Huasteca Potosina: 2nd Week

I spent most if the second week in Valles in the cienaga (wetland) again. We finished the sample collection and had 2 days of tours around the cienaga with students from a local university. No pictures of this, but one night we were lucky enough to get a trip to a temazcal, or a sweat lodge. 1st we covered ourselves in mud, let that dry, and then washed it off in the hot spring. Then we entered the sweat lodge, a small, circular dome with a fire pit in the middle. Instead of using an open flame though, stones are cooked outside in a fire and then brought into the temazcal, where water is poured on them to create steam. During the process you are also rubbing various herbs and aloe all over you. Upon exiting, you’re treated to a very, very cold soaking and then wrapped in a towel, laid down on the ground and covered by a blanket, quickly massaged, and then given some tea to drink. The night was capped off by a dip in the hot springs.

Here are some picts from around the cienaga….

Huasteca Potosina: Work and Rafting in the Canyon de Tampaon

So while I am up here in Ciudad Valles, I am actually working on a project sampling aquatic insects from a wetland known as "Cienaga de Cabezas". This week was spent collecting some samples and getting a little more familiar with the wetland itself.




The main source of income in the area is sugar cane, and right now is the harvet time. Trucks like the ones pictured below, are running 24/7, transporting the cut cane (most cut by hand) to the "ingenio" where the raw cane is processed into sugar.


And finally here is a pict of me doing some sampling and one of the insects (megaloptera) that I found.

On Saturday, we ventured out to enjoy more of the amazing colored waters of the Huasteca and went rafting on the Tampaon River that cuts through a canyon.




The river at one point, appears to end at a place that is called Puente de Dios (God's Bridge) and from there the rafts have to be portaged about 100m to the other side.


What sugar cane looks like before it has been burned and cut.

La Huasteca, concrete art, and the Superbowl (Mexican style)

With a long weekend thanks to Mexican Constitution Day (Feb 5th for everyone that is keeping track of important Mexican holidays.....Benito Juarez´s birthday is next on the 21st of March), I headed up to visit some other volunteers in Ciudad Valles in the state of San Luis Potosí, only a short 12 hour overnite bus ride away. Saturday was international wetlands day so I tagged along with the volunteers and their SEMARNAT office to a cienaga (big wetland basically) in the Huasteca region for a trash clean up and small get together with the local community. This area is the heart of sugar cane production in Mexico. There are sugar can fields as far as the eye can see and the road out to the cienaga had tons of trucks laden with cut sugar cane to be processed. It’s definitely a little warmer in this area than Puebla (and much more humid). In the summers, the highest temps in Mexico have been recorded here, over 130°F…..thankfully Puebla maxs out in the 90s in the summer!

Sunday we headed to a town about 2 hours away called Xilitla, although technically we never made it into town, only to Las Pozas. Las Pozas is a hard place to describe because I’ve never quite seen anything like it. It is basically a garden of concrete structures created along a series of waterfalls and pools (poza means pool) and was constructed in the 1940s by a Brit named Edward James. A place like this would never be open to the public in the US as there are narrow staircases without railings 2 stories above the ground and all sorts of other lawsuits just waiting to happen. It’s set in lush tropical vegetation and everywhere you turn there is another strange structure, arch, gate, sculpture, or staircase just waiting to be explored. These pictures do not do it justice at all, but they give you an idea of what it was like.

We got back Sunday night just in time to watch the superbowl with Spanish commentary. The only unfortunate thing was that Mexico does not get the normal superbowl commercials….oh well. Monday I bummed around Ciudad Valles, saw a bull in a pick-up truck, explored the market, made some excellent guacamole, and then started the journey back to Puebla by heading to Tampico. Unfortunately, upon my arrival in Tampico, the bus to Puebla was sold out, no fear though there was another at 9 pm that would get me into Puebla at 6am, in time to shower and go to work, right?...wrong. Got stuck on the high way somewhere in Veracruz for quite a while so I didn’t actually get back to the bus station in Puebla until 7:30. With the gynormous line at the taxi stand, I opted for the city bus at the height of morning rush hour and arrived at my house at 8:20, to find my host mom in the shower. 5 min later and I was out the door, unshowered, but ready for a great day at the office. All well worth it for the weekend.

Many of you have asked about my apartment status. I think I now have a place and hopefully should be moving in at the end of the week, more to come on that as I get some more details.