Day 11 - Manialtepec Lagoon and Return Home

Breakfast was oatmeal, fruit and coffee at 6 AM so we could be in the van by 6:30 to make it to Manialtepec Lagoon by 7 when most birds start to get active.  It is a very large beautiful red mangrove lagoon.  There are many lagoons like this one up and down the Pacific coast of Mexico..  As we arrived we spotted a colorful Citreoline trogon with its tiny feet on a nearby tree.  Then we got on the boat outfitted for sightseeing with five seats on each side of the boat so no one had an inside seat!  The morning light was beautiful and we soon began to see large birds perched in the mangroves - a sleeping nocturnal boat-billed heron, kingfishers, pelicans, Great egrets, anhingas, an osprey flying by and many more.  I began to realize there must be a lot of big fish in the lagoon to attract and support so many big fish-hunting birds.  There was a large green iguana lounging in the sunshine on a tree branch.  It could lounge worry-free because it’s outgrown all of its predators.  Birding was pretty easy, the large nearby birds weren’t hard to spot.  We saw a cavalcade of cormorants (hundreds of them by the edge of the mangroves) that grew increasingly alarmed by our boat and took off as one body with a mighty flurry of splashing water and squawking.  One time we pulled up to the edge of the mangroves to look for a smaller bird.  It went like this:  Mark - “I see a flash of red and orange.  It’s moving up and down like a redstart.  Yep, I see it now, it’s a redstart.”  We all tried to follow him and see the bird, but it wasn’t easy especially if you’re looking for the bird from a different angle.  And so it went.  As we got near the mouth of the river feeding the lagoon, the water was less brackish and the plants were different.  There were grasses, palm trees and water lilies all of which supported more insects, so we got different birds: ducks, moorhens, gallinules and more.  We saw a Lineated woodpecker, the Mexican equivalent of the Pileated woodpecker, vigorously attacking a palm snag presumably full of insects..  It was very large and had a great wild red topknot making it look like Woody Woodpecker from cartoons in my childhood.  We spent a full 2 hours on the water and for me it was all bliss.  Then Mark said, “Vamos - hold on to your hats” and we zoomed back to the dock.  I thought all this is sacred, at least to me.  I’m so happy to experience such richness and diversity of life with people who also find it sacred (or at least totally wonderful).  The boat ride was a “Wow” experience and deep peace and happiness settled over me.  Our fellow participants have been wonderful:  curious, enthusiastic, considerate, polite, I could not have wished for anything different.  I have been so fortunate to have this experience

these past ten days.  I am so fortunate to be alive and healthy enough to be here.  On the trip we saw (or at least Mark saw) 230 different species of birds and learned about the rich culture of Oaxaca, ate great food and enjoyed the gracious hospitality of our Mexican hosts.  It’s been one of our best trips ever, masterfully organized and led by Mark Pretti.  Then suddenly,  it was all over and we all went our different ways.  For us, the trip home took 14 hours and went without a hitch.  Now my IPad and my head are full of so many lovely images to help me remember this wonderful experience.

Day 10 - To Puerto Escondido

After our birding outing yesterday, Bob and I went to the beach at Cerro Largo to see the sunset.  Curiously, because of the lay of the land, standing on the shore one has to look to the left to see the sun over the water and in the morning look right to watch the sun rise also over the water of the Pacific Ocean.  This evening the golden light made the beach, the cliffs and the water magical.  I looked back over the hillside cliff we had walked down and had trouble locating the palm thatched roofs of our cabanas.  Cerro Largo is tucked away so it is one with nature, truly an eco-lodge.  Over the days we were there, I found myself becoming one with Cerro Largo and its beautiful natural setting.  I loved our wall-less cabana with its view out to the ocean.  I loved the delicious vegetarian food, especially the Huevos Rancheros for breakfast.  I came to really enjoy the “shower” with the gourd water scoop and the tepid water that felt so good pouring over my skin and of course, the birds were great.  It was a really unique and lovely place to stay.

