Oaxaca City–Beautiful In 2010

We had the opportunity of being in Oaxaca City for just 3 days early this year thanks to the hospitality of expat Geri Anderson.  During our brief stay, I managed to snap a few photos of the beauty of the city.  Enjoy . . .

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San Felipe Gets Its Library!

A few weeks ago, we were able to travel to San Felipe Lachillo, about 3 hours straight up northeast of Huatulco and deliver building materials for a new library for children for the village.  Because of video, you can visit our trip on YouTube by clicking on the following video.

Much work on the library has already been accomplished since the day of our delivery of books shelving material.  In addition, a dental clinic is under construction and teachers are living in the community and teaching sewing and voluntary library skills.  You can check out the photo album on my Facebook page at the following link.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3816824&l=e24b5750f2&id=669922354

We hope to return next winter to the state of Oaxaca and visit the ¨little library in the mountains¨at San Felipe.  It is the 40th library established in the state of Oaxaca by expats from USA and Canada living in Oaxaca City.

Stephen Sardeson, ¨The¨Genuine Tourist, living in Tlaxcala, Tlaxcala, MX

Library for San Felipe Lachillo

San Felipe Lachillo is a very poor village located in the mountains about 4 hours northeast of Huatulco, Oaxaca. For the past several years, Luis Alfredo Estavillo Chávez, a humble restaurant owner, has traveled monthly to San Felipe to work with the children of the village.

While his primary interest has been for the children to learn how to read, he has also assisted the children to find more ways to feed themselves, so they will have enough energy to attend school and actually learn. One food project has been the raising of chickens for both eggs and meat. You can see the chickens being inoculated by Luis and MsSardo in the following photo.  

 

 

Chickens for Eggs and Meat

You can see a video of how the CHILDREN helped catch the chickens on YouTube at —

Other videos of regarding San Felipe are also available on YouTube by searching under “Silversard.” One, for example, shows the children demonstrating their reading skills to Luis during one of his visits.

 A few months ago, the “Expats” living in Oaxaca City agreed to set up a new library in San Felipe with the help of funding from the USA. You can learn about their earlier library projects at —

http://www.oaxlibrary.com/

In order to see information specific to their library work, you need to click on their “outreach programs” tab and read about “Libros Para Pueblos.”

Luis and Elva traveled to San Felipe in recent months to meet with school officials (and indirectly community leaders) about the project. Here is a photo of the teachers who want to see the project succeed.

Luis (left w white shirt) and Teachers

The teachers have offered a large unused office in the school building as a location for the new library. If the location is selected, the community residents, working with Luis, will build library shelves and small desks and chairs for the children to use when selecting the books for their personal use. Of course, the new library will be open to all children.

Possible Location For Library

Luis and Joe Wilkes, Oaxca Lending Library Contact, will be traveling to San Felipe in the near future to meet with the leaders of the community and finalize the establishment and location of the library.

While much remains to be done, it is likely the library will become a reality sometime this year. Regardless, we must remember that it is all about the KIDS of SAN FELIPE LACHILLO who are so very interested in working with Luis and Elva on their education.

Luis Listening To Child Reading Publicly

We will be in Mexico for the next 3 months or so and hope to travel to San Felipe Lachillo near the end of March to see the progress on this project. Won’t you join us via this blog and follow the progress of this small village.

 Stephen Sardeson, Genuine-Tourist.com, reporting from Baraboo, WI, USA

It’s A Small World After All

Previously, I wrote an article for this Blog about our visit to a trout farm in Ixtlan de Juarez. The name of the family owned business is “Cauchirindo,” and its handsome owner is “Romualdo Pacheco.” Here is a photo of him with Geri Anderson, our traveler author friend from Oaxaca, Oaxaca. 

Geri Anderson and One Handsome Guy

Now, I had forgotten  about writing the article because I had gone onto other articles about other places UNTIL a comment was posted on this Blog by Don Romualdo’s granddaughter, Nathaly Pacheco.  She said, “That handsome senior is my grandfather his name is Romualdo  Pacheco. If you would like to go there again I recomend going this December.”

 
I can only say that her contact with me via this blog “out of nowhere” reminded me of the song, “It’s a Small World After All,” that I heard in Disney World in Florida.  It is simply amazing that two people who have never met (Nathaly and I) can find one another through two people who never met (Geri and Romualdo) until one rainy day on a mountainside over looking a historic center of Mexico. 

