I forgot to mention something really important in my first blog post. I guess I was so tired when we arrived that I neglected to say how wonderful it was to be met at the aeropuerto in México City by none other than the grandfather of one of Lea's classmates, who is from México City and lives here, but who we had the chance to meet when he came to Madison to visit his son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren.
Pablo not only met us at the airport, even with our delayed flight, but he came accompanied by an acquaintance who drove us to Pablo's house where we were able to spend the night. The next morning we went out for breakfast and then his friends took us first to our landlord's house and then to the bus station. With good grace and humor all along the way. That gives you a taste of some of the logistics that were involved in making this trip happen so successfully.
So thank you, Pablo, for your generosity and hospitality. And thank you, Carlos, for helping us get around DF (México City).
And now back to our time in Tepoztlán, where one highlight of the weekend was going for a drive with José to get a goat. That's right. If you can picture me pulling a goat into the back of a VW bus, then your imagination is more adept than mine. But that's what I was doing. Three kids, three adults and one toddler sharing the van with one very nervous and pregnant female goat. And you're going to have to take my word on this one because I didn't have my camera along!
Yesterday we got to participate in the wonderful ritual of going to watch José's fútbol team, Los Reyes, play at Montecastillo. It was a hot and sunny day, but we were loaded with sandwiches, fruit, and water. Plus we found a nice bit of shade to sit in while the guys ran up and down in the hot sun. Despite being outnumbered by 11 to 8, Los Reyes managed a tie game, 3-3. It was a lot of fun. The only time I got a little nervous is when I went for a little exploring with the kids through the fields of nopale cacti growing around the fútbol field and ran into quite a swarm of Africanized honey bees, more colloquially known as "killer bees." The "good news," if you can call it that, is that I had run into them before and knew that if trouble came, the best thing to do is to drop to the ground. At least, I THINK, that's what you're supposed to do. The better news is that it didn't come to that!
I ask many of the folks I have the chance to chat with here about the economy. They sum it up in onw word: difícil. Difficult. Someone once said that when the US sneezes, Mexico gets the flu. Only worse. The unemployment here is astronomical. And only getting worse--as folks return to México, some voluntarily others deported--and find it nearly impossible to find work. What work there is long hours and pays poorly. A security guard here works 24-hour shifts. Bus drivers drive 30-hour shifts. Construction workers commonly work from 6am until 8pm six days a week.
Imagine the toll this takes on families, on education, on self-esteem, on relationships, on physical and mental health.
I read the other day that there are two economies in the US--one for the owners, CEOs, stockholders of large multinational corporations and another for the rest. It turns out that multinational corporations are doing OK--but they are increasingly turning to other countries (ie "markets") for their increased sales and profits. Automobiles and cigarettes are selling well in China, while Pepsi and Coca-Cola are as popular as can be here.
A note to my old farming and food activism friends: A couple of workers were spraying the nopale cactus fields the other day with what looked like an herbicide. Turns out it was glyphosate. I found a discarded bottle and did some research. Can you say "Monsanto"? Yep, good old Round-Up right here in the Pueblo Mágico of Tepoztlán. Forgive us, amigos Méxicanos.
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