Week 4: Viaje a la Mixteca!

This week was filled with journeys outside of Oaxaca. To begin as a group we went to San Antonino Arrazola in order to view the production of Alebrijes, brightly colored wooden carvings that are a popular tourist attraction in numerous villages in Mexico. According to the people of Arrazola, the Alebrijes began there over seventy years ago.

However their popularity has increased over the past twenty years. There we learned about the sustainable production of Alebrijes as well as watched one being made first hand. The man who created the first used a machete to "Free" the animal from the block of wood, and then uses a carving knife to do a more refined carve. At the same time we watched a woman paint an alebrije by hand. These were both very interesting experiences to watch, because both artisans were completely engrossed in their task. The spread of characters was truly amazing with all sorts of animals from those native to Mexico to those from around the world such as whales, elephants, and giraffes. We also learned about projects to create Copal forests to ensure a future source of wood.
 ¡QUE CHIDO!

Our next trip was one that was specifically for those students doing research on the agricultural rights of small scale farmers in Oaxaca. We took a bus ride to the home town of Eleazar, an associate of Jonathan and a leader of an NGO called CEDICAM. In the Sierra Mixteca region, we saw many of CEDICAM's projects such as replanting forests to prevent erosion and teaching local farmers methods of sustainable agriculture that had been lost from their ancestors. At Eleazar's house, we visited many local greenhouses which are distinct from many government greenhouse projects by being much cheaper to build and maintain, and by having a much wider diversity of crops (the government funded greenhouses are used for tomato monocultures and often require heavy fertilizer and insecticides.) We even had a chance to talk with other local farmers in the area and to see the wide diversity of seeds that they used in their fields, including many varieties of maize and beans. The whole trip was extremely educational and fun, but also drove home the importance of diversified agriculture, as these different seeds were passed down for generations and losing them would be one more step towards losing many diverse cultures and societies which provide much of the richness found here in Oaxaca.

¡Hasta la próxima!
Ben and Colin