When it rains it pours
So, it’s the rainy season here, which means Missy and I get caught in a shower nearly every day on the way home in the evenings, but last Friday, even the locals said they hadn’t seen a storm like this in years.
¡Bienvenido a Evan, Colter y Sayde!
Newspaper babies from Evelio Contreras on Vimeo.
I’ve been busy working a few projects lately, and haven’t had much time to edit for the blog, but in the meantime, I wanted to take a blog-break from Mexico and return for a moment to Roanoke, Virginia, our town, where three of our good friends delivered babies within days of each other. My good friend Evelio Contreras, made this WONDERFUL video about their experiences. Hope you will enjoy.
Congratulations to Kathy and Tim, Niki and Sam and Angela and Seth on the arrivals of Evan, Colter and Sayde.
¡Felicidades a Ustedes!
Vuelta a México
After a rough night covering the grito, and the eve of Mexican Independence Day, we awoke to wonderful weather, and a fresh start. As usual, it took us a while to get going, and we finally made it downtown, hoping to watch a parade, but just missed it, as we found out. Fire trucks were heading back to their stations and the street cleaners came out onto the main roadway, cleaning up litter, confetti, and scraps of tacos.
Street cleaners? Seemed a bit strange, since a few days of wind and traffic would suffice to blow the trash into another street…so I asked a cop what was going on the rest of the day, and he told us that there was a bike race at 2 p.m. Not any old little race, but the Mexican equivalent of the Tour de France, called the Vuelta a México. I had read about this stage race in a newspaper, but now we were going to get to watch it.
We made our way to the souvenir table and bought a couple of jerseys, hats and trinkets for gifts. The first person we met at the table was an Irishman, from the international cycling agency, the UCI, who was in charge of anti-doping, a big issue in professional cycling. It is his job to test many of the athletes each day after each stage for performance-enhancing drugs.
I finagled my way onto the route, hiding behind the other photographers who all had official press badges, and covered the race from the roadway. It was great to practice my two passions, photography and cycling, at the same time. The race was going to be 18 laps on a 4km circuit, but after about 6 laps, it poured rain, and the race was stopped. Deep puddles formed on the corners, and the riders waited it out, while the race officials decided to make this stage only ceremonial, and the results would not count. This decision, caused nearly all of the 100 or so riders to drop out, and the 15 that were left, restarted, and finished with a sprint after 5 more laps.
In the end, a Spaniard won the non-race, took his place on the podium, received his sombrero, ceremonial bottle of champagne and sprayed the photographers, as is tradition.
It was a great way to finish the two day festivities, which started pretty rough the night before. Missy was beaming ear to ear, watching the racers, and it was wonderful to see a mix of professionals in the race from Europe, with fancy high-end sponsorships, and teams from Guatemala and Cuba, who had no sponsors at all, and were outfitted in unmarked jerseys.
The race will finish in Mexico City in a few days, and apparently has enjoyed a bit of a comeback after being idle for a few years.
The race also proved to be a great place to meet people too, as I was approached by a dance student, Claudia, who kindly passed on my business card to some of her photography student friends at the University of Guadalajara. One of those students, Jorge Hernández, has expressed interest in helping me teach photography to the kids in CODENI. We met with him for a coffee a few days later to go over plans for the class.
Viva Mexico!
Today was Mexico’s Independence Day, actually the eve of the Independence Day. I was excited to cover the event, but the weather was pretty horrible to work in, with a near steady rain or downpour most of the evening. Still, the crowds were unbelievable, and in the center, I was packed in the midst of a huge crowd of people all awaiting the “grito” or shout from Guadalajara’s political leaders. At 11 p.m. the announcer yells ” Viva” before listing the name of every independence fighter from the early 1800s, and the crowd answers, “VIVA”.
Avenida de 16 de Septiembre was closed to traffic, which made a wonderful spot to walk with families. Everyone was in a great mood, some more drunk than others. I don’t know what I expected or why I was surprised that the crowd was that big, since I had been forewarned, but it was less-than-ideal shooting conditions since I was stuck in one spot the whole time, switching back and forth between photographing the people around me, and the fireworks overhead, all the while recording audio.
We made it back to the apartment, completely soaked, and exhausted. Unfortunately the large crowd and flu-symptoms were rough on Missy, but she was a block away to hear and watch the excitement from the square. I think had the weather been more pleasant we could have enjoyed the festivities more, and we were sad to have missed a little Fulbright gathering in Guanajuato that we opted out on, but hopefully we’ll get together with friends from Fulbright soon enough.
Disparity
It is visually so obvious the gap of rich and poor here, almost within inches. Missy and I traveled to the well-off suburb of Zapopan, where some of Guadalajara’s nicest neighborhoods are. There we visited the wonderful Museum of Art and stumbled upon a wedding at the cathedral afterwards.
At the end of the wedding, two people moved around the perimeter of the guests, who were moving towards the bride to congratulate her. One was a 10 year old boy, selling toys, and the other an older man, selling some sweet sugar drinks. I couldn’t help notice two girls, wearing beautiful white dresses, no older than the boy selling toys, as they eyed up his wares. Here was the disparity just inches apart.
