Something Is Rotten
Welcome to my random musings about the world, on a weekly-to-occasional basis.
Where we are: We’re still in Oaxaca, Mexico, which, as you will read, was touch-and-go last weekend.
Something Rotten In the City of Oaxaca
As soon as we arrived in Oaxaca, we went out for a paseo, or evening stroll. I’ve been reading about the charm and beauty and food in this city for years, and I was anxious to check it out.
About halfway through our stroll, Lee commented that Oaxaca is very clean. I rolled my eyes and pointed at an overflowing rubbish bin.
Seriously? There’s garbage everywhere.
I didn’t think much of the moment as we rambled through the historic center. Oaxaca really is beautiful—each building is painted a different color, historic 17th and 18th century churches tower over all, and this week, the lacy paper Dia de Muertos banners are still strung across the streets, adding even more color. It’s a fiesta of color.
In a weird way, the Centro of this town kind of reminds me of Disneyworld, or more specifically, Epcot—it’s like the idealized version of what we imagine the quintessential charming, historical Mexican town should look like. I realize that the word ‘adorable’ is sort of infantilizing, and I don’t mean it that way, but that’s what it is: adorable.
The next morning we headed out early for a food tour. Lee has a philosophy that if there’s something we really want to do in a place, we should do it as soon as we arrive, just to be on the safe side. So we spent most of the day with our Culinary Backstreets guide (and some delightful new friends—hi Nicholas and Yi!), who took us to several of the local markets, well outside of the tourist zone in the historic center. It was a delicious, exhausting, and hot day. Oaxaca is the warmest place we’ve been in several months, and when the tour ended, we collapsed in our hotel room, stuffed and sweaty, and called it a day.
One of the many interesting tidbits we learned from our guide was that the garbage collectors are on strike. Ahh, I thought. That explains the overflowing bins. Again, I didn’t think much about it.
On our second morning, Lee headed out early for a walk, wanting to get some steps in before the sun got too high in the sky (it’s really strong here). He texted me a little while later.
The garbage situation is out of control. I suspect you will think about whether you want to stay in this town when you smell what’s happening all over the center. The trucks are everywhere.
That’s verbatim.
Lee, for what it’s worth, has the tolerance of a saint. There are only two things I can think of that bother him: a dysfunctional breakfast, and cold weather. Garbage stench is neither of those; as a matter of fact, I don’t know that he has ever commented on a bad smell before (okay, once he said he might never get the smell of sewage out of his nose, but he mostly just laughed about it). I, on the other hand, smell everything and and am not shy about commenting. Princess is smell-sensitive.
So, yes. The garbage workers are on strike. The garbage has been stewing in the trucks and on the sidewalks for I-don’t-know-how-many days. It’s going to be 83 degrees today, with blazing sunshine, and because it’s Saturday, they’ve deliberately positioned the trucks every few feet throughout the tourist zone.
Oaxaca’s fabled restaurants are all … open air.
Maybe other tourists can just ignore it, but not me. I’m not eating lunch in a miasma of eau de rotten.
I know absolutely nothing about local politics, or working conditions, or anything else. A quick glance at Google told us that this happens fairly frequently. Do the sanitation workers have legitimate complaints? I have no idea.
But what I do know is this: sanitation is the bedrock of civilization. Without it, we humans can’t last long. And if this strike goes on, this tourist is not going to last long.
Edited on Wednesday to add: Apparently they’ve worked out their disagreement. Most—but not all—of the garbage has been cleaned up. There are only a few big piles left, and while they’re pretty disgusting, it’s easy enough to give them a wide berth. It looks like we’re staying put for a few more days.
Take care,
Lisa
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