Hola Companeros!
This week was my last week of my study abroad program. I made some amazing friends and learned some amazing things and I'm sure I'll always remember my 6 weeks with the Mexico Solidarity Network. It was really awesome to get the perspectives of 15 other socially aware, socially active people from all across the country. I think we all taught each other something new and learned a whole lot from our teacher, Tom, and the prometores in Oventic. Thursday we presented our final projects and Friday we all went out to dinner as a group- Saturday and Sunday seven people left! Now its down to me and a couple of others staying for the encuentro. Some of the people staying aren't even staying the whole encuentro! When it gets down to it, only three of us will have stayed until the encuentro is done.
Now that the program is over I'm staying with my friend, and former grad student instructor, Liz. Tomorrow morning we're leaving for Palenque, some old Mayan ruins about five hours north of San Cristobal. We'll stay there for a couple of days and then return on Thursday for a meeting with a few different campesino movements from Africa, South Korea, Brazil and the US. Rumor has it that Subcomandante Marcos will be there, too. It's kind of a pre-encuentro shindig that's taking place at UniTierra, which is cool since I'll know people there.
Today, Sunday, I went to an Evangelical Presbyterian church with Liz, who's studying evangelicalism in Chiapas. The service was three hours long and certainly one of the most bizarre experiences of my life. The church is a cinderblock building with a tin corrugated roof on a hill in one of the barrios outside of the city. The church is made up almost entirely of Tzotzil speaking people from Chamula, a pueblo about 20 minutes out of town. The sermon and any speaking was given mainly in Tzotzil but sometimes in a mix of Tzotzil and Spanish that Liz and I have dubbed "Tzotish" (or Spanzil, take your pick). The pastor greeted me at the church and was super excited to meet another "sister" from the United States. At the beginning of the church he pointed me out to the whole congregation and went on about how exciting it was that the word of God transcended all countries and languages. The service consisted of lots of outloud individual prayer, crazy hymn singing (in Spanish), and a REALLY LONG sermon. You have to clap during the songs and by the end of the service my hands were numb from clapping and I was half deaf from the speakers- It was like walking out of a rock concert. The congregation was split- men on one side, women and children on the other- But the church allows women to lead services, and encourages women to learn to read and write. All of the women were in their indigenous dress, too- It was a crazy experience and too much to convey in this email (as you can see!).
The encuentro is coming up on the 20th of the month. The best way to describe the encuentro is like a traveling Zapatista conference. There will be a series of meetings on different topics, but they'll be taking place in three different locations. The 29th I'll return to San Cristobal and the 2nd of August I leave for Seattle! I'm really homesick and ready to come back to the states, but also upset that I don't have more time here to explore and enjoy this amazing place. But I certainly plan on coming back so let me know if you ever want a travel buddy down to Mexico!
I doubt I'll have internet access up at Palenque, but I'll definitely send out an update on the 19th when I return.
The following albums have photos of my trip:
Oldest Album: http://berkeley.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2177801&l=e9617&id=1226304
Middle Album: http://berkeley.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2181297&l=b3db7&id=1226304
Newest Album: http://berkeley.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2187242&l=e610c&id=1226304
Portraits: http://berkeley.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2184516&l=af262&id=1226304
Hasta Luego,
Morgan Weinert
This week was my last week of my study abroad program. I made some amazing friends and learned some amazing things and I'm sure I'll always remember my 6 weeks with the Mexico Solidarity Network. It was really awesome to get the perspectives of 15 other socially aware, socially active people from all across the country. I think we all taught each other something new and learned a whole lot from our teacher, Tom, and the prometores in Oventic. Thursday we presented our final projects and Friday we all went out to dinner as a group- Saturday and Sunday seven people left! Now its down to me and a couple of others staying for the encuentro. Some of the people staying aren't even staying the whole encuentro! When it gets down to it, only three of us will have stayed until the encuentro is done.
Now that the program is over I'm staying with my friend, and former grad student instructor, Liz. Tomorrow morning we're leaving for Palenque, some old Mayan ruins about five hours north of San Cristobal. We'll stay there for a couple of days and then return on Thursday for a meeting with a few different campesino movements from Africa, South Korea, Brazil and the US. Rumor has it that Subcomandante Marcos will be there, too. It's kind of a pre-encuentro shindig that's taking place at UniTierra, which is cool since I'll know people there.
Today, Sunday, I went to an Evangelical Presbyterian church with Liz, who's studying evangelicalism in Chiapas. The service was three hours long and certainly one of the most bizarre experiences of my life. The church is a cinderblock building with a tin corrugated roof on a hill in one of the barrios outside of the city. The church is made up almost entirely of Tzotzil speaking people from Chamula, a pueblo about 20 minutes out of town. The sermon and any speaking was given mainly in Tzotzil but sometimes in a mix of Tzotzil and Spanish that Liz and I have dubbed "Tzotish" (or Spanzil, take your pick). The pastor greeted me at the church and was super excited to meet another "sister" from the United States. At the beginning of the church he pointed me out to the whole congregation and went on about how exciting it was that the word of God transcended all countries and languages. The service consisted of lots of outloud individual prayer, crazy hymn singing (in Spanish), and a REALLY LONG sermon. You have to clap during the songs and by the end of the service my hands were numb from clapping and I was half deaf from the speakers- It was like walking out of a rock concert. The congregation was split- men on one side, women and children on the other- But the church allows women to lead services, and encourages women to learn to read and write. All of the women were in their indigenous dress, too- It was a crazy experience and too much to convey in this email (as you can see!).
The encuentro is coming up on the 20th of the month. The best way to describe the encuentro is like a traveling Zapatista conference. There will be a series of meetings on different topics, but they'll be taking place in three different locations. The 29th I'll return to San Cristobal and the 2nd of August I leave for Seattle! I'm really homesick and ready to come back to the states, but also upset that I don't have more time here to explore and enjoy this amazing place. But I certainly plan on coming back so let me know if you ever want a travel buddy down to Mexico!
I doubt I'll have internet access up at Palenque, but I'll definitely send out an update on the 19th when I return.
The following albums have photos of my trip:
Oldest Album: http://berkeley.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2177801&l=e9617&id=1226304
Middle Album: http://berkeley.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2181297&l=b3db7&id=1226304
Newest Album: http://berkeley.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2187242&l=e610c&id=1226304
Portraits: http://berkeley.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2184516&l=af262&id=1226304
Hasta Luego,
Morgan Weinert
tos:
I'm just in awe Morgy: You've done so much this summer. All I've done so far was work, cert review classes (for techs), and sneaked in a few brews here and there. You make me want to go back to college full-time I swear *cries*