Oaxaca... off the beaten path, Part Five

Day Seven
I had mentioned to Javier that we would meet up with him and his family either Sunday or Monday. Somewhere along the line he talked to his brother Anibal who told him we would be there on Sunday. I didn't realize that Anibal was our vacation manager, but he is known at the farm as "The Manager" because he says that Scott likes him best. Never a dull moment with Anibal.

Anyway, Javier collected his extended family and threw a big party for us which we never showed up at. Then he started calling others to see if they knew where we were. Scott and I felt like crap. Javier has been our longest standing employee and highly faithful over the years. We knew how excited he was to finally show us his house and family. We got up Monday morning and went straight to his house. We got to hear from him, his wife and kids about how excited they were about us coming and all the food they made the day before. Definitely we are jerks now. They had also prepared room for us so we could stay at their place. They even turned on the air conditioning. Ugh... more guilt. Air conditioning is a luxury there. No one has air conditioning!

Javier's chest could not have puffed out more as he showed us all around his house and courtyard. He beemed with pride as I told his wife Alicia and his kids what a great guy he was and one of the best employees ever and how much he knew about cows. All true by the way! His wife heated up the left overs from the day before and we feasted on delicious beef in a gravy of sorts over top of white rice. We drank Fanta Naranja and I was in HEAVEN! We ate fresh mango from his tree. The cheese lady stopped by the gate and Alicia bought fresh cheese. Even better than the cheese at the Marriott in Guatemala. Cheese out of the USA is better than cheese here. They make it with unpasteurized milk. Cant explain the difference but it is different.

Cecilia got a bath at their house. A Mexico observation... there is not a bathtub to be found. Cecilia hates showers. All of our hotels and in most homes there is a large bathroom with a drain in the center and in the corner there will be a shower. They have very poor septic systems so you NEVER put toilet paper in the toilet. It always goes in the garbage can. You also don't flush the toilet every-time. Although they would never say this, it rings true... "If it is yellow... let it mellow... if it's brown, flush it down." At any rate, we got a big tub, stood her in it and gave her a good scrubbin' down.

We headed into Juchitan center to visit with Anibal's family and go to the market. We really had planned to spend the day in Oaxaca City catching some sights on our last day but being with Javier was the most important thing at the moment. Anibal's wife and children, Mariela and Sarai live in a house ajoined to Javier and Anibal's parents, brother Wilbur and sister and oodles of kids. There is a courtyard that connects the buildings. This was quite common where we visited. Jose is nearly blind and makes hammocks for a living. He had a loom set-up and showed us how he crafts them. Emerita, Anibal's wife, has a store connected to her living quarters that they refer to as "JC Penneys."

Javier, Scott, Cecilia, Tello and I headed to the town center for a little last minute shopping at the market. It got ugly there because you walk through tight stalls loaded with goods which is not a nice fit with a 2 year old. Here is a little recap.



Late afternoon, we loaded up and said our goodbyes and headed off to Oaxaca City a 4 hour drive through the Sierra Madre. It was a beautiful drive, albeit dangerous through the curvy mountains with no guardrails. You go off the road and "bye-bye" they don't even bother to retrieve the wreckage. We arrived in Oaxaca City about 10pm and went straight to our hotel. Stayed tuned for "Oaxaca... off the beaten path" final installment.