Monthly Archives: October 2012

Oaxaca Healthcare: Free for the People

From personal experience I can tell you that tapping into the public health care system is low cost and easy if you are living or visiting in Oaxaca. This morning I presented myself at the Centro de Salud in Teotitlan del Valle with symptoms that I had pretty much determined via internet research were the cause of shingles.  I am not going to share photos with you!  And, this is not what I had intended to write about today, but here goes!

The clinic is a clean and modern building staffed with nurses and medical specialists, including gynecologists, pediatricians, psychologists, dentists, and social workers.

I took a seat along with about 15 people — men, women, children, babies — to wait our turn.  After the nurse in charge of intake took my name and age, she weighed me and measured my height.   The total wait before I saw the doctor was 40 minutes, about the same amount of time I can wait for an appointment in the U.S. that I have made months in advance.

After the diagnosis was confirmed, the doctor prescribed the necessary anti-viral and pain medications, which the on-site pharmacy dispensed immediately.  When I asked, the doctor said what I had was familiar here, too.  The medicine and office visit is free for local people.  For people who don’t live in the pueblo, the suggested donation is 20 pesos (that’s less than $2 USD).   I put 100 pesos (that’s about $8 USD) in the donation box.

My ailment will be treated over the course of five or six days.  I feel so much better now that I have pastillas (pills) in my system.  The doctor asked that I follow-up with him in six days to make sure I’m healing well.

Meanwhile, I suggest, if you are older than age 50 and  haven’t done so,  to get a shingles vaccination.

P.S. This summer physician assistant and nursing students from Methodist University in Fayetteville, NC, will do an externship here, learning how the Mexican healthcare system works. I organize this through the program leaders at the university, helping the students secure lodging and getting approvals for them to work in the clinic.  Today gave me a chance to see how the system works from the inside!  It’s very good.

 

Oaxaca Meanderings: The Mundane and the Beautiful

From Mexico City it’s a six-hour ADO bus ride (and four movies) to Oaxaca.  The contrast between the two cities, one a megalopolis, the other a calmer haven of color and clear skies, is dramatic. My favorite Oaxaca touchstone is the “behind the scenes” view of Santo Domingo Church from the corner of Av. 5 de Mayo and Abasolo, and the cantera stones in shades of green, pink and brown cut from the rock beneath Oaxaca’s surface.  I could feel my heart rate plunge upon re-entry.  Deep breath.  I am home, again.

 

I feel reassurance that I am where I belong by retracing a path along my favorite routes, from 5 de Mayo, across Abasolo, turn left down pedestrian Macedeonio Alcala, toward the Zocalo.  The stroll is soothing. Here I take a seat and watch the people, a favorite past-time.

      

After Rosie prepared an omelet breakfast stuffed with smashed plantains at El Diablo y la Sandia, I took a walk along Murguia toward the historic center. I noticed this banana tree with a cluster of yet-to-ripen fruit dangling, tribute to Oaxaca’s tropical climate.  At the corner of Benito Juarez was a new mural, just in time for Dia de los Muertos.  Just beyond, a woman balancing a full basket on her head.  How does she do it without dropping anything?

On this day Trique people, families and representatives from the Mixteca Baja, gathered in solidarity to advocate for human rights, better education and health care, and improved government services to bring them out of poverty.  Public assembly is part of Mexican culture and political history, a tradition of public and peaceful expression of yearnings for a better way of life.

 

By the end of the day, the Triqui demonstrators climbed into the back of pick-up trucks and headed home.  Collectivos were packed with workers returning to their villages, one even taking the last spot on the rear bumper.

 

Street vendors still had a few more things to sell, however. And the street cleaner took time out to make an important phone call, I’m sure.

 

Today, I’m in Teotitlan del Valle for a few days before returning to the city to start our Day of the Dead Photography Expedition.  The sun is filtering into the cool, shaded patio. I am surrounded by the sounds of ranchera music, the beat of looms, and hanging wool that has just been dyed with wild marigold.  All is well with the world.

