Crickets!

Who ever thought that a small town girl from central Wisconsin would be saying the words... "Crickets really don't taste that bad!!!"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA 

Revolution Day en Mexico!

The Day of the Revolution or Dia de la Revolución is celebrated annually in Mexico on November 20, the anniversary of the 1910 start of the popular movement which led to the overthrow of the dictator Jose de la Cruz Porfirio Dias Mori.  I know at this point you are probably starting to think... WAIT!?!?!?!  MEXICO HAD A DICTATOR?!?!?!?!  Well, the answer is YES!! Let me explain. 

The Mexican Revolution lasted for 10 years, from 1910 to around 1920. This was a time of political and social unrest in Mexican history. It began with efforts to oust president Porfirio Diaz and officially came to an end with the the signing of a new constitution. 

President Porfirio Diaz had been in power for over thirty years when he gave an interview with American journalist James Creelman in 1908, in which he stated that Mexico was ready for democracy, and that the president to follow him should be elected democratically. He said that he looked forward to the formation of opposing political parties.  Francisco Madero, a lawyer, took Diaz at his word and decided to run against him in the 1910 elections. Diaz, who apparently hadn't really meant what he had said in the interview, had Madero imprisoned and declared himself the winner of the elections. Madero wrote the Plan de San Luis Potosi which called for the people of Mexico to rise up in arms against the president on November 20th, 1910.

The Serdan family of Puebla, planning to join with Madero, had arms stockpiled in their home when they were discovered on November 18th, two days before the revolution was to begin. The first battle of the revolution took place in their home, now a museum in Pueblo. Madero, along with his supporters, Francisco "Pancho" Villa, who led troops in the North, and Emiliano Zapata, who led troops of campesinos to the cry of "¡Tierra y Libertad!" (Land and Freedom!) in the South, were victorious in overthrowing Diaz, who fled to France where he remained in exile until his death in 1915. Madero was elected president. Up to that point the revolutionaries had had a common goal, but with Madero as president, their differences became obvious. Zapata and Villa had been fighting for social and agrarian reform, whereas Madero had mainly been interested in making political changes.


On November 25th, 1911, Zapata proclaimed the Plan de Ayala which stated that the goal of the revolution was for land to be redistributed among the poor. He and his followers rose up against Madero and his government. From February 9th to 19th, 1913, known as the Tragic Ten Days which took place in Mexico City.

General Victoriano Huerta, general who had been leading the federal troops, turned on Madero and had him imprisoned. Huerta then took over the presidency and had Madero and his vice-president executed.  March 1913, the governor of the state of Coahuila, Venustiano Carranza, proclaimed his Plan de Guadalupe, which rejected Huerta's government and planned a continuation of Madero's policies. He formed the Constitutionalist army, and Villa, Zapata and Orozco joined in with him and overthrew Huerta in July 1914.

During the Convencion de Aguascalientes of 1914, the differences between the revolutionaries again came to the forefront. Villistas, Zapatistas and Carrancistas were divided. Carranza, defending the interests of the upper classes was backed up by the United States. Villa crossed the border into the U.S. and attacked Columbus, New Mexico. The U.S. sent troops into Mexico to capture him but they were unsuccessful.  In the south Zapata divided up land and gave it to the campesinos, but he was eventually forced to seek refuge in the mountains.  In 1917 Carranza formed a new Constitution which brought about some social and economical changes. Zapata maintained the rebellion in the south until he was assassinated on April 10, 1919. Carranza remained president until 1920. Villa was pardoned in 1920, but was killed on his ranch in 1923.

The revolution was successful in getting rid of Porfirio Diaz, and since the revolution no president has governed for longer than the prescribed six years in office. The PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucionalizado - the Institutionalized Revolutionary Party) political party was a fruit of the revolution, and maintained the presidency from the time of the revolution until Vicente Fox of the PAN (Partido de Accion Nacional - National Action Party) was elected president in 2000.  

Bullfights in Mexico!

Hector invited me to go to the bullfight.

Hello All,

So, recently I had a very interesting/confusing experience. I went to see a bullfight for the first time live! I say confusing and interesting because even during the time I was in the stadium, there were times I was having a lot of fun and other times when I didn't like it, things I could appreciate and things that made me angry. It was a huge mixture of emotions, and very interesting to process. When the people I went with asked me if I liked it at the end, I wasn't sure how to respond. I just kept saying, I dont know.. I haven't figured it out yet.

