Today is our first -free day- we have a group of 7 quiet, curious students from ages 17-20...
Lucrecia- from a small Totonaco community 3 hours away. She is 17, this is the fist time she has traveled outside of her community. Already a pro at making tortillas, she will be invaluable.... and will be able to offer workshops in Totonaco (1 of 2 indigeous languages of the region).
Anaelisa- 19 year old from Puerto Rico, full of energy, enthusiam and charm, she will be our cheerleader, desperately needed... still adjusting to her accent ...
<Alex- quiet but eager, from Arizona, will be the brunt of many jokes, in a good way... already overdosed on plums, which are plentiful in the community, and threw up on the bus, the very full bus.. it was very funny actually... and he has a backpacker guitar with him...
Martin de Peru.. about to start college at Reed.. very quiet, serious, can't quiet figure him out yet...
sophie- from WA. also very quiet...
Mady- about to start school in FL, interested in studying medicine... eager... content...
Jessica- from CA, but her parents are from Jalisco, Mexico.
Its funny to remember where I was at after graduating high school.. which seems to be the average age, 19? Wow so young... an age where you think you know it all... and many of these kids have travelled a lot already and had very interesting experiences.. but havent had shared living experiences, and this will likely be our biggest challenge.
The community is very interesting and different from the others which are more heavily indigeous. Our community is a interesting mix of lifestyles: campesinos who still live off their land.. they grow corn, beans, tons of fruit, avacados... get milk from their cows,and raise pigs, chickens, etc. very poor, but very content. The crops they produce, most of them they consume themselves, they dont have value in the market or to buyers... except the animals...
Some people, like the famous dona julia, have taken advantage of the fruit, and started fermenting it and bottling vinos of many flavors-- potent and delicious... ferment for 3 years and sell in the community as well as a few neighboring communities.
Other people have very nicely constructed houses, and have likely traveled to the US and returned, or went to work inthe city for a few years and came back to be with their family. TV, hot water, gas stove, white bread...
Our first project will be to construct 10 ecological stoves. This is for people who still cook with wood, of which there are many... Basically this will entail enclosing the area where the wood is and adding a chimney so the smoke does not fill up the house when they are cooking. We will do the first one in the church where we will be staying...
In the afternoon we will be offering variuos workshops, yet to be defined once we get a better sense of what interests the community has, and what we can offer...
thats to start...
One hour walk (or 15 mins) in bus will take us to Tlaltlouki, a much larger pueblo where we will likely do our bigger food shopping, etc.
Many more conversations to be had... and hopefully documented!
Tomorrow we get started...
