Llorene

Due to a comment on this blog (hint hint... SMA!), I have updated my current location in my profile. Yes, as much as I am missing Toronto, I am actually here in Guadalajara, Jalisco- MEXICO-- for now anyway :)

In the past few months, with my travels in India and now in Mexico, I have really been trying to get a sense of the country's culture. This is usually done through a talk with a citizen of that country and sharing their perspective with me on various things.

Recently, I had a very very interesting conversation with a new found friend. I met her at an AIESEC function (surprise surprise). Anyway, we went out for coffee on one of the days and I asked her this question, "Do you think there is racism in Mexico?" That day, in our Mexican culture class, this question really sparked some interest in me, and so I decided to ask her what her take on it was, especially being a Mexican living in Mexico.

Her response to me was that she doesn't think that there is racism in Mexico in terms of race. There does, however, seem to be a denial of one's self-- one's indigenous part of self.

A bit of background here would be appropriate I suppose...
Way before the Spanish colonized in Mexico, there lived great civilizations such as the Mayans and the Aztecs. Their civilizations was deemed to be great because they not only had millions of people, but there was a system of governance, of hierarchy etc.

However, when the Spaniards came, these civilizations were wiped out. But not before mixing their races. A mix of Indigenous blood and Spanish blood were called Mestizos.

And so-- the modern day Mexican has some ancestry of Aztec or Mayan blood. But as we discussed in class that day, if you were to ask Mexicans what they consider themselves to be- they would definitely say they are more Spanish than they are Indigenous.

Yes it's true that modern day Mexicans speak Spanish and not the Indigenous tongues. But the whole denial seems to go deeper than that. Although most Mexicans would admit that the Mayans and the Aztecs had incredibly great civilizations, they would deny that they have any Aztec or Mayan blood in them.

Trying to figure this out even more, I asked Mireya whether or not they are taught any history pertaining to the Aztecs or the Mayans when they were younger. She told me that they are taught very little, and that she herself knows very little about them.

Then she asked me: "Do you know any Philippine history before the Spanish colonization?"

I admit, I was stumped. Although I knew a bit of Philippine history, I could not outwardly say that I knew much before the Spaniards arrived there.

My findings
The next day, I decided to look up some info regarding the history of the Philippines before the Spanish colonization. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a lot. All I did find out was the fact that before the Spanish arrived, the Philippines was populated with a lot of people from different parts of Asia- namely Borneo, Malaysia, China etc.

Even more interesting though, is that I found out that the Philippines and Mexico actually have a connection from way back then. For Spain to get to the Philippines, they would need to land on the port of Veracruz (Eastern side of Mexico), travel inland and ship out from the port of Acapulco (western side of Mexico). Because of this, there was actually a lot of Mexican influence in the Philippines.

A great example is actually language. Not only does the Tagalog language have hundreds of words that stem from Spanish words, but it also contains words in Nahuatl (the Indigenous language that the Aztecs used).

As promised, here are the pictures of Independence day weekend which includes El Grito and also Guanajuato. So I'm going to try and attempt to tell a story with these pictures.



(Left) Is it snowing now in Mexico? Nope. Thankfully it's not! This was some white stuff sprayed on us during the 'Viva Mexico' part of the Grito. This wa how our weekend started, with the Grito at Zapopan Plaza. The place was packed with people!

(Right) This is a great picture of what we did in Guanajuato. Yup that's right. We climbed stairs. Climbed tons of them! Guanajuato is a city built on hills. So up and down we went.

(Left) But once we've reached the top of the hill, the view was soooo worth it. The background there on the picture is actually the city with its brightly coloured houses. Little fact: That's actually someone's house we were actually standing on.

(Right) As the night approaches, the view of the city starts to look different. I love this picture. It kind of reminds me of Christmas, with all the twinkling lights.

I had an incredible weekend last week! We went and celebrated 'El Grito' in downtown Zapopan... where we basically heard the Mayor do his little "Viva Mexico-- Viva!" It was a pretty cool sight. Sooooo many people there!

After that crazy night of standing amidst what seemed like thousands of people, we went home to have like a 2 hour power sleep only to be picked up at 5am to go to Guanajuato.

Impressions of the City

I must say, I was incredibly impressed for sure. The city seemed to be a snapshot in time. With cobblestone streets, colonial houses, well-kept plazas-- the whole city is just soooo charming and just very vibrant.

I promise, I will put up pictures soon. But as with a lot of things, sometimes the photo does not do justice to the actual place.

This weekend is Independence Day! I will post more regarding what I did over the weekend.

(Left) I got this tshirt at the Chivas game. it literally translates to: I love Mexico because I respect the law.

Weekend plans: Celebrating Independence Day in Zapopan Centro and yelling Viva Mexico at the strike of midnight. Then leaving for Guanajuato (one of the first cities where the Independence movement started) very early in the morning.

Sorry for the lack of details on this post, however, I think that it would be a lot more interesting to reflect after the weekend.

¡VIVA MEXICO!

This is an overdue post as I actually went to Vallarta the last weekend of August. However, I still wanted to put up a picture to show the sight of it.

(Left) A beautiful view from our balcony in Puerto Vallarta. Yup, that, in the background, is the Pacific Ocean.

One of the best parts of the trip had to be the drive there. Although I must admit that I was starting to get a bit sick from all of the curves that we had to go through. In order to go from Guadalajara to Puerto Vallarta, we had to drive up and down mountains and hills to get to the coast. So therefore, it was definitely a bit of a challenge to even just sleep because it wasn't a straight way there. I loved, definitely loved the mountain scenery that we passed no the way there. It was such a bonus!

I never thought of myself to be a soccer (or as they say here futbol) fan. But after going to my first futbol game, I do have to say that I quite enjoyed it!

We went to see the Chivas vs. Atlante game approximately 2 weeks ago. (Chivas, a very popular team from Guadalajara, and Atlante, a team from Mexico City). I had tons of fun! The energy in the stadium is unbelievable for sure!

(Right) Me with Guillermo and Fallon enjoying the Chivas game.


I have also attended the famous 'Lucha Libre' matches here in Mexico. Essentially what it is, for those that don't know; it's Mexican wrestling. The really good wrestlers will wear masks. Very entertaining I must say. And the crowd really gets into it too!

Something I learned:
Don't sit at the front, especially if you are a girl. Thankfully, we didn't. But the crowd might start to pick on you and perhaps shout 'Beso! Beso! Beso!', implying that the girl kiss the wrestler.

(Right) My roommate, Sonya and I with one of these masked luchadores. Oh yeah, by the way... he won his match!