) Then, we went to a permaculture farm that works to restore land, called La Mesita. There were a lot of native plants, and a well thought out wastewater recycling irrigation system and rainwater catchment system. Every year, a group of architecture students from University of Minnesota comes to this farm and builds something new in eight days. One of the structures was an overlook where you are supposed to make a promise to Mother Earth when you go on it, and all of us silently did so.

A highlight of visiting the permaculture farm was getting to talk with and listen to one of the 3 men who care for the farm. His stories added life to the experience, whether it was about the decreasing bee populations, puma cubs or first hand experience with using medicinal plants to treat his ailments.

There was also a sculpture of Mother Earth made by a Oaxacan artist. We learned about Lorena stoves, which are better for the health of the person who uses them because they are higher off the ground and route the smoke away from the preparation area. The name comes from the Spanish words lodo and arena (meaning mud and sand). They are ecological and economical because they are made of all natural materials and by hand.

At our next stop, the house of our professor Oliver’s friend, we got the chance to build one! We used our whole bodies to shovel dirt in to a wheelbarrow and mixed it with clay, hay and water using our feet. It was a great foot massage! We took turns making the stove, constructing a bamboo fence, and concocting a lip balm out of gathered herbs, oil, and beeswax. The afternoon was a great mind-body-spirit experience and we worked up a huge appetite for a late lunch.

This wasn’t the end of our weeks experiences. This weekend we went to Capulalpan, a town of 1,500 people , which is recognized by the Mexican government as a  “Pueblo Mágico”.  This designation is given to towns with cultural significance, symbolism, and in general a “magical essence”. The streets were very steep and the climate was a little cooler than the valley of Oaxaca.  On Saturday we hiked through the woods to a tranquil stream. On our way back we were shocked to learn that this was the last spring in the town due to intensive mining in the past. Currently, a company is trying to mine this area for gold. If they succeed, the entire forest and river will be gone. Luckily, the community is very strong and has prevented mining efforts in the past by quickly organizing to block the Pan-American highway until agreements were made to not mine the land.

Some of us participated in the ritual of a “Temazcal”, which is a cleansing ritual that takes place in a small adobe dome. We went in with the women, there were 7 of us sitting in the structure heated up by smoldering red rocks. We were served tea to hydrate us and were given leaves to put on our bellies. We sang and sweated for about an hour. The circular shape and the warm, dark climate of the Temazcal echoes the womb of a mother, and when you come out, it is representative of being rebirthed. It was an extremely cleansing experience for all of us.

At the hotel, we had scrumptious hot chocolate and handmade tortillas. We returned to the city on Sunday and had a free day on Monday to relax from the long week. And that’s all for this week!