So I must be feeling better. I woke up this morning hungry and thoughtful. It seems everything, even my brain is back working. Yay!

Poverty is so complex. I can not imagine just one institution or country deciding how to deal with it. We have the UN and others but also large and small development agencies which I am very critical of. I woke up this morning and over my tea thought of how many different views and ideas there are in the world and how often, sadly so little of them are expressed. I become afraid when i think of how diversity in though is dying and how horrible this is for us on this planet.

I wonder what is the best way to hear new voices and opinions? Social Media? Traveling? Living in a community? But most of those voices will never be heard by those "voices of control", the heads of our countries. How often are we homogenized each day? Through media? Through society? Could a solitary hike away from civilization be a remedy for this?

How do we prevent the homogenization of our world?

Photos of San Cristobal, My Barrio and the Center

Amazingly good organic restaurant really close to my house.

The restaurant entrance, they have quesadillas with salad or huarachez which means sandal but is a sandal shaped tortilla with beans, shredded chicken and salad on it.

The corner on my street

Sweets/ Dessert Market

My Barrio

My Barrio

Walking home from the Center

Real del Guadalupe that leads to the Church of Guadalupe and has a long street with shops and places to drink, eat

Pretty Building on Zocalo/ Main Plaza

Pretty Touristy Street Leading to Another Church in the Center

Palenque, Misol Ha for Cintia's Birthday weekend

A while back it was Cintia's birthday. We stayed in cabins next to a beautiful waterfall, went swimming, to Palenque (Mayan Ruins), and wandered around the town of Palenque.

This is Cintia's cousin and I drinking Micheladas in front of the convenience store that sells them. I love this about this area. Palenque is hot, and many stores sell these salty sweet tomato- beer drinks. It makes me instantly in a better mood if I have been walking around in the heat all day, or if I am feeling  introverted.

Coffee is amazing everywhere here :)

Palenque and the temple for the sun? or moon? or agricultural crops?

Downtown Palenque

Cool Lizards! With blue necks that stick out

To let light in the Mayans had triangle roofs. They slept in caves and had holes of light come through, so they could see.

Although not an attractive picture, it was the most interesting thing I learned that day. There were two canals of water in Palenque, one connected to the Sauna pictured here. Wood was put down first and heated in one hole, after coals formed, medicinal plants and a bit of water was added. The best thing about this is that this canal connected to the sewer water. So every once in a while they would clean out their canals with medicinal aromatic plants. These two canals connect further down to a near bye river which is still there.

A Sunday mopping my floors listening to Shakira

I am afraid that the high of being here has gone. I really hope not. Perhaps I am overcoming my first true sickness since being down here, thus, this is a normal feeling after almost a week of exhaustion.

I am easing into a life of normality before the chaos of my thesis work begins. To tell you the truth I am scared of the stress ahead. I have three months in the field, living with three other thesis members, day in and day out. This starts in Sept and is going to be a huge challenge. I will learn a lot from it.

I am excited as well to be working in a beautiful Biosphere Reserve: El Triunfo, about my work and what I have been reading about coffee and soil conservation. Also at the end of it feeling a great sense of accomplishment. I know this  project reflects my dream job of working in the field in Latin America on agricultural issues, and social resource development. El Triunfo is a cloud forest that is suppose to be one of the most beautiful spots in Mexico. I feel very lucky.

One of our partners is Walter who works for the National Government on agriculture and trees. (http://www.inifap.gob.mx/SitePages/default.aspx). He is wonderful. I really enjoy listening to his work in La Suiza watershed, with the different communities. His goal is to have them create a functional watershed committee. This way they not only can help out the environment but also are in a better position to ask for money. It brings the communities together on a watershed scale; thus, in my idea it gives a sense of empowerment to these communities. They were hit hard by hurrican Mitch and Stan, and with the coffee market crash. Global warming is causing them to grow their coffee at higher elevations, they are losing land. Also they lose land frequently (!) to landslides.

I love feeling apart of something meaningful. I love reading in Spanish, it makes me feel like I am getting double the knowledge each time I read an article for my thesis.  I like being around Walter because he is dedicating his life for a greater cause. I like that. I want to do that.

Cintia and Charly on a Sunday in my Backyard

Breakfast: egg jalapeno tomato scramble

Homemade tortilla chips with lime and salt, fresh cheese, limes and my home made salsa verde. The beans were on the stove.

One of those afternoons, in which everyone is partying and I am at home eating lentil soup and listening to music form the 60s.

I guess it is about time I was sick. Everyone else has been. I have to say it is nice (after the first two days of extreme discomfort) to be home and writing finally in my blog and not around people and well not drinking. I have been cerveza free for three days now, not that i am drinking a lot, but a beer or two is presented more often than not.

I hear thunder in the distance, it is now the middle of the rainy season. Weather changes so often in a day that it is very hard to predict it. I always bring my rain jacket everywhere and thank my brother often (in my head) for telling me to buy a very light weight one that i can squish down to nothing, so it fits in my backpack. I do not even realize it is there unless i need it.

School has been really boring. It is such a let down after Antonio's class and I know I sound extreme but I have heard it from many of my classmates, this is the worse class anyone has ever taken. Its frustrating because he lectures us about how we are not serious and do not show up to class, but then no one shows up because we hate his class, and thus this endless cycle continues. No one wants to hear his lectures so they do not show up and thus he lectures us more. We are treated like we are in high school and so very often 5 or more people are missing from class. The maximum for Antonios class was one or two. The weird thing is that more people were sick (they were adjusting to Mexico) or hungover during Antonios class (i definally was partying more then!) yet still managed to show up. I remember nights of saying its a school night, i want to go home so i can be well rested for Antonios lecture and my classmates whom I was out with, would understand and want the same... now... well, its an excuse to stay out late, especially for our leadership class!

Our leadership class is every Friday, and you have to be either 1) stoned 2) hungover 3) really exhausted,  to make it through without being extremely frustrated at the lack of knowledge being to presented to us. Some days I get through it looking up Spanish words that were said that I do not know so I feel I get something out of the class. It is horrifying simplistic and childish to be in that classroom. I first got angry, then I learned Thursday nights were for partying, so being in class the next day half awake, made it seem iIwas being productive but really I am just getting over being hungover, which sadly is more productive than anything I would get out of that class anyways.

Do you think I seem harsh? Because everyone feels this way! Its awful because the negativity is overwhelming between classmates during the week. I find myself latching onto those few friendships I value the most. Which has been a good thing.

My friendship with Joshua and Cintia has blossomed into a beautiful happy existence of trust and love for each other. I feel like we are an odd team of people bouncing around the streets of San Cristobal at night, looking for some where to go to, but not really caring where, because we are with each other on the streets of San Cris and we love it here. That negativity of the classroom is always toss away, and we can hang out at my house and I could not be happier. My brother once told me he was the happiest in his life when he felt he had a community and I agree completely. I do. I have Charly and Sam next door as well. Who are the best neighbors. They brought me a small heater, tea, and made a fire for me when I was really sick two nights ago. I was shivering as I walked to the bathroom, it was awful, I had a horrible fever.... but i do not want to talk about that negativity, as I said I have been getting too much of it at school.

Luckily tho, VACATION BEGINS. It could not be at a better time. Although I am going to miss my nights with Cintia and Joshua a lot. It is nice knowing today was our last class (this is why people are partying), yet leadership continues on Fridays. But If I continue the remedy of staying out late on Thursdays, and getting over it during class on Fridays I believe I can make it through.

I hope so  :)

I will write again soon, now that vacation has begun. I hopefully will update from the beach!