Tag Archives: Malia Obama

I am going to posit a guess that Malia Obama was in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca today with her classmates.  It was three o’clock in the afternoon and Pedro Montaño Lorenzo and I were on our way out-of-town heading to Matatlan in search of El Cortijo mezcal.  Pedro had just asked me if I thought Malia would visit Teotitlan.  It wasn’t on her itinerary, I said.  No, I don’t think so.  Just then, we passed a house where I saw a lot of activity — much more than usual.

It had to have been the U.S. Secret Service entourage I saw parked in front the house of weavers Victor and Rafaela today.  Why else would there be thirty vehicles in front of a small weaving house?  Why else would there be Mexican Federal Police cars parked beside them?  Why else would there be a truckload of armed military men of the Army of Mexico parked at the Crucero — where the road to Teotitlan connects to the Pan-American Highway?  There were probably four or five Federales cars roaming the road, too.  And, I couldn’t take a photo or I might have been thrown in jail!  And, I wanted to turn around and go back to say, “Hi, welcome to Oaxaca.”  But, I knew they wouldn’t take to kindly on that!

I turned my head to look at the doorway of the house, which was packed with people.  Yep, I thought.  Malia Obama made it to Teotitlan del Valle. She will know about the centuries old tradition of tapestry loom weaving that makes this village so special.