As is generally the case, I got very little sleep on the red eye out. We took the usual route (Las Vegas to Mexico City to Oaxaca). There was a little bit larger of a chance of having issues as the teachers had set up roadblocks (including blocking the airport). However, in our travels, we did not encounter any roadblocks. The word from Dave was that he thought the teachers wouldn't dare try to shut down the city too close to Guelaguetza because it would cause them to lose all public support.
We learned a bit more about the dispute between the teachers and the government. In the past, the teachers were paid directly through the union, and the union got that money from the government. This led to a situation where a few people in the union were paid huge salaries and the bulk of the others were paid much less. So at least at that level, it seems like classic corruption. As part of the reform, the government now pays the teachers directly. This allows the government to set up and enforce rules such as "If you miss three days of work in a row, you're fired." The union complained that this was designed to keep them from protesting, to which I think everyone just stared blankly at them and said "duh."
I'm getting ahead of myself time-wise, but it seems like the local perspective is that the international media has overblown the situation quite a bit. We were on the bus at the end of our trip to visit Ocotlan, and a man on the bus had a brother that lived in San Diego, but that brother wouldn't visit because he felt it was unsafe. You could also get a sense of which side various media outlets were on by how they reported on things. For example, some of the hotels shut down some of their rooms due to the protests. But their reason for shutting down the rooms had more to do with the fact that there were no visitors, not because the businesses were actually closed for business. It's just interesting to see how the framing of a situation dramatically impacts your understanding of it.
We went straight to the ranch this year instead of going to Casa Arnel. That first morning, we had our planning meeting. The theme of the camp was "Radical Faith" and was primarily focused on drawing a contrast between a rule-following religion (which many of the churches in the area promote) and instead focused on pursuing living like Jesus (driven by care and compassion). The team this year included a group from Dayton, NV plus one person from Oregon. The Dayton group had trouble with their flights because they ordered from a third party (Expedia or something like that), and they changed the flights around without informing them. So they all came in at different times. Here's a team photo:
After the meeting, we worked on getting ourselves set up, which included a trip to the Walmart. After spending much of the day working, we went out to get nieves (ice cream) after dinner. I had been to that place the previous year, and the only thing I remembered was the crema de mezcal. I asked Dave to pick a second flavor that would be interesting, and he ordered the mango con chile. At the time, it tasted familiar, like a candy I had. Now that I have access to my notes, it's amusing that last year, I had the exact same two flavors. So maybe I was remembering more than just the candy. I'll have to remember to try something different next time.
I went to bed fairly early that first night and got 10-11 hours of sleep (which resulted in being up at around 6:30 AM). I think every year, I've gotten a fair number of bug bites. I think they just like how I taste. But that's something I'm willing to accept because bug spray makes me feel really icky. I got quite a few bites over the course of the week, but I wasn't *that* bit up. There were a couple on my neck, several on my arms, and a few on my legs and feet.
The next morning, the first group of kids arrived at around 8 AM that morning. There was one group that left at 1 AM the night before and drove overnight to get to the camp. Part of this was to allow the kids to sleep on the drive, but there was also the thought of making sure they avoided the roadblocks that the teachers were setting up. The roadblocks were not like permanent structures. Just people who went out to a place and disrupted traffic. So that meant that at night, the roadblocks disappeared as the teachers went home or wherever to sleep.
That morning, I saw one of the posters that was made to promote the camp. It listed the cost of the camp as 50 pesos. The exchange rate is roughly 18 pesos = $1 US. This meant that the cost of the camp is less than $3 per kid. This is interesting for a couple reasons. The first is that the actual cost of camp for a child is about $100 per kid. The second is that $3 per kid was a bit of a stretch for some of the families, and that listing the price might have had a negative impact on the camp attendance. It's very strange to think of $3 as being a stretch, which I guess serves to show yet another example of invisible privilege.
As the kids arrived throughout the day, we continued prepping things. We got the microscope station set up, we gathered some water samples in search of microorganisms, we set up the petri dishes and swabbed a few items (it took two tries because the first batch didn't set -- we really have no idea what happened with that), we set up the incubation chamber (there was a fridge on its side in the corner of the room, and so we used the freezer section with a heating pad -- see the picture below), and we tested the water rockets.
