What is your Oaxaca Audio Intelligence?

See if you can identify these four street sounds, recorded LIVE on the streets of Oaxaca. Leave your guesses via Send Feedback.

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No, it's not a Volkswagen advertising campaign. When you see "VW" logo on a Oaxaca city bus, it refers to the Volkswagen dealership, northeast of the city center (the VW logo on this map):

Click map to see full size image
Map © 2009 Económica Rent-a-Car, Puerto Escondido

So, if the bus has the VW logo on the windshield, that means it goes past the Volkswagen dealership. However, Oaxaca city buses list all the destinations on their entire route so, depending on where you catch the bus, it may have already passed Volkswagen on its way downtown. Volkswagen is a major transfer point: buses to Tule, Tlacolula and Mitla all stop just across the street from Volkswagen, next to the baseball stadium.

Another potentially confusing bus destination is Central (see map), which doesn't mean the "Centro", or city center but, rather, the Central de Abastos area where the second-class bus station is. To add to your confusion, many buses will say both Central and Centro, which means they pass through downtown (usually near the zócalo) on their way to Central.

The Chedraui supermarket (see map), southeast of the city center, is another common bus destination: you'll see that on a lot of buses. If you are heading to some of the towns east of the city (Tule, etc.), you should be able to catch a bus directly to your destination anywhere along the Periférico or ring road, between Central and Chedraui.

Hi everybody, sorry it's taken us so long to update the blog, January is always busy, busy, busy. Hope you all had a fantastic holiday.

Just wanted to take a moment to talk about a wonderful organization we've started partnering with here in Oaxaca, Estancia Fraternidad.

What the Estancia does is offer housing to the families of patients undergoing long-term hospital treatments, and often to the patients themselves once they're out of hospital. Poor people often have to come long distances for treatment in Oaxaca City, because there are no adequate medical services in their own communities. The patients' families often know no one in the city, and can't afford expensive rental accommodation for the duration of the treatment.

Beyond the obvious financial assistance, the Estancia provides a welcoming, caring atmosphere for families who are going through an emotionally wrenching time. During these tough economic times, your donations are especially appreciated. You're also welcome to visit the Estancia and see the work they do in person, see their website for more details.

In the past few years, there has been no shortage of reporting about Oaxaca. However, much of that press coverage has been at best ill-informed or, at worst, downright hysterical. As is often the case, the most incisive political commentary has come not from the press but from Oaxaca's contemporary artists.

Demián Flores' "Aztlán", 2008

Demián Flores is an internationally-reknowned Oaxacan artist who is famous for incorporating elements of Mexican folklore into his work. Wrestling, that most Mexican of "sports", is a recurring theme in his work, as are "found" images of such political heroes as Benito Juárez and Emiliano Zapata.

Flores' recent series "Oaxaca" addresses some of Oaxaca's recent socio-political issues with a much-needed dose of humor.

For more info see demianflores.com

A while back, we tried something different as far as advertising. We sponsored "Jordan, Jesse, GO!", a comedy podcast.

Click here to hear one of the hilarious promotional spots they did for Español Interactivo.

This spot is from Jordan, Jesse, GO! Episode #67: you can download the whole show here for free from the iTunes Music Store.