If I pass Cortez on the way Veracruz, it is probably best to avoid eye contact.

Hernan Cortez established the city of Veracruz in 1519. I ate my
weight in seasoned meats in Veracruz in 2010. Equally valid
strategies for the conquest of the New World. However I would wager
that my was much more delicious. By the way, if you are ever in
Veracruz do yourself a favor and go eat at Los Giros. Where else can
you order piles of delicious, ready to eat meat by the kilo?
Family to Family brought a service group to Veracruz to do some
projects and Kendon made my side-adventure to the Gulf Coast of Mexico
possible. 2 buses, a taxi and about 11 hrs later I arrived in
Veracruz, Veracruz. A beautiful, palm filled city directly west of
the Gulf of Mexico. Being on the windward side of the Sierra Madre
Oriental, it is covered in lush vegetation, as opposed to the interior
plateau of Mexico where dirt and cactus thrive. I welcomed the change
of scenery and tropical beauty. During my young life, most of my
seaside experiences were had in the cool waters off of California and
Oregon. As soon as I arrived at the Gulf, i found that the soothing
ocean breezes of the pacific got stuck in customs and never made it to
the Gulf. Not only was the water there the refreshing temperture of a
bowl of soup on a 95F day, but as soon as I disembarked from my bus, I
learned that I would be doing all my breathing through a boiled
towel. The locals call this "humidity". I felt like I would need to
go swiming in order to dry off. Suffocating humidity and torrid heat
aside, my week in Veracruz was a very welcome diversion from my
typical schedule. With the group I was able to put in a few cement
floors for people that had only dirt before. Do to lack of planning
by our local contacts we were left to mix most of the cement by hand.
It was another one of those experiences that makes you appreciate
education. Anybody complaining about their job would do well to hand
mix a few square yards of cement and deliver it by bucket in those
conditions. We have gotten a lot of good done in Mexico, the trick is
to help them develop on their own and not have to wait for gringo
grunt labor.
It has been a blast following my two teams in the World Cup down
here. I hope that my readers at home have taken a minute to absorb
the immense patriotism that this great sports spectacle emits. One
day I got to watch Mexico play while sipping on the soothing nectar
out of a nice, cold coconut. I highly recomend it.
The highlight of the Veracruz trip happened last Saturday. We took a
bus a couple hours to the Pescados River. Even though the water was
low that day(depends on the previous few day's rainfall), and we got
the raft stuck a few times, it was a blast. We rode 17 kilometers
( plus a snack break halfway through). It was a guided trip and
included a couple class 3 and 4 rapids. I managed to keep from
getting bucked off, though we did jump in for a quick swim at a slow
part of the river. The scenery was gorgeous. The river flow between
mango groves and tree covered mountains and dramatic sheer cliffs. I
half expected to be assaulted by canibals with blowdarts or have a
Tyranasaurus Rex crash through the forest. At one point we pulled
over and ever body climbed a rock and jumped 20'feet into a deep part
of the river. My knees are just now recovering from the nasty burns
they received. Yes I applied SPF 50 liberally, but the thrashing
rapids and swiming took care of that rather quickly. I am now coming
up on my last week here and looks to be a good one.

If I pass Cortes on the highway, I think it would be best to avoid eye contact.

Family to Family has returned to Mexico and I have been invited to go
and visit them in Veracruz for several days. This is a very good
thing because the gimmie-gimmie refrain in my ears has grown old.
Shawn went a couple days ago to be involved with the while project,
I'm just going for the highlights. I am told that by bus the trip
from Tequis should be about 10hrs. We'll see. I'm excited to sample a
while new flavor of Mexico. Yoa just dropped me off at the bus
terminal. I'll the bus to Mexico where i will take a taxi to the
other bus terminal in Mexico and embark for Veracruz. First leg:
Tequis to Mexico $147 MX. 0815
Arrived and took ab across town to other main bus terminal my iPod
keyboard has completly freaked out. There is a double keyboard and I
can't see what I type I'll try later
Leaving mexico at 12:30pm.
Arrived in Veracruz at 5:30.

National Wine & Cheese Fair: The Return

Among the benefits of being in Mexico, living with people with
connections is that you get access to those connections. It seems
every few days we are allowed an opportunity that would normally be
off limits to a couple of visiting whities. Before returning o the
feria, we made a pitstop at Jerry The Undertakers's house. His
daughters just received their first communion. As with any other
special event in Mexico, there is an expensive party. No doubt
thousands of dollars were spent on having a 2 course meal plus dessert
catered for the more than 50 guests. Not to mention the DJ and his
wall of speakers and an open bar (from which I enjoyed a virgin piña
colada as well as a virgin mojito). Words can scarcley describe the
auburn haired, plucked eyebrow entertainer that had been hired for the
few hours of the dinner. He sang, told jokes and did costume-enhanced
impressions. All in typical cheesy Mexican TV style.

