Oventic is AMAZING. The people are friendly, the little kids are always
trying to get you to come play, the food is FANTASTIC and the weather is
lovely. Even though it's the rainy season here, it's still really
pleasant. It usually rains around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, but before
that it's sunny and warm and beautiful. The days go really fast because
they keep us REALLY occupied. Breakfast is at 8am, class until 2pm when
we get lunch, then another activity of some sort until dinner at 7pm. We
all collapse into bed around 9:30- Our days are too long to stay up late!
We wake up around 7:00 or 7:30 usually which seems early, but the
students here are usually up at 5am doing laundry or other chores. I've
taken my first cold shower, and lemme tell you there is nothing quite as
exhilarating as a strong stream of freezing cold water in a wooden
shack. It felt fantastic though and I plan on showering a lot more now
that I've braved the first shower hurdle.
We've started our weaving- It is SERIOUSLY hard work. We've done four
hours so far and I feel like I haven't made any progress (although my
teacher is swearing I'm almost done). We also got introduced to our big
project with the secondary school students. I'm working with four kids-
Two boys and two girls. The oldest is 16 and the youngest is 14. There
names are Oberlino, Zacharias, Alejandra and Maria. Maria is incredibly
shy but when she says something she really means it. Zacharias is totally
the leader of the pack- He's constantly testing me on my knowledge of the
movement and telling me stories. Our project is really broad- We have to
pick a theme and present it in some way at the end of the four weeks. Our
group settled on the theme "Un mundo donde quepan muchos mundos" (A world
where many worlds fit), one of the goals of Zapatismo. We're probably
going to focus on how we're going to continue the fight to reach this
goal in our own lives.
Thursday we went to the municipality of Magdalena de la Paz. The town is
about 40 minutes from Oventic- Its at the top of a hill and BEAUTIFUL.
The town is about 60% "PRI-ista" (supporters of the government) and 40%
Zapatista but both sides have a governing body in the town. We met with
the Zapatista council and asked them some questions then wandered around
Magdalena de la Paz for a bit. There are around 40 Zapatista
municipalities in Chiapas. The municipalities have councils that are made
up of people from the communities within the municipalities. Some of the
municipality council members make up part of the Juntas de Buen Gobierno
which are in each caracol (5 Caracoles in all which are made up of a
number of municipalities).
Friday I started the morning by cleaning the bathrooms! It really
wasn't that bad and started me off feeling accomplished! We made
tortillas and guacamole in the morning and hung out and listened to Manu
Chau with our prometores (teachers). One of the prometores called the
tortilla and guacamole combination "the sandwhich of the revolution."
The day was pretty relaxed with some guitar and basketball playing. I'm
spending the weekend in San Cristobal to relax, do laundry and enjoy a
hot shower, but back to Oventic on Monday!
I'm STILL updating this album
(http://berkeley.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2177801&l=e9617&id=1226304)
with photos so you can check on them with every new update
trying to get you to come play, the food is FANTASTIC and the weather is
lovely. Even though it's the rainy season here, it's still really
pleasant. It usually rains around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, but before
that it's sunny and warm and beautiful. The days go really fast because
they keep us REALLY occupied. Breakfast is at 8am, class until 2pm when
we get lunch, then another activity of some sort until dinner at 7pm. We
all collapse into bed around 9:30- Our days are too long to stay up late!
We wake up around 7:00 or 7:30 usually which seems early, but the
students here are usually up at 5am doing laundry or other chores. I've
taken my first cold shower, and lemme tell you there is nothing quite as
exhilarating as a strong stream of freezing cold water in a wooden
shack. It felt fantastic though and I plan on showering a lot more now
that I've braved the first shower hurdle.
We've started our weaving- It is SERIOUSLY hard work. We've done four
hours so far and I feel like I haven't made any progress (although my
teacher is swearing I'm almost done). We also got introduced to our big
project with the secondary school students. I'm working with four kids-
Two boys and two girls. The oldest is 16 and the youngest is 14. There
names are Oberlino, Zacharias, Alejandra and Maria. Maria is incredibly
shy but when she says something she really means it. Zacharias is totally
the leader of the pack- He's constantly testing me on my knowledge of the
movement and telling me stories. Our project is really broad- We have to
pick a theme and present it in some way at the end of the four weeks. Our
group settled on the theme "Un mundo donde quepan muchos mundos" (A world
where many worlds fit), one of the goals of Zapatismo. We're probably
going to focus on how we're going to continue the fight to reach this
goal in our own lives.
Thursday we went to the municipality of Magdalena de la Paz. The town is
about 40 minutes from Oventic- Its at the top of a hill and BEAUTIFUL.
The town is about 60% "PRI-ista" (supporters of the government) and 40%
Zapatista but both sides have a governing body in the town. We met with
the Zapatista council and asked them some questions then wandered around
Magdalena de la Paz for a bit. There are around 40 Zapatista
municipalities in Chiapas. The municipalities have councils that are made
up of people from the communities within the municipalities. Some of the
municipality council members make up part of the Juntas de Buen Gobierno
which are in each caracol (5 Caracoles in all which are made up of a
number of municipalities).
Friday I started the morning by cleaning the bathrooms! It really
wasn't that bad and started me off feeling accomplished! We made
tortillas and guacamole in the morning and hung out and listened to Manu
Chau with our prometores (teachers). One of the prometores called the
tortilla and guacamole combination "the sandwhich of the revolution."
The day was pretty relaxed with some guitar and basketball playing. I'm
spending the weekend in San Cristobal to relax, do laundry and enjoy a
hot shower, but back to Oventic on Monday!
I'm STILL updating this album
(http://berkeley.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2177801&l=e9617&id=1226304)
with photos so you can check on them with every new update
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
- When it comes to your teenage group, remember that in the end, YOU'RE the leader of the pack, not Zacharias. If he has a problem w/ that, you can call upon the lot of us on "The Forum" to drive down in a bunch of Harleys...j/k, but it would be funny, huh?
- Make sure to wear the super-duper thick rubber gloves and a mask when you're cleaning el bano...yuck!
*waves*
i was just sent a message saying they lost our set,