gringolandita

I want you all to know that Oaxaca is not just a place of sunny skies and quaint old buildings. No, it has its rainy days and sordid centro comercial as well. Office Depot, Sam's Club, Blockbuster, and even the good ol' GNC vitamin store - for all your health needs. All of these stores are grouped together in a cluster of malls on the road to the airport in a special province known as: "Gringolandita" - or something similar, depending on who you're talking to.

Recently, I ventured into Gringolandita to see the last film of the Ambulante documentary film festival that's been going on in different cities around Mexico since February. Christine and I saw a film called Jihad for Love about Muslim gay folks which followed the stories of about 7 people in different countries - Turkey, Iran, Egypt, South Africa, France, and...I'm forgetting the rest. We tried very hard to follow all the quickly changing subtitles and changes in language, but it definitely made an impression - both the film in itself and the experience of viewing it here in Mexico with Spanish subtitles.

Among other activities, I've also spent some lovely afternoons at the Hotel Victoria swimming pool with friends who have a "social club" membership there - ie, expats who get to use the pool. As surreal as it is, I can't complain. It's the biggest pool I've seen in Oaxaca (okay, one of maybe 3 pools I've seen here, but a lot is concealed behind the walls that you wouldn't expect).

So, needless to say, the expat life has been hard: tracking down the elusive Thai cuisine, challenging myself to complete 5 consecutive somersaults underwater, avoiding salsa-ing over anyone's toes. But all these hardships are soon to be replaced with some new adventures beyond the verdant gringo compound in which I now reside. Yup, I'm hitting the road. Where to? Well, the itinerary is a little open-ended, but includes a stop in the Isthmus region of Oaxaca, on to San Cristobal in Chiapas, and eventually down into the highlands of Guatemala, stopping off at Quetzaltenango and Lake Atitlan. It's possible I'll continue on from there to Belize and/or the Yucatan, but that will all depend on my finances, my energy level, and how distracted I get by other things along the way.

I am leaving some things in Oaxaca with friends, so eventually I plan to return here to claim my stuff. In the meantime, if I can find easy internet access, I'll keep on posting occasionally to the blog and to Flickr with photos and stories.

I leave Monday on the bus to Juchitan, Oaxaca, with (hopefully) just a small backpack and a big-ass fanny pack - taking a little piece of gringolandita with me wherever I go. Wish me luck!