Ballet Folklorico at Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos...

The highlight for me last week was going to visit Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (translation: Our Little Brothers and Sisters) (http://www.nph.org/). It is an organization that started in 1954 nearby in Mexico by a priest that took in a child that had been stealing from the poor box. NPH is now in many countries in Latin America. They take in children that are orphaned invite them to be in their family. All children stay there, and are taken care of as a family. When they are old enough, if they choose, they are guarenteed financial support for college. We are involved with them because we take some of groups to go visit this unique orphanage. Our staff went to visit a local site where they were holding a fundraiser. Part of the event involved kids playing mariachi, and the beautiful folk dancing (Ballet folklorico). I was so impressed with these young men and women as they performed for us. The dancing was amazing. So far I have been to three Ballet folklrico shows, and this one was by far the best. I couldn't help but love the kids we saw that night. My friends and I were so energized by the event; we kept singing some of the songs they played all through out our ride back home...(The photos above are not from the actual event, but are exactly what the young women and men wore in their dancing...)

Addiction to music.... On the weekends I have found myself drawn to the guitar we have here. I am adding to the songs I know...lately my favorites have been several Cat Stevens songs like Wild World, and some more recent songs like Goodbye to You, and Leave the Pieces. The internet is such a great resource to learn new songs, and this is the first time I've had access to it in my free time (besides at the library). Last Saturday night a group of friends and I went to watch an accoustic guitar player at a cosy, casual bar. I loved it; the guitarist had this beautiful voice that was entirely captivating....maybe because he sang in Spanish it added all the more romance to it.

Taxco! & Bonus article: Some new pets!

My friend Casey and I jumped on bus again this past Saturday and traveled off to the nearby city of Taxco. Taxco is a city known for its silver mines and shops, and also for its beauty. The city was founded in 1528 and is built into the mountains, and most all homes and buildings are painted white or a similiar shade... The streets are so narrow that cars seem to be less than a foot away we walked along. Luckily, there was a lot of traffic, so cars were slow moving.

Once we arrived, we realized neither of us had planned ahead in bringing a map, so we had to go with the time old strategy of asking strangers for directions. We looked around the parking lot for someone who looked knowlegeable when Casey declared,

" Hey, let's go ask that guy with the big gun where the church is!"

Yes...security officers for the bus line sometimes carry huge rifles. Fortunately, seeing that this man is probably over the age of 68, even with the rifle he doesn't look too intimidating to ask directions from. Soon we were on our way to the Cathedral. Climbing up the narrow streets was no easy feat, we both wondered how anyone that is not in physical shape could handle these steep angles.

Seeing the Cathedral from the outside is impressive, but inside the gold covered walls, and beautiful murals are stunning. Somehow, we got lucky and had our own personal tour in Spanish and English. The man who built this church paid for it all and it was completed in 1758. He was a Frenchman that owned mines in the area.

After the tour, we traveled to the top of the mountain to see the view, and get up close to a huge statue of Jesus. I was surprised to find that when we got to the top, we were surrounded by pine trees, and quiet beauty. From my new life of living on a noisy city street, I was very appreciative of the calm and quiet of being up in the mountains. The trip was fun and well worth it. I hope to make it back to Taxco soon!

Some friendly new friends!

One night, I opened my bedroom door to the hallway when I saw a huge dark creature flying around our hallway. I screamed and slammed my door shut in fear that it was a bat. Luckily, no, it was a moth. But this is no USA moth, this is a Central American moth...Huge, with a wing span of about 8 inches or more. Both Casey and I would rather let it free than kill something that has the body size of a small bird. After a couple days of ducking around the bathroom and hallway as it excitedly flies all around, I decided I had enough. Casey's boyfriend captured it, and set it free. Whew! The next night, I came home to find 2 equally HUGE moths in our bathroom. "What do I do now?" I thought....when I spoke with Casey about it, she suggested we could be living in a zoo because she had found a small lizard in her towel earliar that day. Yikes! The lizards aren't so bad because they eat mosquitos and pretty much leave us alone. The moths flying in my face is a bit aggravating. I am happy to say that a coworker has now let one of the them go, and the other hasn't been heard from since Saturday morning... For now, I think I'd rather not have any new pets, thank you very much.

Learning about pesticides in the global market...

"Why do we keep allowing companies and governments to continue to do this?" says Constanza, a grandmother of a 6 year old Chilean boy who suffers from birth defects linked to pesticides. "What's missing is the fundamental respect for all life."

I learned today that the US and the European Union allow production and exportation of pesticides that are banned in their own countries. Within the years of 2001-2003, the US exported 28 million pounds of pesticides that are banned, severely restricted, or unregistered in the U.S. ( info taken from the Jan/Feb 2008 edition of the NACLA Report on the Americas pg 5-7)