Puerto Escondido

I have spent this last week in Puerto Escondido and havent been very good about updating my blog.

The first word of this town, Puerto, signifies that this is a port town. It is located on the Southern Pacific coast of Mexico. Escondido mean "hidden" in Spanish. Which is a joke now. Puerto Escondido used to be hidden, years ago, but in recent years, as surfers realized this place has unique and grande waves, it has been developed. Sadly.

My guide book says that Puerto Escondido is a great example of unsustainable development. I don t really quite feel like I am in Mexico here, except that I am hot most of the time and sweating profusely. There are three main beaches. The one only for surfers, where it is too dangerous to swim, is full of tourists, Eurpean, Mexican and American. There is another beach where there are more Mexicans than Europeans or Americans. (it is an unspoken rule where about what beach you should be on).

During my week here I have quite enjoyed the view of the ocean and this view is this picture that I will take with me.. I had a great view of the magnificent crashing waves from the high point of a language school. I decided to attended Spanish school four hours a day. I suffered through a review of the grammar and worked on increasing my vocabulary in order to be more prepared for the next part of my journey as a volunteer at a mediation center. I had great teachers and learned more about Mexico's complicated history and identity. One of my teachers gave me great resources to look up later about human rights issues in Mexico.

The first part of the week I felt lonely. I spent all week thinking that I dont  fit in with the surfing culture. I also had permanent a headache from trying to cram as much Spanish in my head as possible. For a few days I felt very energized, optimistic and happy, but then I had an issue with an ATM not giving me money, while my bank account registered that I did take money out. What a stress! 

I was able to call my bank and fax the necessary paperwork. I also went to the bank that owned this ATM to see if they could do anything. They told me that it was the fault of my bank and there was nothing they could do. So keep your fingers crossed for me that somehow this all works out, because I cant afford to have money vanish.

I learned though, that most Mexicans do not keep their money in banks here because the banks "rob" the people. It was really comforting to hear. (not). 

I have been staying in a private room owned by a family here. I was eating meals in their house but without the rest of the family. It made me feel very uncomfortable. I also could not figure out when they actually ate! I learned last night when I went to chat with them they they eat at least one of their meals, at 10 pm. I watched Family Guy with the kids ...which, in my opinion, is a stupid show in both English and Spanish.

Tomorrow I am traveling 5 more hours down the coast to Salina Cruz to volunteer at a mediation center there. I am nervous because I dont know what to expect. One of the people that works there, that agreed to let me do this is going to meet me at the bus station. Wish me luck!

Puerto Escondido

I have been having trouble keeping up with this blog due to limited access to internet and time constraints.

Right now I am in Puerto Escondido, a very touristy location and very appealing for surfers. I haven´t stopped sweating since I got here and have a million mosquito bites (I might be exaggerating).

the first night here I tried to find somewhere to dance, but failed. I think it may have been because I left at midnight, and apparently that is when the party starts. So I am gonna try again tonight.

Please keep me in your thoughts as I am feeling kind of lonely here, especially after last week when I was super busy and always with amigos.

thanks.

Reading and Film Suggestions

Here is a list gathered from the people with me on the WFP delegation, along with a couple of suggestions from a Spanish teacher here in Puerto Escondido if you are interested in Mexico-US relations, immigration, food security and more...

Films and Documentaries

Food Inc
Which Way Home
pinkyshow.org
Maquilaopis
Un pòquito de tanta verdad
Farmingville
Fresh
Home (you tube)
Maquila: A tale of two Mexicos
Posada
Papers
9500 Liberty
The Least of These
Señorita exravida by Lourdes Portillo
The Garden of Eden
Crossing Arizona
The End of Poverty?
Life and Debt (SAP in Jamaica)
Goodbye Lenin
Sleep Dealers
The business of Being Born
De Nadie
Sin Nombre
The Visitor
La Misma Luna
Traffic
Prety Dirty Things
El Norte

Books

Borderlands/ La Frontera
The Maya of Morgontown
Enriques Journey
The of Food
Slow Food Nation
In Defense of Food
Fair Trade for All
Guest Workers or Colonized Labor
Illegal People and other books by David Bacon
The Militarization of the Border
Homo Sacer
The Three US- Mexico Border Wars; Drugs, Immigration and Homeland Security
First World Ha Ha Ha!
Tha Fatal Harvest
The Annexation of Mexico
Expect Resistance
Doris Zine
Harvest of Empire
Opein Veubs of Latin America
Los de Abajo (the Underdogs)
Memory of Fire trilogy (especially century of the wind)ç
They take our jobs (and ten other myths about immigration)
Las Venas Abiertos de America Latin - Eduardo Galeano

Website
Google --- revolucianemosoaxaca
Online News
La Jornada

Support

Thank you to all my friends who responded to my blog. You have no idea how much it meant to me. I will write more about the past few days soon, but I have to share the computer now.

