Adventures in Mexico

You may have noticed that the frequency of these posts have been increasing. Blogging is a great method of procrastination. I leave for my trip in three days and I still have tons to do, but now would be a great time to update everyone on what has happened in my life since my last post. Basically, nothing, but I can't write anymore about the 1968 student movement right now.

Today in my Spanish class we read an article about poverty in Mexico, and I learned some really disturbing facts. By far the worst is that in the state I live in, a large percentage of the population lives in levels of poverty comparable to sub Saharan Africa. In one town, Xichu, 83.6% of the population lives in the lowest level of poverty. I had absolutely no idea that it was that bad, because you don't see any of that at all in my town. We just have the occasional beggars in the streets. That threw me off a little, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it all day.

We also briefly talked about immigration and its effects. In most of the villages that have such extreme levels of poverty, there are literally no men over the age of 13 or 14. They all went to the US to work, and only send home remittances in some cases. Next term I will be taking an entire class on immigration, which I am really excited for.

My throat seems to be healing nicely, as far as I can tell. Tomorrow I start the new antibiotics. I'm all stocked up on cough drops, Tylenol, and Vitamin C for the trip. Hopefully I can stay healthy for the week. That would be really nice.

In Chiapas, we are going to be staying with a friend of my travel buddy. Today she emailed us to let us know the plan, and closed the email with "there is a lot of outdoor activity, so bring tennis shoes and bug spray!" Since I have been locked up in the house dying for the past three or so months, when I read that I almost exploded. I am SO ready to get some nice hikes in. Also, it is going to be nice and warm, which will be a nice break from the freezing cold wind here. AND, as if it could get any better, her house apparently has a pool. This trip is going to be great!