Merida

3 September 2011

On Saturday we had to get up really early. Our flight left from Oaxaca airport via Mexico City to Mérida. When we left the air-conditioned airport there the first what we felt was the combination of humidity and heat. At that moment we started to sweat. (And we are still sweating.)
So we were not completely unhappy when it was starting to rain very heavily while we were having lunch in a special restaurant. We just ordered drinks, but got a lot of food and a music show, too. However, not all of us enjoyed the meal on the same level. After lunch we had some free time and we met again for going to dinner, where we met Yuri Balam, a lecturer of the Universidad Quintana Roo. As an expert on Mayan culture he told us a lot about the history of Yucatan and showed us pictures of Mayan objects and paintings. This made us curious about the next day when we met a group of students of the UADY University with whom we visited Ek Balam after a very tasty breakfast which they had brought with them. In Ek Balam we had a walk through a forest, met an Iguana which inspired some of us to use the Iguana technique for getting as much cool air as possible and climbed a really high ancient pyramid. We didn’t count the steps, but there was a great view from the top and the less fit of us still feel their muscles acheing…
After this exercise we desperately needed some refreshment. So we went to a nearby Cenote, a cave where it is possible to swim in clear water in a special atmosphere. As it was already quite late we enjoyed the traditional meal which we had in a restaurant on the way. The Poc chuc changed the mood of the male passengers in our minibus: Until we arrived in Mérida they were singing local and Swiss songs while the female passengers were either contemplating the “Glühwürmli” outside or getting a little sleep. Then we had to say goodbye to our new Mexican friends and some of us went to swim in the pool of our fantastic hostel.
After a breakfast consisting of watermelon, banana, toast and coffee, we went to a Mayan language class on the morning of the 5th of September. The teacher, Hilaria Maas Colli who is an anthropologist, however, surprised us a little bit by the teaching methods she used after we saw a documentary about a ritual in a Mayan village. We played a kind of language Bingo and everybody won a book. Maybe this will improve our knowledge of Mayan language in the future.

Oaxaca

1 / 2 September 2011

On the last day of August we left the interesting city of Puebla and drew to Oaxaca. We arrived at midday and had some little time for walking in the town center and head up for our first meeting with Philippe Gerber at a “La Jicara”. We met him around 8 o’clock at the evening for dinner. Firstly he made us a general introduction of the social panorama. He showed us a map of the seven regions in Oaxaca, explaining the cultural and social structures of this state. Oaxaca is one of the states in the Mexican territory with the highest percentage of indigenous population. This population other than rest of the Mexican population is divided in local communities that own their territories as a group and have local direct election system. At the same time Mr. Gerber introduced us to Mrs. Mendez who works for a local Human Rights program procuring justice in Oaxaca. It is worth mentioning that the dinner was delicious as well as the resulting discussion was interesting.
On the following morning we could have a taste of the hostel breakfast and we were happy of having a good breakfast in the hall of our hostel. After that we took the street bus and visited the local Administrative Justice Court and met Dr. Cruz to talk about Legal Pluralism. As we discussed with Mr. Gerber communities in Oaxaca are politically organized in local communities. We learnt about the way they connect social, political, religious and economic life. The charges in the communities are distributed in a way that well known candidates make their election by the community members. The indigenous tradition of electing officials as well as the charges system are successful meaning that the population complies almost fully to this institutions by the value of being part of the community. Nonetheless there is a crash of civilizations when the Mexican Spanish-based legal system meets the indigenous system. As there are legal gaps which are subject of interpretation as the building of water locks in indigenous territories or other examples the coexistence of these two systems are challenged. After this meeting we had lunch in the center of the city after a long search for a vegetarian restaurant. The food was OK but the best were the totopos. The group learnt how to combine them correctly to with some lime juice and salt. We walked to our second meeting on that day. We visited a migrant house which refuged migrants on their way to the US where we had the chance of getting to know some of them. It was really interesting to hear the different stories of migration and the difficulties they encounter on their way. As always Philippe did an interesting interview with a young man from Salvador who passed through some really hard times putting his life in risk on several times. Finally we met some integrants of Peace Brigrades who explained us their work which consists in providing human defenders with security by the companionship in their activies. For dinner we ate in the oldest Restaurant in town called “El Marques del Valle”. The judge of the administrative court shared the evening with us and some of us could get to know her better. The food was traditional haute cousine which satisfies almost everyones tastes.
On the following morning some of us got up early and went for a walk through the center. First we visited the gorgeous church of Santo Domingo, which impressed us by its massive beauty. Afterwards we visited the Ex-Convent of St. Catherine which is now a high standard hotel. We had hot chocolate and delicious sweet bread on the hall of the old monastery surrounded by a charming garden. On midday we met an expert on the topic of Religion who explained us the development of beliefs in the zone in the last ten years and the success of evangelical churches in the region. At one we took a local bus to the small town of Ayaquesco. This is a community of women which after facing loss of their husbands due to their emigration to the US decided to found their own business and give the region a chance to blossom. We had a round discussion with some of the members of their board and they explained to us how they fought for their project to succeed. For our way back we could ride in the back of pick up to the center. It was cool to feel the fresh air on our chicks and hair. After that we took the bus to Oaxaca and we played cards for a long time.. A game which name in German starts with the letter A and finishes with och…