Globalization

The Context

The world today is more interconnected than it has been at any point in the past. Advancements in communication and travel technology have helped transfer ideas and people across international boundaries at unprecedented rates. As a result, a person from the United States can go shopping in Switzerland without leaving their computer chair.

Nothing, however, weaves the international community more tightly than economic policy. This connection is recently exemplified in the current world-wide recession. When the U.S. economy suffered a lack of financial growth the majority of the world was adversely affected too. In some cases the economies of other countries suffered more compared to the U.S. This fact exemplifies another characteristic of the relationship between nations: it is not an equal one. Capitalism functions through competition and risk. This ideology, when embraced internationally, translates to competition between developed, underdeveloped and developing countries. Thus, the global-capitalist economic system will inevitably produce “winners” and “losers.”

Human lives have been bettered through a global system. For example, the ability of people around the world to quickly mobilize and aid the victims in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake is due in part to globalization. However, cultural genocide, human-rights abuses and vast economic disparity are also attributed to this global system. Consequently, push-back against globalization is observed in both violent and peaceful responses around the world. With the context of globalization in mind I ventured to Mexico to explore free trade from a social-justice perspective.

** This was written this last winer (2010). I changed the last line though**

Update

I have so much to say. Too much to say for the time I have right now. Tomorrow we are leaving for the campo to stay two days in a region in which there are hardly any young people left because they have immigrated.

I have been getting around 5 hours of sleep every night for a week. This is due to constant traffic noise, uncomfortable beds, yelling french kids and two drunk guests that broke the door trying to get into the hostal last night.

Two little sleep mixed with an emotional journey learning about economic hardships, blatant discrimination and political violence that give rise to conditions of immigration in Mexico and central american countries ...mixed with that fact that I just learned that Rusty, our beloved dog and Tilly´s best friend is no longer with us, mixed with thinking about the too short life that Kerry led...when he could have done so much to help the people I am meeting with...yes, today has been an especially tear-filled day.

We have had a full week meeting with people who are telling us their stories. Some inspiring -- like the illiterate farmer with a fourth grade education who engineered wells in order to retain water in a region that would be waterless if he hadn´t. He could be rich if he were in the U.S. Some heartbreaking -- Too bad the big corporation building a mine in this farmer´s land will probably be taking this water...

Or like the age 17- 25? El Salvadorian who is on a great journey for the second time to the U.S, facing conditions I could never in my life imagine. If he doesn´t make it this time he said, he will just go back to his family and probably starve to death with them. The situation in El Salvador he said is dire and the U.S. who has purchased El Salvador has done nothing for the people. He hates Obama because it is even harder now to cross the border thanks to him.

Please keep me in your thoughts. I need the strength of others who also believe that all people deserve to be treated in a just and humane manner. With all of our technological advancements it is so easy to be lost in our own world. Don´t forget that we live in this world with others and that our lives are all connected in one way or another.

Me and my roommate

More delicious food

More delicious food

From the hostal rooftop

Oaxaca Resturant

Beautiful farm

Preserve water!

Delicious food

Mexico 2

Mercado de las comidas

Today, feeling too much like an American tourist, I broke from the WFP group for lunch and entered the mercado de las comidas. This is an indoor market option for food. Indoor markets are a crazy mix of smells, sounds and activities. Raw meat hangs in smelly, but neat rows waiting to be sold nearby. Baskets full of fried and spiced grasshoppers and other bugs have an intresting and unappealing smell. Lines ogçf vegatables, bread and fruit also line the market along with hand embroidered clothes and other arts and crafts. The people selling these goods call out to you as you pass. Look amiga they say, want to try, want to buy?

Many little resturants comprise the comidas section...but it sort of appears as a weirdly divided cafeteria. (I haven´t been brave enough to take pictures here as I think it would upset the mostly indigenous vendors.) Today I ordered tamale oxaxaña which is a tamale with chicken and cheese and delicious mole sauce (think spicy chocolate salsa). I also had a coca cola. I hardly drink soda in the states but I justify this purchase for two reasons. 1. Coke hecho en Mexico does not have high fructose corn syrup. 2. It settles the stomach.

On a side note, I am finding myself having to justify many of my actions here. For example I reason with myself about who I buy from (I choose to purchase things from women as opposed to men)... I wish I didn´t feel I had to justify my actions though.

