The Birds

I wish I could show you all photos of some of the birds we've seen. But how? They flit hither and yon. Excepting Los Grandes Negros...I called them Skuas in an earlier blog. ..they are Magnificent Frigatebirds. Not to be confused with the Greater Frigatebird, which is smaller. And then, the Yellow-winged Cacigue, the White -throated Magpie Jay, and the Social Flycatcher, all fairly common and avaiable for viewing.
Here you see us with our friends Gina and Sheila at the Manialtepec Lagoon, having breakfast. We just picked Gina's Place off of a website, and after a few emails, decided we would rent a place from her. We had no idea she would be so fabulously knowedgable about Puerto. In fact, she runs a tourist info. kiosk on the main drag "downtown". Friends of hers have set up a party tongiht (our last) with a grand piano (quite out of tune but a Steinway and...it's a party!) and dinner.

More from San Cristobal next Sunday.

C

ASG here: Somehow C's photos didn't upload to the site. Signal waxes/wanes here; we will try again tomorrow. This being our last day on "Mar del Sur," I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by how much I do not yet know about the Oaxaca coastline and its complicated history. Gina is both well-read and curious about the indigenous past, and has been a wonderful resource. Shared a haunting book with me called "The Edge of Enchantment: Sovereignty and Ceremony in Huatulco, Mexico" written by one of the staff with the National Museum of the American Indian which C and I visited last month in DC. The displays we saw there of life in Latin American "Before Cortes" (a different kind of "b.c") have come to life as a I read and listen to people down here....of a coastline that has been a thoroughfare for peoples long before the Spanairds. Rich in resources of gold, silver, cochineal (red dye the Spanairds later sold to all of Europe...think "Red Coats" of the English infintry), blue dye from mussels, pearls, seafood carried by hand by relay runners to Moctezuma in Mexico City, a coastline visited by traders from Peru and out in the Pacific (along the helpful currents), later sacked numerous times by European pirates....the lush coastal strip and high mountains have endured boundary disputes and been the subject of litigation for eons. Zapotec, Mixtec, Nahua peoples (to name just a few...so little known about them now...Spanairds destroying temples,records, art, etc), all with different languages, finally subjugated (and paying tribute/taxes) to the Aztecs and then quickly descimated within decades by European illnesses after Pedro de Alvardo (one of Cortes cohorts) arrives in 1523. Now to hear of the expropriation of lands for tourist development...and how to maintain ties with your young people who must migrate Norte to seek employment that pays more than 50 pesos a day (about 50 cents). Our current host Sheila, who is now a citizen after living here 16+ years and runs a language institute, tells of bright, former students of hers who have needed to leave, as there is little sustainable work. Gina explains: it's as if our government does not recognize a middle class; only the big companies and the lowly people who work for them for nothing. So, I watch and listen and ponder these things....and realize my adult education about this vast country has been so limited. I will stop there for now..

-ASG