I've had other things...

Well, I´ve visited the Palacio de Cortez, seen the towns of Tepotzlan and Amatlan (actually those towns were before everything else I´m listing here) seen the construction of a landfill from a distance, been chased by bees near the same said landfill site, and been to a combined total of three birthdays and weddings. I´m staying at my urban homestay now, which explains the many family occaisions. And on top of that all my classes, with long readings and sometimes long writings every week.
And I haven´t written about any of it here, yet
Why?
Well see the above!
Plus I got the flu for a brief bit and needed rest! I think I´m over it now, and am only coughing from allergies, I´m not sure
I can´t go down to the 6 pesos-a-day internet place all the time, even if it is close by, I´ve had other things.
My next blog entry will be for the official CGE blog. I´ll let you know when it´s up.

No digas Amen!

This happened a few sundays ago, when I was struggling more with Spanish. Apparently I'm quite fluent with it now, according to Rosaurio my current Spanish teacher. Anyways, just a nice "Gringo Idioto" story to put down while I'm here at Casa Verde with less other people using the wireless network. For the purposes of this blog my own religious views do not matter. Assume if it amuses you, that I worship Quetzicoatl.

Anyways: I went to the Pentacostl church down the street. I figured Penticostals are becoming more and more a part of Mexican culture, and I'd already visited the Catholic church down the street. It seemed a good way to meet people and learn Spanish also.
I'm slightly late, realize that I'm sitting on the wrong side, and move over to the mens' side. The seating consisted of plastic chairs. Just as at the Catholic church that I'd visited earlier, they lacked hymnals and seemed to sing from memory. Also similar to the Catholic Church that I had visited, they had a band with a keyboard and electric guitar. They were more call-and-response oriented though.

At one point the preacher asked us to raise our hands if we had lost all sense of hope in the world. I didn't catch what the question was so I raised my hand. No one else did.

The man next to me (whom I later learned had found Jesus while working as a landscaper in Texas) wispered to ask me what was up. I wispered to him that Spanish was not my first language.
He invited me to the church cena that night, and explained it to me there. It was tortas with beans and cheese, and (in some cases) spicy peppers. He said he hated the food and had only taken his torta to be polite, so he gave it to me. Personally I preferred the food at Cemal, but I As I recall, he said something (in broken English) about trying to learn dirty words in indiginous dialects before finding Jesus. I clearly got that he continued landscaping work here in Cuernavaca.

Hacienda

After visiting the Ixlilco Ejido we stayed at an Hacienda linked to Antonio's family. I did not mention it there becauses that post was too long already. It was a learning experience. Now, haciendas are quaint resorts for tourists. Previously, they were where the upper-classes kept the Indigenas and Mestizos growing shugar for them, often holding them there through debt.

Above: The beginning of the Hacienda system, using "encomienda" slavery (debt came later after slavery was illegalized. Picture by Diego Rivera

In the 1940s hacienda owners had to choose which part of the land they wanted to keep. Usually this meant their house.

It was very luxurious compared to my time in Ixlilco. We still had class sessions though, often talking about what we saw and about the differences in legal systems and what "The Law" means (why, for example "illegales" is considered an OK term here in Mexico by those who have been illegally to the states, but isn't really the best term to use for them back in the U.S.). And of course, Ivan Illych's "To Hell with Good Intentions."

The hacienda was one of the most beautiful places though that I've seen here in Mexico. With cane-warehouses converted into pools, I wasn't sure of what to make of past and present here. They seemed distinct, contradicting, yet both here.

Good Indian, bad Indian

The picture above is by Siqueros, one of Mexico's greatest muralists, alongside Orozco and Rivera. I actually saw this mural. Some of this posts other pictures were not taken by me though.

(Note, I didn't put this when it happened, but at this point I do not care. My composition class is over now, but I'll mention a few more stories from it probably)

As my Spanish class with Rosalva was one-on-one, we got into some odd conversations. We read a piece in the textbook (for our reportage unit) on one indigenous Mexican town's "Dance of the Conquest," unusual in its portrayal of Malinche as a heroine (people in the town claim her as one of their own).

We got onto the subject of one of America's Malinches: Pocahontas. Rosalva said that in America we love Indians only to bury them (also referring to the portrayal in Dances with Wolves). I asked her whether it was true in Mexico as well. She said "yes." It's funny how the whole "good indian" v. "Bad Indian" thing works out, at least in "traditional" histories (just as racist in both countries perhaps, but still interesting, things are beginning to change in both countries). Here's the U.S.A.'s "Good Indians":

here's our "Bad Indians" :

I realize this is starting to change, with the current work on the Crazy-Horse monument. The 19th century view is still alive to some people though. What we put on pedastals does not necessarily jive with our present-day reality. It's more our version of where we came from and what we choose to define as "national."

Anyways in mainstream Mexican History, it's just as racist...

Good Indians:

(The statues were taken by me, the other one of Cuahtemoc, I got from a web search.

Bad Indian:

That last one was Malinche, Cortez's translator and mistress. She's also in that first picture, but I couldn't blow it up big enough to accurately show her making out with a suit of armor. Oficially she's considered the reason for the downfall of the Aztec Empire. Rosalva said that it was just another myth like Cleopatra or Eve, that was intended to put women down. She claimed some Meztisos (mixed-race Mexicans, the majority of the country) hate her because they blame her for creating the Meztiso race ("Hijos de la Malinche"). They'd rather be 100% Spanish.

As for Rosalva's opinion, she sees her as a curious victim caught up in Cortez's plan.

I'm not sure I agree with her version or the old version. The fact is that many nations in what is now Mexico were tired of paying tribute to the Aztecs and thought the Spanish were there to help them (they were wrong, the conquistadors demanded more). Rosalva gets offended though when people insult pre-Collumbian nations (she has problems with Apocalypto too).

As far as present-day Mexico goes, Rosalva's statement that I pass for an upper-class Mexican probably says something about the current upper-class. I've found people who look like me more at the top of the hill than at the bottom (upper and lower are literal here in Cuernavaca) I'll get to my environmental racism observations later (or seeing how this blog is going, "earlier").