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Stranger in a Strange Land Newsletter: January 2008

Dear Readers,
I've been in Mexico for about a week now: I flew from cold and snowy Boston down to hot and sunny Mexico City last Wednesday, January 23rd. I was there a couple days right in the center of the city, around the corner from the epic Mexico City Cathedral, in front of which there is now an art exhibit that's been travelling around the world called "Ashes and Snow" with huge, amazing, unreal photos and videos of people snuggling with orangutans, swimming with elephants, dancing with hawks, and hugging cheetahs (www.ashesandsnow.com).

Then I took a six hour bus ride to Oaxaca (pronounced "Wuh-ha-ka"): the first time I was in the city of Oaxaca (October, 2006) the Zocalo (town square) was occupied by peaceful protesters and no police were in the whole city, the second time (December, 2006) it was full of Federal Police, and now there are mariachi bands (they really are all over the place in Mexico), orchestras playing Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, colorful balloons for sale, many people, and pretty poinsettias. I've loved Oaxaca every time I've visited and this time seeing the Zocalo like that, plus with the colonial churches and lovely cafes around it, I could finally see why it's famous as a tourist destination.

I'd already seen most of the main attractions in and around the city but I had never even heard of "Hierve el Agua": far into the mountains, beyond the amber hued Zapotec ruins of Mitla, there are springs of mineral water that form tropical colored pools on the edge of a dusty cliff looking down onto a valley with towering mountains all around and off to the right is a dramatic stony cliff of "petrified water".

The next day I took another six hour ride to Oaxaca State's Pacific Coast: now I'm writing from a balcony watching an eagle glide over the beautiful beach of Puerto Escondido, famous for its bone crushing surfing, as a light breeze blows over me. And I'm being extravagant in my spending on this hotel: 150 pesos/night (about $15 American) when I could be paying 50 pesos ($5 American) for a dorm room in a youth hostel. But I wanted to concentrate on my writing: having my own room was important, this view is amazing, and some fellow travellers I met in Oaxaca are staying right across the street from me anyway so I still have cool people to hang-out with.

(A note on finances and travelling "alone": I haven't been careful about finances so far but I'm still only spending less than $50/day. That includes lodging, transportation, food, fun, and a very nice straw hat for $18. I'm just saying: travel is affordable. And even if you leave your country alone, you're always meeting fellow travellers from all over the world so you rarely need to travel by yourself unless you want to.)

As I said, I've been writing and last summer when I was working really hard on my speech about initiation I started to feel as if writing was like giving birth! "Of course," I said to myself, "How the heck would you know?" But soon after a mother of two was telling me about her writing and she said the same thing! I really think it's true: I work really hard to finally give birth to a body of writing with a certain spirit to it. There's still a lot I have to do, but after that initial struggle it has a life of its own and I only have partial say in what it becomes. After that initial struggle it's a joy, I will say that.

I imagine a lot people can relate to that creative process. I hope you're all creating beautiful things, even, especially, if it's inside of yourself.

All the best,
Eli



P.S. Check out my blog under the page "Other" for info about the danger of travelling in Mexico City and the amazing effect I think world travelling can have on people.

There were a couple people interested in going on a travel tour this winter, that's why I was offering it this trip, but that fell through and not surprisingly no one else could go on such short notice. But others have contacted me very exicited about doing them in the future and I'd love to hear from more interested people!