Expatriates

Today (Saturday, October 23rd) was a very long day, and tomorrow will be just as long. We bussed out at 8:30 and tomorrow it will be 8:45 and both days back late in the evening. Today we went west and north, to the Mixteca Alta (the High Mixteca). Sunday we head east, into the Valley of Oaxaca. Last night at the reception we met some interesting people. There is a couple from Columbus who have a house in Oaxaca and spend four months a year here. They feel very safe here—the drug wars are up on the border, and professional kidnappers wouldn’t go after gringos, who would have to have any large sums of money for a ransom transferred and exchanged, unlike rich Mexicans. In any case, Americans who live here are probably doing so because they aren’t wealthy and it's much more affordable here than in the U.S. Medical and dental care are both very good and amazingly inexpensive—an English-speaking doctor charged $40 for a house call, and nothing for follow-up. The man had a bridge replaced, very well—their regular dentist is now one in Oaxaca. I would feel a little uncomfortable about being a “rich” foreigner living in a poor country, not so much from fear as from a feeling that I would never be a genuine part of the community. We had fun today and I took a lot of pictures, but that will have to wait.