Learning about Indigenous Cultures in Oaxaca, Mexico - Day of the Dead 2015

I went to Oaxaca to participate on another Global Exchange educational tour where we learned about the 16 indigenous peoples who live in the Oaxacan State. 

We learned about the traditions surrounding Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos and also about many other aspects of the cultures including their ongoing struggles for automony against the Mexican state. 

We visited small communities throughout the state, learning about traditional farming and the struggle against GMO corn as well as the traditional cultivation of Mezcal a drink that is very important to indigenous culture. We got to drink a lot of it also! wink emoticon

(I apologize for so many pictures, but believe me, I had even more and just couldn't cut anymore!)

Click HERE to see my pictures from Oaxaca

Faces of Day of the Dead

Discovering Puebla, Mexico - 2015

I spent two days in Puebla, about two hours by bus from Mexico City. I fell in love with the city and its varied architecture with incredible tilework and its friendly vibrant vibe. I will be back someday!

Why Puebla? I decided to stop in Puebla for two reasons. First, a large part of the New York City Mexican population descends from Puebla and I often try to visit the locations where immigrants around me are from. Also, over the summer I met two street artists from Puebla and they told me that Puebla was known for great street art.  

Both turned out to be great reasons to go there! Check out my pictures and you'll see why!

Click HERE to see my online photo album

El Macro Mural Barrio de Palmitas - Pachuca, Hidalgo State, Mexico

So perhaps you remember me posting a clip about a town in Mexico that painted a neighborhood? You may not have taken me seriously when I said I had found my next travel destinaton. I'm not sure I was serious, but, look, I went there! And it was beautiful!

Pachuca, Mexico is hoping a psychedelic mural can cement the transformation of a once crime-stricken neighborhood to a safer, more unified community. The government-sponsored urban renewal project, called El Macro Mural Barrio de Palmitas, coated over 200 hillside dwellings in a vibrant layer of paint with striking results.

Click THIS LINK to see more pictures of this amazing painting project

After reading THIS ARTICLE about the painting project in the Guardian, I decided I had to see it first hand.

Mexico City Alebrije Parade

I may have missed annual Mexico City Alebrije Parade, but luckily these fantastic creations lined one of the main avenues for a week so people could enjoy them. 

The monumental alebrijes of the parade are based on traditional Mexican folk art. They generally combine elements of real and fantastic animals as well as humans including faces, wings, horns, hoofs, multiple heads, tails and more. No two alebrijes are exactly alike. These alebrijes are giant representations of the art which are typically much smaller in size.

Check out THIS LINK with some more great photos of the alebrijes

There were about 100 full sized alebrije on the side of one of Mexico City's main boulevards

Volunteering and Learning Along the Migrant Trail in Southern Arizona

This past week I visited Southern Arizona to immerse myself in border issues. The US-Mexican border in Arizona crosses the Sonoran Desert, which is hot and inhospitable, but for many it is an important path to economic survival.  Current immigration policies and the border fence erected since 9/11 have made what many longtime Arizona residents told me was a routine crossing into the US for seasonal work into a dangerous activity.  In fact, between 200-400 migrants die each year in the Tucson sector of the border while making this journey.

Volunteering at El Comedor, Nogales, Mexico

In May, I spent a morning serving food to the recently deported at El Comedor in Nogales, Mexico, where I had the chance to hear many stories. El Comedor, run by Jesuit nuns and the Kino Border Initiative, feeds migrants who have just been dropped back into Mexico by US Immigration. Each day American volunteers come across the border and join the nuns to serve breakfast and dinner to up to 100 migrants a day. They also provide medical care and advice on how to re-group and figure out what to do next. They help migrants get bus tickets home, get money wired to them, take testimony of any abuse they may have suffered in the hands of Border Patrol and most importantly offer kindness.

Click HERE to see a few pictures

Visiting South of the US/Mexico Border Fence in Nogales, Mexico

I headed down to Southern Arizona to immerse myself in the migration issues in the border communities in both the US and Mexico.  Since 9/11, efforts have been made to close the border and it is affecting life on both sides.  Before this time there were many border towns that that functioned jointly on both the Mexico and US sides with people working, living and going to school together. When the US decided to put up a wall, families were split, workers were on the opposite sides as their jobs, students were on the opposite side from their schools.  Unfortunately this border fence has sucked the vibrancy out of many communities. One example I explored was Nogales, Arizona, US and Nogales, Sonora, Mexico where many efforts are being made to keep both sides vibrant.

Mexico Trip - March 2008

Birthday in Mexico

A few years ago I pledged to go somewhere interesting for my birthday every year and this year I chose Mexico. I spent most of my time in Mexico City. Lately, I feel like Mexico City is on the way to being one of the new “it” cities due to its mega city status and being a city girl I wanted to see it again. Way back when, in ninth grade, I took my very first international trip to Mexico with my Spanish class and although I have vague memories I felt it was time to see it again. I wanted to see the city through today’s lens.

So what did I think? It was a real surprise. Although I knew I’d see stuff I loved, I was expecting smog, traffic and crime. Instead I got pretty clear skies with views of the mountains from my hotel room, not much traffic and police EVERYWHERE. Honestly, there were police all over and I felt very safe and apparently they have instituted some controls on who can drive their cars into the city and it appears to be working.

So where did that leave me? It meant I could wander freely, discover old architecture, enjoy the kind of pulse that the second largest city in the world can bring, peruse markets, attend moving church services, listen to mariachi music and practice my Spanish. (I have to say the best part of the trip is that I am beginning to feel more confidence with my Spanish which makes me want to spend more time down south soon. Too bad they don’t speak Spanish in Africa!)

Mexico has such a diverse mix of rich and poor. I went out in neighborhoods in the evenings that rivaled New York, London and Paris. They were lined with bars and restaurants. Prosperity was in the air. The people were glamorous. And yet, the markets felt as foreign as any I’ve been to in the world with peppers and tortillas piled high. There is a real sense of history in the city with ruins found in the subway stations and in the middle of the city and old beautiful churches found on even the smallest streets. And yet, there are big modern glass skyscrapers towering in the sky.

The subway was amazing. Its marble floors and walls gleamed and as soon as one car pulled out of the station, another pulled in, and all that for only 20 cents a ride. Frankly it made me a little embarrassed about New York ’s public transportation.

I visited two other towns for one night each to get a better feeling for small town Mexico and enjoyed climbing up into the mountains and sitting in the town squares. These little towns had a lovely historic feel; Tepoztlan with its bright tropical colors and Taxco with its red tiled roofs and white stucco. I got to interact with indigenous people who still only speak their tribal languages even though they are living in medium sized towns that are very close to Mexico City. I also got to see bands parading through the streets playing fun music. Plus I got to try all different kinds of foods.

All in all, it’s a varied place, pretty close to home with plenty to see and do.

Mexico Photos