Category Archives: January 2013
Editor’s letter
New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings. -Lao Tzu
Welcome to The Eye! This is our 24th issue and marks our 2nd birthday! What started out as a little project to publish positive interesting stories about Huatulco and its surroundings has grown and developed into a community of thinkers and explorers with a readership that stretches around the globe. What has resonated is how each of our contributors feels privileged to be a part of this great community who have come to call Mexico home. Whether for a few months a year or years on end, it is clear that this place is magic. Continue reading Editor’s letter
Huatulco’s Autism Clinic
By Vivien Hoyt
I have a cockatoo, Juliette, and she has this amazing ability to see a good person from across the room. If you believe in angels, you will find some of them work at Clinica de Autismo /DIF here in Huatulco. I have had the fortunate experience of volunteering for them the last few months and let’s just say that the DIF staff have received Juliette’s approval. They are the most loving, kind, compassionate people you could ever meet. Continue reading Huatulco’s Autism Clinic
Books With No Shelf Life: Back to the Classics
By Carole Reedy
As you compile your 2013 reading list, don’t forget the classics. Some, ironically, seem more timely today than for the era in which they were written. All touch on the art of being human, probably the reason they live on. Some of these famous works have been adapted to the big screen or theater. Continue reading Books With No Shelf Life: Back to the Classics
A Bird’s Eye View: Mexico City in One Day
By Carole Reedy
When friends come to visit, the first tourist attraction on the agenda is a ride on the Turibus. Despite numerous journeys over the years, I still get a thrill when I step to the upper deck, take my seat among the treetops, breathe deeply, and stretch my face toward the sun, happy in the comfort of my adopted city. Continue reading A Bird’s Eye View: Mexico City in One Day
A Sobering Comment for Reflection on Life, Living & Death in Oaxaca
By Alvin Starkman, M.A., J.D.
When I first learned that the January theme for The Eye is new beginnings and birth I spoke with my wife, both our minds immediately refocused on the theme of death; initially to the four infant deaths which have touched our lives since our regular visits to Oaxaca began over 20 years ago, and then to the seven adult Oaxacans we had counted as friends or acquaintances, who had died of unnatural causes. Continue reading A Sobering Comment for Reflection on Life, Living & Death in Oaxaca
Midwives in Oaxaca
By María Cristina Galante Di Pace and Araceli Gil Archundia
“Midwives are the inheritors of the pre-Hispanic medicine woman, the spokespersons of the gods, the priestesses of life, the protectors of health, the counselors of couples, the ones who scold, the ones who are not silenced by men, the ones who know the secrets.”
In rural Mexico, midwives still attend almost 50% of the births and are preferred over the doctors because they themselves are women; because they charge less; because they go to the woman’s home, are available, speak the same language and share the same culture; and because they treat women with warmth and emotion. Neverthless, traditional midwives recognize their limitations in intervening in grave situations of obstetric emergency. Continue reading Midwives in Oaxaca
FONATUR: The Birth of Huatulco
By Brooke Gazer
Visitors to Huatulco cannot help but notice prominent signs displaying the name FONATUR and many ask what they mean. The name is an acronym that loosely translated signifies “National Tourism Development Fund”. This government fund was established in 1974 with a mandate for the planning, construction and maintenance of sustainable well-designed tourism centers throughout the country. Some of their projects include Cancun, Ixtapa and Cabo San Lucas. Huatulco, however is unique; it is an eco-friendly resort with an amazing amount of permanent green space, including a National Park. Continue reading FONATUR: The Birth of Huatulco
Sneak Preview: January MET Operas Live in HD
By Carole Reedy
The 2012-13 season of high-definition (HD) transmissions from the Metropolitan Opera in New York marks the new year with six more productions from the Met to brighten your winter doldrums, from January 5 until April 27. See the two delights for January in Teatro Macedonia Alcala in Oaxaca City and at the Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City as well as several other locations in Mexico. Continue reading Sneak Preview: January MET Operas Live in HD
The First Tonameca Heirloom Corn Festival
By Julie Etra
The first Annual Festival of Maize Criollo took place in Santa Maria Tonameca on Sunday December 16th. This small community is located about 8-10 miles west and north of Pochutla in the municipality of Tututepec, Oaxaca. Maize Criollo, perhaps better understood by English speakers as Heirloom corn, consists of native and local varieties of corn that have been preserved and propagated for hundreds of generations. As per a series of articles previously published in the Eye, the ‘birthplace’ of corn has been confirmed to be the Balsas watershed on the border of the states of Oaxaca and Guerrero, with plant breeding beginning about 10,000 years ago. The ancestor of the current modern corn is a grass-like plant known as Teosinte, which barely resembles what is consumed today. Continue reading The First Tonameca Heirloom Corn Festival
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