Semana Tranquila

Cuernavaca has returned to its normal rhythm of life after last week's Día de Independencia festivities, but it seems as if everyone is still recovering from too much partying and eating. As my brother would say, they need a vacation after their vacation.

This week three new volunteers joined our crew!

Here we have Guillaume, Gerardo (Director of Casa Hoy), Kelsey, and Alex.. ¡Bienvenidos a los nuevos voluntarios!

We've had some fun adventures this week while also volunteering at our various placements, although it was a pretty peaceful and relaxing week.  On Wednesday, I went to Santo Domingo Ocotitlán to a plática about this incredible market in Mexico City called Mercado el 100, which is the first market in Mexico City that involves organic, local, and ecological producers. It occurs on Sundays in two plazas. Here's a YouTube video about Mercado El 100 and their movement.

The woman in charge of organizing the market, who is from an organization called Fundación Lu'um, is doing community outreach to get more local pueblos involved in the Mexico City initiative, so she came to Ocotitlán to recruit the people in the village to sell their local, organic fruit, vegetables, and herbs. This will really benefit the Ocotitlán villagers because they will have the opportunity to make a profit on whatever they sell in the market while also getting more exposure. In two weeks, the townspeople will organize themselves, their crops, and we'll go to Mexico City to check out the market. Emocionante!

After the talk with Fundación Lu'um, we took a mini tour of different peoples' houses to see what crops they could provide. It blew my mind to learn that practically every person in the village had at least one or two trees just full of fruit in their yards, so they will really benefit from their partnership with Mercado el 100. We also had the most amazing comida in the huerto which involved homemade tortillas, potatoes with spinach, cecina, nopales (cactus), salsas, beans, and rice, most of which was all grown and picked in the village. Can't say that I'm not eating well here :)

The kids had a lot of fun picking these GIANT three leaf clovers (called tréboles), making bouquets, and then eating them. They were surprisingly tasty!

 We took a little excursion to El Salto de San Anton, which is a huge and beautiful cascada located in one of the Cuernavaca neighborhoods. It used to be a popular swimming hole, but due to pollution, which is rising concern in Cuernavaca, it's no longer accessible.

 Here is one of the barrancas in the city. Cuernavaca is an environmentally fascinating city due to the ravines that run throughout. The reason the city has such a pleasant temperature all the time is due to these ravines, as they act as a sort of "air conditioning" to keep the city cooler. Unfortunately, there's a large concern because of people not only living in the ravines, but also because of so much solid waste and other pollutants being thrown into these gorges. If these ravines were to be ruined, it could have potentially harmful effects on the climate of the city, and the health of its inhabitants. Luckily, there are initiatives to protect these ravines, which I'm hoping to learn more about as time goes on! 

We spent some quality time in the beautiful Jardín Borda, a museum which was transformed from a mansion into these amazing gardens, terraces, and museum more than two centuries ago! They offer arts and crafts workshops, boat rides, music, food, etc. A very tranquil and educational place.

We got to see this bumpin' band called María Cantú at the Cine Morelos a few nights ago. Their music is a ska/reggae fusion, part political, part comical, and they completely killed the show. Here's a video of them performing a few years ago... You get the idea :)

We got to spend our Saturday at Xochicalo, the pyramids located about 25 miles southwest of Cuernavaca. The name Xochicalco is a Nahuatl name meaning "in the place of the house of flowers." The site developed its urban center between 700-900 AD, and was primarily built for the purpose of trade and defense. It's definitely one of the most interesting ruins I've been to, and we had some fun there by jumping off of the pyramids :)

 And of course, you can't be in Cuernavaca without going out and trying one of their specialty liter beers. These are chile beers with chile rims, with a little taste of tamarind to go along... And there are so many names for every type of beer mixture, I can't quite wrap my mind around them yet.. chamoyada, michelada, cubana, tropicana? 

Many more adventures to come this week! 

Nos vemos :)

¡Viva México! ¡Viva La Independencia!

