EIL Intercultural Learning

¡Hola, como estas!
 
I have left the great city of Oaxaca and I'm now in my volunteer placement in La Ventanilla on the Oaxaca coast! However my journey here didn't quite go as planned, my own fault! I arrived in Huatulco bus station after 8 hours or so on the night bus through the windy mountain roads. Me being extremely dazed and sleep deprived presumed it was Pochutla station and happily got off the bus. Only while standing outside the station did I see the huge "Huatulco Bus Station" sign! Yes i felt quite the idiot! Thankfully there was another bus to Pochutla in half an hour as i didn't even have enough money to take a taxi from Huatulco. So I took that bus and after a taxi ride from Pochutla I arrived in a deserted La Ventanilla at 8 am on a Sunday morning. The only life I could see (and very much hear) were the noisy families of chickens roaming around the village! Soon enough people began to arrive and I was brought to my house (does it classify as a house even if it doesn't have doors or seal-able windows?). There i met Marie Claire the other Irish volunteer in Ventanilla, who was leaving that day. She showed me around the village, introduced me to some people and gave me some very helpful tips! ¡Gracias Maria!
 
 After Marie Claire left for Mexico City I settled down to get some sleep for the first time in 2 days. However, some people from the village invited me to go to the festival of Santa Maria Tornameca with them. Of course I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity, no matter how sleep deprived! So 8 of us (somehow) piled into a taxi in the lashing rain and headed to Tornameca. Thankfully by the time we reached the town the rain had eased off and the roads once again resembled roads rather than rivers! The fireworks at the festival were amazing! There was a constant bang of fireworks in Oaxaca City but they were nothing like the display in Tornameca. Crazy rancheros running around the zocalo dressed up as horses with fireworks attached to every part of their bodies! Next up was the dancing which I was secretly looking forward to as i thought i could impress the locals with the salsa skills i acquired in the institute in Oaxaca City....... However, they dance kumbia on the coast! So i was thrown very much into the deep end and had to learn this new, strange dance by watching everyone else. What i didn't realize was when there is a song playing, nobody sits down and its like an unwritten rule that you must be up dancing. Of course me being the only non-local in the town, everyone wanted the novelty of dancing with the foreigner and getting a picture with me! I tried my best to explain to them in my broken Spanish that i couldn't dance, but they didn't care and dragged me onto the dance floor anyway! Most didn't even laugh at me which was much appreciated! After a brilliant night, where me of all people spend the whole time dancing, we piled back into a taxi at 4.30 and headed home. I was so tired that i didn't even have the energy to feel uneasy or uncomfortable about sleeping with the mosquitoes, ants, bats, scorpions and other animals that i share my room with.
 
I began to adjust to my new lifestyle here in the next few days, which is actually quite different to life in Oaxaca City. Things are even more laid back and relaxed here, somehow! After going on only 2 tours (in Spanish i might add) I gave a tour in German to some Bavarian tourists that didn't speak Spanish (though neither can i really!) as nobody in the town speaks German. I was really looking forward to speaking a familiar language, although it did take a while to switch my brain from Spanish to English to German! The tourists really appreciated it though and i felt a huge sense of accomplishment afterwards. Next was a French tour, but it wasn't quite as easy as the German one. My french isn't that good and I find it quite similar to Spanish so the two languages kind of got mixed together! Thankfully i managed to get my point across through French, Spanish or English, and the tourists seemed to really enjoy the tour ( as my linguistic struggles!). I'm still waiting to give a tour in Irish! Could be waiting a long time though!
 
I went to feed the deer and clean their pen with one of the guides a few days after arriving. That's when i saw my first ever snake in the wild! I was like a child at the zoo! It was a venomous snake though so I was very careful of where i walked for the rest of the day! We then went to pick coconuts for the little restaurant on the island and I attempted to climb my first ever coconut tree (attempted being the key word!). I let the guide do the climbing while I worked the rope from the safety of the ground! It's tough work but the reward of drinking the fresh coconut water afterwards was well worth it!
 
I'm really enjoying life here in Mexico and even though its extremely different to Dublin, I feel very much at home here. It's very easy to fall to Mexico's charm and feel like you never want to leave. Actually one of the guides here originally came as a volunteer and 6 years on he is still here! Even when it is quiet and there aren't many tourists here there's always something to do if you look hard enough. However it can be frustrating trying to get involved and find something to do that is actually of benefit, and you really do have to take your own initiative, which i found difficult for a while. But my house always needs to be cleaned and my clothes always need to be washed. I learned how to wash my clothes by hand properly and its a habit I'm going to take home with me. it uses far less water, no electricity, it's actually quicker than my washing machine and also you get a great sense of accomplishment afterwards! It sounds daft but try it! It's better for the environment and cheaper for you! I should really stop rambling now!
 
¡saludos y adio!
Liam (Guillermo- my mexican name)

Liam is volunteering on an eco-tourism project in Mexico for 8 weeks