Blog #8:Oaxaca 2.0

“Oaxaca 2.0”

 

            17 days, 6 hours, 32 minutes 13 seconds removed from Mexico, and I have just begun to adjust back to life in the United States. I have learned an infinite amount of knowledge that you cannot limit to one lifetime. One thing I have learned is, that the state of affairs in Mexico, as portrayed in the United States, is heavily exaggerated. Not all of Mexico is conflicted by narco-politics and drug violence; only the northern border states with the United States are experiencing the influx of violence, such as Chihuahua, Baja California, and Sonora. In states like Oaxaca, Michoacan, Chiapas the reality is that there is the existence of drugs but not as prevalent as its chief export: culture. On one of the lectures, Professor Mark Overmyer-Velasquez quoted a phrase that in Oaxaca, “under every rock you will find an artist” as an homage to the incredible depth of artisans, and cultural diversity that Oaxaca is comprised of.

Oaxaca is a consortium of everything. There is a colorful history, as if written in the prose of John Grisham, intellectually stimulating, with undertones of suspense, littered with controversy and at times acts of virtue from unlikely individuals. My heroes of this generation is Barack Obama, my hero of their modern revolution is Benito Juarez. It would be difficult to say that I regret this trip, with sickness aside from this reasoning, because I do not regret taking part of this program. What I regret is not staying longer, and seeing more. I am able to identify Zapotec traditions from other indigenous groups, tapetes from your “average rug”, well diversified in Oaxacan cooking, and… there are more significant instances that I have developed a deep affinity for.

            I have taken classes in Latin American politics and culture, but never have I experienced the change in how I perceive the world around me, as I have since returning from Oaxaca.

You are told there is poverty in Mexico. You see the Indian child the age of your niece bringing paltry souvenirs, clad in soiled in frayed clothes with faces and hands covered in dirt, and grit.

You are suggested that the Mexican government represses freedom of speech. You are told first-hand that an artist’s friend was arrested in Oaxaca, but taken to Chiapas and has yet to be heard from. The reality of Mexico and the Mexico that is seen by tourists are of polar opposite dimensions.

I have developed relationships with friends, teachers, my own from the University and from abroad, that I will treasure for as long as I have breath. In 17 days, 6 hours, 34 minutes, 46 seconds, I am able to identify every state in Mexico, and can say I have a second home at 919 Calle Macedonia Alcala, Oaxaca City, Oaxaca, 68000.

-Miguel Ramiez Jr.