Visit to a family SE of Oaxaca

Friday started as a typical work day except that Claire was still suffering the after effects of a migraine headache. Our regular routine in the morning commenced: we walked to INSO, stopped to visit the “Mango Lady” and buy some freshly cut mango, pineapple, watermelon.

Then we set up shop in the lower patio with a fresh cup of coffee brewed by the building maintenance woman. We found a homeopathic doctor for Claire to see on Monday in case she is still not on the up and up.

At noon, we closed up shop in order to early catch a cab out to see a family South East of town, in a small community. Prior to leaving, I (Rick) met Noel and Luis who are doing construction and maintenance in Seattle on a friend’s house. They are from the district of Santa Maria Atzompa (near Mt Alban Wikipedia). At my offer to take a package to Oaxaca and deliver it to their family, Luis and Noel eagerly handed me a box of toys and photos. This particular Friday afternoon we were invited to deliver these presents and join the family for lunch. We caught a cab from our home stay towards the community taxi station. The taxi driver said he would drive us out to Santa Maria for $200 pesos, and we refused, and told him to take us to the community taxi station. He then lowered the price to $100 pesos and we agreed. The typical fair to get across town is about $45-50 pesos and then 10-15 per person in the community taxis. We arrived in Santa Maria to find that there were four streets with the same name. We decided asking for people, over street names, worked better in this tiny pueblo, and soon, and we found Maria’s house.

Maria ran up the steep dirt path with four houses on it (all her family) and waved enthusiastically; at 67 years old, her tired face still boasts a beautiful, big smile. The small stream just below their house is used to collect fresh water, via 1.5” plastic sprinkler pipe.











We knew this would be a special day for us and Maria, as she had not seen her sons in over 10 months, and Luis had not yet seen his 8-month-old daughter.

When we arrived, Maria broke into tears as we introduced ourselves. She was overjoyed to find that both Claire and Susan spoke Spanish. Maria talked to Claire and Susan during most of the visit, explaining that she makes and sells tortillas for the locals in her village. She prepared a great lunch of chicken (probably one of theirs), rice and homemade mole, and of course great tortillas. There was a gaggle of kids that were way too cute and very dressed up for the visit. As you might expect, they were super shy at first, but soon they were vying to get in front of the constantly running video cameras. After lunch we went up the road to her daughter’s small eatery. Like most Latin American social visits, this one went on for many hours and at some level they expected us to stay for dinner and spend the night. However, after 4 hours or so we decided it was time to go back to the city. Maria told us about which taxis to catch so we wouldn’t be overcharged. Then she walked us back up to the road and flagged down two taxis. To our amazement, she piled in with us to be certain we would arrive safely. The taxi let us off in front of the HUGE vegetable market on the SE side of town near the city bus station. Maria then walked us through the market to the bus station and made certain we got on the correct bus. We tried to give her a return taxi fair but she refused. We arrived back home exhausted from the intensely emotional day.

Meeting with Guadalupe Etla & Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla

Meeting with: Presidente Municipal, Guadalupe Etla

Antonio from UABJO picked us up in the huge University van (Erik was tied up in a meeting and could not attend) to drive us to our first meeting with C.P. Justino Matadmas Jimenez, the Presidente Municipal of Guadalupe Etla. Antonio guided the van as skillfully as a VW bug through the Oaxaca traffic to Guadalupe Etla, about 15 Km North West of Oaxaca City.
Arriving early for our 6pm meeting, we hung out in the plaza where the rides from the weekend’s fiesta were being dismantled. The officials of these smaller municipalities typically work some kind of day job and then do civic duties after hours.











When Justino arrived he instantly got down to business. Claire introduced us and Antonio to Justino and then it was like we were off to the races. We were excited to hear that Justino had received our letters, read them, and was ready to jump right in, discussing both problems and potential solutions. Claire started the discussion by filling Justino in on the conservation we had with Maria from Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla, and her primary concern of the black water (raw sewage) contamination. Then Antonio went into great detail about how a wetland treatment system could work in Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla, and how it would help resolve one of the major issues Guadalupe Etla currently suffers from. Antonio and Justino proceeded to talk for an hour and a half with Claire filling in the gaps; but for the most part, we let the discussion go where it needed to.

