I wasn't able to enjoy Oaxaca quite as much as I would have liked, given my stomach situation, but it was still a great stop. The state of Oaxaca is the poorest in Mexico, and my favorite visit was an NGO that provided free breakfast to kids in one of the poorest neighborhoods, Monte Alban.
Out meeting there was also really beneficial for my research, since most of the kids who are serviced by the NGO are also recipients of the Oportunidades grant.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Puebla
Due to some technical difficulties, I was unable to post this while I was actually in Mexico in January. Here is a compilation of updates I attempted to post from our first stop on the two-week adventure, Puebla:
Like all my travles, Mexico has been an adventure. But I wouldn't want it any other way. The town we are staying in is beautiful and reminds me almost exactly of Leon in Nicaragua. It's significantly nicer than I had anticipated with all the negative stories pumped out about Mexico...I wouldn't want to spend quality time near the border where things ARE dangerous, but Mexico has so much more to offer than what we read in the news. We have been taking day trips to nearby towns, and it's been really interesting to be able to see this in perspective. Cholula was a fun trip, we got to visit a church that the Spanish built on top of a gigantic indigenous pyramid to show their domination. The hike up was pleasantly steep, but there was a great view from the top (now to find pictures...) The people have all been amazing too, very friendly, very welcoming, very helpful, and the Spanish is super clear, which makes it easy to jump right in.
On one of our day trips, things got interesting when our bus broke down in the middle of nowhere on a dirt road about 4 hours from town in an area with no cell reception. Fast forward 2 1/2 hours, and it was pitch-black outside when we finally caught a public bus to the nearest town where we ran to the bus station (while shoving delicious street tacos in my face, yummm!) to catch a bus back to Puebla and *finally* a cab back to the hotel. We got back 7 hours later than planned, but it made for an entertianing evening. All things good so far! :)
I also got to interview the secretary for the state of Puebla's Oportunidades program, which is the CCT program that Argentina's Asignacion Universal por Hijo (the program I will be studying for my thesis) is based on. This was a "friend of a friend of a friendx5" kind of connection, so I was pretty sure I wasn't actually going to meet with her, but everything worked out, and we had an amazing 2 hour conversation about the program, what works, what doesn't, etc. It was SO helpful to be able to talk to someone that involved in the policy process that she could answer all my questions! The interview became the meat of my Mexico final paper and should turn out to be useful in my thesis down the road!
Following this high, I got really unbelievably sick. Something I ate, I'm sure, but how am I going to go on a food studies trip and be surrounded by amazing Mexican street food and NOT try things? Anyway, after 3 days of not being able to stand up straight and sleeping 14 hours a night (the other 10 hours of each day consisting of either time in the bathroom, figuring out where the nearest bathroom was, or how much longer I could last before I *needed* a bathroom), it was time to call in a professional. My Mexican doctor experience was less traumatic than my Chilean doctor experience -- perhaps the Chilean doctor did me a favor by taking the time to teach me to pronounce "dia-rrrrrrrrray-uh" correctly -- and after my first round of antibiotics and a bottle of pedialite, I was back on the move, just in time for our 5-hour bus ride to Oaxaca!
Like all my travles, Mexico has been an adventure. But I wouldn't want it any other way. The town we are staying in is beautiful and reminds me almost exactly of Leon in Nicaragua. It's significantly nicer than I had anticipated with all the negative stories pumped out about Mexico...I wouldn't want to spend quality time near the border where things ARE dangerous, but Mexico has so much more to offer than what we read in the news. We have been taking day trips to nearby towns, and it's been really interesting to be able to see this in perspective. Cholula was a fun trip, we got to visit a church that the Spanish built on top of a gigantic indigenous pyramid to show their domination. The hike up was pleasantly steep, but there was a great view from the top (now to find pictures...) The people have all been amazing too, very friendly, very welcoming, very helpful, and the Spanish is super clear, which makes it easy to jump right in.
On one of our day trips, things got interesting when our bus broke down in the middle of nowhere on a dirt road about 4 hours from town in an area with no cell reception. Fast forward 2 1/2 hours, and it was pitch-black outside when we finally caught a public bus to the nearest town where we ran to the bus station (while shoving delicious street tacos in my face, yummm!) to catch a bus back to Puebla and *finally* a cab back to the hotel. We got back 7 hours later than planned, but it made for an entertianing evening. All things good so far! :)
I also got to interview the secretary for the state of Puebla's Oportunidades program, which is the CCT program that Argentina's Asignacion Universal por Hijo (the program I will be studying for my thesis) is based on. This was a "friend of a friend of a friendx5" kind of connection, so I was pretty sure I wasn't actually going to meet with her, but everything worked out, and we had an amazing 2 hour conversation about the program, what works, what doesn't, etc. It was SO helpful to be able to talk to someone that involved in the policy process that she could answer all my questions! The interview became the meat of my Mexico final paper and should turn out to be useful in my thesis down the road!
Following this high, I got really unbelievably sick. Something I ate, I'm sure, but how am I going to go on a food studies trip and be surrounded by amazing Mexican street food and NOT try things? Anyway, after 3 days of not being able to stand up straight and sleeping 14 hours a night (the other 10 hours of each day consisting of either time in the bathroom, figuring out where the nearest bathroom was, or how much longer I could last before I *needed* a bathroom), it was time to call in a professional. My Mexican doctor experience was less traumatic than my Chilean doctor experience -- perhaps the Chilean doctor did me a favor by taking the time to teach me to pronounce "dia-rrrrrrrrray-uh" correctly -- and after my first round of antibiotics and a bottle of pedialite, I was back on the move, just in time for our 5-hour bus ride to Oaxaca!
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