This weekend is the celebration of Mexico's independence, so every pueblo, ciudad and estado in México is celebrating in one big way or another. If you'd like a little more history on Mexico's Día de la Independencia, check out this abridged video (just watch up to 5 minutes):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFNHayrnav8

This year seems to be a little more controversial than others due to the mounting tensions between the government, the about-to-be president, Enrique Peña Nieto, and many Mexicans throughout the country. Many Mexicans, and when I say many I mean the majority of people I've talked to in Cuernavaca, believe that these elections were corrupt, and that PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) bought peoples' votes in order to win. The PRI ruled Mexico for 71 years, being an extremely fraudulent and corrupt government. It was defeated for the first time in 2000. It seems that a lot of people are fearful that the country will return to the days of corruption and authoritarianism, so I have a feeling that within the next few months there will be some pretty interesting protests, conversations, and developments on this election.

Regardless of the underlying political atmosphere throughout the country, people everywhere celebrated this important historical day with much fervor. I would even venture to say that Mexicans celebrate their Independence Day harder than the United States' 4th of July celebrations :).. Here are some pictures of the festivities:

These traditional costumed dancers are called Chinelos. They represent the fusing of indigenous and Catholic traditions, but are also mocking European mannerisms. They danced through the Zócalo while people stood by and watched, while others joined in!

This was an awesome live band that played in the Zócalo for the celebrations.

We ate some festive jello 

 It's very traditional to wear Mexico's colors (red, green, and white) on Independence Day. We also saw a lot of people wearing bigotes (mustaches), so of course we had to have our own. At 11:00, we went to the grito in the Zócalo

Besides celebrating 202 years of Mexican Independence, this week involved a lot of other  fun activities:

 I worked up in Santo Domingo Ocotitlán with La Fundación. We weeded out beds in order to transplant lettuce, cucumbers, and celery, and we're hoping that neither the squirrels nor hail affect their growth!

We ate some tamales muyyy sabrosos with the Casa Hoy staff during our convivio, and then had to finish off the night with some old school games :)

Chloe and I had the chance to take a cheese-making class at El Campo Experimental, which is located in the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos. The queso fresco was delicious, and made from cows that they had recently milked!

 We also helped them fertilize their grafted avocado trees. Isn't it a perdy place?

For this next week, three new volunteers will be joining us, and I'll be delving deeper into my projects with La Fundación.. Muy emocionante!!

¡Viva México!

Arriba, Abajo, Al Centro de Cuernavaca!

¡Que semana increíble! I couldn't ask for a better first week in such a beautiful and heart-warming place. Cuernavaca has turned out to be such a vibrant city, and it already feels like I've lived here for a few months. So here's what's been happening the past week:

This is the view from the airplane landing in Mexico City (they call it the D.F. here for Distrito Federal). I spent a day in this vast and exciting city with my Israeli friend, Ziv, who just finished a six month journey through South and Central America. We were lucky enough that our paths crossed, and of course we ripped up the town :)

Let me start by explaining the organization I'm involved with in Cuernavaca. Casa Hoy is a socially responsible organization which partnered with IVHQ (the organization which hooked me up in Mexico) about a year ago. They accept volunteers from all over the world who work on various projects around Cuernavaca and surrounding towns, and volunteers can stay from one week up to six months. Right now, there are five of us volunteers, three from Australia and one from Japan. The programs range from child care to environmental volunteering. I will be working as an environmental volunteer, helping out in surrounding communities with several projects. So far the other volunteers have been a BLAST to hang out with, and the Casa Hoy coordinators have been better than I could have hoped!

My first projects are with an organization called La Fundación Comunitaria Moralense. One project involves creating a filtration system and building a cistern in a small town called Santo Domingo Ocotitlán about two hours outside of Cuernavaca. They are also about to start building a museum, which will explain the history of Santo Domingo's water, and will also double as a meeting space for los residentes of the town. Here you can see a cow drinking out of their water filtration system. Glug glug!

So far I have been slowly getting involved with La Fundación, but I will have plenty of time to work with them on their projects, and there are many opportunities to work with other  environmental organizations in the city. 

