Break Dancing

On Wed night I went to see a free break dancing show near Santo Domingo (apparently March is dance month in the state of Oaxaca, and there are free and paid shows all over the city). For the break dancing, an outdoor stage complete with colored lights and strobes had been set up on the cobblestones, with folding chairs on 3 sides filled with tourists and Mexicans alike, lots of young kids, and a few grandmothers.

The show was exactly what you'd expect from a break dancing show. There were two groups, one from Oaxaca and one from Mexico City. They each went on and did a choreographed group performance and then their own individual stunts. Some of them were quite good, doing one-armed handstands, hopping and balancing on one hand, head spins, the whole deal. Then, after both groups had performed, they had a dance-off, complete with taunts and joking imitations of their competitors. I went with my student, L, and we had a great time. Of course, the pictures don't really capture the dancers' movements.

San Antonio Cuajimoloyas

Last week we went on an excursion to San Antonio Cuajimoloyas, a small Zapotec town in the mountains near Oaxaca de Juarez, knowing nothing about the excursion plans other than that it would take about an hour to get there via windy, mostly unpaved roads through the mountains. Bonine saved me from puking my guts out in the back of a 15 person conversion van. And the views were amazing.

When we got there, we learned that we would be spending the morning talking to the students, ages 13-15, of the local preparatory school. As we stood uncertainly in a clump in the middle of the giant cement basketball/volleyball court, the students timidly came out of their classrooms and formed a line behind their English teacher. After some insistent prodding by professors on both sides, we formed little groups with the students and started talking to them about their lives, answering questions about Chicago, the US, and exchanging jokes. At one point M and I sang our national anthem at the request of some Mexican students and in exchange for them singing theirs to us. M also jokingly introduced a female Mexican student to all 3 boys in our program after learning that she wanted to move to LA and was in search of an American boyfriend.

After a lunch break, we broke into informal games of soccer and volleyball, and then basketball. It was really fun playing against the students, even though they seriously kicked our butts. Height apparently does not make up for practice, age, and being used to the high altitude.

After the sports matches, we took a guided hike through the mountains. The town, which is still governed collectively according to Zapotec custom, had built cabins using citizens' collective labor and materials, in order to build up an ecotourism industry. So we hiked up to the cabins and then through the mountain pastures, meanwhile learning about a tree worm problem that was decimating the forest, local plants and animals, etc. Of course, we had no idea we would be enduring a vigorous hike, so many students were wearing extremely inappropriate outfits (flip-flops, shorts, etc.). But luckily no one broke an ankle.

At the end of the hike we were treated to a talk by Omar, a guy who runs an NGO called Ollin Tlahtoalli (Zapotec term for oral stories). He has been collecting and videotaping village elders from around Oaxaca, recording their oral histories. But his organization also offers courses on English, sports, literacy, etc. to help improve village life. It was a really inspiring presentation (even if his video editing skills needed serious work).

Filling the yoga void: Estudio Dharma

I discovered Estudio Dharma on Friday, my first day here. I was walking with some friends through the Arquitos neighborhood (a neighborhood built around a 17th century aqueduct whose arches now form entryways into people's private homes) when I saw a poster in the window of a cafe. After perusing the website, I decided with some trepidation to try the Asthanga class, my preferred style of yoga. I say trepidation because the instructor's biography on the site revealed that he was only 22 years old, and I wondered how someone so young could be a competent instructor.

Rufino Tamayo 810 is a tiny door (I have to duck) in a long plastered brick wall. Faded, water-stained signs proclaim that the yoga studio is inside. On my first visit, as I reached out to push open the door, a girl with white cream all over her face came out and saw me standing there. Figuring by my yoga mat that I was there for yoga, she showed me into the courtyard and pointed to the door of the studio.

The courtyard is roughly cobbled, overhung with flower-bearing vines, and bunches of bamboo or some type of reed stick up here and there from the cobblestones, forming paths. The door to the studio is glass covered with cane. The girl with white cream on her face showed me into the studio and left me there with a basket of magazines. I could here a class going on in the adjoining room. The instructor, Rosario, poked her head out of the room and said they'd be done in a minute.

Meanwhile, my Asthanga instructor arrived. His name is Cesar, and we chatted while we waited for Rosario's class to finish. I asked him how he got into yoga. He discovered it when he began to take dance classes as a way to train for triathlons. He was so good at it that after 5 years, his teacher said he was ready to become an instructor.

The studio itself is a rectangle bound on 3 sides by a crumbling brick wall. Candles are set in various holes in the wall. The long south wall is covered in wood panels. The long north wall, which gives onto the courtyard, is glass. The floor is pergo wood paneling. There is a heater for cold days, a stereo, a statue of what I think is Lakshmi, and a giant om poster on the wall. An om symbol is hung on both sides of the door into the studio.

Class consisted of me and Rosario. It was the first class after the Christmas holidays, which explains the low enrollment. Cesar took us through a set of vinyasa sun salutes, which left me completely breathless and panting (I blame it on the high altitude). During the poses he would come around and correct our postures by pulling and pushing and turning feet, legs, and arms this way or that. It was incredible, and I was sore for 3 days afterward.

In the second class on Wed, there were 2 other women for a total of 3 students. It was amazing again. Cesar puts great attention on correct form, and this makes the class extremely challenging. Today I took a student, M, along with me. She loved it as well, and is planning on getting her friend L to come with us tomorrow. What's not to like? Almost private yoga classes for $60 pesos/class (about $5)!

A note about cats: there are at least 5 cats living in the courtyard, if not more. It smells slightly of cat pee, but not enough to be gross. During my first class, a cat walked over the roof and along the edge of a wall. Another cat made loud mrowing noises. During my second class there were two loud cat fights, at least 3 trips over the roof, and 2 cats playing around the sun shades covering the glass wall. The cat fights provoked some laughter in class. During the third class there were no cat distractions to speak of.

So far I've seen a black and white cat (like Pixel but with longer hair), a skinny black cat, a grey-ish calico and her adolescent kitten, and a dark calico that's mostly black with some barely visible orange. They're pretty friendly. The black and white one was there when M and I got to the studio today, and it let us pet it. Then it followed us into the waiting room, jumped on a guy's lap and started purring and letting him pet it. When M opened the bathroom door, the cat ran in and she tripped over it. It got so scared it stayed in there and came out when she did. The kitten is still skittish and won't let you pet her.

I'll try to take some pictures and post them soon. I took my camera today and of course it ran out of batteries after 1 picture.