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).
so very cool. Love to hear about the cooperative and look forward to seeing video/website. #7 is my fav shot!! (other than seeing yer smilin face of course
It is great to see the photos that you have posted so far. It looks as though you and Missy are having a great experience–jumping in with both feet.