A other highlight of that afternoon was meeting a white couple in
their mid-80s from Houston. They didn't speak or understand a lick of
Spanish, but of the course of a dozen 2 week trips to Tequisquiapan,
they had become adopted family to two generations of a Mexican family
at the party. The had been married 65 years and had been all over the
world. They were clearly having a great time. Pretty awesome.

Saturday I learned a great secret of the public education system in
Utah. Apparently there is a foreignc exchange program organized with
the Driver Education Programs in Utah and Mexico. After we were
dropped off at the fair on Saturday night, the connection became
obvious. Many aspiring drivers spend time in Mexico learning to drive.

The comic surrealism of our drive overrode any concerns of self-
preservation that I should of had. I couldn't help but chuckle as we
rapidly wove around traffic on one lane, blind corner city roads, and
even parked halfway on the sidewalk as we waited for Yoatzin to pull
some strings.

Not only is she offering her bungalow to us while she is here, her
position as an assistant to the Presidente of the municipio offers her
(and us) considerable sway with folks. For example rather than have
to park a half mile away like the regular folk we, after a phone call
to the sherriff/chief, were able to park 15ft away in the dedicated
police only parking lot.

As we followed our Mexican chorts we were led to the front row where
we had sat the night before, but because we arrived late there wasn't
a seat to be had. I guess our fame has continued to grow because the
police then produced a whole new row of chairs. We could hear the
people behind us (the former front row) grumble how they had arrived
two and a half hours earlier to get their seats. Who were we to get
our own front row ab the last minute, even in front of the line of
police? We were personal guests of the Presidente of the Municipio
and we arrived with the queens of the fair, that's who. As the lights
on stage dimmed shouts of excitment and anticipation spread, I began
to realize the special treatment we were receiving. We enjoyed a rock
concert from the famous mexican band, Reik (pronounced rake). How
awesome to have red carpet treatment to a Mexican rock concert. We
didn't even have to pay a cover charge.
Lizzy, this wasn't planned, but apparently several bottles of
wine gave a rather girthy local the courage to try and get a little
gringo sugar. Believe me, you would see the Pope wearing a mullet
working at DollarTree before I would request the amourous advances of
that of woman. Alternating between English and Spanish she would tell
me she loved me and tell me don't worry nothing would happen to me(as
creepy as it gets) and cussing me out. I tried to ignore her the best
as I could while she kept dancing into me and attacking me with her
tentacles. My disgust is apparent in a photo I will post while I
can. I'm sure if the nearby cops had been able to keep from laughing
that they would have rushed to my aid. Unfortunately I was on my own
to parry her drunken onslaught.

Tales from La feria

Friday night the National Wine and Cheese Festival began in a park in
downtown Tequisquiapan(Tequis to the locals). Vendors and vinters
gather from all around central Mexico to sell their wares. This
amounts to a week long challenge to get as drunk as you can in public
before the policia cart you off. And judging by the crooked gait of
the patrons and the man relieving himself facing traffic on the main
road through town, the cops give plenty of leaway. They were among
the most determined drunks I've seen, considering they had to rely
completly on wine. After getting a ride with the 2nd runner up to
Miss Tequisquiapan in her mother's Hummer, we took our places with the
rest of the fair queens, local politcal heads and the Municipio
(county) President on the front row, we sat and enjoyed the night's
entertainment. First was an interesting dance program that somehow
explained the culture of the ancient indigenes people of the area.
Their feathered costumes were impressive and their history of dance-
fighting, dance-ballgames, dance-human sacrifices and dance-dancing
must have made them the clear rivals of both the Sharks and Jets. The
next event was something completly new for a gringo like me. A very
famous singer, Margarita, belted out dance anthems of Mexico
accompanied by a big band and three male salsa dancers, at least one
of which couldn't have been lighter in his loafers if he had helium
ballons tied around his ears. As they gained momentum, they played at
a volume that would have gotten fieldworkers in Fresno to grab a
partner and dance. The entire audience took to dancing salsa like
they had a mouth full chiles. Though I am known to be quite fond of
salsa, the closest I had previous come to dancing it was jocking for
position around a bowl at a Superbowl party with chip in a hand.
Apparently it is a great offence to the Nation of Mexico that I was
the only one on the front row that remained in his chair when the
dancing began. A woman the row behind us pitied me and drug me out
front to teach me the salsa basics. As soon as that song had ended
the Presidente of Ezekiel Montes(a neighboring municipio), whom I met
last week, grabed me and set me up to dance with the two of the Fair
queens from cities in his jurisdiction. After that I danced with the
first attendent to the Queen of Queso and Vino. After that bout of
dancing "pico de gallo". (my style was far to chunky to be called
salsa). I was content to be done for the night. Unfortunatly my ride
decided to chat with her friends until nearly 3am.

