Observations

Starting work and getting sick (from food I cooked myself!) has cut down my blogging time in the last few days. This week is an interim week, before E starts at a preschool here (have to find one next week), but it's starting to settle more into life than vacation.

A few thoughts on what I'm seeing around DF and Oaxaca:

• I swear that I never saw people using modern babycarriers before this trip. Almost everybody carries babies and even older children. Indigenous people use traditional rebozos to help with this - either as a sling, or they have a way of wrapping that is just to kind of support the arm. This trip, I've seen at least one Baby Bjorn-style carrier every day we've been out. What is most surprising to me is the men wearing them! It takes a special Mexican man to wear his baby in a contraption like that.
• I've also seen more elaborate, Maclaren-style strollers than I noticed before. When we were in Michoacan two years ago, we would see a few umbrella strollers carrying children smaller than, but about the same age as E. I had the notion that people thought we were odd for pushing such a big child around. This time, E also looks so much older than the other kids. By his size and height, he easily passes for six. Anyway, Michoacan is maybe not as cosmopolitan as DF and Oaxaca. I've even seen a twin Maclaren-style!
• Lots of women wear traditional-style tops. It's not surprising to see all the lady-expatriates wearing huipiles and broomstick-skirts, but I've noticed quite a lot of middle-class Mexican women, of all ages, wearing woven and embroidered shirts. Usually, they're just worn as tops with jeans, slacks, or a non-traditional skirt. I'm inspired by this and thinking of picking up a few tops, to make up for the lack of lightweight shirts I brought. For some reason, we expected it to be colder. It can be chilly in the evenings, but we don't go out that much, and I don't need as many sweaters and jackets as I brought. I'm pretty comfortable in shorts and a short-sleeve shirt all day, even as the Mexicans around me are wearing jeans and boots, bundling their kids up in coats.