First, we didn't go to a full out "Bull Fight", we went to whats called a Novillada. Its kinda like a junior bullfight. In the olden days, the Novilladas had a lot of different meanings and purposes. The three most common purposes/differences between corridas (normal bullfights) and novilladas that I found are the following. 

1.       Novilladas were celebrated in the winter months were corridas were more often in the summer. Now a days in Mexico, novilladas are like the preseason to corridas. There is a seasons for them before the corridas start to get people excited.... its like pre-season football. It doesn't count for anything but it makes you excited for football season.

2.       Originally in the novilladas, the bulls were not actually killed. They just played with them, making them run back and forth, they stuck the banner in their backs, but they did not kill them with sword. They were left to heal and continue growing into a full size bull after the show.

3.       The most important difference between a corrida and a novillada is the size of the bull. Novilladas are much much smaller bulls. They are younger than 3 years old and they are usually not as big... only between 350-500 kilos (750-1100lbs). No where as big as a normal torro.

From what the guys I went with told me, in Mexico, novilladas are used as like training for the bullfighters who aren't big enough or don't have the experience to actually fight against a real sized bull.  They use the smaller bulls to get practice and experience in their training to become a full "matador."  This  can be a good thing and a bad thing at the same time.  It's great for the torero because there is less danger and less risk, but its bad for the bulls and the audience because the less experiences toreros dont always know how to kill the bull properly or have a higher percentage in screwing up and making the bull suffer.  Which is the principle reason a lot of people don't like watching novilladas and prefer corridas.  They say it's a much better show.  

In the photo above, you can see the ranch the the bull grew up on, the bull's name "Gota de Agua", the number that is assigned to him by the ranch, and his weight, 390 kilos (about 800lbs.).  These signs are displayed in between each fight.  There are about 6 fights per week.  In our case, there were 8 bulls used instead of 6.  One was "saved" and one of the toreros bought another bull to have a second chance because he did such a horrible job the first time. 

What is means to save a bull, and I'm so glad I got to experience this first hand, when a bull comes out of the stockade and is very brave and strong and shows a lot of good qualities, is a bull that could very well beat a torero, sometimes the crowd will start to shout "Toro, Toro, Toro, Toro" and the judeges decide, which the help of the crowd, that the bull has proven himself to be worthy, they will save him.  They will take him out of the ring and cure all the wounds that he suffered up to that point and send him off to a life a easy.  The bravest most valiant bulls, go back to their ranches and get stuck with the task of producing more super brave valiant bulls!  Yes thats right.. they get to go back be in charge of producing a lot of baby bulls!  :) 

 

The judges that decide about the bulls fate and if the torero was successful enough to deserve a prize.

The these next to pictures what you are seeing is one of the preliminary bull fighters waiting for the bull to be let out of the stockade and then in the picture below he uses his cloth to usher the bull away from him instead of actually moving himself. They did this about 3 times throughout the day.  At one point the bull got so close that the man on his knees did actually get up and run.  It was kinda funny.  

So like I was saying before, I think going to a bullfight depends a lot of the company that you are with. If you go with a cool group of people who tell you about the culture and why the people are doing what they are doing it can be a lot of fun.  It was very artistic in the sense that I felt something very passionate and primal in watching man fight beast.  During other moments I was yelling at the toreros and at my friends because I didn't understand why they would let someone who had done such a horrible job killing the animal the first time (he took like 7 attempts stabbing the bull and still wasn't able to kill him) a second chance to do it again.  

For those of you that don't know, when the bull drops his head to attach the torero, there is a spot right behind his neck and right before his lungs were a torero can stab him and the sword will go all the way down into the animal and stab the bull right into the heart.  In doing this, the bull will drop and die almost immediately, and this is considered a very good humane kill.  When this happened the crowd cheered for the torero, and when this didn't happen, the crowd booed the torero.  There were many times during the fights that half the crowd or more was cheering for the bull.  Which to me was surprising but very interesting.  I was always cheering for the bull!  :)  

 The Family Zone, where beer wasn't allowed to be sold.  But right above us was a 6 month old and a two year old with his father learning the ropes of the toros, in the drinking section, because dad shouldn't be punished just because he brought his kids along!  hahahah 

It reminded me of when I told my sister to bring her 1 year old and 3 year old down to Mexico as a family vacation.  Everywhere in Mexico is the family zone, kids go anywhere the parents do.  Strollers in bars are not an uncommon thing, I mean the kids gotta sleep right?!?!?!  HAHAHAHAHA!!!  :)  

So overall it was an interesting experience.  I don't know if I will go back for a corrida to see what the difference is, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.  It wasn't as gory or bloody, and I could definitely see what the appeal is for some people who love watching the toros. 

