Portraits

Meet Daniel -

Daniel is around 20 years old and lives in San Jaun Sasola. It is a small town of about 50 people. He is one of the youngest people living here because, unlike his peers, he didnt choose to immigrate to the states or to bigger cities in Mexico. Daniel seems much older than he really is. He took the WFP group on a walk through the country side sharing his favorite spot...the high vantage point where he used to sit all day and watch the goats. This was his job when he was 5. He showed us the plants we could eat, the ones that cured hangovers, and the mala mujer, (bad woman) the plant not to touch.

He is the town representative of an organization called CERICAM, which is an organization that promotes traditional organic farming practices. I think it started in the mid 1980´s. The hope that the town can survive and the people can continue to feed themselves rests in the hands of the younger generation...in this case it rests in Daniel´s hands.

Meet Adi -

Adi is around 33 years old. She lives in Puerto Escondido and teaches Spanish. She loves her town and she loves her country but she doesn´t understand why the governement is more interested in improving touist´s lives than the lives of the people who live there. "Look she says, most of us can´t afford to eat here." (the street located in front of the surfer beach, Playa Zicatela). "This sidewalk is for you, these lights are for you. Walk up to the carretara, where is our sidewalk?" She wants the people to wake up. "It is in our hands" she said. "We need to fix this."

I thanked her for explaining her views and she thanked me for listening and wanting to learn. In order to learn the language she said, you need to understand the culture."La cultura es el espejo de la lengua" She told me. (The culture is the mirror of the language).

Meet Z...

The lady I lived with in Puerto Escondido. She has two young kids, a little black dog and a husband. She also agreed that the tourist part of town is too expensive (this might be a good time to mention that most Mexicans earn $50 pesos for an eight hour day, which is equal to $5 US dollars. However, food costs only a little less than we pay in the states). Also, after my ATM bank issue she informed me, "we don´t put our money in the bank. The banks are corrupt. They charge the people to have accounts. They charge extra fees and slowly draw your money out. Don´t trust the banks. Also, they are mostly not Mexican owned."

Meet Irene -

Irene also teaches Spanish in Puerto Escondido. Sometimes she hates her job because some of the people that come to learn spanish just want to know how to give orders. She explained that Mexico is for sale and foreigners buy the land, but don´t care about the people or understand Mexico´s complicated history. She is from the middle class but her eyes were opened to the county´s problems and corruption in 1994. 1994 is the year NAFTA was signed and the Zapatista´s cries of protest reached the international world.

Irene is trying to save seeds on her own, like the people in San Jaun Sosola, to keep them pure from GMO contamination.

Meet Daniel -

Daniel is 28 years old and lives in Puerto Escondido. He lived for many years in the states and worked as a bricklayer. He is in constant back pain but he works in Mexico as a brick layer for himself, now that he understands the business. He thinks about going back to the states but he loves Puerto and also wants to be here for his brother. His mom died when he was 8, she was in labor with his brother. His dad was in the army and died when Daniel was 16. Thus, Daniel has been fending for the family. His brother is gay, but Daniel tells him he has to fight those demons. Daniel also fights demons. "There are voices inside his head that tell me to do bad things and act crazy. But I believe in God and know that God is always there, even when you think he is not, he is."

Meet I -

I is around 32 years old and speaks English almost perfectly. He lived in New York for many years. He had a false SS number but didn't collect any taxes, he opted to donate them instead. You can tell he loves New York a lot, but he loves Puerto more. He wants to build a house there. He first crossed the border when he was 16. For a while he helped traffic people, which he does not consider to be wrong. "I was kind of like Zorro he said." He also worked for drug traffickers, but "not the bad kind".

"They didn´t kill anyone, I don´t think. I heard them beat someone up once. But he deserved it." He went to school in the states, eventually attended University and worked for an agency retouching ads. He made a lot of money but spent a lot of money too. Especially on alcohol. He works in Puerto as a Spanish teacher and he teaches English to young kids.

Meet random Collectivo Taxi driver -

"Where are you from?" he asked. "I am from the states" I replied. " "Oh really? Where?" "The state above California, Oregon." "Really!? I lived there for 6 years. There are a lot of trees! Even the license plates have trees! It rains a lot there!" "haha, yep. That is Oregon."

I miss Oregon.