Random Events - Wallflowers, the party

I returned to the Mixteca briefly for a meeting. My youth radio cohort, the director of the station in Tlaxiaco and I had scheduled a meeting with the Municipal President of San Juan Mixtepec to talk about our plans. I arrived late the night before on the last van leaving from Oaxaca for the Mixteca. We're in the midst of the rainy season, as I've mentioned, which makes the road up to the mountains an obstacle course of boulders, rubble and potholes. All of which you can't see in the darkness until you are right on top of them. I suppose you could drive slowly, giving yourself time enough to brake--but not this driver. I was seated next to him with a front seat view of the action. But frankly--mid-way through the voyage, when addition to collapsed bridges and large boulders, fog descended, making it impossible to see further than 2 feet in front of us--I had to close my eyes; I couldn't watch any more. If I was going to die, I wanted it to be a surprise.

A lengthy meeting followed in the morning. The result of which clarified for Eva and I how complicated small village politics can be--and how they thwart even the most altruistic intentions. More on that later...


That evening I headed to a birthday party with Araceli and Eva. It was the strangest birthday celebration I've been to to date. Imagine a large, open courtyard, partly lined with long tables and folding chairs. The other half is dotted with small, ornate tables, crowned in crocheted doilies and small plates of crackers and cheese. The guests, instead of peppered throughout in groups chatting, sat bordering the perimeter of the room, wall-flower-style. And as is customary at most parties here, there was a giant sound system, blasting music for us AND the neighbors to enjoy--as if to say, please, please, nobody talk at all. We ate dinner at 11 PM. And as everyone settled back into their wall seats following dinner, the birthday boy and a professor of his from law school took over the electric synthesizer and mic, respectively, to dazzle us with some song. Awesome.

Despite of all this, or because of it, we had a great time laughing through the whole night. We followed up the birthday party with a few drinks at a local bar. Araceli's boyfriend would be celebrating HIS birthday the following day. So they were determined to wait out the night in a bar until they could celebrate him officially at midnight.