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| Luckily, no one was hurt and we made our flight! |
I know many of you thought we were signing off with our last blog, Sabbatical in Retrospect, but we like long goodbyes. That's why we had a going-away party for ourselves on our last Saturday night in Oaxaca. That gave us 2 more days to say goodbye again to people (including neighbor Raul at 6:00 a.m. our morning of departure, as we brought our garbage to the pick-up spot, and again at 6:30 a.m. when we ran into him at Conzatti Park after our cab, literally, ran into someone else).
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Fellow En Vía translator and neighbor, Susan,
and the multi-lingual, multi-talented Ryoko. |
We were really pleased that during our time in Oaxaca we were able to make friends with a wide variety of people, Mexican and non-Mexican. Of course, it was easier to really get to know the people who spoke English but because of the friendliness and patience of the locals, we also formed a lot of ties with Spanish-speakers. The party-goers represented all cross-sections of our sabbatical lives - our volunteer gigs, Spanish classes, dance classes, permaculture and gardening groups, the neighborhood, the markets. Several gringo friends commented that they'd never been to such a mixed party in Oaxaca. Everything worked together to make it a magical, fantastic evening: food, music, dancing, Mezcal, and 70 or so of our best friends who made our time in Mexico unforgettable!
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| Victor and Rebecca, Randy's partners in crime and composting. |
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Our Spanish teacher, Lety, and her daughters
Chelsea and Samantha. |
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| Neighbors Raul, Hortensia, Ramón, and Gloria. |
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The out-of-towners: Michelle and Leo teach at the University in Ixtlán;
Nick and Pat came down from Huayapam. |
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No party of ours would be complete without
the familia Márquez-Prado. |
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Nora and Nadia from En Vía. It was great to hang around with
so many adventuresome young people. |
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| Danielle, from the Permaculture group, and her adorable son. |
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Let the party begin! My Zapateado dance friends, Molly and Mica.
I had a lot of fun with these girls, even if I was often mistaken for
their mother! |
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These two earned their Mezcal. Kim was my supervisor at
En Vía and Octavio was my Spanish teacher for several weeks. |
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| Bibi, my zapateado dance teacher, and her family. |
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Reyna and Beto, owners of the comedor (restaurant)
across the street from us, kept us well-fed! |
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A lot of people we met were in the midst of life changes. Debbie,
on the right, had just sold her vineyard in Argentina, got a divorce, and
was spending a few months in Oaxaca. |
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Scotty (left) makes a living riding his motorcycle all over North and
South America and writing about it for various magazines. |
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Our housekeeper, Alejandra, and her granddaughter Daniela. I had to shoo
Alejandra out of the kitchen more than once during the party! |
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Raices played traditional son jarocho music.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Raicesoaxaca/280251488768369 |
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| Mica and I led off the dancing... |
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| but soon it was an all-out fandango! |
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| I follow Raul's lead. |
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| Note Randy's partner, Ofelia. She comes up to his waist! |
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Pepe - friend, neighbor, and Randy's personal hair-stylist -
shows Mica (the dance major) a thing or two. |
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We had chicken salad sandwiches, bean salad, guacamole,
fruit salad, and (wildly popular) chocolate chip cookies, but
the latecomers had to make due with chips and salsa. |
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| Randy will miss Victor - and being the tallest person in the room all the time! |
