A year of Kaliman

Maya (dog) and Kaliman Ninja (cat) one year ago, home en la Colonia Estrella, Oaxaca de Juárez.

Yes I am going to be completely ridiculous in this post. To tell you the truth I think most people here in Oaxaca would think I am absolutely mental, (I am sure you can find a few more out there outside of Oax who would think the same). 

This is a pet post. A post about the two furry crazies that get us out of bed in the morning wether we want to or not. The two furries with completely opposite personalities, colors and sizes who somehow get along like two peas in a pod. The reason for the post is Kaliman's one year anniversary with us. It's not hard to see from early pictures just how this crazy little yellow fur-ball ended up taking over the household. I mean just look at the picture above! Maya the ever drama queen looking confused yet stoic and the little yellow fur-ball ears popped straight up looking out from his bed stage. (See evidence of Kaliman's sin verguenzadas bellow as he stretches on the bed and Maya curls up).

Maya and Kaliman Ninja Jan. 2010.

Kaliman came to us via a Oaxacan friend of ours who loves animals and is on a constant mission to rescue them all, much the chagrin of her Texan husband who now calls her pet loca. She had asked us not to look for a cat or buy one. She promised to find one and give it to us. She was good on her word and on Jan. 3 2010 she called. 

M and I had been mostly hoping for a female cat since we heard they were much more homie and cariñosas... When B called to let us know she had one for us and that it was a male I was a bit cautious. This would be M's first cat and I was afraid of scaring the wits out of him with an insane male cat who would hardly look for us or be around the house... 

It's been a year and Kaliman Ninja (as his name suggests) is crazy... entertaining, vocal, smart, and loves loves his life his family and especially his big sister Maya whom he cuddles up to, demands licking from (he also licks her), and whom he loves taunting by bitting and jumping on her to get her to chase him around and through the house. He is the first cat I have ever had that understands and comes when he is called by name. His tail wiggles almost out of his control when we call his name and he is perched on high on his favorite tree. 

I think it is safe to say that M is now a full fledged cat convert... The cat and M have done everything from putting back together parts of the car to planting lemon trees. And as aloof as Maya can sometimes be, having Kaliman has ironically turned her into more of a dog than she ever was. The relationship between the cat and the dog is so crazy that Kaliman is the only animal Maya is comfortable with around  when she's eating or snacking. 

Yes it's been a great furry year indeed... Here are a few more pictures. 

Que What?!

Cloud Ocean, road to La Mixteca, Oaxaca, July 25, 2010.

It's been over eight months since Mauricio, Maya (our dog), and I began our great Mexican experience. Two 1st generation Mexican-Americans, pochos, gringos, mexicanos, and Chicanos picking up our lives to do exactly the opposite of what our parents did. We moved south. No, not just south, but deep down into southern Mexico. Yep this is when your parents begin to wonder where they went wrong...  QUE WHAT?! Oaxaca?! I can pretty much sum up my father's feelings in what a cousin asked when he found out I was living here... "What are you doing down there? I thought we were supposed to keep migrating north towards Canada!"

Then there's the other side, the how two Mexican-Americans, pochos, gringos, mexicanos, Chicanos with a dog are perceived... Errrrrrr! First sticking point, DOG. Yeah dog-as-cuddly-pet not as working beast that gets kicked around and often dumped. Guess how most people look at us when they find out our dog sleeps inside the house, has eating hours and gets walked?!!! That's right! Que WHAT?!! The MARTIANS HAVE LANDED! ...Those crazy GRINGOS I tell yah!

The physical journey from Texas to Oaxaca was long but the spiritual journey has been a hell of a ride. Lot's of soul searching, lot's of 'am I crazy, are they crazy, are we all just crazy?!"  Then there are all those little things one takes for granted, the ones that don't even cross your mind when you decide one day to pick up and move to the 'motherland.' Eight months later you wake up one day and realize Q-tips are the BOMB DIGGIDY! These imitation palillos you bought at the local supermarket SUCK! They barely have any cotton, are super flimsy, and they just don't cut it!

You know those 'what the...? QUE WHAT?!' moments, when you realize the three squares of toilet paper you pay for at public toilets are not enough. When you've gone through two boxes of energy saving eight year life light bulbs and you're told the wiring in the house you live in can only handle standard light bulbs! You know that feeling when you dream about a nice black cup of coffee order one and get an agua de calcetin instead! Que What?!

