This week's been kind of low key. We've settled into a little routine and have traded turns getting sick so there's been a little less exploring and high adventure. Fortunately we've got a huge field trip next week that should culminate with a trip to the beach right on the coast so stay tuned.
So first of all I made a quick recovery from food poisoning this Saturday and was back to getting seconds of just about everything by Sunday dinner.
On Tuesday we made a trip to a collective called Cacita which works on all kinds of different machines made out of bicycle parts(if your reading this I'll give you the address Burin) and focuses on sustainable living in the city. Again it was pretty cool to see people really embody Jefferson's ideal of man(particularly the farmer) being able to govern himself, but the speaker may have been slightly hung over so are attention wandered at times. They also had a really cool bus that runs on vegetable oil, that they've taken all over Mexico and has bunk beds in the back.
Thursday was our big trip of the week to a village in Sierra Norte mountains here. It was a two hour drive to get there and had some of the roughest, and most winding roads I've ever been on. The drive was gorgeous though and you get to see just miles and miles of forests and all kinds of plant life everywhere. We got there and went into one the municipal buildings where we had a guide show us the basic map for the sustainable logging project in their land. Basically they've divided the region into 40 regions and each year their allowed to cut down the trees in one of these regions. After they finish, they bring up partially grown trees and replant them in the area they just finished cutting. We drove up to a few of the places and got to give our lungs a workout climbing up to one of the areas they were cutting the trees(I think we were a good 2.4 km above sea level or for those playing at home about 1.5 miles, needless to say the air was thin). The views were gorgeous and we saw a few more locales before heading back down to the village to talk with one of the guys about the mine that had closed a few years before. Basically there had been this mine there for about 40 years that had been extremely damaging to health of the workers and the villagers because of the runoff into the water supply(we saw some pretty nasty pictures of the water). So the people decided to organize and with the help of some Canadiens were able to effectively lobby the Mexican government to be reclassified as an indigenous population, which gave them additional say in their affairs and allowed them to have the mine removed and the water cleaned up.
After about 7 hours of presentations and trips to various logging sites, we were all hungry but I was in that cartoonish hunger mode where people's faces start looking like chicken legs. Anyways we finally got to the trout farm/restaurant and had a great lunch of tortillas, soup, and some fried trout. We also got to see the zip lines they had set up across the river and go across a rope bridge there which was pretty cool.
After another bumpy, windy, two hour ride back to the city it was time for parent's weekend to begin. I was really excited for this, as it gave me an excuse to play tour guide/ambassador for my new home, try out some restaurants, and show them a few of our favorite hangouts.
My parents had an eventful cab ride over, which as previously mentioned is pretty par for the course here. They came in midway through dinner and we had an excellent meal, and Jimmy and I competed to see who had the best Spanish among the gringos. After dinner we walked around and I got to show them a few places close to our house, including the grocery store and a few nice restaurants. After about an hour of that, their gas tanks were empty from traveling and an eventful week in Dallas, so they called it a night and we made plans for Friday.
We met up again the next morning after class and after a short but heavy rain we set off to find a restaurant nearby. We found a great restaurant that serves food from Oaxaca's isthmus in the southeast(where I'm headed this Tuesday) and had some enchiladas and shrimp and their excellent homeade salsa. while we continued to catch up. After that I got to see the hotel they were staying which is the beautiful Hotel Victoria. It's situated above the city so you get beautiful views from your room, the pool, and bar area. One thing my mom and I have in common is our love for a good deal, and I've heard her mention at least 4 times how she was able to get the room half price and then get upgraded to a suite(As Jimmy likes to say "we all know Ellis is a Jewish name!") Before dinner we had a few drinks at the bar and talked about family history and everything I've been learning in classes(this week we talked mostly about NGOs and the environment). We then our made our way to a restaurant called "El Che" which is an amazing Argentinean steakhouse and had a very satisfying steak dinner with potatoes and salad. We were all in a bit of a food coma after that so at that point we called it a night.
Saturday we decided to explore the city center for most of the afternoon as we checked out jewelry stores, book stores(I picked up one book on the Mexican revolution and one called "How Soccer Explains the World), coffee shops, and a few gift shops. I feel like I'm starting to sound like a broken record but again we had a great lunch at Pizza Rustica, which in spite of its name actually has all kinds of soups, seafood, pasta, and of course pizza. After that we all felt like relaxing for a while so we called up Will, Hannah, and Rachel and decided to go for a swim at the hotel. We polished off the evening with a few drinks and some tacos al pastor at a restaurant in the Zocalo.
Overall it's been a great week, and I can't believe how quick the trip is going. I've got a field trip from Tuesday to Sunday, followed by La Guelaguetza(the huge festival that the city is renowned for) on Monday, and then my last 4 classes before I start working on my research paper. Thats all I've got for now. Hasta Luego
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