The next morning after birding and breakfast, we departed to drive 1 1/2 hours north to Puerto Escondido.  Our hotel was old, very well kept.  With its pink painted walls, two swimming pools and lush palm trees and ferns, it looked to me like something from S. Florida in the 1930’s.  There were lots of geriatric Americans around.  Our room was large with a hammock stretched right across the middle of it and a king size bed too.  After a late lunch and a rest, we departed for a late afternoon visit to Rio Colotepec, a nearby estuary, to see the water birds.  We parked at the end of a long dirt road at the edge of a wide sandy beach and hiked maybe a 1/3 mile through the deep sand to the river bank.  There, we watched all the multitudes of waders, ducks, and terns crowding on to a sand bank in the river coming and going.  I especially liked watching the ruddy egret, a tall gangling bird  flopping around in what seemed to me a dance to some inner music.  It moved back and forth opening and closing its wings and lifting and shuffling its feet to stir up food in the shallow water.  We shared the space with Mexican families swimming and just hanging out.  A flurry of snowy egrets began shuffling their feet and waving their wings, scooping them down to the water herding fish to shore exhibiting communal cooperative behavior with little blue and tricolor herons helping out.  As the sun began to set, we walked back, returning by the ocean where one of our group spotted two kinds of plovers just hanging out on the berms of sand.  Our long shadows amused us so in our happiness and comfort with each other we assumed silly positions to take photos of our extra long shadows.  We trudged back to the van in the golden light of the day’s end.  We watched the birds flit in and out of the scrubby trees near our van on their way to roost in the trees or the nearby cattail marsh.  I loved large scissor tail flycatcher, who long tail feathers crossed sitting at the top of a tree bathed in golden light.  It was a memorable time at the beach

.

Day 8 and 9 -Ventanilla and Coffee

Yesterday, after a morning bird walk, we had the mid-day hours off, to do what we wanted here at Cerro Largo.  Bob and I put on our bathing suits and headed for the beach.  There is a steep stone path down the cliff to the beach.  We found a paltry bit on shade from the noon sun, staked it out and went to the ocean.  The water was warm, the waves medium sized and the beach nearly deserted.  Bob plunged in and went out past the breakers.  I took longer to get wet and stayed in the surf.  There were too many riptides for me.  Back in our cabana we “showered” (washed with the gourd filled with water) which felt incredibly wonderful and then I got in the hammock on our porch and got really relaxed.  I drifted in and out of sleep, waking to watch the soaring black frigatebirds, turkey vultures and brown pelicans.  I marveled at their ease soaring and wondered about their nervous systems that must be attuned to very small changes in air flow.  Bob napped.  After a lunch of tostadas with guacamole and fresh fruit, we slowly made our way to a small fishing village near here, Ventanilla.  The birding was excellent as we walked through the village with the sun at our backs, but it was the village that impressed me.  Bob bought a sombrero for $4 from a grandmother tending a baby.  I thought it might have been her only sale that day, there were so few tourists.  I found I am looking at Mexico with soft eyes, seeing the beauty of the people, their culture and of nature.  Mexicans love children.  I don’t think I’ve seen a baby not being carried.  At our lunch, the fellow serving us carried his baby daughter while he served and cleared our plates.  Today driving into the mountains again, we passed through town after town where all the school children we walking to school.  They were very neat and clean, all wearing uniforms:  blue skirts or blue pants, with white shirts.  The girls wear long white pull-up socks and every child had a parent walking with them.  In Ventanilla, a car full of local people stopped by our group and a fellow asked what we saw.  His English was perfect and I thought, “he’s been working in the States.”  My dad always said, Mexicans don’t like to live in the States, they so prefer their warm hearted culture and they find the States so very expensive.  The nature here is very beautiful.  The forests are full of flowers and colorful birds and many colorful butterflies.

Today, we went back up to the broadleaf evergreen forest and walked a road where coffee bushes have been planted in the deep shade.  They fit right into the forest understory.  It was a riotous time of birding, the forest was full of birds, most of them directly overhead 30 feet above us.  We all got sore necks.  I recorded we saw 30 species.  My favorite (and the birds) was the gumbo limbo tree full of fruit.  It has shiny red bark like a madrone that grows in N. CA forests but is much bigger.  But what was remarkable during this time were the stories Mark had to tell us about the birds’ behavior or whatever we noticed.  He waxed eloquent about a termitory (a mud termite nest up in a tree).  First we all looked at it with our bins.  He pointed out the mud tubes running down the tree.    He had us guess why termites went to that much trouble and then explained, when none of us had the right answer, that termites have very thin exoskeletons and use the tubes to keep up the humidity so they don’t dry out.  The tubes are built of termite poop, mud and leaf litter.  Then he gave us a long and really interesting explanation about wood and how the termites digest it.  Wood is made of cellulose and lignin, cellulose being the rebar and lignin, the cement.  Termites have protozoan with bacteria in the gut that digest cellulose but for millions of years nothing could break down lignin.  That’s where our carbon energy comes from.  It was classic Mark.  We stopped at a coffee finca for our picnic lunch and a tour.  Antonio is the 4th generation to run this finca.  Since about 2000 they have been certified for organic shade grown coffee.  They sell all their beans to Mexicans who are increasingly buying special coffee.  Now back at Cerro Largo, I’m going for a walk on the beach.

