A Picture

The completed greenhouse, a result of a community needs-assessment and consensus process:

Final Post

I have been home for over a week now, and have gone sledding and driven a car and done all the northeastern things that i did not miss while in Mexico. I just woke up to a dream about Huehuecoyotl, so I thought it time to post. I don't really want to post a long final entry, but I do have a few things to say. The first is that I am incredibly appreciate for everything on the trip, despite any minor flaws or hitches the program had. The second is that I think that I actually did see every...

Living Routes Mexico 2008 via Youtube

Here are some short videos I took during the program. The internet I used at Huehuecoyotl was not strong enough to post them, but now that I in stranded in layover limbo the Dallas Texas Airport - an airport mecca the size of Manhattan - I have ample internet strength to post the videos. Tortillas at Chimalataclan:

Community Projects - Before and After

Compost before (Margot on the right, Genevieve on the left): Compost After:

Days 16-17: Final Days

All this time that we've been working on our community service projects, we also had some pretty outstanding nights. One was a slideshow given by Svate. The entire group, plus a few community members, gathered in the theater where we also have our meals and classes. Svante had Giovanni project three seprate slide projectors onto the walls to keep three images going at once, as he performed. Giovanni started the music, and the show began as Svante took us back into images of mainstream...

Week Three - The Garden Project

This last week has been mostly devoted to project work. The first two days, everyone contributed to the greenhouse and the compost. The next two days, we split off into smaller groups to work on education, the garden door, and the herb garden along with the two larger projects. After working together mostly in a classroom or dormitory setting, and occasionally in the kitchen, or in Tepoztlan and Chimalataclan, we still had no idea how we would work doing manual labor projects. Each time...

Days 10/11/12/13 - The Good Life

I realize that my last few entries have been all business. All you parents and perspective students reading along might be interested to know that this trip is also mad fun. So here is a recap of the interesting and debaucherous adventures we have been having, in and out of class: On Day 10 (January 11th), Kathy, our Huehuecoyotl mom, finally conducted a class of her very own on Synchronicity. This was an entirely new outlet for creative expression and reflection. Svante brought us...

Day 10/11 - CONSENSUS!

WE HAVE REACHED CONSENSUS. But let me start at the beginning. The program for Living Routes in Mexico is on Consensus Decision-Making and leadership, which you probably know if you are reading this. It is taught is first through classroom lessons and practice situations, then by designing and implementing our own group community service project for Huehuecoyotl. The first part of our program ended right about the time of our field trip, and the project-planning began as soon as we...

Days 7/8 - Chimalacatlan Field Trip

We are back from our home stay field trip to Chimalacatlan, but I don't know how to begin to speak on it. For many students on the trip, it was the most remote village we had ever seen. Some students could make very tangible connections to experiences they've had in Lebanon, the Middle East, other regions of Latin America. But the smells, sounds, and community life we experienced in these two days had an indisputable effect both on us individually and on our group as a whole. I will...

Day 6/January 7th - Bioregionalism, Biodiversity and a Hike

On Day Six we met Cesar, a man from Cuernavaca, who came to Huehue to give us a lecture/computer presentation on Bioregionalism and Biodiversity in Sustainable Jungles and Forests. Biogregionalism, he explained, is a movement to revitalize what is local and essential to a community or region. Revitilization has three components - they are the psychological, physical and emotional ways of restoring a region. Revitilization must also be sustainable, and sustainability also has three...

First week activities

The weather was a little colder than one would expect on the first two days of the program. It actually got to about 40F at night. The altitude (6000�) and the cold weather was a little bit of a surprise for most of the students, but after a couple of days the temperature went back up to normal, 80F in the day and about 50F at night. Sleep is easy and the sun is energizing. Arriving at a new site is disorienting and fascinating at the same time, so the first day students spent time...

Day 5/January 6th - Tepotzlan!!!

In the afternoon of Day 5, we went into town for the sunday market!! After ample warning about what food would not leave us with Montezuma's revenge, we made our way in separate groups down to the market. My group went in the pickup truck of Tara's friend, getting to experience the road and the wind as we drove out of Huehue and into the traffic of Tepotzlan. This is a bunch of us piling into the back of the pickup...

Day 5/January 6th - Appreciative Inquiry!

Day five began with a workshop on Consensus with Bea. This was mostly covered in my post about Consensus, with corresponding photographs. After a morning break, we reconvened with Giovanni to learn about Appreciative Inquiry (AI). AI is a process of evaluating group work which appreciates a the positive role of a group member's. Because a core value behind consensus is that each person has an important part of the story, and an important perspective, AI fits well in the consensus...

Day 3/January 4th - Group Games and Classroom Activities

I realize that my last entry deserves a complimentary photo-post! I will accordingly post images below of group bonding exercises and classroom activities! This is a photograph of us having a Facilitation class with Tara in the theater. Shira on the left, then Ashtar, Natalie, and Genevive.

CONSENSUS!

Living Routes at Huehuecoyotl is nothing like I anticipated, and I am pressed for a means to communicate this... but the longer I am at Huehue, the more I feel an honest responsibility to try. First of all, each day is more full than most I've ever had. We begin breakfast at 8am, and class at 9, and programs fill our days. After putting on long underwear and three layers of clothing to cope with the alarmingly cold weather here, I begin each day in a wonderful way: by laughing at myself, as...

Day 2/January 3rd: Tour of Huehue

Day Two started off with the blowing of the conch shell and the regular crowing of the local rooster - always heard, never seen. We had our regular morning check-in after breakfast, during which we formally introduced ourselves.Each personal additionally had to share an object of significance - a necklace, a stuffed animal, hiking boots covered in adobe residue... my object was my hankerchief, because it represented my constant sniffles and sinus infections. We went over the ground rules...

Day 1/January 2nd: Travel

We all arrived at Huehuewcoyotl last night. (Called Huehue, pronounced way-way). My personal trip began at 4:30am, when a cab pulled into my driveway and took me to Logan Airport. A veritable virgin to late-night travel, I was surprised to find the airport packed. The line to check in was 30 minutes long, and as I pushed my suitcase forward with my feet every few minutes, I found myself bonding with the group of 60 adults traveling with their advertising company going on a group bonding trip...

From Boston to Mexico City

Hello weblog readers, My name is Basha Smolen, and I will be the resident web-logger for the Living Routes Mexico trip winter 2008. My basic studies in anthropology have taught me nothing, if not the rather obvious fact that all researchers are positioned subjects, and that their observations are not objective realities, but rather a result of both who they are and how they are culturally received. Therefore, my blog entries will personal accounts of our time at Huehuecoytl, but I will...

Living Routes: Mexico 2008 Winter