Taking Away....

The three months here in Sayula Mexico have been quite interesting...its been one hell of a roller coaster ride of emotions and thoughts. I remember the graph that was shown to us the day of the pre-departure orientation displaying how most most of us would feel during the internship...but to be honest if i were to graph my emotions on a chart, it would look kinda wack with lots of ups and downs...

There is one emotion that has stuck and lingered with me throughout these three months and i Have a feeling it will continue to linger by my side for a while...god knows until when... and that has been fustration. I am a bit fustrated because I feel like i have taken so much from being here and don´t feel like I have truly given enough back. Its crazy how much I´ve learned from being here these three months, everything from ecology, to a deep understanding of how the political systems and civil organizations function, class structures, history, and just everything in between! And I leave Sayula tonight with a little bit of an empty feeling because I see no major impact that I was able to make to better the situation in the town.

I am having a difficult time trying to pinpoint how I have changed or specifically what I am taking away from this experince. I feel with time and by looking back to the experience I will soon start to figure it out...but at the present moment all these mixture of emotions and especially that feeling of fustration is really blocking me from finding out those answers.

One thing for sure is that I have a new found respect, love, and admiration for this country and its people.

Tourist or Tempest???

In july I got the oppurtunity to go to Puerto Vallarta for a week. It was beautiful and relaxing, however, like many other tourist destinations around the world, it has been structured and molded to serve the needs and wants of the average tourist. There was everything from a McDonalds, a Hardrock Cafe, to even big chain like restaurants like Chili´s. And so when I returned to Sayula and people asked me if I liked Puerto Vallarta I coudn´t help but say that I was a little bit dissapointed in the way it has been so ´North Americanized´. My boss just laughed when i exclaimed ´It wasn´t Authentic!´

In contrast to the Puerto Vallarta experience, I got to go on a 20 hour road trip with some friends to the state of Oaxaca. Now that was ´Authentic!´. I got to go to some beautiful beaches that are not spoiled by the monster tourists, and instead you encounter the european backpackers, or the not-so average Loud North american traveller, who all seem to respect the local culture. I did not see one Mcdonalds or big chain restaurant.

I do view myself as a tourist, but with the objective to explore, learn, and understand. When I travel I barely even take pictures. Im so concentrated in viewing the scenery, or taking in the sights and smells and sounds of a certain place and just enjoying it. I am a lousy photographer anyways, so I would rather have that mental image in my head then some lousy picture later on. That´s just me though....