Brujos y Manos y Tierra en todos lados

Posted by Dorian Dargan ( Tecnológico de Monterrey-Monterrey, Mexico)

My internship in México has truly been a great experience.

I was doing strategic consulting in Ozolco, México, for a small business that wants to sell corn-husk muñecas (dolls). As consultant to the growing business, I conducted research in local markets to analyze their competition and determine the business’s market niche. I also created a business plan, designed their logo, facilitated the selection of their business name, helped with product development, and created a product sales strategy. The name of the business is Mahuatlalli, which is Nahuatl for “Manos de la tierra” – which is Spanish for (LOL) “Hands of the Earth.” It represents both the community, and their product, which comes from the outer sheaths of the corn that they use so much here. I thought it was amazing how they can turn something that could be deemed worthless into veritable art… and are making money off of it too!

All in all, it’s been great getting to help the women involved in this project – as I’ve given them my advice, and as their trust in me has grown, they have developed an even greater desire to start this business. I believe they have come to value their work, whereas before this endeavor was merely a hobby to them. They now see themselves as entrepreneurs, and for me it is truly a beautiful thing to feel like you have empowered someone to achieve something they’ve always had the potential to do, but had been lacking the necessary guidance and reassurance. Since I’ve been working on this project, I’ve learned a lot about the community’s culture in particular, how things work, and (don’t work), and about the process of starting a business, informally and formally.

The project was fun, but I definitely had a crazier experience outside of the workplace.

One weekend my work group and I went to Catemaco, this town known for its brujos (wizards) – wasn’t really feeling that from the get-go. Catemaco was also the place where Mel Gibson filmed much of Apocalypto. If you’ve seen the movie, then you can imagine how beautiful it is. We were able to tour through some of La Selva where the movie took place. That was really cool… however some weird stuff went down too. Well, for one… the beginning of my problems happened. While playing some ball game with my coworkers on the trip, I dove onto the ground, and accidentally smashed the screen on my camera that was in my pocket. So now, my camera screen is currently adorned with purple, yellow, green, and blue cracks. I can take pictures, apparently, but i can’t see NUFFIN, lol.

Anyways… Catemaco era impresionante… we went kayaking, and hiking through the rainforest. The only suspect part for me was the interaction with the “brujos.” We did this bathing ritual called Temazcal. It’s an ancient “cleansing,” that has been turned into a commercial attraction. Basically, they cover you in mud/clay, which is healthy for your skin, and then you dance around next to a fire to dry the clay. After the bonfire… you go into this sauna where they bring in hot molten rocks, the sheer heat and steam from the rocks nearly suffocates you, while the mud on your skin liquifies and falls to the ground.  We stayed in the sauna/igloo for a really long time, longer than most people would stay in a sauna. I left a little early, however because mud started getting in my eyes, and i had my contacts in – not a good combination. After all that… we jumped into Lake Catemaco to clean everything off. It was very refreshing…

Another weekend, I went to D.F. (Mexico City) for the 4th of July. It was cool… we visited La Cathedral, El Museo de Antropología, Zócalo, etc. However, while on my way to a 4th of July party… something happened that kind of ruined the rest of my night. When I was getting on the metro, a pickpocket jacked my wallet, unbeknownst to me… WHAT!? I noticed like 10 seconds later that it had happened, after I got on the train, but I had no idea who it was… there were so many people. I couldn’t stop regretting that I hadn’t been able to see who it was. While in shock that I had been pickpocketed, I was mainly upset that I didn’t have the chance to fight back for my wallet… because I know I would have won.   I had to cancel my cards, and I lost all of my ID’s and about $70 worth of cash. WOMP WOMP. So as you can imagine, I was money-less for quite a while… but I persevered, and the countless other amazing experiences made up for it.

I love México… haha!

Mexican Hospitality

Posted by Charlie Zien (Tecnológico de Monterrey – Cuernavaca, Mexico)

Hi all,

I wrote a post on the MISTI blog earlier in the summer but since then I have been focusing exclusively on my personal blog chronicling my trip to Mexico (it’s tough to maintain two blogs simultaneously).  If you want to know more, or if any part of this post makes no sense to you, you can take a look at the other blog.  Here’s the original post (from July 28):

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As I’m sure you’re all aware, the US soccer team had a, how shall I put this, less-than-satisfactory performance when they came here to play Mexico. They put the game on in our house, and at halftime, the score being 0-0, a friend and I decided to head out to a bar downtown to catch the rest of the game. Once we got to the bar the score was already 2-0 Mexico. At that point we decided it would be a waste of time to watch the rest of the game as soccer games rarely score above two, especially with less than a half remaining.

So we walked back to the bus. On our way to the bus we walked through the town square. There were TVs everywhere and I noticed the score had changed to 3-0. While we walked through the artisans’ market on the way to the bus stop, Mexico scored another point. By the time we got back the game was over, Mexico having beaten the US by an astonishing five points.

Of course, before the game we had been sure to talk plenty to our host family about how the US was for sure going to win and Mexico had no chance (after all, we did beat Spain). And as you can imagine, when we showed up for dinner we were subjected to all sorts of ridicule. Whatever; who cares about soccer, anyway?

Today, Dr. Ramos (my boss) took me to la Universidad Nacional Autónomo de México (UNAM), one of the most prestigious universities in Mexico, along with one of my coworkers, one of our collaborators from another university, and another professor from Tec. Initially, I was under the impression that we were to attend a conference there, so I was all set to put on my “I’m totally not bored right now” face that I have gradually perfected after viewing Powerpoint after Powerpoint of biological tedium.

