Daily commute

This morning my collective taxi, along with many other morning commuters, had to make its way around a blockade just outside the city of Oaxaca. One thing I've learned here is that blockades are pretty much just a part of the culture here in Oaxaca. I don't know how effective they are, but Oaxacans sure know how to pull one off.

The blockade this morning caused us a 10 minute delay and couldn't have been more than 15 people with one car, a small poster, and lots of large rocks lined across. It's interesting to imagine how people would deal with such a thing in the U.S. I think Oaxacans are just so used to blockades that, while they don't appreciate them, they mainly just sigh in frustration and go around.

.

On my bus ride home at the end of the day, a man put a bundle of plants in the rack above my head. I felt a leaf or something hit my shoulder, but after a brief search I couldn't find it, so I just closed my eyes to rest.

Shortly afterwards, a gentle tap on my shoulder woke me up. I opened my eyes to see a man standing over me with a pair of children's scissors and motioning to my hair. I must've looked confused and worried, because he tried to reassure me by saying, "Wait, wait, you have something," as he lowered the scissors to my shoulder.

I strained to see what he was doing just as he captured an ugly looking caterpillar between the blades. Ew! He dropped it to the floor and squished it, and I proceeded to thank him. I don't know why he couldn't have just grabbed it with his fingers... If for some reason it was too dangerous to do so, I probably don't want to know about it anyhow ;-).