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LIVING & TRAVEL by andrew dean nystrom Fifth in a Series Index WEB TOOLS Mexico's Indigenous Homepage Mexico Map Pacific Coast Map Huatulco Coast Map Puerto Angel Map Oaxaca Oaxaca City Huatulco Puerto Angel San Cristobal

Entry 5: Monday, April 8, 1996: Salina Cruz and Puerto Angel, Oaxaca Salina Cruz, Oaxaca: Bus Culture Local buses in Oaxaca are much more than a means of transport -- they are a way of life. Decorated with altars and offerings to Jesus -- to protect passengers from the reckless driving -- the intercity buses also function as auxiliary units of the postal service. Locals often meet the bus in front of their house, and ask the driver to deliver a message to the next town. The long, hot dusty rides become a kind of a community center on wheels, where old friends meet and exchange news and gossip on their way to the market. When the old, rusty vehicles get crowded, finding a seat is a combination of Twister, musical chairs and a VW van-jam session. There is no such thing as full, with buses routinely doubling their official passenger limits, not to mention carrying live animals, buckets of rank fish and small appliances. Fares are collected during the ride; a conductor must make his way through the maze of passengers -- remembering who has paid and who hasn't -- clambering over seats like a trapeze artist. If you're lucky enough to find a seat, don't be surprised to find a woman breast-feeding to your right and a child asleep on your left shoulder. Puerto Angel, Oaxaca: Bees in the Honey, Mosquitoes in the Milk Like most of the beach resorts along Mexico's pacific coast, Puerto Angel used to be primarily a fishing village. Unlike its neighbors Puerto Escondido to the west and Huatulco to the east, it still retains a rustic feeling, with neither street signs nor traffic lights (no stop signs for that matter), and only one paved road. Most people haven't heard of it -- a very good reason to visit. At the Pasada Canon de Vata, the Lopez family combines rustic with California hospitality. Mateo, the father and artist whose family has been in Puerto Angel for 150 years, runs the inn with his wife Suzanne, who hails from Los Angeles. They are aware of the ecological impact a guest house with 20 rooms can have on a small village, so they built earth closets (composting toilets) and serve vegetarian and organic foods, bought locally, at every meal. I shared my room with a variety of insects, and my breakfast with their cats, dogs, parrots and the bees that came out of their honey into my oatmeal. Lizards purposely patrol the grounds: they are the official mosquito eradication squad. Yoga classes and holistic massage completed the experience. Look for more on festivals and traditions in my next update from the road. Andrew Nystrom is a 21 year-old Geography-Linguistics student at the University of California at Berkeley. Currently on sabbatical, he has been working as a freelance editor/travel correspondent. Previous travels have taken him to Indonesia, Scandinavia, Ireland, and Guatemala. He was most recently the editor of the Berkeley Guide to Central America for 1996.