Last bit of normal and then the car ride from hell

So Puebla had a great music and arts festival going that was supposed to end on 5 de mayo (which some of you might not know that Puebla is the home of that holiday that celebrates a famous battle against the French that took place at the forts in Puebla). As has everything else, the festival and the 5 de mayo parade have been canceled, but Sunday before everything went on lock down I did get to see a great Huapango concert that featured 3 bands from Huasteca region of the states of Hidalgo, San Luis Potosi, and Puebla.

Tuesday Abril 28th......

Tuesday we were supposed to leave for Eloxochitlan, a municipality in the corner of Puebla that meets Oaxaca and Veracruz, in the morning. However things kept getting pushed back and in turn Mexican fashion, ahorita (right now) turned into 6 hours. So at 2:30 pm (fully outfitted with masks), we set out for a place that was over 5 hours away and without eating lunch first. The first part of the trip is nice and smooth over federal highway, and other than a traffic back up for a bad accident between an SUV and a tractor-trailer, we made good time. The second part of the journey though is pure curves with steep drop offs on both sides, pot holes as big as cars, missing chunks of road, and various other obstacles like pigs, cows, and goats.

We arrived at the community about 6 hours late, so of course everyone that needed to sign for the checks to pay for the work had left and at that point it was too late to take any of the gps points. So, without even getting out of the car, we turned around and headed back. Unfortunately, as the darkness set in, so did the rain, the hail, and finally the fog. At some times the fog was so dense that we literally couldn’t even inch forward for fear of sliding off a curve. The only good news is that the fear of the car ride took our minds off the nonstop swine flu news. But we arrived in one piece to Puebla about about 1am. Can’t wait for the return trip...,

The place is actually really really pretty, but we didn't have time to take any pictures, so here are some google earth picts to give you an idea of the road.

Communities in the state of Puebla

I’ve started helping out with a different set of projects in the office, doing the georeferencing for the PET projects. PET stands for Programa de Empleo Temporal (or temporary employment program), and is a govt program that provides money for projects, but generally the majority of the $ goes to pay the community for their manual labor and not for supplies or equipment. This year is the first year that they are requiring GPS points for the projects and so I am helping train people how to take the points and then how to import them into a GIS system.

On Wednesday, we visited two communities (Cruz de Leon and Texocuixpan) in the municipality of Ixtacamaxtitlán, on the northern border between Tlaxcala and Puebla. Both communities received money to dig trenches to capture sediment that erodes during the rainy season. The area has been heavily deforested for agriculture, and thus erosion, both by wind and water are large issues.

Texocuixpan

Cruz de Leon

The trenches on one of the hillsides

On Friday we went to the southern part of the state to a town called San Jose Miahuatlan (almost on the border between Oaxaca and Puebla) to check on an agricultural canal project. The community has almost finished this year’s project of a 1km long irrigation canal. After checking on the progress of the project, we were invited back to eat (as we had been in the communities on Wednesday as well) a delicious meal of tamales and mole. At the end of the meal though, the women came out from the kitchen with a bucket of mole and a grocery bag full of tamales for each of us. The tradition in their town is to give mole and tamales to visitors and during weddings or other celebrations. So we headed back to Puebla balancing 3 buckets of mole in the Jeep and of course listening to the continuous updates of the swine flu epidemic.

The giant

The bucket of mole and bag of tamale

Buses, guns, and the beach

So last Friday, on my way to meet Kurt in Papantla, I was on a nice, 1^st class bus when at about 9:00 at night, 30 min before the next stop, 2 of the passengers pulled out guns, raised them in the air and declared that this was assault and everyone needed to close the curtains and their eyes. They went through the bus for about 20 min looking for the usual, cash, cell phones, jewelry and watches and then told the driver to stop and they hopped off on the side of the highway and we continued on to Papantla. I lost some cash and a ring, but we were lucky that other than one man who got punched, no one was hurt.

But the good news is that I got to spend the rest of the weekend on the Gulf Coast in Tecolutla hanging out on the beach and eating good seafood.

Semana Santa in San Blas

Like millions of Mexicans all around the country, I too decided to head towards the beach for semana santa (government offices were closed on Thursday and Friday). This beach trip sent me to Amy's house (another vol who's photo will not appear per request) which is in San Blas, Nayarit. It's about a 13 hour bus ride from Puebla to Tepic (capital of Nayarit) and then another 1.5 - 2 hrs to San Blas.
Blas is a cute little town. There is an old church and a good view of the town perched on a near-by hill. Obviously there is the beach. Another big attraction is the mangroves and their crocodiles.





Because it was Holy Week, there was no shortage of processions or masses. These picts are from the Good Friday procession where Jesus carried the cross through the center of town.





There is a peninsula that can be reached by boat that has non-crowded beaches, but is also a sacred site for some of the indigenous groups that live in and around San Blas. Some of these pictures show riutal offerings left by the Cora people.




Amy has a dog, Scooby, who I fell in love with (I have been wanting a hot dog of my own for a while now). here's Scooby....

Iguana tracks in the sand

Borrego beach (the main beach in San Blas, as seen from the much less crowded beach)

These picts are from the boat ride in the mangroves......



No better way to keep a baby happy on a boat than to give her Corona bottles
Finally memories of my days with Scooby.......