Irma invited us to visit her family in a Mixe village, 7 hours southeast of Oaxaca. The Mixes are one of the largest ethnic groups in Oaxaca.
Irma lives in Oaxaca city but yearns to go back to her native soil. Irma came from a poor farming family who couldn't support her. She was told to go to the city as a young girl to work as a servant.
Marvelling at her father's chili harvest
Arriving at the corn and chili field
Susanna and Irma
Irma's family was exiled from their ancestral lands for being evangelical protestants in a Catholic land. Villagers congregate at the evangelical church next to Irma's house.
Outside Irma's kitchen
Arlo and Talia goofing in the car
Irma and her sister prepared chicken soup for us
Irma's kitchen
The girls giving Irma a hand in the kitchen with her daughter
Hands in the masa
The tortilla press
A sacred mountain on the horizon
Irma's father constructing a house for a neighbor. The shared experience of the exile from their original village has made for a very close community.
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