While eating my delicious meal, two Oaxacan tourists (they are from Mexico City) sat across from me and we had a conversation that I could sort of understand.

This experience made my day, which I will only partially attribute to the sugar and caffiene from the soda.

Muchos besos a todas...

Witness for Peace

Today officially started the Witness for Peace portion of my trip.

There are 13 other people here in la ciudad de Oaxaca on this delegation trip who come from a mix of backgrounds and life experiences. Most of us are from the Pacific NW (one from Canada, although originally from the UK) and a few from the New England region.

I am impressed by the amount of knowledge in the group about various issues including free trade, trade relations and immigration (as well as many other random subjects). For example, my roommate, Olga, is a chicano literature profesor in Long Island. Her family immigrated here from Mexico and she was born in California. Her first language is Spanish but she is fluent in English as well. She has been helping me practice Spanish a bit and has been a respectful and fun roommate. Where she lives and teaches now, in Long Island, is not a place that welcomes immigrants. Tragically, weekly beatings and few deaths have accumulated from the mix immigrant presence and racism. She explained that after living in more open minded California and New Mexico, Long Island was quite a shock. If you want to understand more about the community environment and stance on immigrants there watch the powerful documentary Farmingville. http://www.pbs.org/pov/farmingville/

Olga has suggested some books about the subject of immigration and I plan to start them when I return to the states. If you are also interested in this subject you might want to read some David Bacon. These are not the exact titles, but close enough 1. The Children of NAFTA
2. Illegal People...

Another woman on this trip, who will be going to Cambridge, MA to study divinity reccommended Brotherland/La Frontera, a bilingual book by Gloria Anzaldula.

Today we learned about the culture and history in Mexico in which 500 years of history was crammed into 2 hours. So obviously it wasn´t an in-depth look but now us delegates have a historical context as a basis which will help us better understand the people from here who are going to share their stories. We also talked about the history of neoliberalism (economic shock policy) in the country, which was a good review for me. Go here -- http://inzanetimes.wordpress.com/?ref=spelling for more information about what we did today. This is the blog of a fellow delegate.

I come into this delegation with quite a bit of bias, cynicism and criticism of the U.S government´s role in the exploitation of vulnerable people. I am also aware and disenchanted by the power of mega corporations that impact people negatively in order to make a profit. However, Mexico´s government has played a role as well and there is surely more Mexico could do for its suffering people. Just as in the U.S. in Mexico the rich are getting richer, the middle class is fading away and the poor are hanging by a thread. My hope is that before it gets too horrible people, in the U.S. especially, will become impassioned to act...

The themes I hope to explore further during this delegation and the rest of the time in Mexcio:

1. I would like to explore and understand food sovereignty issues better
Monolcultre, gentetically modofied organisms (GMOs), the dissappearence of small family (people)-run farms ...basically the streamlining and uber processing of our food for increased profit has negatively impaceted us all equally. This has large implications about our ability to continue to feed the growing world poplulation. It has also impacted immigration from here to the states.

2. I would like to learn more about the various methods and reasons behind non-violent protest. There are many examples here. (However the government has been known to respond with violence.)

3. I hope to understand more about the government of Mexico´s role in immigration. There is money here. You can´t ignore that the wealthiest person in the world right now is from Mexico. But the majority of the people do not see this wealth...

4. I want to know what Canada is doing about immigration. Kathleen mentioned that Canada has guest labor programs. How do they compare to the U.S.´s immigrant labor programs?

5. I would like to understand and compare the European Union´s trade policies with NAFTA. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was a response to the formation of the EU but the EU has been better able to integrate the countries and balance power...

6. Finally (for now) I am going to be thinking more about how the U.S´s economic situation influences our ideas regarding immigrants. I am pretty sure there is a strong link to US unemployment and negative feelings toward immigrants.

Another video of Victoria

My last night in Mexico City was precious. It was Victoria´s one year birthday, so the aunts, uncles and cousins came over to celebrate. We ate, drank tequila (of course) and most awesome of all, serenaded little Victoria with traditional Mexican songs and a little bit of American classics. One of the cousins played the guittar and everyone sang. Victoria ate it up and enjoyed being the center of attention. It was also sweet to see how her grandpa interacted with her. My impression of him is as a man of few words but you don´t need words to know when someone cares deeply about someone else. You could tell she was his world. He was tender, patient and adoring with her.


A few tequilla shots later we were off to a fiesta, a birthday party for one of Leslie´s friends. What an experience! When we first arrived at midnight (a few hours late) there were a few clowns entertaining the audience. A computer and youtube videos served as the musical entertainment and we listened to a mix of Mexican banda and U.S. pop songs. I was so tired by the time we left, I think it was 3 or 4 in the morning, but I lost track of time so I am not sure about that.