Down the Mountain to Cerro Largo

We started out yesterday birding around the hotel at 8000 feet.  It was a balmy warm morning and plenty of birds were in the trees and underbrush.  Of the 18 species we saw in less than an hour, warblers, tanangers and orioles were the most common.  The last place Mark took us was the Monkey Hand Tree.  I called it “Bird Candy Tree” because the large cup of the flowers was full of nectar, at least 1/2 inch deep.  We tasted it and it was sweet, tasting of brown sugar.  The tree makes fresh flowers and nectar every morning.  Warblers, tanangers, orioles, hummingbirds plus American robin and a hairy woodpecker were flitting in and out, sipping the free nectar and pollinating the flowers in the process.  After we left the hotel, we stopped next on a dirt road at about 7500 feet where there were hummngbirds to see.  We watched bumblebee and blue capped hummingbirds doing their thing, feeding, singing and defending territory.  The birding wasn’t hard because the area had been selectively logged, so there were open spaces.  The forest was full of flowers and birds.  We watched a boring brown flower piercer stealing nectar from the base of red salvia flowers, a nectar parasite.  Further along at our lunch stop, we saw several different hummingbirds.  Our last stop was along a dirt road in a broadleaf forest around 4000 feet elevation.  In shady areas, there were elements of a cloud forest, with large philadendron and gigantic tree ferns.  We began looking for green toucanettes.  Looking for these green birds among the tall densely packed dark green trees was truly like looking for a needle in a haystack.  It was pleasant walking in the shade, but one really had to crane one’s neck looking up where the birds might be.  It was hard going.  I enjoyed the little waterfall and the mossy green banks covered with ferns and little begonias, lichens and liverworts, looking like a natural plant wall at SFMOMA.  We spotted the “bird of the day” last—a flame colored tananger.  It was fairly large, bright orangey red and very beautiful, especially against the green of the trees.  We continued down the mountain.  The forest changed to dry temperate deciduous forest that went all the way to the sea.  It was a hard day with windy bumpy roads and hard birding in the forest.  We arrived at our hotel, on a bluff overlooking the Pacific and got out of the van.  A wall of hot humid air hit us.  My instinct was to freeze and not move at all.  I think I was in shock.  It is an interesting hotel, the dream of its owner to be sustainable and easy on the environment.  What that means is that the cabanas have no plumbing at all.  There are compostable toilets, really a pit toilet with sawdust we throw in the pit after each use.  The “showers” consist of a large garbage can full of water and a half a gourd dipper to pour water over oneself.  It sounds awful but is really really good in the hot humid weather.  Our cabana is totally open, with a thatched roof and a view to the east.  The food is vegetarian and really fresh and delicious.  This morning in the early morning light we walked along the road for an hour seeing some good views of birds.  But the best was after our breakfast around 10 o’clock.  We went back to the compost pile and right there 10 feet in front of us were 5 very beautiful birds - a Citrylline Trogan,  a rusty mot-mot, white throated magpie jay, orange breasted bunting and the Colima Pygmy owl.  Now we have 4 free hours to relax, go to beach to explore and swim and let the magic of this special place does its work.