During that afternoon, Dave and I found a small mouse that was alive and hanging out near one of the walls. We weren't really sure what the Mexican way of handling that was. Do you just let it be? Do you take it out somewhere? Do you kill it? We got the answer from one of the men that was there to do some plumbing work. Apparently, you just step on them. Not like you're squashing a bug (where the intent is to literally flatten it), but squash it to kill it by compression and potentially bone-breakage. Kind of like what a mouse trap would do, except with your foot. It was certainly very different from the American way of dealing with a mouse.
That evening was the start of the program. The kids played some games and did some crafts during the afternoon and evening, and a few of them ventured over to start to look at some of the science stuff that we were putting together. By the end of that first night, we had teams with banners and chants.
The next day, we were in the flow of camp. There was a morning worship and teaching session, followed by rotations through sports, crafts, and science, followed by free time, and then more teaching and more games. The science session for that day was the fire session. We talked about the fire triangle and talked about different colors of fire based on oxygen availability (yellow flames are not as hot as blue flames because of incomplete or inefficient combustion). We also did cornstarch fireballs, and Dave got a really nice slow-motion capture of one of them.
That tweet was rather interesting because it caught the attention of some folks and started Dave down an interesting path that we're going to have to follow to see where it leads us over the next year. Basically, the question has become whether it would be possible to expand the science into some of the other areas of Oaxaca. Science exposure is very limited in the schools, and becomes even more limited as you get further away from the city and more into the rural indigenous communities. So the idea in play right now is to figure out how to build a science discovery and inspiration center. I have no idea where that one is going to go, but I'm definitely on board with the follow-up efforts and we'll just have to see what happens.
On the second full day, the topic was microbiology. Not being a biologist, I was certainly out of my element here. We had made up a bunch of petri dishes, swabbed them with stuff, and left them in the DIY incubation chamber. But we also had some leftover agar, so we filled up some plastic containers with it and just left them open to catch whatever wild bacteria there happened to be. But I also swabbed down a couple of them with antibacterial soap, which successfully prevented any bacterial colonies from forming (if they did form, I'd be very suspicious of the soap). Here's a picture of Mike showing off our experiment for the camera.
Along with the petri dishes, we also had the microorganisms and a microscope we set up to look at the eye of a mosquito or a fly. It wasn't a dissection microscope, so we had to manually light up the bug from above with a flashlight, but it worked. The basic goal was to get them to see detail in something that's familiar but at a level that's unfamiliar. They all know about flies and mosquitoes, but they've probably never seen the compound eye structure before. (Actually, I had not seen it in person, though I've seen many pictures of it.)
During the afternoon, we pulled out the slingshot and shot water balloons for a while. At first, they were shooting at stationary targets, but then someone got the idea of trying to catch the water balloons in a sheet (if done correctly, we were able to cradle the balloon and catch it without breaking it) as well as a garbage can (a direct hit actually blew out the bottom of the garbage can). I was out in the field playing catch, and those balloons came in hard and fast. Even if it only landed near you, there was still a threat of shrapnel in the form of dirt and rocks being kicked up by the impact. Dave took the opportunity to make a promotional video while this was going on. Just as a quick humorous aside, some of the kids were too small, so that when the launcher was fully stretched out they could not maintain the tension and were physically lifted off the ground.
That evening, we had a campfire that turned into science time as well. I had expecting to do the can crush trick (heat an aluminum can with some water in it, and then put it in cold water and it crushes itself) and to launch a few sky lanterns, but someone had the idea of doing the corn starch fireball again, but this time in the campfire. This is something that US adults probably would have tried to stop, but not in Mexico. So here's a picture of me sticking my head in the firepit to create fireballs. I like this picture because the fire has a phoenix-like character to it.
The last day was a great little wrap-up time. We played around a little bit more, making some ooblek and making some more observations of creatures. By this point, several of the kids had started capturing bugs and putting them in petri dishes and other containers. This allowed us to look at them with the magnifying glasses. The goal of that was just exploration, so all we wanted them to do was be curious and look at things.
After lunch, camp cleared out and we were able to do some clean-up. That evening was also the first time we had some rain. But it was serious rain. It came down hard for at least a couple hours, trapping us in the main room. During that time, it was just the guys. We had a very long and very interesting conversation that ran from attitudes about race to gun control, driving habits, politics, and law enforcement. I don't think we all agreed, but it was a rare instance where the conversation was completely honest while not necessarily agreeing on everything and not getting heated. We just talked and listened, and it was good.