 

Climbing Teotihuacan: Mesoamerica’s Largest City

Teotihuacan, the city where people come from the Gods, was named by the Aztecs during their search for the sacred place where they would spot an eagle holding a snake in its beak.  It was here they found it.

The Aztecs discovered a perfect abandoned site.  The earlier builders of the pyramids created the volume, size and shape that would complement the Aztec’s world view, with structures that mirrored the surrounding mountains. There was a sophisticated draining system, spring water for drinking and an urban design based on the orientation of the moon, sun and stars.  Because of its location and the orientation of the city aligned along the cardinal points fundamental to Aztec belief, they settled here and built the largest city in Mesoamerica.

n

 

Teotihuacan is an impressive monument to social, political, and religious  organization.  The people lived in neighborhoods organized according to their skills or craft activities: preparation of agave for pulque and papermaking, corn for tortillas, obsidian for knives and weapons, chocolatl (chocolate), weaving, pottery, etc.  Each neighborhood had its own god and political/social leader.

 

Diego Rivera captures this in his murals that adorn the Palacio Nacional.  One gets a vivid picture of what pre-conquest life was like through his eyes.

 

The red-bearded Hernan Cortes brought with him dogs, guns, germs and a will to conquer, subdue and convert the local peoples.  Rivera also captures this vividly in his murals.  A social and political activist, Diego Rivera was a visual voice for the working poor of Mexico throughout his life.

I wasn’t the only one to climb the pyramids.

The Pyramid of the Moon is 65 meters high, and YES, I managed to climb it to the top.  Though, I must confess, my legs were really sore the day after!  The views were magnificent and I could see that the surrounding valley and city could easily accommodate 200,000 people, the number that archeologists say lived here at Teotihuacan’s zenith.  Today, the valley is only ten percent of what it was under the sacred mountain.

Then, back to Mexico, D.F., where the new temples to commerce and 21st century life remind us that civilization is forever fluid and changing.

And, come with us starting January 16 for a one-week Street Photography workshop in Oaxaca.  Capture the ordinary to become the extraordinary.

The Virgin of Guadalupe: Goddess of the People

The Virgin of Guadalupe, the embodiment of the Virgin Mary, appeared to an indigenous Mexican ten years after the conquest in 1531.  Juan Diego, his baptized name, told the bishop that the Virgin asked that a temple be built in her honor.  The  bishop asked for a sign of proof and Juan Diego returned with roses, until then unknown in Mexico, and his cloak transformed into the image we know today.  The cloth below is believed to be Juan Diego’s cloak.

During our too brief stop at the Basilica of Guadalupe (more than an hour is needed to do the site justice), I was struck by how The Virgin of Guadalupe is really the People’s Goddess.  We were here on a pilgrimage day.  Indigenous people in native dress came from all parts of Mexico and gathered in the new basilica.  Those that didn’t fit spilled out onto the huge plaza that can accommodate 50,000 people.   They carried baby Jesus figures to be blessed by the priest in preparation for Christmas.  They held images of the Virgin, wore flowered hats, carried standards and placards, sat quietly in spiritual reflection embracing the crucifix.

The Aztecs venerated Mother Earth, known as Tonantzin or Xochiquetzal.  This basilica is built atop an Aztec temple to honor Mother Earth.  The Virgin of Guadalupe is considered to be the first Mexican symbol that syncretized the Aztec and Catholic religious systems.

In 1531, the Spanish Inquisition was raging in Mexico.  Those who did not embrace the new religion were in peril of losing their lives.  By accepting the Virgin of Guadalupe, which successfully blends the Virgin Mary with Mother Earth, indigenous people ensured that they could embrace Catholicism without sacrificing their native traditions and practices.  Perhaps Juan Diego was an insightful philosopher who understood what needed to be done for cultural preservation.  Today Guadalupanismo has become a faith that many consider to be stronger than the Catholic church in Mexico.

 

The armies of Miguel Hidalgo took the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe for the Mexican indigenous peasants to embrace with the cry for independence.

The portrait of the Virgin of Guadalupe is rife with symbolism.  She wears a cloak that evokes the moon, the symbol of fertility, and includes a flower with four petals on her belly that represent the four cardinal points.  The folds of the cloak show she is pregnant.  Other symbols in the painting incorporate ancient pre-Hispanic traditions which you can read about by clicking the link above.

