"These legs were made for walking..."

A busy and productive day here in Oaxaca. I started the day with a 40 minute walk in the Llano--a large park about 5 blocks from my posada. In the mornings, lots of people of all ages walk and run on the stone walkway that surrounds the park. It was cool and fresh this morning--a great way to begin the day. I had breakfast with Diego (my tour guide friend) and his wife Mate at one of my favorite restaurants, then started putting more posters for the Centro de Esperanza in more businesses, museums, and eateries. Twenty sets are now up and visible in the Historic Center of the city. I visited for awhile both last night and tonight with Antonia, the mother of my sponsored child. Her photo accompanies this blog. She sustains her family with the sales of individual cigarettes and candy from the basket you can see in the photo. She (as with all the vendors) has her special location, which makes it easy for me to find her each time I return to Oaxaca.

One thing that never ceases to amaze me is how small this sprawling city of 400,000 seems when you are in the historic center--a fairly large area in itself. Today I was chatting in Spanish to a young woman who works in one of the "traditional" clothing shops in the city. I was putting up posters in the space in the hallway where lots of other announcements are posted and was explaining to her my long connection with Oaxaca. When I mentioned that my daughter used to teach at a private school here, someone behind me said in English, "I know Ashley--I worked as a teacher with her at Blaise Pascal." It is truly a place with a small town feel.

I'm exhausted--for someone who likes to go to bed early and get up early, too, this is the third night in a row I'm going to bed around midnight. So excuse me if I'm not too coherent tonight. I'll try to write tomorrow's entry a bit earlier!