End of Part One of The Feria De Vino y Queso in Tequisquiapan

As I saunter down these cobbled streets...

Shawn and I have settled into a pretty good routine. We sleep in an
mother-in-law apartment attached on the back of Yoatzin's house. It
is pretty cozy though hot. "air conditioning" is a open window and a
fan on the floor. The evenings and mornings are very pleasant but the
days are very hot. I never feel like I can drink enough water,
especially since you have to buy it first. Apparently May is the
hottest time of the year in the Mexican Interior. I guess the rainy
season will start within the next couple weeks and that should even
out the weather.
Yoatzin has what amounts to a nanny/ house keeper that
works for her and lives there. She is 19 and as worked there since
she was 12. They see her as part if the family. She makes us
breakfast around 9 or 10 and lunch around 3 or 4. Lunch is the main
meal here. The food is delicious but I decided I'm going to keep food
in our bungalo (what they call our apt) because I'm always very hungry
at night.
During the day and the evening we go out for a few hours
and talk with the people of Fuentezuelas. We are trying to learn how
the pueblo functions. We will also have a town meeting everyweek or
so to teach the people o think together to address how they can make
it a better place to live. We promised that we would pick up some
groceries while we are in Tequis(quiapan) today. In Fuentezuelas they
have dozens of kwikimarts but nary a grocerystore for 7 miles. We
rode the bus in today(8pesos) and walked a mile to use the wifi at the
hotel we were using. Hasta la proxima.

And thus my Aztec vision quest begins ...

This morning at 5am the rest of the group boarded the bus and headed
to the airport. Shawn, who had been teaching English in Veracruz,
came up last week to help with the group as he is a veteren of Family
to Family. While he was here visiting he has decided to stay and help
me. This has proved to be a bit of a miracle as neither Kendon nor
myself wanted me to be left alone while I was here but nothing had
come together. Shawn came up with the idea, but will prove to be a
great ally for me here. Plus i'll have some body to pal around with.
This is also the last day in the Villa Florencia in
Tequisquiapan, which is the 5 star hotel we having been staying at by
the invitation of the President of the Municipio. For the rest of my
mexpedition Shawn and I will be staying in the homes of some fo the
great people we have met here.

White-collar meets Blue-collar

Up until tonight i have missed out on the short term projects that the
others have been doing. My roll has been in attending meetings the
first couple days. Friday i had the time available so i said i wanted
to be in one of the work groups. It was pretty hilarious to be in the
back of a pickup with half a dozen others while a group of mexicans
drove us to a construction site to do grunt labor. Only thing missing
is that they didn't pick us up at the Home Depot parking lot. It is
hard work mixing, hauling and pouring cement under the hot mexican
sun. As we worked those that lived there came out and helped us.
Even the woman were in the front shoveling graveland sand. Some of
the women had been cooking on the same stove outside the house on a
dirt floor for thirty years. So having a cement floor is a pretty big
deal.

That night as a reward we were rewarded with a trip to the central
plaza of the municipio seat, Tequisquiapan. It is a beautiful town of
about 30,000 people. Sorry for the brevity. Hopefully I'll find a
real keyboard soon and get access to the Internet for more than a few
minutes a night. Have been pretty worn out this week between the sun
and the long days.

Internet success!

This is going to be short tonight because i'm using the wifi at a
hotel on my iPod. When i vet settled in for the long haul with a
proper key board i will tell about the the last couple days.

A lot has happened in the few days i have been here. Right now i'll
just hit the highlights. I am filling a unique role while I'm here.
The rest of the group, and those that come on the other Mexico trips
that Family to Family, spend their time offering their manual labor to
build cement floors for the poor here. The people of Fuentezuelas are
remarkable because instead of settiling for houses thrown together
from carboard and sheetmetal, the build houses with cement and brick
and cinderblocks. However, because of their poverty they can only
afford to build to single room at a time. The may spend 5-6 years
saving money and building room by room until the house is finished.
They don't have "extra" money to save. The money that they scrape
together is from sacrficing comforts like going without meat for a year.

I'm wiped. Bedtime.

The Final Countdown

     Though my enthusiasm for salsa may indicate to the contrary, I have never placed a single zapato in Mexico.  That will quickly change tomorrow as my plane lands at Benito Juárez International Airport.  Once I rendezvous with my organization, we will board a bus and head for my pueblito home.  This is to be the grandest of adventures as I will be living, with a native family, as a local.  I will have the remarkable opportunity to make friendships and create positive bonds as I work to serve the people.
     The frequency with which I will have access to the internet is not yet known, but I know I will have it.  I will update this blog at every opportunity to provide a window into the heart of Mexico.  Also, if anybody can help me find a sweet template for this blog, that would be terrific.