Yep those moments. Like when you order french fries and get stale potato sticks. Or when you crave some chinese food, or just want to get your grub on with some thai, indian, ethiopian or greek food and you know that if you find a place you might end up spitting the food out. Thank the gods Oaxacan food is sooooo good or you'd be in serious trouble.

Then there are those moments you seek to indulge in to feel some sort of 'normality', you know, maybe you just want to go out to see a movie... HUM! Yeah! A bit of advise... STOP! KILL THE DESIRE! KILL IT! STOP thinking about EVER watching a movie at the theatre unless you are prepared to pick between the new KARATE KID or that vampire movie, which will most likely be playing for the next four months! That's right... QUE WHAT?!

Sometimes I actually think that living in Oaxaca might have finally, finally brought out the inner gringa in me! NO, I don't mean the stereotypical Cancún spring break gringa... I got none of that... sorry to disappoint. I mean the I want to go watch a movie, go to Target, and get an IN-N-OUT burger gringa in me! The I miss my yoga class, my gym, and my Food Network, and REAL KETCHUP gringa in me! For the love of Coatlicue I am as much Mexican really as I am 'American'... and eight months after moving south I am finally relishing in the I am totally fine with my american tendencies, yeah the gringaness in me. In an often times closed and traditional society I am embracing the I get to choose what traditions I keep and which ones I let go of, just like any other american for once. Yes I am no longer afraid or concerned with the GASPS! The que what's? and it feel good. Yes, in a sense I am crossing over the que what?! line to the side where I am the one causing the que what's?!

PHEW! That felt good! I feel like I should buy myself a Harley Davidson, tie a bandana around my head, get a tattoo on my bulging shoulder, and ride out into the sunset blasting some good old American classics... ja ja ja! Ok, ok, I'd settle for Q-tips and good ketchup ;)

Amado, Arizona

Evening on the valley outside the Halfway Station, Arivaca, Arizona.

Grandpa's Camper, Arivaca, Arizona. 

Desert cat, one of grandpa's pets, Arivaca, Arizona. 

In the Halfway Station, Arivaca, Arizona.

Looking out from the Halfway Station, Arivaca, Arizona.

Cha cha cha, Arivaca, Arizona.

The Source, Arivaca, Arizona.

I NO VA CION, Grandpa's models, Arivaca, Arizona.

La Princesa, Arivaca, Arizona.

The king of the desert, El CamaLEON, Arivaca, Arizona.

Evening sky and camper, Arivaca, Arizona.

These photos were taken during a short visit to see my grandfather Sam, (otherwise known as the Source, as one of my brother calls him). Despite the hate politics and the constant reminders of entrenched racism, the beauty of the Arizona desert and my grandfather's spirit have recharged our souls.

I am in the middle of working on a translation so I will have to come back to this visit on another post. In the meanwhile I hope these photos speak for themselves...

Growing things

Mi prized Sage / Salvia, Colonia Estrella, Oaxaca de Juárez, 7 de junio, 2010.

I am in love! And like all people in love I must climb upon the highest hill and yell it out to the four winds... LOVE! LOVE! LOVE!

Nothing new I know, but lately there's a renewed fluttering in the heart, a woozing buzz that only a teenage crush can bring. Let the cheese balls roll! I'm feeling cheesy and it feels great!

The cause of so much excitement and gooey gushing is our growing backyard garden :) 

There's nothing better than reveling in the morning dew drinking coffee, observing, pruning, and rediscovering our potted wonderland before the oven-like heat wave blanket smothers the city once more.  

I love plants!  I just can't help it. I AM A PLANT FREAK, as M would say. How could I not be? I come from a long line of plant freaks. On my mother's side, I can still remember my great grandmother abuelita Rita tending to roses. My abuela Petra's overcrowded and dropping avocado tree in la Marengo (a house my grandparents lived in on Marengo street in East L.A.). And who can forget her iconic nopalitos. Then there were those spring visits to the Homedepot garden section with my mother. Oh how we would try desperately to contain ourselves like two addicts without avail! Never failed to roll out with a cart full of plants often forgetting whatever excuse we used to go inside in the first place. And then there is her garden. My mother's irises, roses, succulents, and blooming rainbow flowers. Ah and that most prized of  all her fruit trees, her fig tree. Oh how I love her fig tree! Lucious drops of sweetness... YUM! Then my father who comes from a long line of farmers, working the dry clay-like land they inherited from the revolution. Corn, beans and papaya... I'd say I am doomed to be a plant freak... Yep, I'm a goner!

