Independence Day, Méxican Style!

I just got back from 10 days of vacation in the state of Oaxaca, alternating between Oaxaca City and the coastline. It was my first ¨real¨ vacation so far, and it was great! I could probably fill several weeks worth of blogs, but I'm going to focus on the major holiday last week and see how much other stuff I can post later this week...



The big event during my vacation was El Grito, or The Shout. This happens in every city in México on the evening of September 15th, Méxican Independence Day (although the official holiday is Sept 16). Each city celebrates it a little bit differently, but in Oaxaca, the town center, or zocalo, had several stages set up for the festivities. Live bands were playing on all of them, starting around 8 PM. Around 10 PM the zocalo started becoming packed with people. People were wearing giant sombreros and fake mustaches (some sort of tradition, couldn´t quite figure out if it was anything other than a touristy gimmick). Around 11 PM, the governor appeared and started giving his speech, celebrating the heroes of Méxican history and the Independence. Supposedly the ¨official¨ Grito occurs in México City at midnight, so all other cities in México have to do theirs before midnight. Everyone in the crowd shouted along with ¡Viva Domingez! ¡Viva México! ¡Viva Oaxaca! The fun part began when everyone pulled out the spray-cans of foam and threw around hollowed-out egg shells filled with confetti. Some guys directly behind me had a couple cans of foam, so I got hit pretty good.



There were also castillos, tall structures with fireworks strung on them. They go off in several stages, with different parts lighting up at different times. Here is a video of one of the stages. You could get pretty close, which is amazingly unsafe, since the sparks and even some fireworks were flying everywhere!



This was then followed by fireworks in the sky over the basilica. All in all, we were out til 1:30 AM, and we didn't even go back to the zocalo for more live music!!

We don't quite do anything like this in the states for Independence Day. The closest equivalent we have is probably New Year's, and I think that is centered on the big cities. Even the tiny beach town in Oaxaca that we went to later in the week had an Independence Day celebration with a grito and castillo's!

Thoughts of America

This is a very sad weekend for me. Yesterday (Thursday) I had to say goodbye to the second person to leave my site. Out of the 3 volunteers that started in my office, I am the only survivor 3.5 months after swearing in. We had all been through a lot together, and both the others left to take care of personal business back home (good and bad). If I were in their shoes, I would also be heading back home in a split second, so I understand where they are coming from. Still, it hurts to think about because we had all gotten along pretty well both at work and outside of work, and I still get emotional thinking about this last goodbye. All I can hope for is that the friendships continue beyond Peace Corps. Peace Corps, like any other association, is just a medium to bring people together, and it is not the end-all-and-be-all of anything.

Today continues my sad note. I am actually on vacation in Oaxaca, but a volunteer couple from my group that I am meeting up with are also going back to the states in a week and a half. At least 4 out of our original 16 will have left before Reconnect...all are good people, and the couple is also going back to the states for very good reasons. I hate saying goodbyes, but I am glad that I have been able to say goodbye in person to all those in my group who have left so far. Maybe that´s a sign of bad luck on my part...

All of the ETs make me wonder what I am accomplishing here in Mexico. On some level, I feel like I could ¨accomplish¨ more in a job back in the states. On the other hand, I know that I will never get this kind of opportunity again, because all 4 people who have left basically left because life back in the states caught up with them. Kids, grand-kids, family illnesses, etc., are pretty strong factors that make Peace Corps look darn unimportant. I am ¨lucky¨ that I do not have any of those factors in my life right now, so I can afford to focus on Peace Corps. Is there a standard ¨profile¨ of volunteers that finish their 2 years of service? What is 2 years of my life worth to me?

On a pseudo-related note (thinking about the states), I read this article earlier this week, and I really relate to the story now:

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/09/07/atlanta.ludacris.cars/index.html?iref=newssearch

The lack of a personal vehicle in Peace Corps makes transportation a very frustrating experience for me. The added time to do even the simplest things is a huge factor in lifestyle, and owning a car is a convenience that I never fully appreciated in the states.

Saltillo and Independence

Next week rings in Independence Day in México. Sept 16th (really the evening of the 15th) marks the start of the Méxican revolution against Spain in 1810. Lots of street vendors are selling green / white / red gear, and even the local mall is getting into the act.



On Friday this week, we were invited to the US Consulate in Monterrey for a town hall meeting. The new Ambassador to México, Carlos Pascual, was in town for a conference, and he wanted to meet us. When we showed up to the Consulate, everyone wanted to know about PC México--they didn´t even know we had a program in México! All of the consular people that I met were really nice, and we even went to a reception at the consular general´s house (the head of the consulate) afterwards.

