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").

"fear" v. "common sense"

There's one story I forgot to tell about Lucha Libre night.
It seemed at one point that the guy selling Luchador masks had quit going around and selling them. I asked one of the guards/ushers at the door about where the man who sold them was, and he pointed me to portly mustached man wearing a Spider-Man T-shirt. The Spider-dude said that I needed to follow him outside where all the masks are.
Then Vinnie (a native of New York and current roommate) caught me and told me that I should ignore the offer or else ask Spider-dude to bring them back inside.
"But isn't that rude?" I asked.
Eventually I pretended to agree with Vinnie. As it turned out a different man (not Spider-dude) came back with masks during another break. Vinnie was probably right.
"Being rude" is what gets people into trouble in Tennessee (the steriotypical image of the guy with a shotgun saying "get off my property!" comes to mind, even though that's never happened to me). Politeness is valued here too, perhaps more-so at times. But there's also a whole set of assumptions that, being from a small town, I never really learned, about cities.
For me, suspecting the worst of other people is something I got over. In middle school I was nervous the swimming pool for fear someone might laugh at me, especially when I was with my parents. Learning that people aren't going to laugh at or humiliate you usually (which as a child I assumed was the worst that could happen) was a part of growing up. From there on, I made the logical jump that people are good until proven otherwise, and that planning for the worst was doublethink.
On one car ride to a club (can't remember which) I had a talk with some girls from Minneapolis who told me that it's not fear, it's Common Sense.
Well This is what was Common Sense:

• Wear a seatbelt (Seatbelts are often sunken into seats in Mexico possibly from disuse?)
• Motorcycle helmets (I actually rode a motorcycle with Raul in Ixlilco, with no helmet).
• Wash your hands before eating ... (And look like a paranoid Gringo Idioto!)
• Tall walls with broken glass = just creepy (they're the trend on this street)

A Note on that last one: I've come to appreciate them as an excellent sustainable re-using of glass. Same goes for making cattle fences out of matress springs, which I saw in Ixlilco. Maybe instead of all these key cards at Warren Wilson College, we should invest in some tall walls with sustainable broken glass...

Libras on "Lucha Libre" and souveniers.

I saw my first Lucha Libre match last night. It wasn't very crowded, but I'd say there was a fairly good-sized crowd. I hadn't really realized how much audience participation was involved. It was a routine trick of theirs to throw each other out into the audience. I'd say whoever runs it was taking some chances when they had Mystico, their biggest star, loose.

I'd say it was worth it. They had some pretty awesome souveneirs. I got a red and blue mask with two eagles. I didn't see the luchador associated with it (if their is one). Earlier I bought a souvenier sun and moon at Universal, my language school, which often hosts various craft vendors. At the time, it looked like just the thing for one of our blank walls, but I'm not sure whether anyone back at home will want it. I mean seriously, a blue sun?

Don´t Panic!

I was talking to my friend Goose (Josiah Guzik) today. He told me that I should only write about one conversation or event per day. Or at the very least keep things simple. I´ll try to do this blog daily with that style. Is that alright with everyone?

Okay, so some of this will make more sense when I do more back-dating. The embassy talk clarified much of what follows. My journal and notes can help me with back-dating.

But I assume people want to keep hearing from me especially with events in Juarez being what they are right now, never mind that I´m not in Juarez! Oh, and I´d go off on a long diatribe against wrong policies there, but I´m just a Gringo Idioto! For now I´ll say that Mexico´s problems, especially along the boarder, are at least partly the U.S.´s problems.

Several conversations today. I´ll leave Betty Ramos aside for now, even though she came again today (see below for her theories).

The big news is that last night some students were held up. I would say ¨mugged¨ but that implies physical harm rather than just taking the money and running. Funny this is the first time anything like this has happened. (I´ll try to connect to classmates blogs in the future to fill in narrative gaps). Also, interestingly enough, it corresponded with analyzing a newspaper article in my Spanish workbook about the rise in use of burglar alarms and security guards in El Salvador´s capital (the article was not current).

Rosalva (my teacher) and I had a long discussion in Spanish about gun control in the U.S., even though we had just barely gotten through talking about a previous ¨Minivacas¨article which talked about dog-sized cows that required less land. We also touched on the many ways of indicating cause and effect in Spanish and their connotations.

Theoretically there are even stricter gun laws here in Morelos than in the U.S. even if they are not followed. Some police are corrupt here, and they may have been involved. But we have support of local businesses on our street and the local Catholic church. I learned some of this at a meeting we had as a group.

Also we have a new security guard to join our old one. We also have a new emergency cell phone system. So please, don´t panic!

Today in Class

Today Rosalva (my Spanish teacher) beat me at Spanish language scrabble. We also discussed the composition-style and guidelines of journalism, and how to detect bias. The examples the textbook used had to do with bullfighting, a sport Rosalva deplores. Actually seeing as its status as ¨sport¨ is disputed, I should probably think of a different term.

I handed her an outline of my ¨advertisement¨ describing Stinson Lake. I realized after writing it that I hadn´t adhered to the guidelines very well in terms of selling the place, or describing the kind of people attracted to it. I realized that I had to expand the ad to include places in the area. I think I just wrote about it because all this warm weather was getting to me.

Why I now allow google ads

In short it is because I have no certain job future. So, I figure Google can have their fun with what I write, if I can make a few cents off it. I don't think most people read blogs much anyway, and if you're here by accident well go ahead, click on an ad! You might just as soon be reading the latest "learn-Spanish-quick" page or some fancy resort page as what I write here.

Oh, and one thing: It'll all be over if the Peugeot Automobille Lottery takes over my e-mail account again, and changes my name to "Peugeot Automobille Lottery." Yes this actually did happen once. Got that! Don't be evil, Google.