Oaxaca-The Year After: Hey! I'm workin' here

The here and now... and what and why

Complacency is a trap. At least that’s what I was thinking when I up and left the comfort of a Yankee prep school gig, where I taught music, amongst other things, for 28 years. There was also that life long career as a composer, musician and artist.

First, it was a year in St. Thomas, USVI, working as a reporter and shooting photography and then, a year in San Agustin Etla, Oaxaca, Mexico.
Time passed.
More time passed and a year back in the Athens of America followed by a hasty return to Oaxaca where it is all happening.
A couple of years in San Sebastian Etla and now, just down the road in San Pablo Etla. Life is good.

Click on an image to see it larger.
For additional photography please visit my flickr page.
You can find my music on Jango (World & latin - Worldbeat) and at iTunes and most online stores.
¡Soy consciente de todas las tradiciones del Internet!
If you are coming to Oaxaca, please contact me for tours or advice.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Hey! I'm workin' here

There is just something about the work ethic here that is off the charts. I saw it in the young man across the road, who just set up a business washing cars in front of his house. He has been doing it a few weeks and I have seen lots of cars there every time I drive by. I stopped and talked him a couple of weeks ago and asked how much. "35 pesos." My car was so dusty that some unknown person, perhaps Henry Wangeman of Amate Books, had written "porcino" when in fact they had meant to write "porcinito" a term of endearment, I suppose. At any rate, my car was incredibly dirty, Hey, it is Oaxaca in the dry season and there is so much road construction going on, it is impossible to keep it clean. That being said, Eduardo cleaned and polished the car until it looked almost new.... and detailed the inside! All in about 30 minutes. Wow, just wow,

I felt the same about the three guys who repaired a tire for me yesterday just outside of Etla. This tire has had a very slow leak for months now and yesterday I told myself I would stop at the first place I saw. The aforementioned road construction closed the road and I could not get to any of the ones that I saw. Eventually, I saw some tires stacked next to a pretty funky, but typical, shack just off the road. I pulled in and someone immediately took the tire off and then, it was like a ballet. They were working on three cars at the same time and they shared tools, the compressor and various tire machines. I just stood and watched. It was beautiful. In less than twenty minutes I was out of there for 40 pesos.

In both cases, these guys were working at the highest level, just giving amazing service. They were working their asses off and yet it seemed effortless. As I say, it was beautiful.

So I was paying special attention to people working today in the city. As I said, I think the work ethic here is remarkable. The hard work is often accompanied by a sense of fun or joy. It is hard to describe. Whistle while you work? Doin' good work makes you feel good? I dunno.

I saw this on my way in...