But there was no conference (I must have misunderstood; apparently, my understanding of Spanish is even poorer than I had originally thought). The actual reason we went was because Dr. Ramos wanted me to see UNAM and the surrounding neighborhood, Ciudad Universitaria (CU). He devoted his entire workday to this end.

So this is basically a repeat of the last post on Mexico City. Once more I was shuttled about town, wined and dined, again without paying a penny. And once again I had a great time. The team and I bonded, talking about everything from Taco Bell to US and Mexican politics to Canada and its merits as a country (i.e. I made fun of Canada a lot).

I still am in awe of the incredible hospitality and kindness of the Mexican people. People here have consistently gone out of their way for me. I’m sure going to miss Mexico when I’m back in Boston being treated like an average Joe.

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I’m also going to throw in a picture, because everybody seems to like those.  This is just one of many great pictures I’ve taken during my time in Mexico.  If you’d like to see more (or you just want to stalk me), check out my main blog.

Beginnings

Posted by Charlie Zien (Tecnologico de Monterrey–Cuernavaca, Mexico)

Hi!  If you’re reading this it’s entirely possible you already know me, but allow me to introduce myself just in case you don’t. The name’s Charlie. I’m a rising senior at MIT majoring in Biology. This summer I am lucky enough to be participating in the MIT International Science and Technology Initiative (MISTI) program. For the next two months, I will be living in Cuernavaca, Mexico, a city of approximately 300,000 inhabitants located about an hour from Mexico City in the state of Morales. I am working at Tecnológico de Monterrey (hereafter referred to as “Tec”), a private university, with a team that is attempting to model the complex biological processes involved in the development of malignant tumors of the cervix.

During the twelve days I’ve been here, I have made a number of observations, some of which I will share with you here. Mexico, while in close proximity to the US, is absolutely nothing like the States. Some would say this is obvious but in this case I am referring not to the differences one notices immediately after getting off the plane but rather to the subtleties of everyday life in Mexico:

• The first thing I noticed was that the Internet was suddenly in Spanish! I was automatically connected to the Mexican versions of Facebook, Yahoo!, Google, etc. Tragically, Pandora (one of my favorite sites; you should really check it out if you haven’t seen it), does not work here for legal reasons.
• Things in Mexico are cheap. Really cheap. Today I took a ride in a taxi that would cost $10 plus a tip in Boston for approximately $1.50. Then I got a haircut for about $2.50, including a 40% tip. Looks like I’ll be living large during my stay in Mexico.
• PDA is rampant in Mexico. I’m not sure why, but everywhere I have been I have encountered couples in the throes of passion. One of the more extreme examples of this was when, while on a tour of some ruins, I saw two of the coordinators from the International Program at Tec holding hands. That is to say, this couple did a PDA while on the job. I think Mexico’s casual attitude with regard to PDA might be due to the fact that children tend to stay at home much longer here than in the US, and the majority of the families in Mexico are observant Catholics who do not allow their children to come home with members of the opposite sex.
• Along the same lines, the people here are very “touchy-feely.” It is customary to exchange kisses on the cheek when meeting a woman, as opposed to a handshake (for men, thankfully, the handshake prevails).
• There is a significantly greater effort toward conservation here than in the US. Virtually no houses or businesses use air conditioning. Tiny fast food joints and stands use reusable plates and silverware. I wish we could do things this way in the US.
• I’m always tired. In fact, everybody here is always tired. I now understand the concept of a siesta. The Mexican sun really does a number on you, and when combined with a severe food coma from lunch (traditionally the largest meal of the day), puts you out like a light.

Yesterday I visited Tepoztlán, a small town located about 30 km from Cuernavaca and home to a famous Aztec temple conveniently situated atop an extremely steep and perilous hill. My host family told me that the walk up the hill would take about two hours (this does not include the trip back down) so I lazily decided I would just observe the temple from afar as opposed to making the arduous trek up the hill. So I followed signs to the pyramid, thinking they would point me in the direction of a good vantage point so I could take some pictures.

After fifteen minutes of climbing up stairs I realized that I had inadvertently embarked on the aforementioned trek. This was obviously not what I’d had in mind but alas, I like to finish what I start, so I decided to keep climbing. When I reached the peak an hour and a 45 minutes later, I found that the reward was indeed worth all the effort. The view from the temple was nothing short of spectacular. What’s more, I climbed the entire way in Birkenstocks, as I hadn’t brought good shoes for climbing. Suffice it to say I am very proud of myself.

Also of note: I had my first ever grasshopper taco. Delicioso. And by that I mean it wasn’t so disgusting that I had to spit it out.

I would also like to take this opportunity to debunk some myths about Mexico that have recently come up:

• Don’t go! Mexico is dangerous. Not really. Some parts of Mexico (mostly along the border) are dangerous, and those particular places are much more dangerous than anywhere in the US, but that’s all the media shows you. Cuernavaca happens to have a lower crime rate than most cities in the US.
• Don’t go! You’ll catch the swine flu! No. We can blame the media again for this one. While the number of cases reported in my home city of Milwaukee rapidly approaches 2000, only two cases have been reported in Cuernavaca. In fact, some people at my old high school caught the virus so I would actually be at much greater risk if I stayed at home. Moreover, swine flu is seldom fatal. It’s just the flu; in other words, it sucks but it most likely will not kill you. I cannot imagine the frustration those in the tourism industry must feel right now over this ridiculous media frenzy.

Anyway, that’s it for now. For those of you who are still reading, I hope this post made for an interesting read, and be sure to leave a comment! ¡Adiós!

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