Justino was excited to hear about INSO and the work Juan Jose is doing to improve the social and environmental health of the greater Oaxaca Valley. Then, he joked to Antonio about “wow you folks at the University actually do something worthwhile.” Justino’s main concern centered around the potential maintenance costs of the wetland; Antonio tried his best to state that there is very little ongoing maintenance involved. It was also interesting to hear Justino bring up the idea of water filters as a way to generate funds to support the wetland maintenance. It seems like a major part of our job here right now is to introduce folks and get them talking.
Guadalupe Etla has many ongoing civic programs including a semi-annual trash cleanup, a recycling program, and a school environmental education program. This Municipality is quite different from Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla in that the entire town is supplied by a community water system. Almost everyone has flush toilets with individual septic systems. At one time there was a community drinking-water well, which has since become contaminated with iron and manganese. Like Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla, Guadalupe Etla uses 5-gallon water jugs for potable water, delivered a few times a week.


We left the meeting after several hours with Justino fully onboard and ready to join our efforts to move forward with potential wetland project. Juan Jose of INSO told us early on that we must be very slow, and talk around ideas and plans with the community members. However, we have found everyone has wanted to jump right in and seems ready to go on to the next stage.
Antonio guided the huge van back to the Centro (the city center) and drove around while pointing out many unique sites and telling us a history of Oaxaca. We were all amazed at his ability to guide the van through the small streets that are jammed with cars, busses, and trucks. He recommended a great restaurant for us to have a late dinner at. We took him up on his recommendation and he was right. It was great.


Meeting with: Agente Municipal, Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla

Our second meeting with Maria Soledad Diaz Gonzalez with Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla (21 July) started by having a misunderstanding on the meeting time, and when we arrived with Erik and Antonio, Maria thought the meeting was set for 3 pm and we showed up at 5 pm. Without Maria we showed Erik and Antonio the black water issue, the old dump and the potential wetland site. They were excited to see the topography as it is nearly flat with a slight slope (read good drainage and water flow). We arranged with Maria to meet her the day after we met with Justino.

The meeting with Erik and Maria was much like the meeting with Justino in that Erik and Maria talked for almost 2 hours straight and we only got a few words in edgewise. After the meeting Maria took us to a corn field that is using the output from the composting lue’s that INSO is helping build. The corn was over our heads while the section next to it was only a few feet tall! We then went to look at another challenging site where the main river comes in from across the main highway to Mexico City. There is a small catch basin with a spillway. The catch basin was totally polluted with black water and trash. This is definitely a potential future project.


Looking forward:
This coming week we have three important meetings on our plate. First, is with a local Rotary club on Tuesday night (9pm). Wednesday Maria and Justino will be coming to the university to see their wetland project and learn firsthand about it. Then, on Friday we have a very important meeting with INSO’s sanitation working group. This meeting will include state, and local government officials, INSO’s technical sanitation team, the University, Maria and Justino. Our hope for this meeting is again get these folks talking and on the same page, and if we are lucky come away with a potential scope for a project.

Que Viva la Guelaguetza!

We roll out of bed as morning breaks, gallos still crowing from the casa next door. Sun beams through thick clouds in usual fashion of an overcast Oaxacan morning. “Don’t think I’ve ever gotten up this early for a fiesta,” I mumble, as we stumble out the door at 7am sharp. Lunes de Cerro – Monday on the Hill – is not your typical way to begin the work week. Oaxaca’s annual celebration takes place each July, bringing together indigenous groups from each of its seven regions to share their unique culture with nationals and internationals alike. They each perform traditional song and dance while wearing their regional dress under the blazing summer sun.The Guelaguetza festival recognizes a commitment to sharing – cultures, food, dance, even labor, all done between individuals for the betterment of the community. It also marks the beginning of the rainy season, when ancient cultures performed sacrifices and ceremonies for the Gods to ask for good fortune and yield. Centeotl, Goddess of corn, is also praised and celebrated.

