Introduction
Photos
Mexico City: Tomás's House
Mexico City: The Family Dogs
Mexico City: Downtown
Las Estacas
Oaxaca: Street Scenes I
Oaxaca: Street Scenes II
Oaxaca: Artisans
Oaxaca: Churches
Oaxaca: Zocalo and Market
Monte Alban
Monte Alban: Dancers
Puebla
Stories, Observations, and Miscellany
Family Tree: The Brechtel Family
Here Comes the Bride
¿Habla español? Part I: We Practice Spanish
¿Habla español? Part II: Fun with Spanish
¿Habla inglés? Menus and Other Diversions
Good Eatin'
Free-Market Economy
Native Tongues
As we discovered, Oaxaca is one of the areas of Mexico where native culture has continued to thrive. The area has been a commercial and cultural crossroads of Mesoamerica going back to the BC era, with the result that many peoples have settled in the valley. Depending on who you talk to, there are anywhere from 12 to 16 indigenous languages still in daily use in the state of Oaxaca — not just dialects, but entirely different languages. One of our tour guides told us he was half Zapotec and half Mixtec, and he spoke both of those languages as well as Spanish and English (kind of).| Once we had been made aware of this, we started noticing it around us. In the market stalls and in the zocalo (the town square), you can notice that people do indeed seem to come in a variety of sizes and looks. Someone told us that people who look chino — Chinese, with almond eyes — were Zapotecs.
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| As we strolled, we listened. For example, we often walked by a line of stalls where the women sat on the ground with their backstrap looms, making rebozos and other woven goods. When they spoke to each other, it might sound initially like Spanish. But after a second or two you would realize that it wasn't. Their language had the same vowels as Spanish, it sounded like, but had softer consonants with more sibilants and was, of course, utterly foreign. We had the same experience in the market and even on the bus to Puebla. Of course, we have no idea what language they were actually speaking, but we referred to it as Zapotec, which became our catchall term for indigenous culture, as in, "Did you want to stop to buy something from the Zapotec women?" |
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A fellow who waxed conversational with us in the market told us that in the surrounding mountains, there are villages that still can't be reached by vehicles, only by burro. The people in these villages retain their old ways and have little contact with — and little need for contact with — the outside world. But the dominant culture is making inroads. The Mexican government has brought literacy to as many of its citizens as it can, but from one perspective, this can be a two-edged sword, since school is taught in Spanish. We were told that the government has made efforts in more recent times to not only preserve its heritage of native tongues, but to create curricula in native languages. Whether that will help save those languages for posterity is not yet known.