It's been less than a week since we returned from Chiapas so I have been obsessed with discovering changes. The cilantro, dalia, and spinach seedlings have sprung. The ginger I planted is sprouting. My sole sage plant (my prized plant since it is hard to find here and I grew it from an old packet of seeds I found) is bigger. Oh that plant that was doing absolutely nothing a few months ago is flowering!

Forgive me for gushing but I just can't help being excited over the things that grow in our garden :]

A little music

Cilantro seedlings, Colonia Estrella, Oaxaca, June 7, 2010.

Spinach seedlings, Colonia Estrella, Oaxaca, June 7, 2010.

Ginger sprouts, Colonia Estrella, Oaxaca, June 7, 2010.

The once lazy plant, Colonia Estrella, Oaxaca, June 7, 2010.

Succulent antenas, Colonia Estrella, Oaxaca, June 7, 2010.



'Kaliman in tomato and basil,' Colonia Estrella, Oaxaca, June 7, 2010.

Herbolarias

 

'Kaliman en marzo,' Oaxaca, Oaxaca de Juárez, marzo, 2010. From the 'Life in Oaxaca' series.

We're not sure what planet our cat is from, but he is absolutely hilarious. I have never had a cat that loves, LOVES lying in dirt piles. Maya (our dog) and him seem to be exchanging mannerisms. Lately he likes to lay around like a dog, preferably on Maya's outside bed. Here he is making a funny face laying between a rock wall and a succulent plant.

  

'Flor the mini cactus,' Oaxaca, Oaxaca de Juárez, marzo, 2010. From the 'Life in Oaxaca' series. 

I thought these were doing nothing for the last few months. At one point I even thought they might be dead. Then, passing by them a few days ago I looked closer  and there they were, tiny beautiful flowers :)

  

'Cactus flowers,' Oaxaca, Oaxaca de Juárez, marzo, 2010. From the 'Life in Oaxaca' series. 

I admit, I am addicted to succulents! I bought these for 15 pesos each last weekend. Have not potted them yet but one has 9 offspring!!!  I am so excited!  They are so beautiful!

 

"Long stem cacti, flower shape,' Oaxaca, Oaxaca de Juárez, marzo, 2010. From the 'Life in Oaxaca' series.

I am still wondering about these. They were among the first plants we bought and they have still to do something. They have not grown, they do not have new leaves, they just seem to be. We'll see if spring does something to them.

 

"Simple succulent flower," Oaxaca, Oaxaca de Juárez, marzo, 2010. From the 'Life in Oaxaca' series. 

Have I mentioned I love succenlents ;)

 

"Kaliman as the Eye of the Tiger,' Oaxaca, Oaxaca de Juárez, marzo, 2010. From the 'Life in Oaxaca' series.

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!

 

Playing Hookie

 

 'Kaliman, bugambilias y yo,' from the 'Life in Oaxaca Series,' Colonia Estrella, Febrero 2010.

'Moroccan tile mural in progress,' 'Life in Oaxaca Series,' Colonia Estrella, Febrero 2010.

 

'Maya y Kaliman taking afternoon nap,' 'Life in Oaxaca Series,' Colonia Estrella, Febrero 2010.

Perros y Gatos

El sinnombre, 3 de enero, 2010.

As of this morning we are officially a dog and cat family :) The newest and still nameless member of the family comes to us via a friend who rescued him. Maya, our dog, seemed to have sensed the change that was coming this morning when we headed out. She was extraordinarily excited, wiggling her body so much we wondered how she hasn't dislocated a hip! Maya has been in aw and wonder all day long, overly excited and very disappointed that we have asked her over and over to lay down and stay. The kitten on the other hand hisses at her but gets closer and closer testing Maya and her obedience. Maya the queen has proved to be an amazing dog while our new little guy has proved to be a big time VAGO! And so after spending one day with Mr. Purrrrrerrr Extraordinaire I have compiled a small list of possible names for which I would like to ask for your feedback.

Pancho Villa - he was a rebel, a revolutionary, a hero to some and a menace to others. Along with his men, he ran a muck on the norther part of Mexico. Our crazy kitten ran-a-muck in our house most of the day and clearly stood up to our big dog.

Houdini - We spent most of the day trying to keep track of the kitten and spent almost an hour looking for it at one point.