This is where the other volunteers and I will be staying for a while (beautiful ain't it?!) It's actually the living quarters and office space for an organization called the Cuernavaca Center for Intercultural Dialogue on Development (CCIDD), but they have been very kind in letting us eat, sleep, and relax here!

Here's some other cool things we've done this past week along with volunteering:

 We visited some of the museums in Cuernavaca! Here you can see El Museo Regional Cuauhnáhuac, which was originally Cortés' palace, and is now a museum outlining the history of Cuernavaca. There's a huuuuge Diego Rivera mural there as well!

 This wonderful museum is called La Fundación Robert Brady. Brady was an American muralist and artist who traveled extensively all over the world, collecting AMAZING pieces of artwork (His house has over 1,300 pieces in the collection, including a Frida Kahlo!!)

We worked in an experimental "campo" up at La Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos.We helped them fertilize corn and lettuce, and also weed some nasty grass which had taken over a few rows in their lettuce garden. We also pet a deer... (what???)

 We've been eating some of the best food I've ever had. Here is one of the cocineras posing with some of her very palatable platos (enchiladas, ensalada de nopal, frijoles, arroz, y salsa!) The four other volunteers and I also spent a day in Tepoztlán, eating yummy quesadillas in the market, and sipping on some cappuccinos and chocolatey delicious drinks.

 Tepoztlán is one of the coolest cities I have been to in Mexico. It's a "pueblo mágico" (Meaning magical town), and it's hard to deny how beautiful and almost supernatural it feels when walking around. Three of us hiked up to the Tepozteco temple on top of a huge mountain overlooking the city. Super gorgeous, and worth every drop of sweat it took to get us up to the top! Here's me, Jonathon (Australia), and Maki (Japan) enjoying the fresh air and view. We spent the night testing out our salsa moves and drinking some good ole Mexican cervezas.

During this next week of volunteering,  I'll be going back to Tepoztlán to work with another project that La Fundación is supporting, which involves working in community gardens and creating a vermicompost system! Yayyyyy!

P.S. If anyone is interested in checking out either IVHQ or Casa Hoy, follow zee links: 

http://www.volunteerhq.org/

http://casahoy.wix.com/home_casa#!__about-us

Hasta Prontito :)

I don't like San Francisco... I love it!

There's a great quote that asserts, "the coldest winter I ever had was a summer in San Francisco." As much as this may prove true for most summers in this foggy yet wonderful city, this past week has been nothing but close to amazing! Every day for this final week in August has been the perfect temperature, except for that one day I was wondering why I didn't bring my winter jacket because the wind was so bone-chilling...

Let me give you a little recap of why I continuously fall in love with San Francisco:

1. GREAT FOOD!!

This is an example of one delicious meal that I've been able to cook here. Along with this, you can't be in San Francisco without sampling some of its very eclectic cuisine.. You can find any type of food from every corner of the earth here. My new favorite are the tacos from Gracias Madre in the Mission (and for all you Penny Cluse lovers, their sister restaurant, Boogaloos, is also in SF!)

2. FAMILY!

 Elliott and I spent some quality time together, eating lots of good food, putzing around the city, hanging out in Dolores Park, and visiting people on the East Bay.

Jeremy, Aaron, and I had the chance to release our inner child at the Dolores Park playground before drinking some hot sake and eating big bowls of soup at a little Japanese restaurant.

I also got to spend a little time on the East Bay with my uncle, aunt, and cousins, which is always a pleasure!

3. FRIENDS!

Danilo came to visit for a day, and we hit up the Sutro Baths down by Ocean Beach, and also drove all over the city to give a quickie tour of the place.

My dear and lovely amigas, Eva and Mallory, who are in the process of moving to the Bay Area, stayed with me for three days! Here they are eating an amazing meal at Gracias Madre, where we also met up with my friend, Beth. I wish you girls the best of luck in your adventures :)

4. IT'S JUST A REALLY COOL CITY!

 Can you just look at that view?!?!

And of course you can't forget the beach

So now I say farewell to the United States, and HOLA to México!!! Next stop, Mexico City (D.F.) for a day before heading to my program in Cuernavaca for the next six months!!

Nos vemos pronto! :)