Perhaps you would like to join me in singing about this small world, BUT, I warn you, if you do, you will have a hard time getting the music and words out of your head the rest of the day!  Ok, here we go. The following video is in several languages starting with French and sometimes the language being sung doesn’t match the scenes, but its still a great video for the season.

And, if you must know the lyrics for sure, here they are —

It’s a world of laughter, a world of tears
It’s a world of hopes, and a world of fears
There’s so much that we share that it’s time we’re aware
It’s a small world after all!

It’s a small world after all!
It’s a small world after all!
It’s a small world after all!
It’s a small, small world!

There is just one moon and one golden sun
And a smile means friendship to everyone
Though the mountains divide and the oceans are wide
It’s a small world after all!

It’s a small world after all!
It’s a small world after all!
It’s a small world after all!
It’s a small, small world!

Yes, as the song says, “And a smile means friendship to everyone,” and one can see it in the above photo of the two “handsome seniors,”  Geri and Don Romualdo.  And, we conclude with a “blessing” from Romuldo’s granddaughter, Nathaly, who proclaims to all —

WOW, YES, THE WORLD IS VERY SMALL, THANK YOU; WE ARE GOING THERE THIS CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HOLIDAYS — Nathaly Pacheco, December 13, 2008 at 9:00 PM.

Stephen — http://www.Genuine-Tourist.com — reporting from Baraboo, WI, USA

P.S.  Previous article can be viewed at — http://tinyurl.com/4vsnfg

Music of the Zocálo

When we arrived in Oaxaca in March of 2008, we found the Zocálo a “bird-hive” of activity.  It was really nice to see the fountains working, something the birds really seemed to enjoy.

Zocálo for the Birds

Of course the Zocálo was “colored” by a multitude of “balloon” vendors.  We have always been amazed at the very long balloons which do not seem to be marketed in the USA.  It is also fascinating to see people “shoot” the long balloons into the air, when one knows the proper technique to do so. 

Balloons Also Own Zocalo

But what was particularly pleasant in the Zocálo was the “sound of music” as provided by an orchestra piece featuring a player of a saxophone.  You can see him in the next photo.

Excellent Sax Player

 Now, if you would like to hear him play, go to the following YouTube video.

 

More photos of the Zocála are just a click away —

Update–Super PaperMan

You might want to check out my “one photo/video” post at —

http://genuinetourist.wordpress.com/category/one-photovideo/

Stephen — http://www.genuine-tourist.com — reporting from Baraboo, WI, USA

Update — SamiGo blogs Oaxaca

It is snowing in southern, WI, USA, for the first time as I write this post.  I am sitting in my den and watching the large flakes come down through our  “A frame” type windows.  In the meantime, I have been surfing the “tags” of Word Press and came across a nice blog with an article written about Mexico City and Oaxaca.  You can enjoy the article too at —

http://samigo.wordpress.com/2008/11/05/say-cheese/

She has some nice comments about Mt. Alban and the Day of the Dead and she eats bugs! . . . . . . because she wants photos so bad.  Oh . . . she has a nice slide show at the top of her blog which you might want to view before you read her article entitled, “Say-Cheese.”

OK, now we are leaving to eat in a new Mexican restaurant in Baraboo, WI, USA, where we live.  My wife and friends have decided to “extend” her birthday celebration a few more days by going out for lunch today.  Tomorrow, we are eating in another Baraboo Restaurant (Little Village Cafe)  with two men from Madison who own property in Mexico and  follow some of my Yahoo groups about Mexico. 

I hope we can keep all this “Mexican stuff” going until WE land in Mexico city (DF) on January 22nd for our 3 month “tour of duty.”

We Are Returning To Mexico

This past winter we spent 4 months in Mexico and passed through Oaxaca, Oaxaca, three different times. We were able to spend some time with travel author Geri Anderson when in Oaxaca and made a day trip with her to Ixtlan to visit a trout farm. You can read about it by visiting this link —

https://oaxacacity.wordpress.com/ixtlan-de-juarez-day-trip-for-trout-and-then-some/

 

During our 4 months in Mexico, we visited Veracruz, Xalapa, Oaxaca, Puebla, Tlaxcala, and Huautlco, sometimes more than once. We passed through the Puebla and Oaxaca bus stations several times and became more confident in our own abilities to travel in Mexico.

