We reached Pachuca yesterday, after driving through Mexico City and seeing una manifesitiacion in the street with workers carrying banners and marching. It was actually a really huge group that seemed well organized. Makes you wonder how much of it is real given the history of the PRI and the political system with the workers' unions.
We arrived and immediately went to the Tec de Monterrey campus in Pachuca, Hidalgo, which is made up of a few buildings, one of which is for people studying for what they call "professional degrees" and two for students studying Prepatoria (High school). The wander around there brought us back here, to the apartment we are using for the next two weeks (I was totally wrong about the schedule... once again. But I'll go in depth there in a minute). And here is really where the security system tells you more about the situation in Mexico than most people are willing to talk about. You come through a cast iron gate, into a building where you are the only person who has keys to your room. There are security cameras everywhere, and there are two spaces and two spaces alone where you are allowed to bring people from the outside. Both of them are far from the actual rooms that we live in.
We are in a poor city. I'm not going to lie to you. When we drove into the city I was immediately struck by the nature of the buildings all around us. After living in Mexico City, I can tell you that this is an area with a totally different focus on life. They tell you immediately, this is not an area with muchos extranjeros (foreigners). Their reason: the things that make Hidalgo as a state interesting are not exploited in the same way that they have been in other places. The old mines, especially the silver mines, are now empty, but this is still a mining city. There are pieces of machinery from the old mines everywhere, hillls made of the sand and stone taken from these mines, and some working machines that spew smoke into the air.
When I searched "Pachuca" on google, this is what a tourist website showed me:
This is what it looks like outside my window:
Most houses are one, maybe two rooms. Completely made out of cement, and unlike other parts of Mexico, they are not painted bright colors. There are lots of people in the street talking, which adds a sense of vitality despite the lack of color. But honestly, in this area it is easy to get lost because everything looks the same. There is not really a sense of danger here, it has a very relaxed feeling to it, but the fact that most people in this area probably live on something between 500-900 USD a month if that is clear. This is not even an area that needs the most help. And looking across the highway where people drive by throwing themselves into the street, is a walled area where HUGE houses are constructed on big plots of land. Y como eso es Mexico.
It's very windy here and my window just slammed shut since I had it propped open. It is much less hot than Cuernavaca, where you did not even need to move to begin sweating profusely (sorry for that image, just saying how it is). We are higher up in the mountains, and that makes it cooler. It is a pleasant heat until you get to about 3 pm when it is so hot that all you want to do is sleep.
We have a really cool guy who will be working with us for our entire stay in Mexico. His name is Jossue, and he is in charge of the science labs here at the Tec (Dad was thrilled). We drove into the city to have tacos at this place that were truly fantastic. It was crowded with people when we were there at 9 pm (which is when most people eat dinner here), all there with their little kids, their coworkers, friends, people on dates... whatever. I'm being very careful about what I eat, and only eating things that I am sure have been well cooked etc. but everything was so delicious. A thunder storm ranged outside but it was not really in Pachuca. What is interesting is that we are high enough up, and surprisingly there is not too much pollution here, that the lightening lit up the sky making it seem like broad daylight, despite that fact that the storm itself took hours to reach us. And when it did, it made sure that my memories of Mexico were complete: the electricity went out. Everyone sat in the restaurant and continued on their merry ways, while the jovenes held flashlights over the cooks. It came back after a little while, but I just smiled to myself and remembered the constant black outs of the city when i was little.
Today we met the person in charge of the social development programs here, and we talked about why we decided to come to this program and Mexico. WE ALSO LEARNED ABOUT OUR PROJECTS a little more. I like this whole, unraveling the mystery of what I'm doing here thing, but I know that I would go ABSOLUTELY INSANE if this was forever. For a few reasons: it makes you entirely dependent on other people. You cannot plan ahead at all. You have to think on your feet all the time (this I dont mind as much). There is very little time to just let your brain wander. But for now, its kinda working for me. I dont feel like I have to hold people's hands and push them forward to keep up with what I'm hoping to do. I know that sounds kind of conceded, but you hopefully know me well enough that you can understand what I am clumsily trying to communicate.
And I have to say, I really believe in what the Tec is trying to do.
The idea is that they are making classrooms with computers from people from all walks of life, ages etc. to come and take classes. The tec offers them degrees upon completing these classes. When we went to one of the work sites for this program we saw some children who had come after school to learn about how to manage their money, use computers, and do other important things. The one we talked to was just 13 years old, and she is apparently a frequent visitor to these sites.
It really reminded me of what Professor Joseph was telling us in our Mexican History class this spring, where the most successful programs come from private, community organizations. These people clearly believe in what they are doing, and it was inspiring to see. Because, for once, there was nothing artificial about their goals. They were not looking for money or fame, they were just trying to reach out to other areas of the community. It made me kind of unhappy that I could not think of any similar programs run by Yale in New Haven. Harvard extension school and yale's online classroom was the closest I could think of, but these sites give people all the tools they need to access these resources, TOTALLY FREE OF CHARGE.
And so I think my internship went from a focus on public health (Michoacan), to one more focused on developing stronger communities through education. And I'm ok with that. Because I can honestly tell you that I believe in what we are looking to do these next few weeks. And as they have been with us, i will not tell you in advance, despite the knowledge I have of what is to come. You must wait and see :) If BBN's English department beat anything into my head, it was that I write better when I show you and relive the experiences than when I just tell you about them and what is to come.
Finally, I've been having really cool conversations about Mexico and Pachuca's culture with Jossue. It ranged from the Narco-wars, theUS's immigration policy and news system, education reform, housing, gender roles, to food. I have so many questions and thankfully there is still some time. And slowly, but surely, I think I am losing my weird french-isms that have crept into my spanish and turning back to the original, beautiful language that I love so dearly. But for now, I need to sleep. Cause I'm about to pass out and we have dinner at 9 with students from the Tec.
Tomorrow we will visit more of the city, and I can be in contact for the next two weeks. I'm also having one of those I want to be alone with my thoughts moments, so I will end this now and hopefully talk to some of you soon. Much love.
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