Green energy not so welcome

In the town of La Ventosa (The Windy), the air tears across a narrow isthmus connecting the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. It's one of the windiest places in Mexico and now home to a number of wind farms, mostly Spanish-owned. The farmers who have leased their land have gotten a raw deal, signing contracts that prohibit them from using wide stretches of land around the huge towers. An organization I've been working with - the Union of Organizations of the Northern Isthmus (UCIZONI) has been organizing farmers opposed to the wind farm, pushing for more environmental safeguards and a fairer rent. Little lives with very little electrical use - some families don't even have electricity, the farmers reap no benefit from the project.























anti wind farm organizer
















farmer photographing damaged windmills





















windmill landscape

Isthmus town's new noisy landscape

Visiting Juchitan on the Isthmus

On my way out to visit the wind farm and UCIZONI, I had the pleasure of passing through Juchitan, one of the Isthmus' most important cities, famous for the powerful women vendors.















In front of the police station on the central plaza

Vegetable seller

Vendors in indigenous dress

Hard tortillas called totopos

Wacky and not so wacky projects at kids school

Talia's classmates dying in play about zombies




















Sabina showing an advertisement she made















Listening to presentations















Sabina's class project uncovering subliminal ads
















Sabina's class





















Talia's class' project on the supernatural - touching but not seeing forces of nature


















For Talia's rat presentation. She made them out of plasticene.

Tyler's painting

Veracruz comes to Oaxaca - the Son Jarocho invasion

Gonsalo and Argelia gave birth to Raices, a family son jarocho band in which their 3 children and assorted friends participate. Raices is one of the few bands that plays this traditional Veracruz (the neighboring state) music. Argelia is a dance teacher and militant in the teachers union. Gonsalo also teaches, some music, dance and English.

Their son, Tavo in foreground next to their friend Damian. Doc (with the beer) is reciting a decima, a generally off colored poem with some rhyming scheme that I couldn't possibly remember.

Bibi on the tarima. Tyler takes zapateada classes with her.

Gonsalo, Bibi and Doc

Tavo plays the requinto among a sea of jaranas. He's a remarkable picker, heading into the heavens on some wild leads.

Argelia on the jaw bone - the real thing from a burro. The rattling of the teeth would be hard to reproduce even on the best synthesizer

Listening to Raices at Club Babel with Talia's teacher, Clara Elena

Pure joy

Friends and family shots

Uncle David and Aunt Kathy during their Dec 08 visit















Ruby Florence Moore Bloom and Sabina Rose Moss Haaren

Arlo "choochy" and Susanna

Casa del Sol Bonfire

Over the course of the school year, we had a few bonfires, kind of a Casa del Sol tradition to build community among neighbors. The kids invited school friends and folks from the neighborhood came. We were fortunate to have an empty lot next door where we built a fire ring. Brian and I took a chain saw to a trunk and cut up some stumps for sitting.
















Ruby and school friends from Blaise Pascal
















Talia's class with Mariana















Marshmallows, the universal language

































Humberto, Elizabeth and Concha (Iran's mother)

Neighbors Renata and Rebecca

Terrorized by Larry

Larry doesn't look capable of terror, does he? You'd be surprised. This dog was roundly abused and then dumped, scrawny and terrified, in Casa del Sol. Smart pup, he chummied up to the gringos whose liberal hearts opened up to him. He expressed his appreciation in unrelenting affection which could be interpreted as attack. Tyler took to never leaving the house without a broom to push him away. The neighbor wanted to poison him. We had him fixed, which in theory calms a man, but it only made him more nuts. Minor's friend, Farina, had him almost trained, but then like everyone else in Larry's life, she left.

One day, we were in Carrizal, a Sierra Zapotec village. We visited their trout farm and noted that they had no dog to guard it. We told them about Larry and that he was likely exactly what they were looking for. And that he was castrated which we thought was a good selling point. They said sure, bring him by. I'm sure they thought they'd never see us gringos again.

After another week of terror, Brian and I loaded Larry in the car and drove him to Carrizal. He threw up all over the car, which toned him down for when he met the villager. We drove straight to a stream to wash out the car. They seemed pleased and we think Larry lives happily ever after.

A deep cave and a mountain of corn

Emerging from the depths, blue sky finally. It doesn't look like much but it's a few hundred feet up and a few houses could fit through that a hole where the roof caved in. Beneath was a cavern a half mile long, gallery after gallery of bats and stalagtites.
















the spelunkers bathed in sunshine







































Our guide - the community assigns someone to take visitors around as part of their mandatory social service - shines a powerful torch onto the cave ceiling. Each limestone knob represented some kind of animal.

































The community collected corn from all the neighbors and set to removing the kernels from the cobs in time to make tortillas and atol for the patron saint day.

Skateboarding

Right by the airport was a skateboard park - Tequio. Tequio means collective work, perhaps a thumb in the face to the normal individualistic skateboard culture. Skateboard culture abounds in Oaxaca, black clothing, earrings and heavy metal. The tequio will be known as the place where Talia began her skateboarding career - here with her co conspirator, Arlo.