Chapter 37: Dia de Gracias

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The whole family got together for Thanksgiving. About 70 people, from the PC Volunteers (Old and New) to the PC staff and their families got together for a get together at the PC Office. It was just like in America, except with a Mexican flare. We all enjoyed Turkey (which, I found out originally came from Mexico), and sweet potatoes. Instead of cranberry sauce, we had cranberry jello, and instead of gravy for the Turkey we had a green Salsa. But it was all delicious. Mexico is definitely fattening me up!


Feliz Dia de Gracias!

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Chapter 36: First View of Home

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Cradled in a valley high in the mountains of Chiapas (the southern most state of Mexico) is the small city of San Cristobal de las Casas (pop. ~135,000). Originally an indigenous village that was "discovered" by the Frier Francisco de las Casas, and named after the patron Saint of Travelers, Saint Christian (Cristobal). The guide books all describe this city as the most beautiful in Mexico. And in my limited experience I would have to agree.

We arrived Wednesday afternoon, flying into the city of Tuxla Gutierrez, the Capital of the state. From there it is a quick 40 minute taxi ride up to the city in the Sky. As we rode up the side of the mountains, we saw the clouds get slowly closer and gradually we were in them, unable to see more than 5 feet in any direction. Then suddenly we make it through the clouds. The sun was shining, and in a valley among the mountains ahead of us appeared the city of San Cristobal.

The first day, we were all exhausted from travel, so we all took it easy for the night, meeting for a nice dinner and going for small walks through our town center. But the next morning the whirlwind of events started. We headed over to our center, ECOSUR (El Collegio de La Frontera Sur), at 900. We were greated by Miriam from the HR departement, who also ends up being my one half of my new host family (more on that later). We were all welcomed into a large conference room, where the head of the Center gave us a welcome speech. This was later followed up by an introduction to the center and what it does (all pretty standard orientation stuff). The real fun started after that, we were all sent away to meet our new group.

My boss Cecilia was the person to guide me over. She was a very friendly lady who started out by telling me how the group was like a family. There are 6 people at this site, and then 5 more scattered across the other sites in Chiapas. I need to learn all there names. :P We all got into a room and meet each other via video conference. It was also coincidentally the birthday of Sergio (the oldest guy in the group at 52), so we had a Fiesta with food and wine. This went on for two hours, we all got to know each other better, and also discussed potential projects and work. Nothing specific was decided with regards to work, but they seemed incredibly open to all the possibilities, and it looks like I will have interesting and a lot of work.

After the party... ummm, I mean meeting, I returned to the conference room to meet with my new Host Family. But I believe I will call them roommates from now one. I will explain way. I had mentioned Miriam was the girl who welcomed our group to the center. I will be living with her, and her husband Joe. Miriam is 29, and works in the HR departement, her husband Joe is 30 and is a radio DJ for an alternative rock station. They both speak pretty good english (though I made them speak spanish). We all hit it off immediately, we seem to have many simular interests from exersizing to travel. I spent actually spent all my free time over the next 2 days hanging out with them (more on that later).

The next stage of orientation was a tour was a guided tour of the campus, which has more of a feel of a college campus than a work place. Next we were treated to a delicious meal at the cafeteria ( $2 buys all you can eat, even though it was free for us that day). Afterwards we were taken on a guided tour of the city so we could see the sites and some of what this place had to offer. After it was all done, we were droped off at our hotel very exhausted, but the day was not even close to over.

At 8:00 that night, we meet up once again with our co-workers to go out to dinner at a one of the many great restaurants downtown. We got to try many native Chiapanecan foods and drinks. I had to duck out early (at 10:30 p.m.) to go an meet Joe and Mirian. We then went out to a bar and watched a live concert of a local band, they were young kids, but very good. I also go my first look at San Cristabal night life... oddly enough, there were more Europeans at this place than Mexicans. I finally got to bed at around 2, but that is not the end of the trip.

The next day at 12:00 a.m. I once again meet up with Joe and Miriam, and headed down to the city of Tuxla Gutierrezz (pop. ~600,000). Another time I took the road through the cloads down the warm plains below. They some errands to run around town, so I escorted them, and this was a great oppertunity to see what the city had to offer (a large mall, Walmart, Sams Club etc...). We also went to a great burger place, which was the first hamburger I had had in over 2 months. At around 6 we returned to San Cristobal, and I got a chance to check out my apartment for the first month in S.C. At this point Joe went to put on his show, so Miriam and I got a chance to talk for 2 hours. We both wanted practice in the others language, so we came to an agreement, I would speak spanish to her, and she would speak english to me. So in this method we got to know each other better.