As we trudge up the sloping staircase that leads to the amphitheater, our eyes meet the thousands of eager faces already filling the free section; many yawn drowsily, having rushed to secure their spots at 3am. Fortunately, we’d forked over the dinero for a reserved section, but we’d still have to stake a claim on a central cement bleacher for good photo ops. A young couple gabs excitedly in German to my left, and another colorfully clad mango vendor speaks Zapateco, one of Mexico’s 62 indigenous languages, to her grandson. This morning we would have the honor to attend North America’s largest indigenous celebration, witnessing vibrant colors, endless music and wild dancing.
We perch comfortably on our free Coca-Cola butt cushions, hardly squinting under free sombreros, and drinking delicious free coffee (let the sharing begin)! At the end of each group’s performance, the crowd jumps and wails in hopes of catching an authentic goodie tossed to them; we are fortunate to nab a local delicacy as it flew like a saucer into our laps – a tortilla with fried grasshoppers for sprinkling! Yum!

Sing-a-longs and sore butts, tubas and fireworks (yes, even in the daytime), we spend six hours enjoying the best of what Oaxaca has to offer on Lunes de Cerro. The colorful movements, collaborative music and meandering crowds won’t soon be forgotten.

Flower Celebration in Guadalupe Etla

The “Festival of Virgin Carmen” is one of Guadalupe Etla’s most anticipated celebrations of the year. On Friday, July 17th, our adventure began with a taxi ride to the 2nd class bus station, with an enthusiastic bus driver eager to fill us in on the city’s festivities. Passing a church plaza with a temporary stage set up, we learned of a MUST-SEE event that would take place Saturday. After our usual wandering, we found the “Street of Taxi’s.” where we grabbed a cooperative to the community, about 17 kilometers from Oaxaca City. The ride out to Guad Etla was quick and painless, as most taxi rides are in Mexico. Arriving an hour early for the 5pm festival, we found the town mostly deserted to our amazement. A mini carnival ride sat alone in still anticipation in the Zocolo (town square), awaiting the dozens of children who’d giggle and enjoy them later. In only a few minutes of wandering, our ears had led us to a band warming up nearby. Concerned we’d missed it or arrived on the wrong day, we asked Susan to inquire with the church’s Bell Ringer, who assured us that the festival would indeed begin at 5pm.
Setting the Stage:
In front of the church sits a nice courtyard with a lovely garden. The church boasts the typical twin bell towers, and a row of chairs has been set up for the band. Large bamboo and paper-mache figurines -- an oversized blond woman and gangly armed brunette man -- stand guard on either side of the main door, appearing like some kind of strange sentries.

The Start:
As the clock chimed 5pm, the band marched up a side street towards the church, led women dressed in colorful, traditional costumes (skirts & hand-embroidered blouses) who carried large wicker flower basket arrangements on their heads. A man equipped with far too many skyrockets, which would serve as his sound-off that the festivities were underway, headed the march. The band assembled in the church courtyard and proceeded to play very loud, off-key mariachi for about an hour. The flower women danced skillfully while balancing the 20 pound arrangements atop their heads, which adds about 10 feet of height to each.

The tall figurine sentries came to life as two men slipped inside and began whirling viciously around the plaza; giant globes floated through the crowd. Soon the crowd , complete with figurines, globes and flowers, formed a line and began strutting down a side street. We followed along, the tres gringos in a sea of smiling locals. Little did we know this was the start of a 2-hour long parade that would wind throughout the entire town. Not a moment passed without the startling rocket explosions making us jump from up ahead. The whirling figurines had found 3 more tall, gangly friends; the band played loud and proud; flower ladies juggled their arrangements cautiously among the 200+ parade participants.









Boy, did we stand out! The parade stopped several times along the route and the flower ladies performed a series of line dances, the men twirled and juggled the large ornamental globes, and the figurines continued spinning. Kids scrambled to catch their share of candy strewn along the parade route.


After several stops, an animated local offered us some “mescal”, a local drink made with agave, and insisted we partake. Several of the flower ladies wanted us to mount the dancing figurines on our heads or twirl globes, but we kindly declined. Finally, the parade wound back to its starting point, and we felt as though we’d crossed finish line. Children mounted the mechanical carnival ride and the rolling street party turned into the Zocolo party. Our time was up, and we hopped a cab back to Oaxaca.

The generosity and friendliness of locals didn’t end their; upon arrival to Oaxaca we needed to cross a wide, busy street. Susan asked a policeman for directions and he instantly turned around and stopped traffic (3+ lanes in each direction), and walked us across the street. We are constantly blown away by how nice and helpful everyone is each time we ask for help, directions or even suggestions for restaurants. On our way home we stopped to have dinner again at the Escapularia, where Susan did her magic and we had various “tapas” and sampled all 5 different local “mole’s”.

