Teotitlán del Valle

We've been in homestays for two full days now and people are settling in nicely. At first, the culture shock was difficult as this is a very small indigenous village with little modern comforts but we are slowly adjusting to bucket bathing and no running water. At times we miss fans and air conditioning, in the afternoons the sun is incredibly strong and the temperatures reach into the high 90's but we have been taking siestas and working in the shade when we can.
Our social interactions have been different to those in Oaxaca city and Mexico city because especially within this village, everyone speaks Zapotec and Spanish. In our households, our families speak Zapotec with each other but are able to switch languages easily and we have been able to learn some phrases that the indigenous people use to greet each other on the street or in the house. The families have all been very accommodating and generous, hardly letting us leave a meal without having at least a third serving.
There are three groups in homestays; Bradley and Sawyer are staying with an old woman, Caleb, Shane, Anna, Oriana, Rachael and Sophie are living in a large house with three families, and Drew, Alan and Liadh have been staying with a woman named Petrona, her husband Juan, Juan's sister, their son David, and their dog Loquillo. In most homes, there is a little courtyard with plants and in our home we have an avocado tree and a tree with little sour red fruits. Every morning the women in the village go to the market to buy food for the day and we get to go with them. It's a ten or fifteen minute walk but because it's early in the morning it's fresh and at the market we always see everyone from our trip buying interesting foods. Everyone especially enjoys the cheap bread stalls where we can buy delicious pastries and donuts for 3 to 5 pesos (between 25-45 cents).
On our first full day in Teotitlan, we helped around our houses and had a meeting where we learned about the women's cooperative that was hosting us and all the projects it does within the village. Yesterday we did tecio (community service) for Unitierra, where we drove to Huitzo, a small village on the other side of Oaxaca city and worked on a patch of land; digging holes for planting and mulching and watering trees.
This morning, most of the boys on the trip went and played futbol with some locals, they got up to play at 7 in the morning, in order to beat the heat and we are going to have a picnic in some caves later this afternoon when it has cooled down. Over the next week we look forward to improving our Spanish in our homestays and experiencing more of the culture of Teotitlan.
-Liadh and Drew