Reserva Huitepec as Territory

"The reserve is more than flora and fauna," explains famous historian Andres Aubry. "It is people, towns, and the cultures of those towns as well."

After he explains the geological, cultural, and historical past, present, and future of the reserve he concludes:

"There are three options to move forward.

1) We can conserve the reserve through government control, allow minimal human interaction, and allow them to preserve the reserve in the way they deem is most suitable.

2) We can sell the reserve to Coca Cola through NGOs set up by the company for land appropriation and allow them to preserve the reserve in a way they deem is most suitable.

3) We can return to the ways of older generations and farm the forest ourselves in the way we deem is most suitable."

These are not only the three options we have for environmental conservation, by every aspect of our lives. Too often we give power and control over our lives, communities, and governments over to "experts". We have systematically disempowered ourselves and our ideas through this gradual process. Post-Katrina New Orleans, increased frequency of bankruptcy, decreased public influence over national politics, and the disappearance of family units and neighborhoods are all symbols of this trend.

Start today. Talk to you neighbors; attend a town meeting; take a walk through your home town and think of how you would like to make it and better; then do it. The time of counting on others, for food, for energy, for money, for security is over.

Gringo Quesadillas

"No entiendo gringos y fuego." I don't understand gringos and fire.

That was my roommate's comment as I sat huffing campfire smoke trying to whip up a couple chorizo quesadillas. It's not like we don't have a stove.

There is something about fire though that reaches out to a primal core in us. Some theorize that the discovery of fire led to imagination and modern society (going back 30,000 years or so). Campfires are own little way of controlling one of the most destructive forces on the planet. Who knows.

Here's a quick recipe for gringo quesadillas.


Ingredients:
a moderate campfire
a pile of tortillas
chorizo
quesio
parsley (it's more gringo than cilantro)

Process:
1) Burn yourself while making the fire and swear in English.
2) Grill chorizo over fire, losing half of it into the fire. Swear again in English.
3) Lightly oil a few tortillas and grill on one side. Swear again when some of the oil drips into the fire and flares up burning you again.
4) Tell your Mexican roommate to stop laughing.
5) Turn tortillas just after the point they have burned. Another swear here is optional.
6) Cover with cheese and sausage and parsley.
7) Eat and take pleasure in your accomplishment.
8) Look away when your Mexican roommate makes a better quesadilla in a quarter of the time. Swearing again here would be appropriate.

And how is the food, different from Orizaba?

A great question. On this topic I could write pages and pages of articles... OH WAIT! I have!

In seriousness, the international influence over the food here is stronger that in Orizaba. The Italian and French in particular have put there own spin on food in San Cristóbal.

The street food is more or less the same. There is not a whole lot of indigenous influence over the types of food served, even though most of the street vendors are indigenous.

Some local favorites different from Orizaba are snails, cow cheeks, and queso de San Cristóbal. But the food is pretty similar from what I can tell. A lot of Vitamin T: tacos, tamales, tortillas, tortas along with chalupas, ganachas, quesadillas, and mole.

This wraps up the Kate's questions series. I've been working with a local historian the past few days on a presentation for tomorrow. More on that later.

What's Been Your Favorite Thing Down There That You've Done?

I think it's going to be tough to tell what the favorite thing I've done so far is. To avoid being trite, I certainly won't claim that just living in a foreign country; eating exotic foods; and meeting fascinating people is my favorite thing, because it's not.

Mexico is great, but my mail gets lost, ferrets disappear, and the pace of life is a little too tranquilo for me; I do love some exotic foods, but my stomach hasn't really been right since I've been here; and you really have to sift through a pile of snobs, wastecases, derelicts, and drifters (usually my people, but not here) to find truly interesting people here.

My favorite story to tell is about eating cow eyes which usually gets a good reaction from both locals and foreigners alike.

While the Zapatista Conference was really amazing and I love going into local communities, I have to admit, I did really get a kick out of lucha libre and climbing in the ring.

How am I Doing?

Today I received an email with a list of questions about how I am doing. Thanks for the interest Kate!

I've decided to take answer each question with a blog entry. For those of you more interested in Zapatistas and eating weird stuff, come back in a week.

How would you rate your overall experience in Chiapas, and what would you like to get out of this experience?

5 out of 5 stars.

It's been a daily experience to have my mind blown here actually. A couple nights ago I had a group of Menominee Indians over for some beers after visiting the local Zapatista university. It was amazing how similar the problems are between both groups of indigenous Americans. This was after working with a local academic on a presentation about water and the local jungle reserve. Wowsers was my head full after that!

I would like to continue to learn about a myriad of topics: community development, information warfare, indigenous lifestyles, and whatever else gets thrown at me.

Besides that, this experience is giving me the ability to quickly switch between activities and languages. Every hour forces me to think in a radically different fashion. Between managing a non-profit from afar, to writing about food, to running a global communications campaign, to trying to write a geography textbook, to talking with local and foreigners from every corner of the globe, this experience is broadening my capacity to think and learn.

How it will change me is still yet to be discovered. I can only mold my experiences, which in turn will mold me, so much. I'm a bit of a leaf subject to the elements right now.

BTW: If you want my thoughts on faux hippies, neoconservatives, and how we feed ourselves, you can check out my blog on Suite101. http://latincaribbeancuisine.suite101.com/blogs.cfm

Lagos de Montebello

A couple of youth paddle by on a makeshift raft dragging fishing lines through the turquoise water. A couple women are spending the afternoon washing clothes. Not a building is in sight on the opposite shore of this remote local.

To get away from it all for a day, Jorge and I headed to the Lagos of Montebello region of Chiapas near the Guatemala border.

A coffee cooperative in the village of Tziscao, where Choj is spoken, wants a website and we needed to present possibilities.

I was more interested in swimming with some of the local youth and basking in the sun by the largest of the Montebello Lakes.

I am going to write up a travel article for this area soon with more photos, but for now, these will have to do.

Feature Writer for Suite101.com

Today I was promoted to a Feature Writer for Suite101.com! I'll be the editor of the Latin and Caribbean Cuisine section covering food and culture in this area.

More work, but it should be good fun!

Planned are interviews with celebrity chefs, more food, more adventures, more food fun.

Stay tuned.