Apologies and Partial Celebrations

I must apologies.  I am afraid my blogging has been on hold.  I have so many stories to tell, but not the time to write them.  However, today I am feeling great.  Yesterday, I sent the second part of my research project off.  The research plan.  It was a great feeling to push the send button last night.  You know, no matter how many times you review and go over a paper, you always find errors or things you thing should change.  You have to reach a point when enough is enough and push the document off to your supervisor.  Then you have the anxious wait for its return and the accompanying "red notes".   

I now have six weeks to put into action all the aspects of my research plan and then write the final report. I actually think that this is a very limited time frame in which to produce a good piece of work.  However, I have come to the conclusion, keep it simple and do the best you can. 

Margaritas and Mexican Pirates

So excited!!! I was heading off for my first touristy trip in Mexico.  Myself and another girl from the spanish school caught a bus for the coastal tourist town of Puerto Vallarte.  The trip on the bus was around four and a half hours through the mountains and down to the Pacific Coast of Mexico.

The last part of the trip reminded me a lot of driving near Cairns.  Very tropical

After a short taxi ride we arrived at our hotel, El Pescador, an older mexican style hotel right on the beach.  We unpacked out bags, jumped into swimmers and sarong and headed to the pool for a margarita!! Well, that was out intention anyway. 

As we came down the stairs we got chatting with the lady at the front desk that organises day trips, and before we knew it we were in a taxi, making a made dash to a night trip on a pirate ship!!  I didn't even have time to change out of swimmers and sarong.  However, when we arrived it was all ok as the rest of the people on the trip were very casually dressed.

Well we were treated to a very entertaining evening with some very dashing Mexican Pirates.  Very touristy, but lots of fun.  And Bonus! Margaritas were flowing freely.  Even Better!! one of the dashing pirates made sure our glass was never empty.  The evening included a cruise, some fun and games with the people on the boat, dancing, dinner and drinks and a couple of shows, one was a traditional indigenous dance and then the pirates danced, sang, and ran havoc.  Lots of fun. 

Fin de Semana en Puerto Vallarta

 

 

Post Meeting – and no not Tequila but Mezcal!! (the best part of the story)

After the meeting we all climbed back into the car to take the women from Toliman back to their homes. By now it was dark, and was very dangerous trying to drive and dodge all the potholes, so the short trip took quite a while. Each lady was dropped off and we finally arrived back at Rosalba’s house and were invited in for some food. Rosalba was someone who really impressed me. She told me that she became very interested in natural medicines when her daughter was a baby and was very sick. They tried natural medicines on the baby and she got better. This made Rosabla decide to study natural medicines in the local college. She was someone who seemed to have a very good balance in her life, family, work and church. She was very involved in the local church and committees that worked with the church for local celebrations.

We all sat in the lounge room while she plied us with delicious sweet corn, covered in lemon juice, salt and chilli. Que Rico!!! Or Delicious!!. Her husband then joined us and it was then I found out that he was a wine maker (well a maker of Mezcal) . This is made from the same plant as Tequila and here they have wineries like we have for wine, however they are for Mezcal. The inevitable bottle or should I say flask appeared after dinner. Come on Di, you should try some!!!

Of course one does not turn down the opportunity, however when Rosabla handed me a glass with a good three inches of Mezcal in it, I was a little worried. First sip!!! Wow!!! That is strong!! I am going to sleep well tonight. “Careful Diane”, warned Marco. Mind you earlier in the night he was trying to convince me that I should drive so that he could have a drink!! (joking). Paula and I slowly sipped out way through our Mezcal which had been topped up with some sprite as we enjoyed company of Rosabla and her family

It was time to hit the road again, we drove to the next town San Sebastian where we had rooms booked in the local hotel. Again, a slow and dangerous trip, in the dark dodging potholes and negotiating the curves. Paula and I were very chatty, due to the evening’s liquid refreshment. We arrived at our hotel at around 11 in the evening. I really felt sorry for poor Marco who had been driving all day. He handed me my keys and with a very large grin said “Sleep well”.

The Meeting

When we arrived back the main plaza of Zapotitlan a number of women (including the lady we had lunch with) were waiting outside the town centre. After about half an hour of running around to find who had the key to the meeting room, we were hustled into a small dirty room that looked a little like a neglected storage area. However, within minutes chairs of all shapes and sizes were brought in,from nearby houses, a table was set up with Coffee and the meeting started.

I have to admit there were bits that I didn’t understand; however I think I was able to comprehend the main parts. It was interesting to watch the body language of the different women, and to see how Marco and Paula dealt with the different personalities while they tried to encourage and move the women on to the task of taking on the responsibility of the group for themselves.