Days 1 -4

I have never blogged before, but I decided that blogging would be a good way to share and remember my two months in Mexico. Here it goes.

Day 1

I woke up at 3 am Wed. July 7 in order to catch my flight at 6. There was quite a bit of turbulence, but otherwise there were no other problems. This is quite unlike my trip to Ecuador last summer where it took me two days to get there due to a delayed flight in Medford for many hours, a reroute to Portland and then another delay there. Anyways. I find myself comparing this trip with my experience in Ecuador quite a bit. I am of the opinion that it is not bad to compare things or people because that is how we learn. In order to know something we have to know what it is not, right? Creo que si.

I wasn't very social on this journey. I chose to not really talk to anyone, which is a bit unlike me. Although, I really am a shy person, I just work at being social. My only conversation with my companeros on the plane from Houston to Mexico D.F. was quite funny. I had the aisle seat. The young girl (from Mexico?) sitting next to the window wanted to go to the bathroom.When I started to unbuckle my seatbelt to move for her she said, "oh, I can just jump you if you want?" Oh how classically funny. I am sure I say so many things like that in Spanish.

Speaking of which, I was very dissapointed with my Spanish when I first arrived, but now I am feeling better about it. Although I am very consciouslly incompent, which is a very uncomfortable place to be. I do have to give myself some credit for being able to speak enough Spanish to ask two strangers if I could use thier cell phones to call Leslie when I couldn't find her at the airport after an hour.

I have to admit that I did panic for a moment when I realized that I might not be meeting Leslie after all. But I was able to pull myself together enough to decide I should have a plan B and I immediatley went to pull money out of an ATM, because you can't get too far anywhere without money unfortunetley. I also should mention that I had no idea how much money I had when I pulled out $100 pesos. Do you notice how the symbol for pesos is the exact same as the symbol for dollars? It was quite confusing to me. But after wasting some money on ATM fees I think I have it figured it out and I don't have a heart attack when I spend $70 (pesos) on food. (which is around $7 dollars)

So 2.5 hours and two strangers later I finally connected with Leslie and her brother Jorge and I have been in very good hands ever since. The first night we went to a cafe near a park and drank tea and watched the rain fall outside. Even though I left Eugene when it was finally starting to be nice, I dont mind this rain because it is still warm out and it is different than Oregon rain.

Day 2

Leslie and I had a wonderful breakfast with Elvan´s mom and gradma. We talked for hours. Elvans mom made me promise to visit her in Cuernavaca when I come back this way so she can show me around. It was an easy promise to agree to. Later Leslie took me to the enormous University of Mexico. It was empty for the summer holidays and we had the place to ourselves.

That night the entire family went to the famous zocalo and walked around. We watched multiple groups practicing an indigenous dance complete with drums, beads around the ankles, red scarves and sweaty bodies. There are many different forms of art that people enjoy, like architecture or paintings. While I do appreciate various art forms, dance is the art form that I am drawn to. And here in Mexico dance is so much a part of daily life. I am enjoying this enormeously. That night we went to a bar and danced to Cumbia and Reggaeton. It was so great to see so many men that could dance. I havent met one unfriendly person yet either.

Day 3

Jorge took me to the Pyramids, Aztec ruins. We climbed the pyramids and I imagined what life must have been like for the Aztecs. It is an awesome feeling to know that you are standing in a place where so many people lived their lives before you. I had a similar feeling while in Germany while I was walking around a school that Hitler had attended. Although that feeling was a bit more sickening.

We had a low key evening. Around 1 am we went to drink hot chocoloate and we came back home to watch a DVD that showed different people dancing salsa. What a life. I am so freaking lucky.

Day 4 (today)

The oldest child in this family is visiting from Tobasco with his two precious kids, Diego (3) and Victoria (1). So it was just Jorge and I that went to visit the muesum of Anthropology. We spent four hours in a place that would take at least two days to sufficiently explore. I was so hungry afterwards so we went for tacos. (So far I have enjoyed tamales, quesadillas, omlettes and tacos here). It was a place where you sit in the car and they bring you your order. While sipping coke from a glass bottle with a straw eating in the car listening to oldies I felt like I was living in the 50s. I couldnt help but laugh I found this so amusing. Tonight we have a fiesta to attend and more dancing. Did I mention yet how lucky I am?

Day 5

I am taking a bus to Oaxaca to start my Witness for Peace part of this trip. It is a 6.5 hour journey. To be continued....