First couple days in Chiapas

Rain on the tin roof is one of the most frequent sounds here in Chiapas. We’re staying in a local university for indigenous youth just outside of San Cristobal, where it rains most every day and we wake in the mornings around green mountains covered in fog. They have a great set-up here, housing about 100 students and providing classes for music, sewing, computers, mechanics, etc. It’s an amazing program, based on principals of collectivity and the indigenous struggle. They also have a farm and garden where our food comes from. There are conejos (bunnies- baby ones too), sheep, geese, dogs, kittens, and several vegetable gardens around. Yesterday, a sheep starting running at me, straight down a dirt road toward us- baaahing and all, and I wasn’t quite sure what to do because it was pretty solid, until he/she stopped right in front of us, looked at us seeming confused and then turned around and ran away. I had never been charged by a sheep before, but then again, I have never been in the way of one I suppose. It was cute in a scary barnyard-animal sort of way. Campus is simple yet elaborate- with homemade everything, plants everywhere, an amazing library of Spanish language books (where I am sitting right now), sports, a kitchen, and forested mountains to explore- everything we need.

There is a group of 13 from the U.S. that are being hosted her with our program. We have classes both in Spanish and English where we have been discussing the history and culture of Chiapas within its political context, as well as learn from theoretical analyses, such as Pedagogy of the Oppressed. We have plenty of free to time to read our assignments, play soccer with the kids, and practice our Spanish with local indigenous people who live here. I love it here and am already learning a lot about myself and what’s around me. This program is intellectually and socially challenging in a way that is radically different from public education that I have gone to all my life. It’s more informal yet more productive in a lot of ways. Group decisions are made collectively, effort given to the class depends on individual motive, and the purpose of the classes is to be as relevant and applicable to our lives as possible. If it is not, we don’t study it. If it doesn’t push our comfort zones, it’s not worth our time. We also have a house in San Cristobal that we can stay at.

On Sunday, we are going to a Zapatista cultural center for the particular autonomous region we are in to stay for 5 weeks. Will be pretty sweet.

Other than that, I miss you all but am so happy to be here. The other students and I connect really well and are going to have an amazing 3 months. Being here is opening so many doors and is allowing me the space and time I need to re-examine where I at back in Colorado and where I am headed. This is a perfect opportunity to be challenged and comforted at the same time, to critically engage with difficult issues, to be inspired by Mexican ways of life, and to help straighten out my mind for the work I do in the U.S. I think the tension in my shoulders is finally dissipating… mucha suerte---- Claudia