Day 6 - A Really Nice Day

Today was a really nice day.  First, we walked a rural road, looking for birds.  It wasn’t hard, birds were everywhere.  The early morning light gave a golden glow to the world.  It took us nearly 2 hours to walk a mile on the road, there was just that much to see.  I listed 30 different species seen and I couldn’t hear all the names so there were even more than that.  The first birds I saw were blue, very blue —-the blue grosbeak and the indigo bunting both eating seeds from drying sunflowers.  My favorite bird was the loggerhead shrike, a thick billed biggish white bird with gray markings.  It was very visible sitting on top of a big far away bush.  It flew over our heads and was gone, then reappeared carrying a big lizard.  It was still so cold, the lizard couldn’t move fast enough to get away.  A good lizard hunting time for the shrike.  It then disappeared behind some brush, was gone for a short while and reappeared without the lizard.  I was told shrikes impale their prey on big spines.  Then another shrike flew in and they both disappeared behind the brush.  One of them fly out carrying the lizard.  Mark said they must be a resident pair—-the male hunting and then giving the food to his mate.  Neat behavior to see.  The morning made for happy birders.  Second, we walked up the road to Yagul, another Zapotec site, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Benito, our driver and guide, walked us through the site, giving us excellent information about this place from so long ago as well as up to date information about land use in the Oaxacan Valley.  Third, we stopped at the workshop and home of some alebrije (wood carving) artists, Zeny y Reyna Fuentes.  We learned about the wood carving process and watched them do their carving with incredibly few simple tools.  The way Zeny used the machete, so fast, made me hope he wouldn’t slip and chop off his finger.  The wooden animals are then expertly painted by Reyna and her daughters.  We watched them paint using Ajave spines

.  It was hard to choose what to buy, there were so many beautiful little and bigger animals.  It was a pleasure to be in their workshop and watch them creating such beautiful art.  Then we drove 2.5 hours south into the Sierra Miahuatlan and the ridge top  town of San Jose del Pacifico, where we are staying in the rustic Hotel Puesta del Sol.  My only comment about the trip is the roads are really bumpy in Mexico and traffic speed is controlled by frequent speed bumps all signed with the word: Reductor.  It was a perfect day with three varied and wonderful experiences.

Day 5 - A Trip to the Mountains

Today we went up into the Sierra Madre mountains north of town to tromp around in the forest and find birds.  About 25% of Mexico is forested, with the Sierra Madre mountain running north to south like a spine in the middle of the country.   Oaks and pines are the dominant species and there are than 50 kinds of pines and more than 100 kinds of oaks.  In addition there are lots of Ajaves in the forests which look strangely out of place to my eye.  We’d been warned to wear all the layers we brought, but luckily it was a beautiful day and not so cold even early.  On the way up, we stopped and walked up a dirt road looking for the Oaxaca sparrow.  We found a pair of them plus a couple of other species.  I was interested to see a couple of neatly stacked and tied bundles of firewood, obviously gathered by a local to use for their cooking.  Back to the van and up the mountain we went. We spent the rest of the day high up at 9000-9700 feet.  We walked along a beautiful path in an eco-reserve forest.  There were lots of wildflowers along the path which was somewhat surprising since it hasn’t rained for many months.  Some are common in U.S., like lupine, Indian paintbrush, thistles, but by far the most common were Salvias (Mexico has more than 300 species).  The trees were dotted with epiphytes - bromeliads, mosses, lichens.  I spent a lot of time looking at the flowers because seeing the birds was so hard in the forest.  If you’re not standing in the right stop, it’s hard if not impossible to see the bird being observed and it’s always challenging for me to focus on a bird hopping in and out of the thick branches.  Birding teaches one forbearance and patience.  Considering we had not done much birding in the past recent years, we are doing remarkably well, I’d say.  I did get some great views of the slate-throated redstart (a beautiful bird with a red breast and a slate gray back and a gray tail with white side feathers) and a couple of others.  I was very happy to admire the huge diversity of mosses, lichens and ferns.  Once again, I remembered the importance of having a search image in your mind.  I noticed a succulent and dry fern on a road bank and took a photo of it.  Surprisingly to me,  immediately after that I must have noticed 20 more succulents after that because my brain knew what to look for.

The high point of the day for me was lunch at a beautifully situated restaurant called Colibri (hummingbird in Spanish) overlooking the forest. There were hummingbird feeders hanging all around and lots of hummingbirds zipping in and out of the nearby flowering bushes.  The walls were open to the forest.  As we arrived, there were pitchers of freshly squeezed juices, one of passion fruit and the other of guava.  Most of us had chili rellenos which were absolutely delicious (a Passia chili stuffed with shredded chicken, raisins, onions, and almonds, then dipped in batter and fried).  After the lunch, I ordered a Mexican hot chocolate made with water.  Chilis and chocolate are really good together and made me very happy.  We took our time over lunch and after nearly two hours, most of us got into the van.  Everyone except the driver, Benito, and one guy.  We waited and waited, too relaxed to see what they were intently looking at.  Finally one came and got us all.  There was a warbler bird party.  We all got amazing looks at a beautiful bird, the olive warbler, which isn’t olive and not a warbler.  Recently it has been put into a bird family all its own because it has such different physiology and behavior and presumably its DNA is different from warblers.  There were at least 7 different species of warbler there, which is a good and very exciting experience for a birder.  All the way back, we found wonderful birds wherever we stopped.  It was a good day, fun to spend time walking in a beautiful forest together with others who enjoy the same thing.  Tomorrow I’’ be sad to

leave our little hotel here in the old part of Oaxaca and head up to the mountains in the south.