Below are some videos of different toreros.  If you are squeamish or are against animal violence I would suggest not watching them, but if you are curious, it is kinda cool.  Hope to hear your thoughts.  HASTA PRONTO!

Archeologist for a Day!

A couple weeks ago I was invited by a friend... who just happens to be an archeologist... to go out with him on a site visit.  All he told me before we left was that this was a top secret mission and to wear good shoes and sunblock because we were going to be walking a lot!  Well, he wasn't exaggerating, but before I get to that, let me start with some background details. 

 

My friend, Pavel, is an archeologist for the state of Jalisco.  His main job is to walk the paths of new highways and freeways before they are built to make sure that they are not building over archeological ruin sites or important indigenous areas. He has to walk on average about 10-15 kilometros each day (thats 7-10 miles).  Its a lot of walking, BELIEVE ME!  He will walk in one direction for as long as he can, and then turn around and walk in the other direction back to the truck just to drive to a new spot and start walking from where he left off.  I really wanted to do that, but he said that he has already walked the route to write his report and now it was just going back to certain sites to take pictures and measurements.  

 We started out by going to Ciudad Guzman, about 2 hours from Guadalajara.  He has to meet with someone and while he was in his meeting, I explored the city.  Ciudad Guzman's patron saint is Saint Jose.  He just happens to be the father of Jesus, Saint Joseph.  The people of this town pray to Saint Joseph in order to get or improve their jobs.  When their prayers are answered they write their thanks of pieces of colorful fabric and put them as adornments on the Saint's statue.  This is their way of giving thanks to the Saint for listening to their prayers.  

Pavel and I continued walking around the city and visiting the different plazas before we went off to visit the first construction site, where I wasn't allowed to take pictures!  :)  We then visited a few other places because I got the long awaited question of, "Do you want to walk up to the Saint's Peak in the mountain?  They are going to be building up there?"  Of course, my responce was YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!  :)

We drove to a small trail behind a small town with a small cemetery where Pavel explained to me that each year on the day of their saint, the town carries flowers and gifts up to the crosses in the mountains to give them as offerings.  So we started our way up... and up... and up.. AND UP!!.

















It was beautiful... and exhausting!!  We were walking up the trail and we would see stones marked with white crosses to let us know that we were on the right trail.  Finally, we made it up to the top and it was a gorgeous, or at least I thought it was gorgeous.  Pavel was exhausted and decided to take a nap!  

The view was beautiful.  After Pavel's short nap, we went up the mountain even farther to another area that they were planning to build a through.  I couldn't take pictures of it because it is technically a construction site in progress and Pavel could get in trouble if picture got out.  Just imagine a corn field that has been dug up and that was pretty much it, but when we started walking back and forth through the field Pavel found some very interesting artifacts.  He found part of an arrowhead that was probably used for hunting and also a stone that was used to smooth over other stones.  There was even a thumb grip on the smoothing stone.  :)  

We kept walking and then Pavel showed me this spot where there is a small waterfall back in the trees. 

After making it down to the bottom I took a couple pictures of the mountain that we climbed up.  It wasn't the biggest mountain in the world, but it was still a lot of fun.  If you look really hard at the top of the mountain, you can see the crosses that we were standing behind. 


















 The ride back to Guadalajara was long and after a full day in the sun and walking, hiking and seeing a lot of really cool stuff, I was definitely exhausted when I got back to my apartment.  But it was really really cool.  I told Pavel that I would love to actually go on the trail walk with him.

Casa de los Perros

One of the most famous legends in Guadalajara es the legend of the House of the Dogs. It all started with a very very rich widow who's name was Don Jesus Flores and a very poor but beautiful seamstress named Doña Ana Gonzalez. Don Jesus and Doña Ana got married, and as a wedding present, Don Jesus built Doña Ana a two story house in the center of Guadalajara. In those days it was considered a huge luxury to have a two story house. Doña Ana, as a wedding present, bought 4 statues of dogs which she shipped from New York, to put one at each corner on the roof of the house, to "watch and guard their love." That is how the house became known as the "House of the Dogs."