Loco Valdez - Yes LOCO because he is 'cuckoo in the head!' as grandpa Sam would say. Loco Valdez is the stage name of one of 3 Mexican comedian brothers.

Cafelino - A merger between coffee and feline. This cat keeps trying to drink my coffee!

Trigo Tovar - Trigo means wheat, the cat is the color of golden wheat fields. Tovar in honor of Rigo Rovar, a Mexican singer from our parents generation whose melodies and lyrics continue to make us all mover el bote :)

El Tigre - Pretty much because he looks like a miniture tiger and has the attitude of one too.

Rocky - Because he was rescued from a trash bin with every intention of surviving, not to mention his left punch! You should see the tiny piñata I hung for him to play with... He whacked the hell out of it!

Kaliman - A friend of ours suggested this name. Kaliman was a comic book hero here in Mexico with much wise advice.

Finally I am attaching two more photos in case someone has a different name suggestion.

El sin-vergüenza sin nombre, 3 de enero, 2010.

El vago loco sinnombre, 3 de enero, 2010.

Adventures in COMPOSTing

Hombligo, Oaxaca, 2009.

Mauricio and I moved to Oaxaca about two months ago. We found a great house to live in with big open spaces, good light, a workable kitchen, some gardening potential despite the landlord's cement love-affair, and enough room for Maya our dog to rome around. The two other houses on the same property were occupied, one by a good friend, an Italian photographer, and the second by a peaceful earth loving, meditating, writer from Venezuela.

Not long after we moved in our neighbors began to tell us about their gardening aspirations on the property which included a communal rooftop garden for all of us. Our eyes opened WIDE as our friend showed off his home grown tomatoes and basil and with excitement in his voice explained how our other neighbor was in the process of reproducing worms!...

[A brief aside]. I can't say I was jumping up and down when I heard the worm reproducing scheme. To be honest my encounters with worms in my mother's garden were usually followed by a shriek! No, not shriek out of happiness like when you encounter a long lost friend, but more like, 'There's a nasty WORM WIGGLING and I want to puke!' sort of shriek. However our friend seemed so excited I figured reproducing worms must be a good thing. It turns it is a very good thing in the gardening world.

[Back to the story]. Anywho, our earthy gardening ecological neighbors also showed off their compost piles and we all even made plans for a large communal compost pile in our back yard... WOW! Now that was something! The thought of taking TRASH (YES TRASH!) and turning it into this POWERFUL plant food was exhilarating. The tons of new plants we had purchased in an effort to liven up the place would thrive. Not only that, but we would be less wasteful and in a very small way contribute (in my head) to the lessening of landfills. All this while giving our plants a boost! I thought about how the new jasmine tree we bought was sure to have flowers by the time of our wedding if we helped it along with some NUTRITIOUS COMPOST! Mauricio and I WERE SOLD!

It was not long before we went out to purchase our very own compost bin to try our hand at composting... And this is where the meat, or to be more exact, the GOO of this story begins...

Fast forward a month and half. We open our compost bin, the one where we have been throwing much of our organic trash into along with dried leaves and garden material... First Mauricio gets attacked by tiny flies... We think ok its normal... Then we see a bunch of little worms and we are told to leave the compost in the sun to get rid of them, and yes our compost looks great! I put the compost bin in the punishing Oaxacan sun for three days... Fast forward to today. After a lovely day with friends and our dogs and an evening of house cleaning and organizing we open the compost bin and...IT WREAKS OF SHIT, CRAP, NASTYNESS sooooooo BAD! That our dog Maya must think we are making sort of perfume for her pleasure.

I immediately get online to see what the hell we are doing wrong with the compost.  In my head I think, PLANT FOOD CANNOT SMELL THIS BAD, SOOOO BAD IT COULD KILL HUMANS!

I watch instructional videos and learn about the compost lasagna method, wood or brown material followed by dirt, then 3 parts green, then brown, dirt, and back to green... I learn about the organisms in dirt that compost needs and I think about the 3 days in the sun... I wonder if I killed anything that might have been living in our pile of SHIT! I watch British video and almost fall out of my chair when the woman in her British accent explains how long it takes for compost to become compost... 6 to 12 months!!!!!!!! Who has that much time?! I come to the conclusion that we  have been in fact making some sort of dog approved perfume (yes these are the animals that love to throw themselves on shit if you don't catch them on time) and hope there is some way of making it into compost before it kills us.

