Day 7
We enjoyed our last peaceful afternoon and evening in Oaxaca not aware of what was already happening at the airport and how it was going to affect our travel back home. Our AA flight to Dallas was scheduled for 7:50 am so we met our taxi driver at the reception at 5:45 where he told us that the airport was closed by a protest/blockade of students (future teachers) and no planes are going out. At the same time, we got a text message from AA that our flight was delayed until 10:30 am. We rescheduled the taxi for 8 am, and at that time our taxi driver told us that the blockade was still on. Since we had no updates from American, we decided to go to the airport anyway. As we approached the airport, we first saw a long line of cars and taxis, and then a crowd of people with suitcases all congregating close to a line of young people blocking the road. Behind the students was a line of buses blocking the road, and behind them, a barricade made of something black. Nobody could pass – no cars and no pedestrians. We drove around the airport trying to find another access, but to no avail so we got back to the main barricade and decided to wait for more information. We talked to many people, and everyone had a story… Many were trying to persuade the protesters to let us through. Some people were saying that they may open up the road at 10 am. We also talked to the protesters who said that they won’t leave until the government meets their demands and it could be days…. One young woman, who was on our flight to Dallas and needed to be at work in Philly the next day, told us that her plan was to take a bus (6 hours) to Mexico City and try to get a flight from there. We thought that we may go with her and do the same. While we were discussing this option, another young woman approached us and said that she and her friends will be driving to Puebla (4.5 hrs) to catch a flight to Tijuana, and she offered to take us. It was about 10 am, no signs of the blockade opening. We called AA and they didn’t know anything more either, but told us that the flight on Tuesday (the next day) was full so they could rebook us for Wednesday. At that point we decided to take up the offer to go to Puebla. We had to squeeze our luggage into the already full trunk and ourselves onto the back seat because there were 5 of us. While we were driving, Bo (with the help of the young woman who turned out to be a doctor from Mexicali) was buying tickets for the Volaris flight from Puebla to Tijuana. It was a bit difficult on a curvy road with coverage intermittent, on the small phone screen and all in Spanish. And the doctor was saying skip this, skip that to make it faster and trying to save us money even though we didn’t ask for it. Tickets were bought, we arrived at the Puebla airport, but when boarding time came, it turned out that in order to take our small suitcases on board, we had to pay extra ($40 per suitcase while if we had done it online, it would have been $25). So we had to wait and pay, and were the last ones boarding the completely full flight. Of course, all the overheads were full. With great difficulty and rearranging other people’s luggage, we squeezed our suitcases in. The 3.5 hour flight was OK. Getting across the border in Tijuana was also a breeze. There is a bridge connecting the airport to border crossing and it’s very convenient. Since it was already after 8 pm, all shuttles that go to Orange County were gone and we had to take a cab. Luckily, Al negotiated a good price and we got safely home around 10 pm. What a harrowing day! This morning (Tuesday), the blockade was still on and all the flights were cancelled again.
The link is to an article about the protest, and in the first video there is a glimpse of us. The young woman speaking out is the doctor from Mexicali.
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