Good Bye 2007

The Oaxacans know how to say good bye. In all things celebratory, they outstrip Americans by about 10 to 1...if you can measure such a thing as the spirit of celebration.

Here, you see an old stuffed man. He currently resides on our neighbor’s roof. This character symbolizes 2007 and tomorrow night he will be set aflame and destroyed…and if we know anything about Oaxacans, it’s that they love shooting off fireworks, so most likely a few firecrackers will be put in his beard…and a bottle rocket or two stuck in his pant legs.

Hello 2008 and a Prospero Año Nuevo to you all.

Warm Days and Lots of Play

Abraham's new chess set from Mitla artisan's market. Abby and Shaina getting some morning cuddle time and Joey exhausted after trying to keep up all day with the cousins. He fell asleep tonight on two beanbags.

The Christmas Parade

Roxy's birthday dinner and the Christmas parade we stumbled upon. Kids dressed up as the holy family and angels and shepherds, puppets twirling and countless Oaxacans celebrating on the square. Christmas is a wild affair in the centro. No snow, but plenty of joy.

Cousins Visit

Neuwirth cousins visit from Denver. First photo...kids are catching grasshoppers at Monte Alban...the beautiful Zapotec ruins above town. There is not limit to the kids' creativity and energy. They love being together, can you tell? Here they are on a bus to the centro. Nothing so exciting as a bus ride together. After the tour of the main plaza in town, we enjoyed an art class with Abby's art instructor. We've also been visiting Tulle, the village that brags the largest and oldest tree in the world, played soccer, baseball, gone to an art auction (bought nothing this time) and eaten some delicious Oaxacan food together. We miss you, Grandma and Grandpa, but we're having a lot of fun!

Folk Remedies and Advice From a Pilates Instructor

If you've spent time among the locals in Mexico and especially if you've become ill while here, you know how various folk remedies flow from a Mexican's lips in an attempt to help or cure you.


Recently, our good friend, Daniel told us the key to staying healthy in Oaxaca. It involves imbibing a blended drink of red onion, lemon and honey. Daniel's wife, Marisol is the one who had a baby in October (their 3rd). For the health of the baby and mother, she was to stay home for 40 days following the birth. Her mother came to assist her during that time and though she is a modern working woman, and had grown incredibly bored by 20th day or so, she stayed home all 40 days.

However, Jason and I were taken aback when our pilates instructor (by the way, we love our pilates class and our instructor, Judy--pronounced WHOODEE) lectured us on the dangers of bathing in hot water (warm water is acceptable, but not hot). Apparently, from what she told us, hot water turns your skin and muscles prematurely flabby. She went on for a while, even giving us the example that she had seen 18-year-olds with flabby legs and rear ends.

On each occasion, she had asked the young woman. “Do you bathe in extra hot water?” and each time, the woman had said, “Yes…I do."


What a relief. Flabbiness has nothing to do with aging, eating too much or living a sedentary life…but watch out for hot water! We thought you should be warned.


Photo: The kids had the day off school, so we did our own pilates class on the roof of our house. This was a couple of weeks ago...winter in Oaxaca.

Thursday Market

One of the fantastic pleasures of living in Oaxaca is descending on the markets that are held daily throughout the city and in the surrounding pueblos. While Bruce was visiting we went to the “famous” (because it will often be featured in travel books) Zaachila Thursday market. We rented a car, drove across town and down a winding road in a low-lying farm area. We emerged in Zaachila. At first, the town appeared empty, but we followed the red and white motorcycle taxis and found life in the centro. In front of the 300-year-old Catholic Cathedral, awnings and tables and blankets and booths spread out as far as the eye could see and everyone in town, it seems, was at the market. The market in Zaachila ought to be filmed…its colors strike you immediately as well as the smells. Meats, poultry, fruits, vegetables, grains, beans (including raw cacao…pictured here…mole paste is in the background in the stainless steal bowl, bought by the kilo, you add chicken broth and…Voila!..instant gourmet mole!) breads, flowers, cloth, wares of all types are sold at a price that would be hard for Super Walmart to beat. We bought 2 kilos of fresh strawberries (a luxury item for us) at 20 pesos (about 2 dollars) and five delicious avocados among a few other necessary items.

The most unexpected sight for me, was the presence of numerous elderly Zapotec ladies holding their live, fattened turkeys at key intersections within the market. The women had tied their birds' feet and were holding them upside-down. The turkeys stayed remarkably calm despite the crowds and looked around their surroundings with seeming disinterest. A friend said that roasted turkey is a common holiday meat. No frozen turkey here, just the one that you buy at market, keep in your yard until the morning of the big feast and then…well, the meat is fresh and you didn’t have to waste any freezer of refrigerator space.

Steroids and Baseball…

By the posting of this entry, even those of you who are not baseball fans have heard about or read something of George Mitchell’s report on steroid use in baseball. For me, the most startling find had to do with performance enhancing drug use among youth.

In the report, Mitchell cites surveys that show 3 to 6 percent of adolescents have used performance-enhancing drugs, which translates into hundreds of thousands of children.

"Every American, not just baseball fans, ought to be shocked into action by that disturbing truth," he said.

I would hope so!

And it’s not just a male issue. Recently Marion Jones’—also tied in with BALCO, Barry Bonds’ notorious supplier—pleaded guilty to lying to the feds, when she denied using performance-enhancing drugs. She made an apology outside the U.S. District Court.

“It’s with a great amount of shame that I stand before you and tell you that I have betrayed your trust. I have been dishonest and you have the right to be angry with me. I have let my family down. I have let my country down, and I have let myself down. I recognize that by saying I’m deeply sorry, it might not be enough and sufficient to address the pain and hurt that I’ve caused you.

Therefore, I want to ask for your forgiveness for my actions, and I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.”

Throughout her comments, Marion was clearly emotional. Her mother stood behind her the entire time, a supportive hand on her shoulder. Marion Jones also returned her Olympic medals. Though lying to the feds might land her in jail, I appreciate her public comments. It took a lot of courage to say those words.

So now I try to imagine Bonds or Clemens making a Marion Jones style apology, their families gently urging them on in the truth-telling and then the topper...the giving up of their awards and lauds. For this fiction writer, that’s a scene I cannot imagine.