Tonight is Mexican Independence Day, and although it’s pouring rain, we’re heading on our trusty bikes (thankfully with fenders) to the city center for the celebrations tonight. Pictures to come of course.
Cooperativa, Bike Repair
Today, Missy and I went with Danielle to the Cerro de Cuatro, a hill named for the towers of Channel 4 television that sit at its top. It is one of the poorest neighborhoods and is where many of the Otomi families live. For several months, Danielle and other organizers have been working with a group of Otomi artisans who are forming a cooperative that will enable them to sell their embroidered arts internationally.
It was incredibly exciting to be a part of this group. I shot video during their meeting, where a lawyer was present to help draft up a contract. The women are dedicated and organized and this was so wonderful to see. Missy will be designing a website for them, and I’ll be working on a short video story about them, and their plans for the cooperative.
Later in the day, I decided to find a bike shop, because my saddle has been sliding downwards everytime I ride, and with long legs, the bike was nearly impossible to ride with no leg extension. I took it to a little “living room” (literally) bike shop where two guys sat around a pile of bikes, wheels and parts and fashioned a shim from a Pepsi bottle that worked like magic. How I love Mexican ingenuity. To set the scene in this “shop” we were surrounded by the following things. Metal fans on high with no guard, several kittens, some eggs, two slices of bread soaking in the Pepsi that was poured out of the bottle that was used to fix my bike, a TV, several ripped up chairs, and an assortment of bike parts lying around.
Later on the way to Spanish tutoring, I met Jaime, who is a freelance garbage collector. Today he was moving old computer monitors and chairs from a building downtown. Nice guy, hard worker. I’m going to add him to my collection of street worker photos.
This weekend is the start of a 4-day holiday in Mexico for the 16 de Septiembre independence celebration which happens on Monday night and into Tuesday. Crowds are expected to be huge downtown, and we’re looking forward to it.
Off to see a photo exhibit at a nearby museum today (Saturday).
We have our wheels
A few pictures that Missy took of me working at the Mariachi festival, AND
We have bikes, so no more slow walking around the city…well, actually, not quite yet, we don’t have locks yet, but soon. Got some heavy duty helmets too.
Mariachi Festival #2
Friday was one of the last nights of the big Mariachi Festival and this time, there was actually a concert that corresponded with the location on the festival’s website. Of course, since it was at the Plaza de los Mariachis, perhaps it was a given that it would be there.
The concert was a professional band from out of town, but what was most interesting to me were the local mariachi guys who work in the plaza nearly every night looking for work. I talked with a couple of guys who filled me in on how it works. I’ll definitely be going back there when it isn’t a festival night to tell the story of the mariachis. Along the main roadway there, Independencia, there are nearly a hundred mariachi musicians there, standing in the median or the curb waving down cars for business. Can’t wait to do some more work down there.
This series of pictures is mainly of the Estrellas de Mexico, though there are a few of some of the local guys as well.
Mariachi Festival #1
Mariachi Festival – Guadalajara, Mexico from Josh Meltzer on Vimeo.
Guadalajara is well-known as the birthplace of Mariachi music, and this week, the annual festival is happening all over the city…or at least so says the Mariachi Festival website.
On Wednesday, Missy and spent almost two hours traveling to a southern barrio looking for what was supposed to be a verbena, or street concert/party, but found nothing. We wandered around the neighborhood asking four different groups of people if there was a concert of Mariachis that night, and we all got the same answer. “Not in this neighborhood, no way.”
So, we were redirected by some older men to take the 52A or C bus back to the city center where we would surely find the Mariachi Festival, but to make sure on the way to the bus stop, to avoid this street or that street, which would be a little more dangerous for the gringos to walk. OK, so back we went.
In the end we found a fantastic concert going on in a lobby of a government building. The only problem was the group of 5-6 serious looking police officers standing at the door. I assumed it was an invitation-only concert, but when I asked the officer if it was, he asked me where I was from. When I told him the U.S. he waved us in. So, we enjoyed the last four or so songs, which were loud, powerful and fun. The Reyes de Mexico were on stage and I ran around trying to make some images quickly, and recorded a little audio of the concert in this piece above.
When we left, we wondered why it was so easy to get in, I suppose they want tourists to see that part of Guadalajara. Next time, I’ll see what happens if I say I’m from Honduras?
Fulbright Orientation
Wow, where to begin? OK. Guadalajara is huge…4.5 million people. No, Mexico City is huge, at least 22 million people. Overwhelming to say the least, but wonderful all the same.
Last week was a full week of orientation for the Fulbright program. This year there are more than 80 Fulbrighters, the largest of any previous year. Tim Wright, who is a Roanoke College graduate as it turns out, and his crew kept us busy throughout the week with speeches and presentations by experts in Mexican history, human rights, and politics. In between these presentations, we had a chance to take some quick, but informational tours of Teotihuacan, a prehispanic community of over 300,000 people just outside of Mexico City. There we climbed the Pyramid of the Sun and learned as much as we could from our knowledgeable guide in a few hours.
