It's mid-March already!

Time is flying bye and there is a lot of work to make it go faster, but it is enjoyable. Since I can't seem to find time to write a lot on here, this will be a sort of summary of what I have not shared.

I have been back to San Felipe, the small village in rural Nuevo Leon, twice since the first visit. The first time I went with Pedro, my professor. There had been some work done on the prototype house by some people in the village and Pedro wanted to look at it, and I went along to become more familiar with the people and to do some more documentation. On that day I did more of the familiarizing and less of the documenting. I spent the day riding a donkey while following an old man (I can't remember his name) and his grandson David as they guided their cattle to the watering hole. Then I sat with a family and made some small talk before heading home before it got too late. The third visit I went by myself. Going by myself involves taking a bus, being dropped off at a bus stop on the highway (mile marker 60 if you're curious) and getting a ride to the village. When I arrived at the bus station in Monterrey, I bought my ticket which immediatly became outdated as the bus informed the station that it would be 90 minutes late. The late bus then took a different route than I expected, and the 3 hour trip in a car turned to a 5 hour trip in a bus, plus the 90 minute wait. I was not thrilled, but I was back in rural Mexico; a place without pollution, a place with scenery I'm still not used to yet, and a place I just simply enjoy being in. This trip was for documentation. One of the goals of the San Felipe project is to produce a booklet that documents every house in the village (there are about 30). My task is to document 2 traditional houses, two houses with mixed techniques, and one house that has no traditional techniques at all. So I spent several hours drawing, talking, photographing, and walking which ended with kicking a soccer ball around and eating two dinners, (both very good). That night as I laid in a bed that was offered me, my body decided to be awake from 12:30-4:30. A bit annoying, but had I been asleep I would never have heard the coyotes that were just outside the village, if not inside. It was very cool to hear, and when I asked about them the next morning I was told that they sometimes are able to grab a careless chicken in the night.

Going back to the second visit. One the way to San Felipe, Pedro told me about some of the things outside of school that he has done, especially in his neighborhood. These stories were interrupted by a cop pulling over Pedro who was doing 30 km/hr over the speed limit (about 18 mph) and getting a 500 peso ticket, which would be reduced to 250 pesos if paid in the next 15 days. That is about $50 and $25 respectively, a bargain price and unheard of for speeding tickets where I'm from. Pedro told me about a park in his neighborhood that was being taken over by semi-bullies who liked to play soccer in the park. As president of his neighborhood association, he came up with the idea of putting semi-large rocks in the ground which added character to the park, and made it very difficult to play soccer. Another problem with the park is littering as people who don't live nearby do not have a problem leaving trash on the ground as they pass through. Besides a candy-for-trash-pick-up day with the kids, Pedro also involved some children in the construction of a bench made from found plastic bottles made from sand. The children loved the project and signed their names on the bench. Unfortunately the bench was destroyed the next day by someone, but the community involvement part is nice.

Besides the part, Pedro has had other problems, security problems. His neighborhood is near a neighborhood that contains many of what are considered illegal houses. This other neighborhood, known as Nuevo Almaguer, is built on the bottom of Cerro de la Silla, the signiture natural landmark of Monterrey. This can be described as a squatter neighborhood. I went into this neighborhood a few Saturdays ago while doing some work in the 10x10 program mentioned in another post. This neighborhood is rough, there is no other way to describe it. Not to be too sensational, but all the romantic notions of squatters fending for themselves and the fascination with the fact that such communities exist are quickly dashed when entering one. It was a rough area to be in. Apart from the lack of proper building materials and infrastructure that the rest of the Monterrey area is accustomed to, simply getting around is difficult. The neighborhood is built on a mountain. Mountains are giant rocks. Giant rocks are impossible to reshape without a lot of money. This neighborhood did not have roads, they were paths of rock. We were in the 10x10 pickup truck and it was difficult getting around. Driving to the construction site involved some turnarounds, big bumps, and bottoming out about every 200 ft. Trying a different way out of there was worse.

Anyway, back to the Pedro story. In this neighborhood on the mountain that is near Pedro's house lives gangs. Our plan was to meet at 6 am on campus to head to San Felipe and Pedro was a bit late because the window on Pedro's car had been broken by someone. Pedro suspected it was gang related as there had been a lot of gang activity in the previous days. In fact, the previous day was the day I was in that neighborhood and I heard a story about a gang fight that had happened the night before. I couldn't tell you details because it was in Spanish, but I can tell you there was a gang fight and it was fairly big. This window incident was not the first time Pedro has seen violence. His house has been broken into as well. Every house has some sort of a wall around it, but Pedro, being an architect with ideals, refuses to put a wall up for security, and he has paid the price a few times. He says he is trying to design a solution to the problem not only for his house, but for his neighborhood. He pointed out that the walls actually attract the gangs because they become places for graffiti and to get their name out.

Apart from the experiences above, the last few weeks have mainly been campus based. The studio project has been focusing on the current amenities and state of the surrounding area and we have met with the urban growth secretary as well as others.

As for now, the week of March 17-21 is Semana Santa here in Mexico and that means spring break. So in a few hours I am heading to Mexico City via bus (11 hours) and spending a few days there. One thing I don't look forward to is the pollution. Monterrey has a decent amount of pollution and I, and others (actually it seems almost everyone), have a bit of a constant small cold from it. Mexico City is in a low spot where strong winds can't blow away the pollution. So apart from the wonderful sights and sounds, there will probably be a lot of tissues (not Kleenexes, Greenpeace is boycotting them, haha). After Mexico City the group (3 from the U.S., 1 from Canada, one from France) are heading to the state of Guerrero to a town on the coast named Zihuatanejo (the place mentioned Shawshank Redemption) to enjoy the Pacific Ocean for a few glorious days. Then we cap it off with an 18 hour bus ride back to Monterrey!