Getting here

Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital city of the state of Chiapas, is the city I will be calling home until July 6, 2007, give or take a few days. The city has grown quite substantially over the past few decades, and this can be seen from above the city, which now fills most of the valley it is in. It is the first Mexican city I've ever been to, actually, but from what others have told me, it is comparatively very clean, safe, and pretty. I like the fact that it isn't huge like Mexico City, but it isn't a small village, either, which means most modern day conveniences (maybe even too many) are readily available.

I live on Calle 16a Poniente Norte, which means I live just northwest of the city center (about 16 blocks, to be more precise, as I live on 16th street NW). After landing at the Tuxtla Gutierrez airport (one of the smallest airports I've ever landed at), surrounded by some of the greenest scenery I've seen since England, I was met by Paty, a representative of the school, and the person who hired me. After three flights and twelve hours of traveling, I was happy to see a smiling face, albeit one I'd never seen before. Paty drove me to my apartment, and as we pulled into the apartment complex, I thought to myself, "I will be spending the next 11 months in the ghetto; how interesting." However, the inside of the apartment doesn't look as crumbly as the outside, and I've found this to be a recurring theme: many buildings aren't freshly painted, and sometimes look delapidated, but the interiors are often nice. I've hypothesized that this is to avoid advertising worthwhile targets to would-be thiefs.

Nearby San Christobal is a beautiful, colonial town where a surprising number of European backpackers are not hard to spot. It's quite quaint, and gives the impression of an authentic Mexican town. We went to the Museum of Mayan Medicine, which is off the beaten path, so to speak, and saw the other side of San Cristobal, where the indigenous population lives. The Museum was small, but on its grounds was a Mayan medicine shop, with natural remedies for many things. I'll have to get back to you regarding whether the things I purchased work.

After bringing me to my apartment, Paty took me to the nearby Bodega Gigante, or Gigantic Store/Grocery Store, to grocery shop. I wasn't really in the state of mind to grocery shop, so I came out with odd things like packaged tortillas, pastries, apples, spiced peanuts, chicken, etc. I found out very quickly that it will be quite difficult, if not impossible, to eat organic here, so I've resigned to just trying to eat healthy and attempting to scrub potential pesticides off my fruits and veggies. I was also a little sad to see the bag wasting at stores. Baggers put 2 or 3 items in a bag, and often put small items in small bags that will end up within bigger bags. I usually have to insist several times to get the bagger to reuse bags I've brought, and I get a lot of funny looks from them for it. It's funny how the U.S. and other [over-]developed nations started being wasteful, and the rest of the world has caught on and made it even worse. I've been realizing that I have a great location. I'm a 20 minute walk to the city center, and about 10 minutes from an internet cafe, the Bodega Gigante, a few taco places, a laundry place (not really a laundromat, as you leave your laundry, and for about 50 cents a pound, they wash, dry, iron, and fold your clothes), and other food places. And, as I've discovered this week, I live across the street from a camouflaged ice cream and dessert shop with very good prices!

The day after I arrived, orientation started at school at 9am. The rest of the foreign teaching staff (and the local teaching staff, for that matter) is made of a lot of great people who've taught abroad before in lots of cool places, like Egypt, India, Thailand, Argentina, and Saipan. As it turns out, orientation and classroom setup will last three weeks, with school starting on August 21, and we only have to be at school till about 1pm on orientation days. After the first day, I explored the city and some markets with two other teachers, and was almost pickpocked. I can't help but look out of place here. I'm getting a tan despite SPF use, and I wear sunglasses (which cover the light eyes), but my hair keeps getting lighter from the sun, which isn't doing me any favors for blending in. And I'm pretty sure the handful of American and Canadian teachers are the only foreigners in Tuxtla. Back to the would-be pickpocketing incident. Due to my lightning-quick reflexes, I was not robbed. Okay, so one of the guys got the pickpockets away from me. But if he hadn't been there, I could have fended for myself...maybe.