budget travel

My Easter Season started a few weeks ago. On March 9th, I came to school for class and was pleasantly surprised to find that the regular schedule was suspended to celebrate the Festival of Saint Photina. The students had mixed a few big batches of “flavoured water” (also called “aguas frescas” in other parts of Mexico) which they were serving to the teachers and younger students from the Primary and Kindergarten side.

There were some really nice varieties, including classic favorites like pepino-limon and jamaica along with several creative horchatas. I think it was still the usual rice base but it included papaya and walnut, too. After the teachers and younger students had been served, the students moved the large tubs to the entrance of the school and served free refreshments to passers-by.

Eventually I asked another teacher if there was any deeper meaning behind all this sitting in the shade and enjoying cool drinks when we should be working. It turns out there is.

jan_joest_von_kalkar_-_christus_und_die_samariterin_am_jakobsbrunnen — The original aqua fresca.

Every Friday that is part of Lent has a special meaning, especially in Oaxaca. This Friday March 9th we were celebrating Saint Photina. This festival is unique to the state and not commonly observed in other parts of Mexico. She met Jesus at a well during his journey to Jerusalem, and according to the Gospel of John, the two had an honest and intellectual discussion about spirituality and thirst after she helped him draw some cool drinking water from the dangerously deep well.

Then she converted to Christianity. Not only that, she converted her sons and the whole family went on to travel the world as evangelists before being martyred in Carthage. Legend has it they threw her into a well, a great example of an ending that would never work if you tried to include it in a fictional story, which leads me to believe it might have actually happened. And Christianity is all about how many people you convert and how painfully you die, so she’s pretty important.

Aside from being the inspiration for our school party, Photina is an important figure in Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Asian feminist theology. If you’ve ever met a “Svetlana” you’ve met someone who was named for this saint.

Our students were essentially recreating the meeting of Jesus and Photina. Some of the lessons learned during these non-class hours include welcoming strangers, sharing what you have, and being hospitable and friendly in general.

References:

Barbezat, S. (2008, March 6). How to Celebrate the Season of Lent in Mexico [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://www.tripsavvy.com/lent-in-mexico-1588773

Easter in Mexico – Planeta.com [Web log post]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://planeta.com/mexico-easter/

Water of Life (Christianity). (2017, July 2). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved April 8, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_of_Life_(Christianity)

La Playa Chica

This is a proposal I’m working on for what will eventually be a series of travel books. I’ll add more as I continue, but it may be convoluted or seems disorganized. A work in progress! Please comment as to what you think, it will help me polish the details. Cheers!

Travel books are usually written to encompass the bigger picture. These ones, however, are different. They take the big world and focus on a small piece of it – a microcosm – to share and enjoy. These books were inspired by a relatively small stretch of paradise called La Playa Chica (”the small beach” in Spanish) on the southern coast of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. Development here has happened relatively late and slowly compared to other parts of Mexico and information on the area is still rather obscure. The Playa Chica stretches south from the city of Puerto Escondido and turns east before ending in the resort town of Huatulco. You could drive past it in two or three hours on a narrow, winding highway through the hills and never know the little world that you missed.

This is not to say that La Playa Chica has not been written about at all. The area is too small to be extensively covered in most travel books, and smaller books that focus on this area do not include information about local transit options. Most of the information that is most sought after in conventional travel books can be easily found using Google or a related smartphone application. “Microcosms” not only contains information that is not readily available in print but can appeal to a wider readership given its structure and focus. The basic layout is fundamentally different, rejecting the conventional table of contents and scale maps.

After two sections in which a brief introduction to the area and the transportation options are covered, the reader will be presented with a chart that can be used to find specific points of interest in each small city. Sections that include details about accommodations or restaurants contain only general information and are not specific. Transportation options between the small beaches are the most difficult information to find. Not only does it vary depending on the season but it can change arbitrarily and does not exist in print or online. Information about local transport is included in the introduction and on the maps.

City	Accommodation	Tourist Attractions	The Beach	Special Interest	Shopping
Huatulco	x	x	x	x	x
Puerto Angel	x	x	x	x	x
Zipolite	x	x	x	x	x
Mazunte	x	x	x	x	x

This is a relatively small area, so information about transportation is uniform and contained in a separate section at the beginning of the book, along with a small collection of maps. This allows the reader to find exactly what they-re looking for without flipping through pages of hotel and restaurant listings.

Accommodation: doesn’t contain specific information *names, phone numbers, etc* but general information regarding location, amenities, and prices*

Tourist Attractions: some attractions, like ruins and museums, will have specific information regarding location and contact information, but there are few in the area.

The Beach: this is the main attraction for locals and visitors alike. As there are so many, this will be a mix of specific and general information that will also include comments and observations about cleanliness, accessibility, amenities, and activities.

Special Interest: this information is given in a more specific manner. If you come to the Playa Chica looking for natural cosmetics, yoga classes, spas, ethnic food or ecotourism, this is your section.

Shopping: this section is organized by items and categories and location but not by price, as this varies widely. There are general categories (jewelry, beach accessories, clothing) and specific items (organic spices, traditional embroidery, natural cosmetics).

The books focus on local transit, commuter bus routes, and other local secrets. Distances are noted but the maps themselves are not drawn to scale. Almost everything is within walking distance of transit hubs, making these books ideal for budget travelers or local people who have no use for information about resorts, airlines or guided tours. Continuing with the theme of practical and efficient use, the book is also designed to be small and accessible. It should not take up a lot of room in a small backpack or be awkward to flip through when on a crowded bus.