Lorena en Oaxaca

I arrived last night and spent the day seeing the historical district and one museum. The picture is from the museum (and former monastery) and looking toward it´s adajacent Church. While the town of of Oaxaca has charm and beauty in the way the Spanish Colonial towns do, the most wonderful part of today has been becoming aquainted with the bed and breakfast where I am staying: The Oaxaca Learning Center. Gary Titus has set up a place for secondary school students to receive tutoring and college students to earn stipends by providing the tutoring. It is really quite special to be welcomed into the midst of all this activity and sharing.
I also toured an 'ethnobotanical' garden which showed many plants indigenous to Oaxaca. I learned that Marigolds are a new world flower. I would have guessed Asia, as common as they are in India. I saw a 1,000 year old cactus. It was transplanted in the garden as it was growing right where a freeway interchange needed to be. You can´t tell by the photo, above, but it it at last 5 feet tall and twice as wide.