We also visited the Palacio Nacional, where famous Mexican painter Diego Rivera has several massive murals depicting the history of the land of Mexico and its people. I could have stared into that mural for hours, but as was typical for the week’s activities, we had more to do than we had time for.
The best part of the week, bar none, was meeting the other Fulbrighters, some of the smartest and most interesting people I know. We spent the week learning about eachother’s projects, interests, specialties and, most important, where each person is going to live in Mexico. One of the great things about this program, is having fellow grantees living in so many different and interesting places, and being able to visit one another.
Each Fulbrighter and their dependients as their called (which is Missy) were invited to a Mexican Fulbrighter’s home for dinner on Wednesday night. To give you an idea of how large this city is, Missy and I rode in a taxi for 2 and a quarter hours and were still in the heart of the city. We finally made it to the home of Cesar and his two siblings and his parents. Cesar will be doing his Fulbright next year in the U.S., in either L.A., Massachusetts or Georgetown, studying international relations. His mother cooked us the best tasting pozole, a soup of hominy, chicken and sauce, and we stayed until after midnight talking, sharing information on music and Mexican and U.S. traditions. It really was a wonderful night.
Thursday night was the big dress up time. I had to buy a tie and nice slacks before I left Guadalajara, because we attended a little welcoming party at the home of the #2 in command at the U.S. Embassy. It was interesting seeing the Fulbrighters all dressed up after spending a few days sitting together in jeans, or climbing the pyramids of teotihuacan. It was also the night of Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention in Denver, so just as we got back, about a dozen of us crammed into a hotel room with a bottle of Tequila to watch the speech about an hour late on MSNBC. It was a wonderful Fulbright moment, I thought.
It was sad to say good-bye after so many packed days with so many wonderful people, but we did a lot of cell phone and email exchanging at the close of the week, and made promises to travel to one another’s homes for visits or even collaboration on work. We’ll definitely be making a trip to the state of Queretaro, where Jose and Naomi will be working with art therapy. I have to go there anyway to back-track the path of the Otomi, and now we have friends to visit.
Instead of heading back directly to Guadalajara, we were lucky enough to be taken in by David, who showed up to pick up four of us for a night out, with none other than my host in Guadalajara, Danielle, who made a quick visit to Mexico City for some great news. She was invited to be a part of a national panel of experts on children’s rights and relevant issues. So, Missy and I spent the weekend in David’s very modern, very cool (see pictures of his coffee table/stove design) apartment in the hip neighborhood of Coyoacan. The laid back weekend gave us a chance to catch up on sleep and visit the Frida Khalo museum, which luckily is in the neighborhood.
I should be back to more regular postings now that I’m back in Guadalajara.
The Intersection Juggler
I had an interesting conversation this past week while in Mexico City with my new friends Jose and David. Jose is a fellow Fulbrighter, here with his wife Naomi, and David is the boyfriend of Danielle. When Jose discovered that in addition to being an architect, David is also a photographer, he asked David what he likes to take pictures of. David responded that he usually only photographs while he is traveling, because what he sees around where he lives is so normal to him. He told Jose, that he’s enjoyed seeing the things that I choose to photograph here, many of which are new to me, but normal to him.
What I am always struck by in Mexico is the amount of activity going on in the streets. Though this is true in American cities, it seems move prevalent here.
On our way home from a visit to the CODENI nightly tutoring last week, Missy and I noticed Ernesto Hernandez Estrado, who for the past 8 years has been juggling aluminum foil-covered balls at the intersection of Miguel Blanco and Federalismo, a major intersection in the city center. Though Hernandez suffers from serious chest pains, for which he has too keep his muscles wrapped with a makeshift ace bandage, he repeats a routine of carrying a 10-foot ladder into the street when the light turns red, juggling for about a minute, hopping down, carrying the ladder back to the median and dodging traffic to collect tips. In a 3-4 hour span, he’ll make about 50 pesos ($5 USD).
I have a great interest in meeting people who make their living in the streets. There are so many. The other night on the way home from the bus station, a man was fire-breathing at 11 p.m. in front of traffic. I must find him!
The Baratillo Market
Missy and I have been thinking about getting bikes, and I think we will, though we’ve sworn to eachother never ever ever ever to ride them on busy streets. On Sundays there is a market called the Baratillo, which is derived from the word, barato (cheap) where there are 40 square blocks and from what I’ve read, close to 10,000 vendors. We just walked around for a few hours, didn’t buy anything, but will probably be back this Sunday to buy bikes.
I have my eye on a special type that I see many old men here riding. They have double top-tubes, and super thick tires, and this really interesting brake setup, where the whole handlebar has a separate metal bar for the brake lever (I’ll send some pictures when we buy them). The going price for these sweet rides? 250 pesos=$25!
At the market, though, you can buy anything, but especially used cell phones and remotes controls…and barbies….and bike parts….and food….and thongs….and t-shirts….and pirated DVDs…and and and.