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Hello From Cuernavaca My Last Day Of School And A Visit To The Cuernavaca Spring Fair
his morning I headed off a former agricultural community,
on the Ruta no. 2 to the much of the water is pumped away
Túnel area of town and to Mexico, so they are left with
started my last day at the the residual water after the
Cetlalic Language School. We had filtration process, resulting in
a very interesting day, during a lower quantity but more
the first part of the day we contaminated water supply.
discussed the water shortage in
Cuernavaca and that the city is After a bit more torture with the
going through extreme dryness Spanish subjunctive we finished
right now. Our teacher only our morning classes and for me
receives water twice a week right this was the last day of school.
now for one hour each. And even Jorge Torres, the director of
then the water only comes out of Cetlalic, called his team
the tap in a trickle. These types together and presented a
of things generally happen in the certificate of completion to me,
less affluent neighbourhoods of which I very much appreciated.
town. At the same time, Following the ceremony, my
Cuernavaca is also known as one costudents and my teacher went on
of the cities in Mexico with the an exploration of the Museo
most swimming pools, so some Cuahnavac while I spent some more
people have better access to time with Jorge to learn more
water than others. about the school.
One of my co-students mentioned Jorge explained that he comes
that in Mexico City there is an from a working class background
extreme water shortage and the and that his father was very
water is pumped up from active in the union movement in
surrounding communities into the the US owned textile company he
city. In one of the communities, worked in. His father and some of
the other union organizers were there as the school's director.
dismissed and staged a 5-month His language school markets
long sit-in in front of the itself primarily to activists and
factory, and of course they to politically interested people.
received no salaries. So Jorge At the beginning running the
had to start to work at a young school was difficult since no one
age, in construction. He also really had any idea about
studied teaching Spanish as a marketing. Cetlalic uses the
Second Language and started to Paulo Freire method of teaching
develop his political and Spanish, which includes learning
activist interests (particularly the language in a social and
his solidarity for El Salvador, political context.
etc.)
It was interesting to find out
Jorge has been teaching Spanish more about Jorge's personal
since he his early twenties. At background and what made him come
two other prior schools he was up with such a unique concept for
confronted with some students who a language school I thanked him
didn’t really want to learn and handed him a little souvenir
Spanish. They were more concerned from Toronto and we said goodbye.
with the latest romantic As always, I took the bus
conquests they had made. A downtown and sat down for lunch
frustrating situation for Jorge in a restaurant called Jardín de
who started to look around for Cuernavaca where I had a simple
other opportunity. chicken with French fries and
salad and an asparagus soup. I
A group called the Committee for have to admit this wasn't the
Solidarity for El Salvador tastiest meal that I've had in
started the Cetlalic language Mexico.
school and he began his work
Appropriately strengthened I attracted 350,000 visitors. It
trotted off to an Internet café includes various stands with
to check my messages and started different types of merchandise, a
to snoop around on the market food court and various vendors
area in front of the Palacio de throughout the fairgrounds, a
Cortés since I wanted to buy some midway with a large variety of
authentic Mexican CDs. I finally rides for children, and various
found 3 different types of music, exhibitions. This year for
one is called banda which somehow example there was a special
reminds me a little bit of polka, exhibition on Bolivian arts and
with its fast rhythms and brass crafts, there was also a stand
instruments. A nice version of illustrating the operation of dry
oompah music. Banda is a very toilets and the overall theme for
popular style of music in Mexico the fair this year was
right now and you hear it cleanliness, ecology and garbage
everywhere. separation.
My good friend Roxana from the I had an opportunity to speak
city's tourism department picked with the Head of Tourism and
me up at 5:15 to go to the Economic Development of
Cuernavaca Spring Fair. We were Cuernavaca, Mr. Rafael Jiménez
to join a lady by the name of Salazar, who indicated that the
Maria José and her TV crew who city is working on improving its
were doing a special on the operations to become a cleaner,
spring fair. Maria José hosts a more environmentally conscious
weekly TV show called "Tacos y city and that to this effect the
Caviar" and is a local celebrity. city has put in place various
councils to achieve a number of
The Cuernavaca Spring Fair is an goals to making Cuernavaca a
annual event and last year it better place to live. Especially
since the 1985 earthquake in tips. This is a phenomenal
Mexico City the city has spectacle and it is supposed to
experienced a tremendous surge in be an ancient ritual representing
population and the administration the cycle of life that was first
is working hard on trying to deal performed to implore the rain
with the immense population gods.
growh. Ecological issues are also
being paid more attention to. I had a brief chat with the
voladores, or to be more
Among the group of special accurate, with one of the
performers was a group of 6 men voladores, since the other five
called the Voladores de Papantla. men were either too shy or not
This is a folkloric group of interested in talking with me.
Totonac Indians from the State of The young man I talked to was
Veracruz who are dressed up in very friendly and told me that
colourful traditional costumes. they had travelled even to
They climb up a pole that can be Michigan and Maine to perform
up to 150 feet long, then they their unique ritual.
wind a series of ropes around the
pole. Following this they tie I also had a chance to check out
their ankles to the rope and jump the merchant's tent where a great
off. Then the performers "fly" variety of goods and services
around the pole as the rope were being promoted. I ended up
unwinds. One of the perfomers purchasing a little white handbag
playes a haunting melody on a that was manufactured by the
drum and a flute and the musician women's artists collective from
is the last one to come down from the Caminamos Juntos
the pole, gliding down the rope organization.
from the top. One of the men
stays on the ground to collect Then, Maria José, Roxana and I
sat down to play a "Lotería" prize.
where every person had a unique
picture card and there were about Roxana and I headed out around 9
30 or 40 unique photos that were pm, and we were both pretty tired
being called out and you used a after a long day. We stayed up
beer cap to indicate that you and chatted for many hours
were able to match that picture. afterwards, and it was great to
Whoever's card was full of have such a nice local connection
beercaps would win a nice little in Cuernavaca.
About the Author:
Susanne Pacher is the publisher of a website called Travel and Transitions (http://www.travelandtransitions.com). Find unconventional travel information, cross-cultural experiences, interviews with travellers and other inspiring people. Submit your own travel stories & win an exciting Amazon River cruise! "Life is a Journey - Explore New Horizons”
Read more articles by: Susanne Pacher
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