Friday was my 1st day going to see the new urban temporary employment program.These projects are focused in different neighborhoods around the city of Puebla and fund things like picking up trash in gullies, reforestation, painting parks, and cleaning cemeteries.Our 1st stop was Xonacatepec where they were reforesting trees and had cleaned out a gully (that looks more like a river when it is actually raining).
Random caterpillar
One of the small reminders than an urban park in Mexico is different from an urban park in the U.S……..
Then we went to San Francisco Totimehuacan where they were painting their zocalo and had picked up trash and cut back the weeds in their local cemetery.
Early Saturday morning I flew up to Monterrey (3 hours south of the U.S. border) and took at bus to Saltillo for Ben and Blanca’s wedding.Ben is a fellow vol.The wedding was a lot of fun and ended in an after-party at the bride’s parent’s house, complete with mariachis and tacos.
Sunday afternoon we headed to Monterrey with another vol, Jake, who lives there and crashed at his place until Monday night so we could see some of Monterrey.It was super hazy when we were there, but Monterrey is a large (3rd largest in Mexico), modern city, ringed by mountains.The city definitely has a much more modern feel than any other city I have visited in Mexico and also has a much more “American” feel (helped by the fact that you are a 3 hour drive to the U.S.).
After returning to Puebla late on Monday night, I headed to Cuetzalan early on Tuesday morning…..details to be coming in the next post.