The Basilica is the second most visited Catholic site outside the Vatican.  Over seven million people visit during Christmas week.  I wish I had more time there  to experience the prayerful reverence of the people.  Next time!

  

You may know that Mexico City is sinking.  It is built atop landfill that covers a lake bed.  The 1706 Basilica is sinking and leaning, though it is undergoing reclamation.  The new Basilica, built in 1976, is supposedly sink-proof!

 

Come with us on a Street Photography adventure in January 2013.

Last Battle of the Aztecs and Homage to the Martyrs: Tlatelolco, Mexico City

Tlatelolco is about ten minutes from the historic center of Mexico City and centuries apart.  Discovered in 1948, it is the largest archeological site within Mexico City and a must stop if you want to know more about the birth of Mexico, her history and traditions.  It was our first stop on an all-day small group excursion I took with Amigos Tours (which was excellent).  Our ultimate destination was Teotihuacan, with a stop on the way at the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe.  I’ll write more about that, but for now, a very brief, big brush stroke of Aztec history and the Spanish conquest as told by our knowledgeable guide Alejandro.

The site has been populated since 2,500 B.C.  The Aztecs settled Tlatelolco in 1325, coming down from the north (some anthropologists believe they originated in what is now California, Nevada or New Mexico).  According to prophecy, they wandered in search of a sacred site to establish a great empire.  They would know it when they saw an eagle in flight with a snake in it’s mouth.  The prophecy was realized and the symbol later became Mexico’s identity (along with the Virgin of Guadalupe!)

Here, they built a major city on a floating island surrounded by lakes.  The island was connected by wide causeways oriented to the four cardinal points.  Today, Xochimilco is the city’s only remains of island agriculture.  (The decision was made to start draining the lakes in the 17th century.  Modern Mexico City sits atop this landfill, prone to flooding, poor drainage and mosquitos.)   Temples were built on this holy ground, one on top of another every 52 years to mark a political transition, forming a pyramid. The city’s major market was here, too.

When the Spanish arrived soon after landing in Veracruz in 1521, they marveled at the engineering, the magnificent structures, and wrote back to Spain that this was a city that rivaled Venice.  The Spanish set out to conquer the Aztecs, but lost the first battles, outnumbered 1,000 to 50,000.  Victory was only possible by forming alliances with the indigenous enemies of the Aztecs.

The monument at Tlatelolco speaks to the last heroic defense by Cuahtemoc against Hernan Cortes in 1523.  To justify the conquest in the name of the new religion, Cortes ordered the destruction of the temples and used the volcanic rocks to build the first church in Mexico City here, Santiago de Tlatelolco.  It is a haunting space, reminiscent to me of the interior of Rome’s Pantheon, austere, dark, mysterious, cavernous, raw, unadorned.

It also speaks to the painful birth of the Mestizo people that is Mexico today.  Mestizo refers to that blend of Spanish, Native American, Asian and African heritage shared by most Mexicans today.  (I recently finished reading  Charles Mann’s 1493 and highly recommend it as an insight to global economics post-Cristobal Colon.)

The term Mestizo does not include Mexico’s 15% indigenous peoples who still are struggling to attain the rights of the majority:  access to quality education and health care, and economic opportunity.  About 64 indigenous languages are still spoken in Mexico today, making it one of the richest and and most varied cultures in the world.

 The site is infamous for the Tlatlalco Massacre. In 1968, just before the start of the Olympic Games, peaceful demonstrators gathered here to protest as students were protesting around the world.  The government sent in police and snipers in order to preserve an image to the world of an orderly city ready to host the Olympics.  At the end of the day on October 2, the official count was 44 dead.  However, about 700 people were missing and still have not been accounted for.  A monument at the site pays tribute to their memory and the horror that happened here.  Permanent graffiti on the church door reminds us that the church failed to provide sanctuary with a lockout.

When I settled on making Oaxaca my home seven years ago, I also realized that to know and love Oaxaca is to also know and love Mexico.  That is why I write about this, too.