Puebla

30 / 31 August 2011

After five very interesting and exhausting days in Mexico City, the next destination on our schedule was Puebla. We had to leave very early in the morning of the 30th August, so almost all of us went to bed very early, and packed the suitcases before going to sleep. And how glad we were about that when we woke up at 7.00 in the morning and there was NO ELECTRICITY. Although we had just spoken about this the day before with Jörg Wiedenbach, the director of the Swiss College (he said that he liked those kind of challenges in Mexico), nobody of us really expected this to happen in Mexico City. The Hostel staff wasn’t very prepared neither, but with some candles and torches we managed to get ready in 30 minutes and to leave at time (the showers were very cold though ;-) ).
After a two hours bus ride, we arrived in Puebla before noon and left all our luggage at the beautiful hostel in the city centre in order to try some local food at the new market. Not everybody could enjoy it the same, as some of us were already feeling the famous revenge of Moctezuma. A visit at the drug store and some extra sleeping did a good job though. In the afternoon we went to visit the huge Volkswagen factory, which is kind of a small city outside the city. It has its own medical centre, firemen and the biggest cafeteria in the world. It is the biggest car factory in Latin America and the third biggest of Volkswagen worldwide. They produce 4 types of Volkswagen cars in this factory and 80% of the total production is being exported. So we learnt that every single VW Beatle you see in the world is produced in Mexico. The production of the old VW Bug nevertheless stopped in 2003 and that’s why they are disappearing more and more, even in Mexico.
Wednesday morning we had to get up early again, as we had a meeting with FUNDALEX, the Foundation for Freedom of Expression at 9.00. Mr. Mariano Morales, council of the foundation and editor of the journal “Por Mexico” answered all our questions about the situation for journalists in Mexico. We learnt a lot about the freedom of expression in the country and the threats it is confronted with. We were even provided with some books in order to deepen our knowledge about the topic. As always, we were received very friendly and at this place I would like to thank all the people we met for their friendliness and openness during the meetings.
Right now we are on the way to Oaxaca, were we will stay until Saturday morning. A first introduction to the topics and the actual situation in Oaxaca will be done by Philipp Gerber during dinner. So we are already looking forward very much to these three days in the beautiful city of Oaxaca. And of course we will let you know more about our trip soon.. Hasta pronto!

Mexico City

27/28/29 August 2011

For lunch time we had problems to find a place where to eat. Sometimes we got kind of lost between all the small restaurants. In the afternoon we met Marie's father. He showed us Mexico City and explained a lot of things concerning history and art.
Saturday evening we met a Spanish Journalist, Majo Siscar, and had an interesting discussion with her and her friend from Amnesty International.
Sunday was a cool day. We didn't have any formal meetings. After a long drive with different subways we arrived after more than an hour at Xochimilco. The place remembers of Venice. We enjoyed our drive with the gondola and the whole special atmosphere there. In the afternoon and evening was a free program. Some of us visited a craft market in a nice area. The rain makes plans often pretty difficult.
Our first meeting today was with the NZZ correspondent for Mexico, Alex Gertschen.
We met him first in a parc, which was kind of unusual. But we anyway ended up in a nice cafe talking for 2 hours about a journalists life in this country, Mexicos big problems in general and its position in the international medias. It was clear that Mexico could offer a lot more (nice) things than the media showed – but the really interesting information for the newspapers are unfortunately always the bad ones. After a long and good lunch with a lot of pasta we had after it to hurry up in order to be at time at Glencore. The Swiss company with their head office in Baar, Switzerland. The informations about the company are unusually limited. Afterwards we had a meeting at the Swiss School with the new director and the previous CEO of Schindler, Mr. Wiedenbach told us a little bit about the dual school system in Mexico and about the lacks of the public schools. Mr Wiebenbach highlighted repeated that Mexicos still one of the best places in the world to invest and develop a business.
After the dinner in the neighbourhood of our hostel we made our lugage for the next day and went early to bed.

Hola a todos, llegamos a Mexico!

25/26 August 2011

The IFIL trip successfully started yesterday and it was not only about getting to know Tacos, Sombreros and Tequila but the first two days already gave us very interesting insights into what challenges Mexico is facing and what they are doing about it.
We started our trip with a visit of the Swiss embassy where we got a general overview on the work it is doing. With Mirko Giulietti’s open and frank style it was an enriching first impression and analysis of the country. In the afternoon we had the chance to meet Dr. Miguel Sarre, a human rights activist together with students from a law faculty. Mr. Sarre shared his point of view regarding human rights and the governmental policy to fight drug trafficking. After this meeting, a dinner together with the students gave us the opportunity to deepen the discussions that entailed by the meeting or to just have a beer together.
Today we had to get up at time in order to visit the headquarter of the intelligence service of the Federal Police. They showed us the different units, explained us how they are working and we even were allowed to see the Presidents bunker where the heart of the intelligence service is located: Hard not to be impressed by the amount of technology and resources available. After the impressive visit we had an appointment with a representative of the Secretary of Public Security where Mexico’s new approach (increasing number of police forces, building up a strong intelligence service -9000 university graduates have started to work for the Federal Police and the average age is 26- and establish the rule of law) to public security was presented. The meeting was so interesting that we sacrificed our lunchtime in order to stay longer. After a lunch to go, we met Transparencia Mexicana, the local chapter of Transparency International, where we got an overview of the issue of corruption both on the national and international level.
During these first days what impressed me a lot was the sheer size of the city. You get this impression once you have to take the taxi to go to another neighborhood and even though you only crossed 1/5 of the whole city it takes you 40 minutes to get there. It seems like Mexico City was build after the aggregation of several cities rather than the opposite.