After their marriage, they went to Europe on their honeymoon. on their way back, the boat was about to  capsize because of very strong, severe storms and in that moment the couple prayed that if at least one of them survived, that one would pray nine rosary prayers on the anniversary of that day for the rest of their lives. It turns out that both survived. 

However, time went on, and shortly thereafter Don Jesus passed away. Doña Ana Gonzales decided to remarry shortly after his death to a much younger rich neighbor named Don Jose Cuervo. After of year of marriage Doña Ana and Don Jose decided to move to a new house that he build on the other side of town, leaving the House of the Dogs. Doña Ana also forgot to pray for her survival and her husband like she had promised. 

The legend says that whomever prays the 9 prayers of the rosary in front of the mausoleum of Don Jesus Flores will recieve great forture. They even made it into a contest saying that whomever could recite the prays at exactly midnight with only the company of a candle would win a large sum of money. Hundreds of men and women tried, some to prove their bravery and others thinking that it would be easy money, but none succeeded. 

Some ran out after only 5 minutes saying they were possessed by the devil, other lasted so long that when people went in to look for them they found them fainted on the ground from terror. It is said that the problem is once you start reciting the prayers a voice from beyond the grave answers each of the rosary responses. No matter how brave a soul has tried, no one has been able to complete the 9 prayers of the rosary..... 

Thank you!! HASTA PRONTO!!!

Friday or Tuesday the 13th?!?!?!

So I woke up this morning and realized its FRIDAY 13TH!!!!  I started to get a little worried like "oh boy, what is this day going to bring?"  "What is going to happen??" and more importantly "What is going to go wrong!?!?!?!" 

When I started talking to a good friend of mine.. Carlos! 

PSST!!  He's the one in the middle!!!

 When I reminded Carlos that today was Friday 13th, he responded with "YEY!!  Friday!!  Good Luck, right??'  To which I quickly replied, no its bad luck.  Bad things tend to happen on Friday 13th.  He laughed at me, smiled and said "Amanda, you got it all wrong.  Here Tuesday 13th is bad luck."  Then he started to sing.... 

"En Martes 13, ni te cases, ni te embarques,

Ni de tu casa te apartes"

Which means, "On Tuesday 13th, don't get married, don't start a journey, don't even leave your house."  I know, it sounds a lot cooler in Spanish. :)  But it got me thinking, and I started to do a little research on both Tuesday and Friday 13 and I basically come up with the same results.  No one knows why these days are considered bad, they just know they are.  Evidence started showing up in the 19th and 20th centuries in literature and random references in letters and correspondences writen in the 1900.  The only variable in that in the Western countries, it was alwasy Friday, but in Spain, Latinamerica and Greece the bad luck was always transfered to Tuesday.

So, what gives?!!?!?!  Which day is it, or is it even a day at all??  What do you all think?  Friday or Tuesday??
         

Strikes and Demonstrations in Guadalajara and Mexico

Teachers are a huge part of every society and every community in the world.  Teachers can inspire children to do their best and in some cases be the one stable person in a child's life.  Here in Mexico, the teachers have been affected by new reform laws that the president is trying to pass. 

Road blocks put up my teachers on the main streets of Oaxaca.

The laws are quite simple, they don't change much except for two very important areas. 

1)  Like in most places, being a teacher in Mexico is not one of the highest paid jobs you can decide to take on.  The new reform wants to cut all summer vacation pay for all teachers in public schools in the country, no matter what level of education they are teaching.  This change would obviously drastically reduce wages for teachers, and make the profession even less desirable for younger generations as well as cut benefits. 

The strikes in Guadalajara

2)  The reforms also require that all teachers no matter how old or how long they have been teaching take a comprehensive education test.  This wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, sometimes these tests are good to keep teachers current on what they are teaching and different teaching methods.  Here, however, the older teachers are afraid that these tests will be used against them in a way where those who don't score high enough will be fired and lose all retirement benefits only a few years before they are eligible for retirement.

 Its been a very interesting situation around here with traffic and marches and protests.  So far all of them have been peaceful.  On September 4th, the day these pictures were taken, we had one of the biggest marches in GDL.  Over 1,600 teachers, students, family and community members marched in protest of these reforms.  There were also over 60 city and traffic police on hand to help with the marches and keep everyone safe.  The protestors walked for 2 hours from one side of the city to the other, and then stopped in front of these bleachers to have public speeches.  It was very interesting to be a part of these manifestations.