A Familia da Capoeira

Even when the Olodum aren´t playing, Salvador bustles to an urban beat. Walking through the Pelourinho, you will be hissed at, offered guias and have a ´presente´ of the Senhor do Bonfim bracelet thrust into your hand. 

The bracelet, beautiful as it was, had no place on my wrist. For me, wearing that bracelet meant being branded a tourist. Especially because superstition dictates that you can´t take it off until it disintegrates.

Even without the bracelet, I stood out considerably with my fair skin and ´loura´ hair. I became a little paranoid while walking around the Pelourinho and even on the rare occasions when no one approached me, and I didn´t hear the scattering of ´psiuuus´ I felt as if I was being watched. 

It was only after taking a capoeira lesson that I finally befriended some baianos did I start to feel less like an outsider.

Above: The Capoeira Crew on the Beach

My first lesson was with one of the most powerful mestres. Never had my scrawny European body felt so malcoordinated. When I watched the master perform ginga, it seemed slow, rhythmical, dance-like. However, when I had to imitate the same moves, I felt stiff and awkward.The only thing I could do well was the cartwheel at the end!

My subsequent classes, with a teacher nicknamed Sangue Latina, were somewhat more successful. Small yet powerful, Sangue showed me all the routines slowly and forced me to repeat them many times. If I remembered it wrong, I was punished with 50 sit ups or whacked with a toggle.

But when I did it right, I was rewarded with a big grin and a hearty muito bem. One day, as a special treat, she even made me brigadeiros after class in exchange for some British tea! The Mestre Bimba community was like a large, loyal family and even Tania, an award-winning acaraje seller from Rio Vermelho, took lessons there. 

Above: Tania in Capoeira gear with Tekka and cooking in traditional Bahian dress

A few days later, after the roda, I met the metaphorical Father of the group. The atmosphere was was tense, tribal and fraternal. The capoeiristas lined up from youngest to oldest and the Mestre gave a speech about the capoeira´s responsibility to value his art for art´s sake and not get too sidetracked by the commercial side of it all. His pastor-like voice invoked a paternal authority. 

Above: Mestre Bimba

The youngest capoeirista was almost brought to tears when the Mestre praised him for his improved performance in the roda. I realized that I had underestimated the concept of capoeira by thinking of it as a sport. The fact that capoeira was born from a resistance to slave communities continues to inspire its members by enpowering the individual to overcome adversity. Every song and salve pays homage to these humble origins and gives the art a certain reverence which no sport I have ever practised before can come close to. 

But if capoeiristas used to rebel against the Portuguese engenho owners, who are they fighting against now? Edel, my first teacher, claimed that capoeira is almost always non-violent these days but a scar on his left eyebrow told a different story. 

Outside of the classroom, I heard stories about scraps at night between rival capoeira schools. For example, a heard a story about a man whose leg was broken after he left the capoeira group he had been practising at for the last ten years in order to teach in a wealthier, more touristy organization. 

Indeed, loyalty is highly valued in capoeira. Part of the challenge of a roda is knowing your opponent so well that you can predict what they will do then outwit them with a touch of madinga. Once inducted into a group, you are part of a family and it seems wrong to leave it.

What about you? Are you loyal to your sport/team?

Above: Going out with the Capoeiristas at Rio Vermelho

El Día de los Muertos

From a foreigner’s perspective, the Day of the Dead is both exciting and unnerving. People claim it’s a joyful festivity but there is something creepy about cleaning your ancestor’s bones at the graveyard, or sleeping by your Grandmother’s grave, or even dancing on their graves.

Above: Miss Haversham Reincarnate

All the food and ofrendas you see are made for the dead so that you can share a meal with your late loved ones. In the zócalo, fortune-tellers abounded to help connect with the deceased. The place reeked of incense which guides the dead back to the living according to local legend.

The Day of the Dead comes from an Aztec festival which worships the Queen of the Underworld who is supposed to keep watch over the bones of the deceased. 

However, some traditions have been adopted from abroad and incorporated into the festivities. For example, little kids pester passers-by with their calabazas (pumpkins), asking people to fill them up with American-style trick-or-treats. It sounds cute but when you get bombarded by random kids demanding chocolate, it's actually pretty annoying.

Photo from Ellahoy.es. How could you say no?!

But Mexican Day of the Dead treats are so much more than cheap candy. My parents and I (who came to visit!) were particularly fond of the traditional pan de muerto,(a type of sweet bread), which is best enjoyed dunked in chocolate or milky coffee. There are also tonnes of sugar or chocolate skulls which look far better than they taste! These skulls were bought to Mexico in the 17^th Century by Italian missionaries.

Above: Sugar/Chocolate Skulls or Calaveras de Azucar. Source: noticias.starmedia.com

If you are in Mexico City on the Day of the Dead, it’s traditional take a night-time trajinera in Xochimilco whilst getting drunk. But considering my parents were there, we decided to forgo the booze-fest and take a ride in the afternoon when the river was less crowded. There were several hagglers on the river and we were bombarded by boats bearing flowers, mariachi bands and beers.  As soon as they heard me speaking English, people treat me differently and I chuckled to myself as some of them slagged us off for being stingy bastards, thinking we wouldn't understand.

