Highlights of Oaxaca

Last week, we had the privilege of going back to Oaxaca. We had been there in January when Brian worked with the Mixe translation team. This time, it was the annual meeting of the Bible Societies of the America Region. We got to stay in a hotel very close to the downtown. That was fun and convenient because we could walk to different places after we finished our school work. These are a few of the things that we did:
- went to the Zapotec ruins Monte Alban. It was a very different visit from when we went in January. That time it was just Rachel and myself, and it was a cool and rainy day. This time Brian went along and it was hot and sunny (as you can tell in the picture above!)
- visited the Cathedral, Santo Domingo Church, Zocalo, and a former convent turned into a museum
- shopped at the Benito Juarez indoor market for souvenirs like leather goods, bags, and food
- saw a demonstration of beautiful black pottery being made by Don Vicente (see picture) who has been working on this craft for 60 years.
- enjoyed the Cinco de Mayo festivities happening throughout the week including speakers and singing groups.
- ate at several different restaurants serving traditional dishes like tlayuda (Oaxacan pizza), tasajo (beef), and salsa de chapulin (grasshopper salsa).
- celebrated the 60th birthday of one of the Bible Society Consultants, complete with a mariachi band
- Rachel got her daily fix of frozen coffee to offset the 95 degree daily temperatures (sometimes even drink two at a time)!
Brian enjoyed the meetings during the week. He was in charge of several hours of Paratext training, and he felt that it went well. He also gave a report on Paratext deployment in the Americas this year. It was exciting to report on all of the places we had gone the past 10 months to help get this software to the various translation teams.
We don't have a lot of travel planned for the coming months. Brian will be going to Panama in June for 10 days, but Rachel and I won't be accompanying him. It's a relief to be "home" again, but a bit sad to think of our year of travel coming to an end. Thanks for coming along with us on this journey! Donna and Rachel