In a couple of weeks a fellow volunteer is getting married to his Méxican novia, and so we had a pretty cool (but tame) cookout / despedida for him. A fellow volunteer and I traveled from Monterrey to Saltillo for the event, and I had time to visit the Museo de las Aves and Centro Cultural Vito Alessio Robles. This eagle / snake model at the Museo mirrors the image on the Méxican flag.



The Centro Cultural has the largest mural in all of México! It chronicles the history of Saltillo, and here is just a small taste.

Guadalupe, carne asada, and horses

So last Sunday (23rd of August) was the last day in a local event called Oaxaca in Guadalupe. Guadalupe is a suburb of Monterrey, so we joined up with the other Volunteer nearby to see what the event was like. It was being held in the central plaza of Guadalupe (every town in México has one). The main church (also standard in all towns) is pictured here. The event itself hadn´t picked up yet as of noon, so we just browsed the stalls for a bit then took off.



Last night I went to my first carne asada in México, which is equivalent to a barbeque in the US. It was hosted by work to welcome all of the new people that we have been hiring. I think since I started 3 months ago, we´ve gone from 27 employees to...35, plus 5 interns? Food on the grill!



Today, a couple of us went to Cola de Caballo, a waterfall south of Monterrey. It hasn't rained much here, so the water level was probably down, but it was still a fun trip. Up in the mountains it was noticeably cooler than in the city, which was great!

5th International Film Festival

My triumph of the week actually happened early in the week, when I finally got Internet at home. This adventure (which deserves its own rant) took a little over 3 weeks to accomplish, but I won't get into the gory details. Suffice it to say that I am now locked into a contract for Internet until I leave México...

Friday started the 5th International Film Festival in Monterrey, so I decided to volunteer to check it out. I was assigned to the press area. I had the chance to watch a documentary called Big River Man about the Slovakian swimming, Martin Strel, who has swum the entire lengths of the Danube, Mississippi, Yangtze, and most recently, the Amazon. I also sat in on a panel discussion with Bruce Beresford, the director of Driving Miss Daisy. His next movie is a story about a Chinese ballet dancer, Mao´s Last Dancer, and comes out next year. It sounded interesting, so I hope I can watch it. Here is a picture of Bruce at the panel (guy in the white t-shirt).

Matacanes pictures and cooking

Ok, so I finally got some pictures from Matacanes. The bare bones numbers are on my last post, but this is the one group jump that we did. Pretty short, maybe 3-4 m? I'm wearing the red lifevest on the left.



Last Sunday morning I also hit up some of the city museums in downtown Monterrey. The Museo de Historia Mexicana and the Museo del Noreste. They were both pretty interesting, but the Mexican history was very high level. The exhibits started from pre-hispanic cultures and continued to present day. They had some interesting colonial stuff, including arts and culture in México. No pictures allowed in either museum, but they had these giant statues outside (I think they are the museum mascots...).

Matacanes and PC Plumbing

So Matacanes was really fun, but very intense. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures yet, since I didn´t take my personal camera (and I´m glad I didn´t!), but hopefully the guide will send us our pictures soon. In a nutshell:

• Got up at 3:15 AM to catch a ride
• Got back home after midnight
• In between, did 27 cliff jumps of various heights. Highest was 12 m (~40 ft), with a couple of 8 m ones mixed in
• 2 rappels, highest was 36 m
• Ton of rock slides (which I loved!)
• 12 hours of walking, climbing, jumping, swimming, rappelling, etc.
• 1 soaked and destroyed cell phone (hence why I´m glad I didn´t also have my camera)

For some reason, I also ate a ton more during the hike than everyone else in my group. I had 8 Snicker´s bars, 8 granola bars, and drank about 2 L of water. Right afterwards, I also wolfed down half a roast chicken, rice, and beans. Guess I still have that high metabolism...

An interesting note on the 12 m cliff jump. On the way down, I was watching the water, and I actually had enough time to think to myself, Hm, I haven´t hit the water yet... That´s how long it takes to fall 12 m...

On the plumbing note, I had bought a washer for my house, to save on laundromat costs. There was a perfect space to hook it up in the back patio, but when I went to connect everything, I couldn´t find a cold water hookup available. So, over the course of a week, I basically had to rig together this T-pipe plus washer faucet plus hose contraption to keep water flowing to the house while also providing cold water to the washer. Very professional!