Fire Break
One of the most exhilirating experiences was doing the firebreak in the mountains. We spent Saturday morning and afternoon in the mountains raking dead leaves. It was extremely work-intensive, climbing the mountains alone was exhausting. But it is an important task to safeguard and protect the Huehue community.
This is us after we got back from the firebreak.
We have reached consensus!
After a week of interviews and a tough day of hard decisions, we finally came up with the 2006 Community Service Project:
We are going to fix the "crumbly" wall in front of the theater as well as re-paint the walls inside. We would also like do add a window at the top of the community center, fill in the gaps on the floor, and build benches; but we'll see what we have time for in a week.
How we decided our community service project
After learning about Facilitation and Consensus, we began to have our own meetings. The first meeting we ever had about the community service project consisted of organizing into groups in order to interview community members.
The meetings after that dealt with logistics: how we would run the meetings, how we would come to decisions (consensus vs. majority vote). We also had a meeting on what we would ask the community members as well as tell them our own ideas.
We spent the week interviewing and collecting ideas and suggestions. We set Friday, 13th, and the day that we would discuss the interviews as well as come to a final decision about what we would do as a community service project.
Blinking through time and experience
During class this week we learned about Facilitation, and having learned Facilitation and Consensus by this point we started to have our own meetings about our final project, implementing the important skills we learned in class.
We have also started making our own dinners!!!! Here we are making a variety of pizzas.
Laura gave us our first lesson on Permaculture, and we then went to Bea's house to explore the many ways the innovative design of her house includes permaculture. We also went to a nearby permaculture farm called Granja Tixib.
So much so fast
On our way to Cuernavaca we visited a recycling co-op run by women, who do it for absolutely no pay.
We also visited the Tepanzolco pyramids in Cuernavaca, which were *extremely* fun to walk around. Giovanni is generously translating a pamphlet about the pyramids.
On our way to Huehue
I managed to take a couple of picture of our friends on the road...
Our First Day of class
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We had an extremely vital and important lesson of how to use the compost toilets, given by Giovanni.
Svante took us on an amazing hike up the hill.
Una storia de Huehuecoyotl
We woke up in the morning the soothing sound of a conch shell, telling us that it was 8 in the morning and that breakfast was ready.
The most essential lesson of the day was how to use the compost toilet.
Our studies took us to the Amate tree, known as the Grandfather tree where Svente began the story of Huehuecoyotl. He also took us on a beautiful hike up the hill, where we got to see the well that collects the water for Huehuecoyotl. We returned for an amazing lunch that consisted of cactus. Afterwards Giovanni took us on another hike, and when we reached the top we were able to reflect and rest for a little while.
After dinner Svante continued his story of Huehuecoyotl with a slideshow that ended with an unimaginable and indescribable performance by Chantaal. We went to bed inspired, amazed, and with a deep respect for the past of Huehuecoyotl.
Welcome To Mexico
After arriving and waiting for all to gather, we got on a bus to Cuernavaca, The city of eternal spring. From there we got into taxis to Huehue. We got here just as the sun was setting, lighting up the mountains before us with a magic hue of deep orange and red. We then proceeded to find our rooms and settle in. After that Kathleen served a delicious supper consisting of quesadillas, guacamole, vegetable soup and atole.
I think we will all sleep well tonight. Some have asked to be woken up early, but I think this first night is better spent sleeping and getting rested. Tomorrow is a full day of initial activities.
