WALKING ON THIN ICE

tee-shirt front - “Protectors of the Virgin Saint of the Barricades” - foto by smith

bought a tee-shirt from the striking teachers. the front shows the Madonna of the Burning Tire Barricades wearing a gas mask, the back says Resistance in Oaxaca. every time i wear it, i worry about pissing off the soldiers, cops, police, guards, government thugs walking around with machine guns and serene expressions on their faces. it’s getting hot here physically (and politically) and the cops wear black which makes them even hotter. i’ve seen more machine guns down here in 3 months than i’ve seen anywhere outside a bad Rambo movie.

i wear the tee-shirt anyway, but worry when i do. we gringos are supposed to stay out of politics down here. but on the other hand, gringos can pretty much get away with anything because we’re tourist sources of money. one final bit of thought concerns our request for a year visa - i shouldn’t be biting the hand i’m asking to house me. and our landlords are both teachers - i wouldn’t want to impact them negatively. weird living in a place of such revolutionary turmoil that just wearing a well-designed a tee-shirt entails these kinds of thoughts.

tee-shirt back - “Resistance in Oaxaca” - foto by smith

we’ve seen a lot of machine guns past 2 years - in airports in London, U.S., and Mexico City, on the road between Marrakech and Essaouira, and here every day we go to the town center. we’re living in textbook times, down and dirty in the fine print.

men with machine guns - foto by smith

this weekend we’re heading back up the mountain to pick coffee for a couple days. i thought the indigenous Zapotec couple had invited us just for the experience, since we’re so slow at picking, but it turns out they need all the help they can get. i’ve mixed feelings about this. it will be our second time, and second times seldom carry the magic of the first. i don’t mind the 5 hour bus trip up down and around the mountain to go only 31 miles north north east, and i don’t mind the work and exhaustion - but i do mind the bugs. little tiny black gnat-like flies that land on top of blood vessels and chomp. can’t believe such little critters can hurt so much. must have had 30 bites which took weeks to heal - and we used bug repellent. guess we’ll be using a lot more this time. the bugs especially like the elbows. had something bite my leg - i suspect spider - that turned the flesh around the bite black.

anyway i won’t have internet access for three days, so that’ll be a plus . . . give you all a blog vacation.

the mountains north of town we’re heading up into - foto by smith