Morning Work Routine in Oaxaca

Bird calls awaken us bright an early as strong Oaxacan sun shines through our homestay windows. After tasty tortillas and pinto beans for breakfast, we open our front door and are bombarded by rainbow-colored homes lining our quiet street. The typical Oaxacan architecture -- squared, modest two-stories with inner courtyards – is inspiring. Mexicans are certainly not afraid of color. We pass rose vendors and freshly sliced mango stands as we tread the cobblestone streets leading to our patio “office” below.


Juan Jose Consejo, the executive director-- Ashoka Fellow, of The Institute for Nature and Society of Oaxaca INSO, lets us use his WiFi service during the week, making our lives much easier. This very fact alone saves us lots of time and money as we use our own Netbooks to do email, Skype calls and write letters. We all agree this is the must say this is the nicest office we’ve ever had, encircled by plants and tall columns under a blue sky. A few hours pass quickly as we type away, translate and prepare for community visits that happen most afternoons.

News from Oaxaca

We arrived in Oaxaca on Sunday, 7/12. Our accommodations are excellent. We had asked Juan Jose Consejo, the executive director of The Institute for Nature and Society of Oaxaca (INSO, an NGO), to suggest some residents to us for some extended home stays. He connected us with a small hotel-like facility that specializes in extended stays. We are very happy.

Monday morning we met with Juan Jose, an Ashoka fellow. He has been in Oaxaca for twenty years working on water issues. Our long term plans are totally in line with the work he has been doing for some time now in our initial watershed. He spent several hours with us going over the details of the programs in which they are currently involved. The three principles that underlie all of their work are:

1. Don’t push communities.
2. Work on social enhancement and natural processes together.
3. Do this work in a collaborative way with governments (federal, state and local), local communities, social organizations and research institutions.

INSO basically assists those who want to help themselves.

Tuesday we accompanied Paul and Nellie, two INSO employees, to Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla. There, we met with Maria Soledad Diaz Gonzalez, the mayor. After introductions and a brief overview of what we do and the overall water situation there, she took us on a tour of the village. There are approximately 3000 residents in Santo Domingo, one school and one well. We started the tour at the sewage treatment plant, which is currently not functioning. (Juan Jose later told us that 90% of the waste water treatment plants built in the watershed do not work.) She said that the plant was built in 1996 and stopped working in 2000 because of maintenance issues. Since then, raw sewage has flowed out of this area downhill to the next village Guadelupe Etla. Right next to the broken sewage treatment center is a dump which includes medical waste. The dump has been building up for fifteen years, but none of the trash is from Santo Domingo Barrio Bajo. It was all illegally dumped there from other areas. The community now has a twenty-four hour guard (citizens of the town) on duty to insure that no more dumping takes place.

On our way back to the mayor’s office, we passed a broken sewage pipe. She said that during times of heavy rain, sewage flows out of that pipe and comes into Santo Domingo, contaminating the village and residences. From there it continues downhill to Guadelupe Etla. The broken pipe belongs to the main municipality in that area, Etla, but they have not been able to get Etla to fix it. Maria believes that there are many illnesses in her community that are caused by ‘dirty’ water, not drinking dirty water (everyone uses clean bottled water for drinking), but being around raw sewage. She spoke of one particular home that was flooded with rainwater mixed with wastewater. Since then, the family has been plagued with eye irritations, skin rashes and many other unexplained illnesses. The town has been working with INSO for one year now to replace flushing toilets with dry latrines (composting toilets). This will help the situation in Santo Domingo and Guadelupe Etla, but Etla also needs to participate in any solution that is brought forward.

We have been in email contact with the mayor of Guadelupe Etla and plan to meet with him next Wednesday. These two communities work well together and should be able to work together in any joint effort to solve their water issues, but Etla also needs to participate. Santo Domingo’s relationship with Etla is not good. We will return to Santo Domingo on Tuesday to see some of the good things they are doing about water and, while we are here in Oaxaca, will introduce ourselves to Etla in an effort to begin a dialogue with them about water issues.

As we left Santo Domingo, we felt that the site of the failed treatment plant and adjacent dump may be a good potential location for a natural wastewater treatment area. It is, however, right next to a cemetery which, by all means, must be protected.