Day 4 - Oaxacan Food and Culture

This morning we went to the huge Central Market of Oaxaca, Mercado de Abastos.  The sign above the entrance read “Todo de Todo y Mucho Mas....” and there was.  Because it was 9:30 am on Sunday morning, the market was very quiet.  It was a total sensory experience, amazing delights to see, overwhelming smells, tastes of amazing local food, and sounds of local culture.  You could buy anything you wanted or needed there, well maybe not electronics.  There was every kind of ingredient from dried grasshoppers to chilis to garlic, from breads to fresh yellow skinned chickens, fresh and dried fish and much much more.  I’ve never experienced a market where we went from place to place tasting everything.  I secretly hoped I wouldn’t get sick.  I found it was quite a trippy experience.  We started with cacao beans which were ground with stick cinnamon and almonds into a shiny dark brown paste.  We watched the young girl make Mexican hot chocolate, using the paste mixed with sugar and boiling water, then mixed until it was very foamy.  You’re not a good cook if you can’t make foamy chocolate water.  We stood in a circle and passed the cup of hot chocolate around to try it.  I thought it was like communion  and I said a silent blessing.  The next was maybe the best—the Oaxacan tamales.  They cost 5 pesos each (about 25 cents).  We all got plastic forks and passed the three different kinds of tamales around.  My delicioso!  They use the local corn specially treated to make the fresh masa and then added chilis, local fresh herbs and beans to make the different kinds and wrapped them in dried corn husks.  We wandered for hours, past the herbalists, with cures for almost anything, the fish sellers, went down bread alley.  We spent a long time by the dried chilis learning from our guide about each variety’s flavors and which chili is used in which dish.  It all went over my head.  There are so many different kinds!  I was impressed by one woman selling all the ingredients for a yellow mole (the right chilis, flowers, herbs, what looked like prickly pear pads and long brown pods with dark seeds and tortillas).  Last, but not least, we tasted Tejate, an ancient drink of the local peoples around

here.  It has a base of roasted corn, cacao, flowers, Mamey fruit and a kind of coconut all ground together and then whipped into water. It’s amazing that a drink that Zapotecos have had for  thousands of yearsd is still sold in the market today.  I liked it!  It seemed very nourishing and satisfying.

Next, we drove north into the countryside on a really bumpy road to the Seasons of the Heart Cooking School.  It was started many years ago by an ex-pat American chef. Susanna Trilling.  We heard a lecture about all the local cooking implements and ingredients used to make the meal.  Then we were treated to a delicious five course meal.  But first we were invited to help prepare the tetelas, tasty appetizers which after we made the tortilla, spread on the bean paste and folded it over into a triangle were then cooked on a copal (a big metal dish) over an open fire.  We were all happy that’s all the cooking we had to do.  Sopa de Ajo was our second course, followed by a delicious salad with jicama, citrus, avocado, pomegranate, and a variety of greens.  The main course was mild mole with chicken and finishing the meal was a bread pudding.  I don’t like bread puddings, but I’m glad I tasted this one.  It was soaked in a sauce with lots of brown sugar and mezcal, served with whipped cream and chucks of local fruits.  Yum.  Completely sated we climbed back into the van for the ride back to the hotel.  It was interesting to spend a day concentrating on food because it is truly our sustenance, at the basis of our lives.  You are literally made out of what you eat.  Here the local Oaxacan cuisine has used many local plants and is based around moles (chilis and chocolate)and corn and hasn’t changed for millenia.  Interesting to think how literally connected the local people are to their land.  Interesting to think about the birds we’re here to see and how they have interacted with their food supply around here.  Interesting to think how the food has been a big selection pressure for the successful adaptations we see.  It has been an interesting day centered around food.

