You know, it stuns me how diverse this place can be. Oaxaca is the third poorest and most impoverished state in all of Mexico. The people are so generous and money seems to really matter as much as the dust on my Bible. the food is quite interesting, although Coca-Cola remains the staple drink and cheese with meat is considered the staple food. In a crowd of Oaxacans, I can see over everyone. The average native height is anywhere between 4' 5"-5'4". I get stares and weird looks, and when I walk through the Zocalo, it gets to the point where everyone looks at me for a minimum of twenty seconds.
The majority of the time, it's girls. I can never tell how old any of the people are, particularly the women and girls. The girls are beautiful, and the diversity of faces and statures, heights and gaits, and everything in between is amazing. The tradition is that when one meets anyone else, you kiss their cheek(s) and shake their hand. The first time I was in this position, the girl had been staring at me for a grand total of five minutes. Rather embarassed, for I was glancing at her likewise, we communicated in an odd language composed of English and Spanish. She was stunning as well, which only added to the embarassment. But after a while, it becomes a passing care, and I don't notice much at all. One other thing: the girls are such flirts. And I mean flirting at a ridiculous level like they want to crush you or something. I'm fine with it, but in a city where on every corner and in every nook some couple is making out, it becomes agitating in a way. Now that I think about it, people are standoffish in Portland, or in the States for that matter. I would live here save that the financial and economic system is more messed up than ours.
No censorship in Oaxaca. Porn and sex all over the place. Today, in the Mercado de Benito Juarez, there was a full on vendor selling pornographic and sex videos, along with an assortment of...objects...and, after all, it was smack against a vendor selling mangoes and guanabanas. The newspaper keeps the people in a subconcious fear, where pictures of bloody murder victims and a 16-year old girl with a noose around her neck and blood on the wall. Kids just take it all in, with no regards. Odd, but it's the society, apparently. Seems the strip clubs are not in the best of places---nextdoor to a coffeeshop.
Thank you, Oaxaca! It's been fantastic! Adios, amigos.