On Wednesday, 7/15, we met with Erik Martinez Torres, the Director of the Chemistry Department of the Universidad Autonoma Benito Juarez de Oaxaca (UABJO). He offered his department’s expertise to test the water in Santa Domingo Barrio Bajo Etla and in Guadalupe Etla. His department will do the testing, that they have the capability of doing, at no charge and will help facilitate testing for metals (which they cannot do) in Oaxaca. He assured us that there would be little or no charge for heavy metal testing.

He has also offered to accompany us on our trips next week on Tuesday and Wednesday to the communities of interest to initiate the testing. They will provide transportation with a van that seats ten. He also stated that if it seems appropriate for other departments at the university to get involved with this project, then that would not be a problem. The medical and microbiology schools are prime candidates.

Mexico City and UMA

Our trip to Mexico has been outstanding, so far. Rick, Susan and I arrived in Mexico City on Tuesday, July 7th, made our way to the Hotel Isabel via the metro and checked in. Rick and I then met with Michael Sumner, our volunteer living in Mexico City, for dinner. He gave us a good rundown of the city, explained recent news events and cautioned us about certain dangers (like which taxis in Mexico City to avoid). He also made tentative arrangements to meet us in Oaxaca this week during the Festival of the Population.

Wednesday, we caught a taxi to Industrias Mass, one of the water filter suppliers we have been in contact with via email and telephone. Our appointment was with Roberto Lopez. When we met him, he immediately took us to meet the company Director and Elsa Villasana (sales). We explained what Water for Humans was interested in accomplishing in Mexico and how filter suppliers would be instrumental to achieving our goals. They expressed an interest in working with us and proceeded to call upon their technical team to show us some of the products that they currently have available. After showing us their products, they said that they could customize a system for us, depending on what needed to be filtered out of the water. They then offered to independently analyze (pro bono) the water for us as an added check to the university testing that we are planning. All in all, we left with a very good feeling about Industrias Mass.

In the afternoon, we met with the World Vision director, Victor Sandoval. He asked Marco Antonio Garcia (head of Fundacion Realidad) to join us, since we were interested in micro-financing. When we explained that we were interested in long term leasing and banking for the poor, he said that those were areas that they would like to explore/start and if there was a way to help us achieve our goals, through their help, they would do what they could. He then volunteered to send a representative to Oaxaca while we are there to start some exploratory investigating. We told him that it was premature at this time, but we would call him from Oaxaca and let him know when we would be ready to proceed. This was also a very good meeting for us.

Our taxi for the day was more like a hired driver as we used his services all day long. Miguel was outstanding, he found Industrias Mass easily with only one phone call. This was amazing since the office was a good forty-five minutes across town in a complex set of buildings. After our meeting, he was ready to take us to World Vision across town in the other direction. He even suggested a nice restaurant for lunch, close to our afternoon meeting. We were glad not to be driving as we would probably still be searching for these locations and our hotel.

The next day we went on a three hour bus ride to Valle de Bravo to attend an intensive with BGI’s(Bainbridge Graduate Institute) sister institution in Mexico. La Universidad del Medio Ambiente (UMA-the University of the Environment) was holding its final intensive for its initial cohort (C-1). It is an entrepreneur certificate program set up in a similar fashion to BGI. The fifteen participants in the program are all seasoned entrepreneurs who are interested in bringing social justice and environmental sustainability to their businesses. The CAIR (Change Agent in Residence) for the weekend was Dr. Eduardo A. Batllori Sampedro, the Secretary of Urban Development and the Environment for the Yucatan. He presented his detailed plan to deal with solid waste in Yucatan. He has been working on this plan for many years and is now ready to roll it out. We have a copy of the presentation, but were unable to understand it completely since both the presentation and lecture were in Spanish.

Rick and I presented Water for Humans to UMA. After the presentation and Q&A session, the participants identified a number of challenges in our plan. They divided themselves into five groups and each group discussed the challenges. Susan, Rick and I participated in three of the groups. After about thirty minutes, each group presented its conclusions to the entire class. Basically, everyone liked the long term plan. There was a lot of criticism, however, with regard to the short term plan. For various reasons, most did not like the idea of using filters as point-of-use water purifiers, but some did. All in all, we learned a lot from the feedback and will use it as we continue our journey on to Oaxaca.