The next day was my last full day in Oaxaca. We went to Ocotlan, which is a town that's to the south of Oaxaca City. This was my first time in this particular city. The market they had was very expansive. I think we only walked through a small portion of it. Just a few notes about what happened there. I had some sort of "face" meat tlayuda. I don't really know what it was that I ordered, but as best as I could tell one of the words used was face. I don't know what it was, but I know it was tasty. I also bought a pastry from a random vendor that was walking around. It had a custard filling that reminded me a lot of the Chinese egg custard (don tot). But it was folded over more like an empanada. And I bought a machete for something like $12. It's a farmer's machete, so there's no decoration on it and the handle feels like it's made from an old tire. I wanted to get one like this because I actually want to learn how to sharpen a large blade like that, and I didn't want to mess up a nice tool. So I got something that is expected to take a beating. And if I really screw it up, I'm only out $12.
An interesting feature of the market was that people were buying and selling live turkeys. The turkey feet were tied together (and the turkeys didn't appear to fight it), so they just kid of laid there. They were still enough that there was a woman who had three turkeys on her head and was able to just walk through the market as if it was nothing. There was also a really creepy-looking Woody ride (Woody from Toy Story). This was the sort of thing you might find in front of a store where you drop in a quarter and it moves back and forth for a couple minutes. I didn't take a picture, but it just looked creepy.
It was on the bus ride back that the conversation was had that provided some insight into the local perspective of the dispute between the teacher union and the government. I wasn't actually a part of the conversation, so I only overheard bits and pieces plus a little extra information from listening to the retelling of the conversation later.
Back at the ranch, dinner was the carnazo (meat fest). I ate a lot of food, and it was all tasty. One thing that was served is a green spaghetti. I think I mentioned it after the very first trip as something that was very tasty, and it was still very tasty. I googled "Oaxacan green spaghetti" and found a recipe that might be similar to what I had. I'll just have to make it sometime and see how it tastes. Beyond that, it was pretty much the usual stuff for the carnazo: chorizo, white (rabbit) chorizo, beef, beans, tortillas, grilled pineapple, and a few other things.
The next morning, a couple people from Dave's church arrived for the upcoming week. They came in on the red-eye flight, so they were probably working with 1-2 hours of sleep, just like how we started our week. That morning was totally uneventful, and it was spent cleaning up and packing. We left a table of science stuff to for the kids, including the magnifying glasses and some of the various captured critters. The lab coats were also left behind for future usage.
Dave wanted to try to get the rest of the crew out to the city early, so he dropped us off at the airport a bit further in advance than necessary. On the drive over, we talked a bit more about the issues that the churches are facing in San Baltazar. Apparently, there was a church split over differences in the views of leadership. It sounded like it came down to an "old way vs. new way" of seeing the role of the church. The old way was very much about preaching your hardest on Sunday mornings, whereas the new way is much more about being involved in the community. The new way wanted to try to sponsor a basketball tournament (basketball is bigger than soccer in Oaxaca), but the old way doesn't see the value in supporting something like that. The division is not good, and there's a lot of unnecessary relational harm done as a result of people picking sides. I guess it goes to show that conflict and disagreement are all just part of the human experience, no matter where you are.
The flight back home was uneventful. We had some sandwiches in Mexico City for dinner. On the leg from Mexico City to Las Vegas, I watched X-Men Days of Future Past and accidentally ordered a tomato juice when I wanted apple juice. I'm just going to assume the airplane noise messed that one up.
Miscellaneous other things about the trip:
- There was a frog that whistled the first couple nights. We all thought it was a bird until someone found a 2-inch frog by the door.
- Carl had very interesting cop stories that he shared.
- Hacky sack was surprisingly popular, especially when you were forced to do pushups for touching it with your hands.
- I didn't get to dissect any worms, nor did I dissect the turkey heart. That's a little disappointing.
- I think I need to revive the art of the sandwich in my culinary universe.
- One of the girls had a shirt that read "Bonjour Love Story" and had a picture of Big Ben on it. I found this to be very confusing.