Just in case you ever want to make compost, first watch the following videos:

Christmas en la Colonia Estrella

 

 

Merry Christmas desde Oaxaca!

Primeras Navidades

Nacimiento con plantas gigantes, Navidad en Oaxaca 2009.

Después de pasar las ultimas semanas eludiendo a la navidad, ready or not, la navidad me a alcanzado.

No, no es el resultado de andar de posada en posada quebrando piñatas, o el llenarme la panza comiendo tamales. Ni siquiera a sido el beber tazas de ponche tras taza de ponche (aunque este domingo prepare mi primera olla de ponche navideño... hmmm rico... lastima que no puedo decir lo mismo de mi primera olla de champurrado... ja ja ja!). No han sido las vueltas  que hemos dado Mauricio, Maya y yo alrededor del zócalo cubierto de noche buenas y su árbol de navidad como nave espacial dorada lista para despegar en cualquier momento. Ni siquiera el nacimiento estilo disneylandia que este año a puesto el municipio...

Esta sera la quinta navidad que paso en Oaxaca pero la primera que paso aquí con Mauricio y Maya. Con este motivo hemos decorado nuestro primer árbol navideño (una planta casera a la que le hemos puesto golondrinas, piñatas, un burrito de palma, y gusanitos de aluminio de colores). Hicimos nuestro primer convivío en el que Maya estaba tan emocionada que cada vez que sonaba la puerta salia disparada a ver quien mas llegaba. Y al ver que llegaba una cachorrita juguetona que trajeron amigos nuestros, no pudo contener la emocion y se la paso jugando como si ella misma fuera una vez mas cachorrita. Ademas ayer por la tarde instalamos nuestro primer nacimiento con todo y cactus gigantescos, lucecitas (a las que tuve que operar para quitarles la musiquita endiablada que no dejaba de sonar), estrella de piñata y ángel volador.

Sipis, la navidad por fin a llegado a esta casa...

Detalle: Planta Navideña con Burrito y Golondrinas
Detail: Christmas House Plant with Donkey and Doves.
Oaxaca 2009.

My dog ate a Zapatista, a Christmas wreath and my door!!!

M & M, from the series 'Christmas in Oaxaca, 2009.'

And so the day ends this way... After mopping around in my new woes me mood (haven't found the Christmas mood yet), Mauricio and I decided to go out.  I wanted to go party in the Zocalo with all the crazy katz out there dancing in the street in the calendas, M not so much...

Anywho, after a good workout, (and may I add one very much needed since I have hardly done any working out since I got here), M and I headed to the centro to get some grub and meet a friend at the Centro Fotografico.  We were done early enough that we decided to try and go see a movie.  The seeing a movie saga has been going on for a while. M's been wanting to go to the movies and I for one have not been able to find any movie I could imagine sitting through... Enter Avatar... Seems interesting... Enough action to keep M testosterone level up and interesting enough to keep me from wiggling out of my seat.

Good movie... Made me think about many sad things including anthropology... Still I highly recommend it... But back to the real meat of this entry...

Since we moved into the house we rent in Oaxaca, getting home after leaving Maya for a few hours can be a highlight.  She gets so excited, we hear her bark (the only time this dog EVER barks) when we get off the car to open the gate. She jumps around like an antelope, excited, happy, crazy, with more energy than you'll ever see her have (most of the day she likes to do pretty much nothing but sleep and go for an occasional walk especially to the centro). So when we parked the car and got off to open the gate tonight that is pretty much what we expected...

ABRUPT RECORD SCRATCHING NOISE...

Open door...there was Maya happy but not leaping like an antelope... and there next to the door our beloved Christmas wreath. The wreath bought this morning to get us into the DARN CHRISTMAS MOOD! MANGLED!!!  YES MANGLED ON THE FLOOR! But wait that's not all... Something wasn't right with the door... we could not open our front door! MAYA MANGLED THE METAL TRIMMING!!!!  YES METAL TRIMMING MANGLED DOG WREATH CHRISTMAS NO OPEN!

Evidence #1

Evidence #2

Close up with canine teeth marks of evidence #2

Some of you might recall a funny little incident I might have mentioned int he past... Maya our beloved dog had in the past only done something like this when she ATE A ZAPATISTA DOLL M had bought in Chiapas...

Turns out that while M and I were engulfed in the battle of the Avatars, Maya was waging her own war on our door!

As Charlie Brown would say "Good GRIEF!"