As I was, you may be wondering where in the world is Puerto Escondido? It’s a small town on the Pacific coast of the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico. You’ve probably heard of Puerto Vallarta—keep heading southeast along the coast. Eventually you’ll hit another city you’ve probably heard of—Acapulco. Keep going and just before … Continue reading
As soon as I knew I’d be heading to Puerto Escondido for my next Habitat for Humanity Global Village build, I went to work figuring out how I could spend a few days in Mexico City. I booked my international roundtrip airfare into Mexico City and then booked a separate flight (on Aeromar) to the … Continue reading
As I was, you may be wondering where in the world is Puerto Escondido? It’s a small surf town on the Pacific coast of the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico. You’ve probably heard of Puerto Vallarta—keep heading southeast along the coast. Eventually you’ll hit another city you’ve probably heard of—Acapulco. Keep going and just … Continue reading
Day five. It’s Friday. Hard to believe our last day of work has arrived and the build is coming to a close. We, the team, are our own family now and grateful to have spent this week getting to know our partner family, Habitat staff in Puerto Escondido and a few members of the community. … Continue reading
Usually by the time Global Village teams get to day four, we are all feeling the effects of doing jobs that we are unaccustomed to. After the shorter workday on Wednesday and a break for some fun, Thursday tends to be the longest and often most difficult day of work. That should have been the … Continue reading
Day three often signals a midweek break, in that we usually end the work day a bit early to participate in a cultural activity, usually relating to the community. In our case we broke for lunch and Arlet and Hilda, another future homeowner in the group, showed us how to make tlayudas, which are basically … Continue reading
Day two and the same jobs continue: moving and laying bricks, sifting sand and mixing mortar and our newest task, cutting and bending rebar. The house will have a bathroom, kitchen, two bedrooms and a dining and living area inside, and a small front porch on the outside. In total about 50 square meters or … Continue reading
If you are like me, when you hear the words Oaxaca, Mexico thoughts of Rick Bayless walking through crowded weekend markets in search of chilies, cinnamon and chocolate and encounters with short, leathery-faced abuelas making the perfect mole might come to mind. Indeed, Oaxaca is known as the food capital of Mexico, and it was … Continue reading
These days just saying the word “Mexico” in the US conjures up thousands of images and emotions in varying degrees, spanning politics to parties. As much traveling as I’ve done, I had yet to visit our southern neighbor. No spring break in Cancun. No family all-inclusive on the Riviera Maya. There are 31 states and … Continue reading
Global Staci 