A Year in Oaxaca: Loose Ends #2
More updates about stories not yet concluded.
As the year comes to a close it’s time for another edition of Loose Ends!
I published the first Loose Ends as a way to tie up narratives that either remained incomplete or that could have used a follow-up but were not substantial enough to merit a stand-alone post. Now, almost a year later, there has been no shortage of stories and events for me to either elaborate on.
“He’s very white.”
My post Moments After A Birth captured individual moments relating to the birth of our son, Leo, but one key memory was accidentally left out.
On Sunday, the day after Leo was born, we were visited by our OB-GYN, Dr. Monica. We were surprised to see her given that we didn’t have an immediate follow-up scheduled for that day, and when she appeared at the door to our room she was wearing her street clothes, giving us the impression she had come in on her day off.
Everyone at the hospital had been very complimentary about Leo, and all things considered, he was (and is) a pretty good-looking baby. We suspect part of the charm is that the hospital likely has very few non-Mexican patients, making him perhaps a bit exotic. That impression was increased when Dr. Monica, after complimenting Leo, looked down at him and said with a slightly critical glint in her eye, “él es muy blanco, hmm?”
Why yes, our baby is very white! Mexico doesn’t have milkmen but it does have guys who deliver tamales on motorbikes. Was she thinking that maybe Andrea got an extra special lunch delivery one day? Immediately following her unintentionally funny observation I tried my best to explain to her that, actually, my family is mixed race, but I was so tired that my Spanish was not at its best and I think she also wasn’t particularly interested in my genetic heritage and how it relates to the color of my skin and the skin of my progeny.
However, it is possible I also didn’t entirely understand what our doctor said. Tonight at dinner in a restaurant someone said about Leo, “Su cabello es muy blanco!” which means, “his hair is very white!” [emphasis mine]. Mexico is a country where it’s quite normal not just for babies to be born with full heads of hair, but for that hair to be dark and luxurious, like Eric Estrada’s hair when he was on CHiPs. A blonde baby would be worthy of commentary.
Either way, it’s a fun story about Mexico!
Miguelito
It was the neutering, rescue, and subsequent surrendering of the dog Miguelito that ended our friendship with Liz, whom I now wish would move out of our town.
There are two codas to this story. The first is that yes, Miguelito did in fact have owners, and his real name (incredibly/hilariously) is actually Scott. The second is that Miguelito continues to roam the neighborhood, although now he wears a reflective anti-flea collar to signify that he has a home.
Seeing him on the street is bittersweet. He clearly remembers me and the kindness we showed him, and whenever I run across him he wags furiously and is a tremendously sweet dog. It’s also slightly sad because he loves seeing Loo, and it’s clear they would have been great friends. But I am happy he has a home and seems to be healthy, even if his owners’ willingness to let him wander in traffic shows a level of disregard for his health and care that is sadly so typical in our town, and more broadly in Oaxaca. Also, in case there’s any confusion, Scott is an objectively stupid name for a dog in Mexico and I continue to call him Miguelito.
La Escalera Caracol
The story of our spiral staircase is not yet finished and that saga is receiving fresh updates as progress occurs. It’s been such a lengthy ordeal, though, that in my eyes the story hasn’t had a very satisfying arc.
To date, the staircase was designed and has been installed (on the day Leo was born!) but we do not yet have the wooden steps or the railing topper, meaning we can’t yet use it. Those are scheduled to be installed this coming week and the carpenter, Edher, estimates it will take two full days of work in our house. The railing we requested has to be joined together, planed, and sanded so that it’s one continuous spiraling loop. Edgar thinks it may actually take Edher longer than he anticipates, so we’ll just have to see how efficiently the installation goes. We’re exceptionally close to the finish line, though, and unless something goes truly awry we’ll have our staircase before Christmas!
Return of the Cacomixtle
One of my earliest posts was about the nocturnal visitations of the cacomixtle, a rather unusual animal that’s a bit like a cross between a cat and a raccoon. Not only do they only come out at night, cacomixtles are also asocial, congregating only once a year to mate and otherwise living isolated lives deep in the forest. We have one that comes down into our property, an unusual phenomenon that drives the dogs absolutely nuts and sets off one of our motion-activated security lights.
This only seems to happen once the winter rolls in and so once again I set up the wildlife camera I purchased from Amazon. The video definitely does not disappoint.
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