Day 3 -More Birding and Monte Alban

True to our usual pattern after one days’ practice

, we met for breakfast at 6:15 and left in the van for our morning birding trip to an old abandoned road north of the city.  It had occasional joggers, bicyclists and families just out walking, all locals along with the tdf (temperate deciduous forest) with its many birds.  Our guide Mark’s enthusiasm, expertise and funny stories make the whole experience a great pleasure.  We saw a Greater PeWee, the name being “a Mexican oxymoron” he said.  Flycatchers are notoriously hard to identify.  After spotting several, he expounded at length about the difference between bearded and non-bearded flycatchers. The bearded ones use those feathers around their beaks and their thick big bills to catch large flying insects, while the non-bearded ones, typically glean insects from trees and bushes.  For them to try to catch large insects would be “like me trying to catch butterflies with a goldfish net.”  We learned that in addition to habitat, size, shape, and behavior are better for identifying birds than color markings.  As we walked through this rich bird habitat, some special birds we saw were Bullock’s Oriole feeding on the nectar of the large white flowers of the morning glory tree.  We watched as they pecked a hole in the bottom of the flower to gain better access to the nectar, by-passing the pollen.  Too bad for the flower as it gives up it’s bribe of nectar and didn’t get pollinated.  Other birds worth mentioning among the many we saw were two kinds of hummingbirds, a couple of Green Elaenias, partial sightings of a sulky Elegant Tro and Blue Mockingbird.

From there, we drove to Monte Alban ruins which covers a large area on mountains surrounding the town.  The mountain top was purposefully flattened over a period a 200-300 years before the Zapotecos began to build their pyramids, houses and grand sites on the mountain top.  Benito our guide was passionately proud of his Zapotecan heritage and shared many stories about the society that lived and ruled here from 500 B.C. To 750 A.D.  We learned that it was a very advanced society with medicine, arts, music and complex administration.  Tromping up and down the very steep steps of the pyramids was challenging and hot in the exposed sun.  I photographed wildflowers whenever I saw them.  I was thrilled to find the “bloody nose plant”  (Calliandra) that I know from the Botanical Garden.  I learned from Mark that it is bat pollinated and makes new flowers each night with fresh pollen to attract the bats.  Mark also told us about how the Zapotecos (then and now) soak then cook their corn with a little piece limestone which helps dissolve the seed coat of the corn and releases the vitamin B12 which is essential for good health.  He made the point that there must have been a hugely developed agriculture system because in order to build such a site as Monte Alban was, there had to be many many surplus Calories available for all that work.  

Needing Calories, we had a picnic lunch in the shade and then toured the Museum where the most interesting case was one showing human skulls which had been modified surgically to have the shape of a panther (presumably while the person was alive).  We toured another museum and saw a wedding party outside the Santo Domingo Cathedral.  We were told it costs US$ 30,000 to rent the Cathedral for a wedding.  Some Mexicans have lots of money.  The day was finished with a delicious dinner in a wonderful restaurant.  It was a 13,000 step day with 22 flights of stairs climbed.  I’m tired.  

Day 2 - Birding, Weaving and Food

The day began at breakfast at 6:15 am.  The stars were still out and it was chilly on the roof terrace, but hot coffee and a Mexican breakfast of fresh bread, hard-boiled egg and fresh fruit nourished us.  It was the first time we met as a group and it looks to be a group that will get along well.  It was a 45 minute drive to our first stop - a grassy hillside in the foothills above the valley that Oaxaca is in.  Along the way, we were oriented by our guide, Mark, about the biogeography of the region and the various habitats we’ll visit.  Getting out of the van, we all had our bins, Bob had his big camera and we set out to see what we could see.  After the first ten minutes I was high, doing what I love, exploring nature.  I loved spotting a castor bean bush with leaf-footed bugs congregating and doing what congregating bugs do.  We saw many birds ( vermillion flycatcher, endemic gray breasted woodpecker, lark sparrow, Inca dove, curved billed thrasher and more) and learned about the cactus and trees growing in the area.  We learned about which birds eat what and where and when to expect them (when their food source is ripe or there).  After a couple of hours, we drove to a small creek spotting a variety of birds there - lots of flycatchers, including a pair of vermillion flycatchers  and warblers.  The morning held yet another habitat - a small lake behind a dam.  There I spotted a berylline hummingbird (emerald green hood and rusty wings and back) on a tree tobacco and many of the usual suspects for lakes (egrets, coots, sandpipers, killdeer, least grebes).  We drove into town - Teotitlán Del Valle - a small thriving Zapotec community where many weavers live and work and had lunch.  We chose from a menu of local foods - Mole negro, Mole coloralitos, hulaypo (Oaxacan pizza - a big flat toasted corn tortilla spread with spicy black beans and topped with stringy cheese and slices of avocado and tomato).  After a relaxed lunch (birders never hurry at lunch), we went to a local weaver and had a fabulous demonstration of natural dyeing and spinning and weaving.  As we sat in the shade in their courtyard, we were given a cup of a local drink - Atole - which is made from roasted corn ground into a very powder and diluted with water.  All the local food has left me queasy, with an upset tummy.  Bob couldn’t resist and bought of their beautiful rugs.  The day ended with a stop at the Biggest Tree on Earth - a Montezuma cypress which is 2000 years old.  In the 19th century Alexander von Humboldt came all the way from Germany just to see this tree, it’s that famous.  It’s huge and a spot many Mexican tourists visit.  I loved to see all the families there.  Afterwards, we had a Nieve - a Mexican sorbet or snow cone.  They come in lots of flavors, Bob and I

