Kids!

I love watching the kids here. Maybe that how it is for everyone, everywhere, but somehow the children here seem extra special. Again, maybe that is how it is everywhere.
Here, however, many kids are entrusted with responsibilities at an early age, responsibilities that would be unimaginable in El Norte. Children are regularly put in charge of running a business or taking care of a brood of siblings. It is not unusual to see an eight year old child in charge of a group of five to ten kids and doing a good job. I regularly buy things at the markets or in villages from very young people who are running the family business and held accountable just like any other worker.
But they are still kids, having fun just being kids, making us all recall what it was like (like we can remember) and giving us hope or at least, making us hope that things will be better for them in the future.
The lives of the street kids in Oaxaca is a subject that is rich, sad, inspirational and poignant. I see them all the time. Some are vendors, some street musicians, some part of families who sell all the tourist goods for which Oaxaca is famous.
These two are probably Triquis, as they working on homework right next to the plaza between Alcala and Cinco de Mayo - yes, that is the sidewalk in front of the Camino Real Hotel. Looks like a fun exercise to help with cursive writing. I could use it myself.

With all the craziness going on in the world, all the cold-hearted and negative feelings out there,
hey, stop for second, we can do better....

They deserve better than this. Let's get it together.