Wha-ha-ka

When Charlotte and I got back to Oaxaca, we had just a day to taste what the city has to offer - namely chocolate, molé, mezcal, and grasshoppers. We concentrated on the chocolate instead of the bugs this time.

Most of what Oaxaca has to offer right now is a lot of civil unrest. We happened to show up in a relatively calm period between clashes with the police and takeovers of local media outlets. Oaxaca's teachers went on strike for higher wages back in June and took over the main square in town - not an altogether uncommon ocurrence this year, it seems. The governor's big mistake was trying to oust them from their perch in the middle of July - all of a sudden the teachers because the cause celebre for all the anarchists, communists, hippies, socialists and disenfranchised in the vicinity. There's grafitti everywhere, the municipal building is blockaded, and there's lots of tents.

Protesters' temporary homes

But, most everywhere else life was normal. People stepped around the remnants of late-night bonfires on their way to work. Shops sold beautiful artesanía and posted signs in their windows asking for the downtown to be beautiful again. Buses got through the street blockades by going straight over a hill. We marveled at the gilded interior of the Santo Domingo church. For tourists and Mexicans alike, mass protest seems to be something you take standing up.