chose to share a Mamey, a local fruit that tasted like persimmon to me.  Another flavor that looked interesting was Mango with Chili.  After a 45 minute ride back to the hotel, we quickly refreshened up and walked to dinner at a lovely restaurant.   It was a great first day and we are very tired and happy.

Day One - A Free Day in Oaxaca

We awoke refreshed and hungry.  Luckily, breakfast was right outside our door on the roof terrace.  We met our guide, Mark Pretti, and a couple of the participants.  We decided to go to the English tour at the Ethnobotanical Garden behind the Cathedral of Santo Domingo.  Without too much difficulty we found it and waited for the tour.  Our guide, Alonso, spoke English but with a really strong accent so words especially at the end of sentences were lost.  But I appreciated his skill at handling such a large group.  One of our fellow birders was on the tour.  I was impressed she had her bins and spotted hummingbirds and a kiskadee among the many she saw.  We enjoyed the two hour tour and took many beautiful photos especially of cactus and Ajaves (not birds).  My nighttime impressions of Oxaca were not wrong.  The city looked much more beautiful and vital by day.  The streets paved in big stones, the buildings are 19th century two story colonial and painted in many bright colors.  The accents of the iron work kept Bob occupied as he tried to determine how old it might be.  The city is small (40,000) and is situated in a valley with mountains ringing it.

When I think of what I experienced, I think color and music and short people.  There were many street musicians.  While we were eating lunch, we heard a loud banging, a big commotion outside and everybody (I mean everybody, the waiters, bus boys and patrons) rushed out to see what it was.  Can you imagine being serenaded by a brass band with two 10-12 feet high puppets dancing around.  If that wasn’t enough, there were two big 10-12 feet high balloon like structures dancing around.  One had writing that said “Felix Cupleanos” (Happy Birthday).  Eventually a couple appeared and a lovely young lady in a red lace dress was given a present and a big kiss by a young gentleman.  What a birthday celebration!  They know how to do it right here.  Walking along the streets which were filled with American tourists and street vendors, I felt mildly guilty not buying the trinkets, but I have enough of such things.  We walked 12,000 steps and were duly tired out when we got back to the hotel after a wonderful day exploring.

Beginning our Oaxaca Adventure

The rain had stopped by the time the Uber driver picked us up at 8:45 am and took us to Berkeley BART to begin our journey to Oaxaca.  I’d given us just a 50% chance of making it on Wednesday because the Government shut-down in its 26th day might mean fewer TSA agents and a very big storm was supposed to hit with high winds and serious rain just at our departure time.  Our worry about slow security lines didn’t happen.  We made it through security in just 30 minutes so we had lots of time at the airport.  We chatted with a nice fellow who was going to Oaxaca for a “destination” wedding.  Later the bride and groom arrived with big smiles. The storm did arrive, the plane sat at the gate for 30 minutes because of bad weather.  I was worried as we only had 1 1/2 hours for our connection in Mexico City.  It was an easy and quiet flight.  We were given food (ham and cheese croissants and a small container of applesauce).  As we were waiting to deplane, Bob chatted with his seatmate about where she was going.  Interestingly, she and the folks in front of me, were all going to Cancun for a 4 day Grateful Dead concert on the beach.  These 30 somethings and the wedding folks had some pretty exciting plans.  Bob and I considered and thought we’d rather be birding.  Mexico City airport was a mad-house!  It was unbelievably crowded, there were very few signs, and my memory is just being pushed along, all the while being unsure we were going to the right place.  We  managed to board the bus, asking “Oaxaca??” And.everyone nodded.  We had a delightful conversation with the same fellow who sat across from us in San Francisco Airport and discovered an amazing number of connections, schools, and people.  There is something magical about coming to Oaxaca.  At the Oaxaca Airport we managed to get on the  “Collectivo” - a mini-van filled with people going to different places in Oaxaca (like a ride-share).  My impressions of Oaxaca by night were of low, really old buildings painted reds, and pinks and blues with lots of black iron work of the balconies, windows and doors.  It was midnight when we arrived at Hotel Azucenas a charming little hotel with a beautiful courtyard.  We were ushered to our room after much discussion in Spanish and English.  It is the tiniest room, like a big closet and with no window.  We fell into bed, happy to have made it here on Wednesday and eager to explore Oaxaca.