After the radio show was over, we meet up again and went out to a great Pizza joint run by an Italian transplant named Pablo. They were great pizzas, with all the taste of Italy mixed in with some aspects of Mexico. Afterwards, we went out to a party at somebodies house. Once again, it was odd to see mostly people of European decent in the middle of Mexico, but they all spoke spanish, so it was a good time. At 3:00 a.m. I got back to my hotel and crashed.

The return trip to Queretaro was relatively uneventful, but once I got back, I crashed right away. It should be an interesting two years in the clouds.

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Chapter 35: One Birthday a Year is Never Enough

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So they like to throw Fiesta's in Mexico. And they will take every and any excuse to throw one. This weekend, for my birthday was no exception. I had 2 entirely seperate birthday parties. Friday night, the day before my birthday, my friends from the PC meet me at a restaurant/bar/speakeasy called Porton de Santiago (doorway to santiago).

The night started out slow, with talk and a little bit of drinking, but around 12, the party really started. At that point the live music picked up, and we got together with a table of Mexican collage students who were also celebrating a birthday. As with many great times, it started with a conga line. We all danced the night away, and closed out the place. At 3:00 a.m. I was ready to rest, but this weekend... it was not to be.

The next morning, I had to reluctantly woke up early (8:00 a.m.) to go to a half day of Spanish class, I barely made it through. But the day was not over yet, when I got home, I had another birthday party waiting for me. 3 days before it was the birthday of my host brother Raul. So my host mom decided to through both of us a birthday party together. So, immediatly after class I ran home and got ready of another party.

There whole house was covered in balloons and there was food as far as the eye could see. It true mexican fashion, the party was scheduled to start at 2:30, and the first people showed up around 4:00. But once the first person arrived they all started streaming in. There were friends, relatives and others in every corner of the courtyard, and the party went on for hours (only ending finally because of the rain started). At 10:00, with only 4 hours of sleep, I was exhausted.

But the Mexicans really know how to throw parties... :)

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Chapter 34: Forest Through the Trees

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Cerro, in Spanish means hill. This "hill" is about ~8000 feet high. This Saturday most of PC Mexico 3 found themselves staring up a dirt road at the peak of Cerro de Zamorano. What awaited was suppose to be a 2 hour hike up the road/path ahead of us to the peak. But for 2 volunteers and 1 assistant country director, that was not to be.

At the base of the peak, I (as the official group photographer) stayed behind with the two Biologists of our group, Cristina and Ron as they searched the rocky areas at the base for snakes. I was instructed to not move and stay a little ways back... lets just say, it did not take much convincing for me to listen to those instructions. Getting bitten by a snake is not on my lifes To-Do list. :P

But luckily, or unluckily, depending on who's perspective you were taking, no snakes were found. So the three of us started up the "hill" about half an hour after the rest of the pack. To make the trek even more interesting, we took a large number of "Rons Shortcuts", which, to me looked nothing more than random decisions to go off the path. But my love of adventure got the best of me, and I followed along.

And I am happy I did. Going through the woods with two biologist (Ron knows an incredible amount about the wildlife in Mexico) ended up being a great experience. I was introduced to wildlife that I probably would have passed by and not even noticed. I saw plants that collected water in unique ways, mushrooms that shoot out spores, lizards and bugs that hide away from site. It was great. We arrived to the peak way after the rest of the people in our group, but probably had more fun that everybody else combined...

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Chapter 33: Dia de los Muertos

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The Mexican answer to Halloween, Dia de las Muertes (The Day of Dead). The traditions of this day are a mix of the Christian All Saints Day, and traditions of the indiginous people of Mexico. The central focus of this tradition is placed around the creation of Altars. Each alter has 7 steps, and is decorated with chocolate and suger skulls, as well as fruit, pan de las muertos (a special bread only made this time of year), water and whatever the favorite foods of the dead were when they were living.

There two are parts to this festival, the first night, is to remember the dead children. The second day is to remember the spirits of the adults that passed away. The Indiginous people take it a step farther, and actually go the the graveyards, and sleep next to the graves of the deceased for those two nights. Luckily, the Peace Corps did not force us to do the same thing. Instead they took us to the Pantheon (a large graveyard), and we got to see all the decorations people had put up. The place was packed, and had almost a fiesta atmosphere. The graves were overflowing with flowers and decorations. It was great to see how the people remembered those that passed away.

Later that night a few of us meet up in the Centro, and went walking around checking out all the events going on in the squares. There were tiendas (little stores) set up everywhere. Also in one of the main plazas, Plaza de Armas, there was a massive alter setup. It was all beautiful, and at the end of the day, I realized that this was less a day of mourning the dead, but a day of celebrating life.

Que te via bein

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