In the following month, there will be two more meetings of this group and I hope to be able to attend these as well. There are so many interesting factors involved, including the views of CAMPO, those of Marco and Paula, the different women in the groups, the issues for the women in relation to running a small business, their responsibilities to family, community and the church etc.

I hope I can use this as a case study to look at development and empowerment for women in rural areas of Mexico.

Lemons, Tequila and Salt, final episode!!

Another week has passed by!! October already! I think I need to post the next part of the Tequila and Lemons story. Fortunately, it has a good ending. Last Friday, I tripped of again to the CAMPO headquarters. (I am getting to know this place well!) The taxi dropped me off nice and early (7.30am), still very dark, and the street was very deserted. The coordinator had advised me that the two staff members that I would be travelling with would be there around 7.30am. No. All was very quiet. Oh! No I thought. Don’t tell me I have done it again. I leaned up against the fence and waited. Luckily, they both arrived around 8.00am. Phew!!! Again for privacy, I shall call them Paula and Marco. They seemed very nice, though a little cautious of the strange lady from Australia. After about half an hour of sorting out all their gear, we were on the highway heading south towards Lake Chapala. After about an hour we stopped for breakfast and coffee, and Paula and Marco quizzed me on my background and why I was interested in CAMPO. They then explained why they were making this trip.

They were visiting a group of women who lived in three small villages Toliman, Zapotitlan and Copala in the mountains about 4 hours south of Gadalajara. CAMPO had been working with these women for about 10 years, supporting and advising them on the development of their small business enterprises. Two years ago the group was quite active, however over the last two years the numbers and interest had dwindled. Because of this,the management of CAMPO had decided that they would not be supporting it anymore, and if the women wanted to keep the group going it would be up to them to take over the responsibility. It seemed that Paula and Marco were very disappointed that this had happened and felt that it could have been handled in a better way. The meeting that we were going to that afternoon would be to advise the women of the change and to help them take the first steps towards taking on the responsibility of running the group themselves.

We were back in the car and on our way again, through the rich green rural area around Lake Chapala. Soon we turned off the main highway and started to climb up into the mountains. There was a noticeable change in the road conditions, the two lane highway had turned into a narrow windy road with lots and lots of potholes!!!! However, the scenery was breathtaking!!! Lush green mountains and valleys! Every now and again we passed through a small village. Finally, we arrived at the small town of Zapotitlan and we pulled up at a small house painted a very bright purple, to visit one of the ladies involved in the group.

I must say I was humbled by the generosity of this tiny lady as she welcomed us to her very basic home. We visited the area where she makes punch and jam from local plums. She also proudly showed us an official document stating that she was licenced to produce cheese. Then we were invited to the kitchen for lunch. When I asked to use the bathroom she showed me where it was and was a little embarrassed and said "es pobre". I assured her it was fine.

After lunch we then drove to the next town Toliman, I had to admire Marco’s ability to negotiate the curvas peligrosas (dangerous curves) and potholes. Toliman was a very quaint, neat puebla nestled in a little valley. Here we visited two other groups of women. The first was a home of a lady who has a sewing business set up in a sort of a shed connected to her house, and the other was the home of a lady who makes and dispenses natural medicine from the plants in the area. Her business was very impressive. Rosalba, took us on a tour, showing us the different stages of production and the final product all neatly labelled ready for distribution.

Well it was time to return to the other town for the meeting. Six adults and one child climbed into the car (I am still not sure how we managed to fit) and we renegotiated the road back to Zapotitlan for the meeting.

Today I deserve the Lemons!!!

I can't believe how silly I am. Yesterday I spoke to the coordinator of CAMPO and she had arranged for me to go on a day trip to look at one of their programs today. It all depended on whether they and a vacant seat for me in the car. She said to ring them in the morning at 10 and they would let me know.

So I got up early in the morning and raced off to my Uni Lectures. During the break for the first lecture I rang and the girl in the office asked if I still wanted to go. Yes I said, so she said to be at the office at 2.00pm (at least that is what I thought she said). Great I thought!! I don't have to asked if I can be excused from my next Uni lecture.

As soon as the second lecture finished I caught a cab to the Office of CAMPO, arrived and greeted the girl in the office with here I am, a little early but I am happy to wait here. Well she looked at me with one of those looks!!! She had told me doce (12.00) not dos (2.00)!!!!! how stupid did I feel. I made a hundred apologies in very bad spanish, because when you get nervous it gets even worse. I was just about to head out the door when the Coordinator came out of her office. Again I apologised.

However, it turned out ok. There is another group going to the same place tomorrow at 8.00am (yes I checked this carefully). This trip is for two days. Oh my god!! please let everything go well for me tomorrow morning.!! I can't keep messing this up.