Finding an Even Keel

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been slowly regaining my equilibrium after an exciting and busy Christmas.  Now, it’s time to get back to normal, whatever that means.  Perhaps normal refers to living our usual patterns that provide us the comfort of familiarity.  That is a good thing. However, we can get too comfortable find ourselves living on automatic pilot.  Doing new things breaks us out of the pattern and the excitement gives us fresh eyes to see things in new ways.  But too much change and we find ourselves unsettled, rushing from one activity to another, and getting worn out.  For me, a happy life is a balance between the familiar and the new.  These first weeks in January, we returned to our pattern of going to the gym three times a week.  It is good to get back to the bicycles, the weight machines and yoga.  I also find I am having lunch with friends, enjoying reconnecting.  The Book Club met.  On these rainy winter days, the Botanical Garden is especially quiet.  I haven’t spent much time there.  Each plant has adjusted to the colder temperatures, the short days and the rain.  The deciduous trees have lost all their leaves while the magnolia buds are swelling, getting ready to burst forth in blossom in a few weeks.  Each plant is resting and preparing for spring in it’s own way.

Bob and I are preparing this week to go on a ten day birding trip to Oaxaca, Mexico each of us in our own way.  Bob said we are like the Ant and the Grasshopper in an Aesop fable.  I am concerned with having the right clothes for different weather extremes.  I prepare way ahead of time: my trip clothes have been laid out for more than a week.  Bob is concerned with having the right lenses for his camera and has gone on several bird photographing sessions in the last week.  We were going to practice our birding skills but it has rained nearly every day since the first of the year, so we haven’t.  I look forward to warm weather, the experiencing the gentle ambiance of Mexican culture,  the rich natural environments and seeing new birds.  Bob is looking forward to having a relaxing time with everything taken care of for us, concentrating of the scenery and photographing the birds, and the Mexican culture and the food.  Together we will experience all this each of us in our own way.   It is good to get out of our routines and do something new and exciting.

Christmas is Over

Christmas is over.  The nest totally emptied yesterday when we took Erik to the airport to go back to Cambridge.  When we pulled up to Departures Area, we all jumped out of the car in one quick movement as though we were physically connected.  Erik gave me a big hug, said thanks and then he said “You filled the house with love.”  If there is one thing I wanted to do with all my actions and work over the holidays, it was that.  There is nothing more important.  It was a lovely lovely Christmas.  As I recall the busy days, my heart is filled with beautiful memories:  of the grandkids making cookies and decorating gingerbread houses, playing games, playing music, playing with each other and Liam building Lego.  I have wonderful memories of the many meals with all of us around the table;  of the many outings to local science museums, to parks, to the Botanical Garden;  of the hours spent in the shop making water bottle rockets.  I have memories of all special times and traditions but most of all just all of us being together.  As  I remember all the preparations, all the trips to the markets, I want now let that all go and just remember the love that the food represented as it nurtured us, body and soul.  Nothing was wasted:  the ham bone made split pea soup, the leftover Christmas roast went into a beef pot pie.  Love is never wasted.  Today, I will take down all the decorations and put them away for another year.  These Christmas holidays are very special for our family.  I hear Erika’s voice in my head saying she can’t imagine Christmas without being at Gramma and Grandpa’s house.  What a gift to us that they come every year all the way from Michigan, that Erik comes all the way from the UK and that Arne and Karna and kids and Summer dog come from Palo Alto all to crowd into our house for some days of togetherness.  I hope everyone felt the love that was so generously around this Christmas expressed in so many different ways.  That is the biggest gift of all and what Christmas is really all about.