We are returning to Mexico January 22nd for a 3 plus month stay in 2009. While we will spend much of our time in Tlaxcala, Tlaxcala, we will probably “branch out” a bit depending upon various “missions” we might want to fulfill. We will start our journey by spending two or three days in FD (Mexico city) and explore it with a guide from Tlaxcala. Our journey will probably end on some beaches north of Veracruz, Veracruz.

Since our last trip to Mexico, I have posted about 100 SHORT videos about southern Mexico on YouTube which you can see at —

http://tinyurl.com/4mlfov

 

I will close with some photos taken in the former govenor’s palace building on the zocalo in Oaxca. We didn’t discover the building until our second visit to the city because it was heavily guarded by police with heavy weapons. However, the govenor has since moved out to minimize the amount of demonstrations on the zocalo (?) and the building is more accessible.

Photos of the murals in the Govenor’s former palace are just a click away —

Silversard and MsSardo – Genuine-Tourist(s).com

 

El Biche Probe Restaurante = The Poor Soul  (in Oaxaca City)

Silversard (Stephen) and MsSardo (Patricia) are two very excited people because WE are just about six months out from living in southern Mexico.  Here is “the Plan.”  We “leave on a jet plane” for Veracruz, Mexico, on 01-29-08, where we will spend a few days snorkelling before traveling by bus to the mountain city of Xalapa.  Upon arrival in Xalapa, we hope to take up residence in the city for one or two months.  We have never been to Veracruz or Xalapa and thought it would be nice to start our retirement in two new places in Mexico. 

After some time in Xalapa, we will travel to Oaxaca City, a city that we have visited several times.   We are interested in Oaxaca City for a possible residence but will be in a “traveler” mode on our first trip, attempting to see more of the “Central Valley” at a more leisurely pace than in times past.   

At some point in our explorations, we may “branch out” from Oaxaca City and travel to Puebla.  We have heard that the city has many nice parks, and we know from experience some very nice people.  Upon arrival in Puebla, we will be at about 6000 feet which should provide some relief from the “warming” temperatures.  

We may then turn our attention to a small city named Tlaxcala just a short distance to the east of Mexico City.  We would like to meet Bob Cox, an expatriate, who lives nearby and is a professional “genuine tourist” guide.  In recent weeks he has set up his first Yahoo Grupo about Tlaxcal which you can check out at — 

 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TlaxcalaTourism/

Of course, it may be even “hotter” by then, so we thought escaping to Tlaxcala at 7,200 feet may be offer some relief.  If not, I suppose we could just go higher 😉 Regardless, we will return to Oaxaca City by late May because we will need to fly back to Chicago, USA, in order to re-unite with our family and spend some of the summer traveling in the western USA. 

Our travels would not be complete, however, without spending some time on the southern Pacific coast in Huatulco, near Santa Cruz.  We have been visiting Huatulco since 1998 enjoy its small town, laid back atmosphere.  We hope to spend some time visiting with Roberto and Pauline of Hurricane Divers.  Roberto also recently launched at new Yahoo Grupo website at —

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hurricanedivers/

You might want to check out all of his newly posted underwater videos. 

You can follow us in our travels by checking us out at —

http://www.genuine-tourist.com  

because it will direct you to websites that we are posting on during our travels.  Yes, sometimes it will take you to Xalapa (Jalapa) or Veracruz or Oaxaca City or Tlaxcala or Puebla or Huatulco . . . just try it and see, after January 29th.  Look for messages and photos posted by “Silversard” or “MsSardo.”

Opportunity in Oaxaca, Mexico

(click on to see and hear 4.35 minute video)

Good Morning Blog Readers,

We have visited Oaxaca City several times and hope to live in the area in the near future.  This Blog is an attempt to feature some of the wonderful features of the Oaxaca City area and the state of Oaxaca in general.  While the area has been in turmoil (and likely with much justification), it is in dire need of the support of “genuine tourists” if such tourists can find ways for their pesos to reach the ordinary citizens of the state. 

The attached U-Tube video has nice music but is not narrated.  Nevertheless, you can “hear” the words from the faces of the people that they need and appreciate genuine opportunities to support themselves. 

Stephen — Genuine Tourist.com