Oaxaca- Land of cheese, chocolate and coffee-swine flu

Oaxaca City, Oaxaca

April 26 - 30, 2009

With only one campground in Oaxaca we settled into what was essentially a parking lot with a few trees and a bathroom/shower room. Only one of the two showers worked as all the holes in the other shower head had calcified over from lack of use.

The good news was that the only other people in this otherwise desolate little spot were Canadians! Calvin and Leanne live in a beautiful 1952 greyhound cruiser which they have completely 

customized to suit their current life on the road. Calvin has even built in a
convenient "cat door" inside the bus which allows the cats to use their litter box stored in the old luggage compartment well away from the living space-- nifty.

Calvin and Leanne have been living in this spot for over a year while Leanne teaches English. This completely shocked us given the sparse atmosphere. However once we got to know them we realized they have a pretty sweet set up in their bus and the RV park eventually does get green after the rains come. Hollis also pointed out to us that they get to meet people from all over the world.

Our new friends were the ones to tell us about SWINE FLU.  They warned that as soon as we opened our email we would probably hear about it  from everyone who cares about us. They were right! Fortunately Calvin and Leanne took the common sense approach as opposed to the panic approach which rubbed off on us too.

It was an interesting phenomenon to watch unfold. We  witnessed first hand how the media took the story and completely blew it way out of proportion. By the sound of it one would think people were just dropping dead in the middle of the streets here. Vacations were cancelled or cut short, travel advisories were issued and by the end of the second day, all the surgical masks and bottles of  hand sanitizer were out of stock in the whole city.

I was quite impressed at how quickly the Mexican government responded. Informative  billboards went up, hand washing stations were installed and mobile medical trucks arrived in the city centers. It was impossible for anyone to not know what was going on or how to prevent the further spread.    

We couldn't resist
                                                                                                       the opportunity to wear a mask in the
center of the city seeing as they had instantly become all the rage. We did not wear them regularly though as it seemed likely they would not provide much protection anyway. Secretly we were hoping this would be just the jolt our boys needed to stop their nasty nail biting habit!

Day 2 - OAXACA -I am eager to get out and see this great city we have heard and read so much about. Remy tells me over breakfast that he is not feeling well in the gut.  I have a moment of sheer panic then we quickly eliminate the possibility of swine flu and realize he has a simple but debilitating case of diarrhea. Liz 
and the boys would spend the next 48 hours in the dreary campground looking for things to do while Daddy pooped A LOT.

Not to be outdone, Hollis developed a mild case of the runs as well so Liz and Bowen decided to ditch them both and go to the centro alone.

We had a great time sampling chocolate from all the little shops around the central plaza, we looked at the magnificent churches and admired the art made into water fountains. We sipped hot chocolate  and cappuchino while people watching at the Zocolo.

All in all it was a perfectly civilized afternoon spent with my eight year old.

Day 3- Remy is still not confident about leaving the toilet. I'm going stir crazy so decide to get my hair hi lighted at the salon right outside the campground gates. While I'm at it I drag the boys kicking and screaming for a cheap Mexican haircut.  $30 for me and $12 for each of the boys.

Day 4 -I have enrolled myself in a Oaxacan cooking class at Caso Crespo for the day. I meet Judy and Suzie , two energetic women from Portland who happened to find themselves in Oaxaca after landing in Mexico City at the height of swine flu only to discover the entire city closed until further notice. When life hands you lemons.......

Oscar, the chef, took us for a tour of the local market, we purchased food for the class and returned to his gorgeous home/restaurant for 4 hours of instruction, eating and drinking.

The three of us had a blast and ended up spending the rest of the afternoon together touring art galleries and a museum. I was in serious need of some girl time after 4 months on the road with 3 boys. Not once did we talk about guns, farting, penises ( ok, maybe once) or SpongeBob. We met Remy and the boys at the Zocolo at 4pm  and I was happy to introduce my family to my new friends who had already heard soooooo much about them. Remy was feeling better too so we had a beer and celebrated our good fortune that swine flu had diverted them to Oaxaca so we all could meet. We will see them again on our trip home!

Oaxaca is a city full of great art both in the galleries and in the streets. We met  one of the street artists on our evening stroll with Judy and Suzie and ended up purchasing 3 pieces of his work. Good thing art is flat and travels well. Now where will we store our Oaxacan pottery??

-Liz