It’s been wonderful having my family here and it gave me an excuse to do some tourism I might have otherwise overlooked.  I feel blessed to have the sort of adventurous parents who not once questioned my decision to come here and have embraced a new culture with an open-mind.

The Mexican Version of Crufts

Getting ready!

The Mexican version of Crufts is a lot noisier, more accessible and cheaper than the English one. It is also somewhat smellier, owing to the fact that spectators can bring their mutt along to watch.

The show took place in the Mexican World Trade Centre, located in the most un-Mexican district imaginable full of Italian and American street names..

Every reputable dog breeder made an appearance, business cards at the ready and presented their best puppy before the judges. I can’t remember exactly what they are judged on but it had something to do with the way they ran round in circles and made themselves dizzy. Here is the winner of the St Bernard competition.

Other competitions were more complex, involving agility tests like these:

Some dogs were pocket-sized, like this chihuahua.

Although the chihuahua is native to Mexico, they don't cope very well with the climate and they shiver all the time unless it's summer. I was cradling this one to try and warm it up.

Other dogs snuggled together in this lady's handbag.

The dogs were right to take cover. Going back to Ale's house later on, the road was practically a river.

When I arrived in Mexico, I joked that Mexicans didn't know what rain was but it turns out the opposite is true. I've never seen it rain so hard in my life and was astonished at how suddenly the level of water rose.

.

However, thanks to Ale's masterful driving, we made it home safely.

Mexican Teachers Protest against Peña Nieto’s Education Reform

(As published in the Oxonian Globalist)

Controversy over Education Reforms results in police clashes with striking teachers in Mexico City.

After weeks of disruption for residents and workers in Mexico City, teachers protesting in Zócalo Square have been forcibly removed. Riot police used tear gas to disperse the occupiers and were backed up by armoured vehicles and helicopters. The teachers (who mostly came from Oaxaca, Guerrero, Chiapas and Tabasco) belonged to the CNTE Teachers’ Union and were campaigning against the government’s educational reform, which was passed by congress on Wednesday September 4th.The educational reform aims to improve the low standard of education in Mexico by being tougher on teachers and giving the Union less power. Protestors fear this will result in mass lay-offs for Mexican teachers.

However, the Union’s fear is not entirely justified because government proposals only pose a threat to job security in cases of incompetence. Up until now, the Teachers’ Union has had complete control over the education system. The Union has abused this power and there are numerous reports of corruption within the organization. The most notable example is the embezzlement of public funds by the CNTE which culminated in the arrest of ex-Union leader Elba Ester Gordillo on February 26^th last year, who was alleged to have stolen more than $2 billion pesos. Under the Teaching Union’s rule, jobs in education could be obtained through contacts not merit; nepotism rather than qualifications. For example, teachers had the right to sell their jobs or pass them on to their children. Cancelling classes for no reason was common and the Union did nothing to prevent it. 

Whereas, under the new education reform, the Union will be stripped of its budget (which will be re-directed to the government) and teacher assessments from independent bodies will become mandatory. Those who fail their performance evaluations will be given the opportunity to improve and risk being dismissed or re-shuffled if they refuse to comply. Teachers’ children will no longer inherit their parents’ jobs automatically and teachers who miss more than 3 classes in a row without an adequate excuse will be sacked.

Perhaps as a consequence of incompetent teaching, Mexican education is below par. A study carried out by the OECD in 2012 found that only 47% of Mexican students are expected to graduate from secondary school. Instead of completing their studies, the average student goes to school for 8.7 years, which means that if they were going to school in England, they would leave just after Year 8.

Furthermore, the percentage of 15-29 year-olds who are neither in education nor employed (NEET) is the third highest in the OECD area. Within this category, women are three times more likely to be NEET than men. This figure can be explained by early pregnancy. According to the newspaper La Reforma, 69 births in every 1000 are teenage births (between 15 and 19 years old) and a quarter of Mothers in Latin America gave birth when they were less than 20-years old. Mexico is a very Catholic country and most children are not taught about sexual education, except to say that sex is wrong. Peña Nieto has done nothing to address this problem or change the sex-ed. curriculum.

Other criticisms of the reform include the overemphasis on teacher assessment, which sparked the protests in the first place and the fact that his proposal is incredibly expensive. At a time when Mexico is suffering from an economic crisis and is indebted to other countries, carrying out 800 000 teacher performance evaluations per year will be costly. Moreover, if the Union is corrupt, who is to say that the government is any more trustworthy in its handling of the education budget? We should also ask what the performance evaluations will entail. Surely a rural teacher who has to walk a long way to school and has little resources should be assessed in a different way from a city teacher with lots of material. Also, is it fair to mark a teacher in their 1^st year of the job against the same criteria as a teacher who has 20 years of experience?

All in all, the Mexican Education Reform is a step in the right direction. According to Zamarripa, a columnist for the magazine Reforma, “the 2013 demonstration is a socio-political movement which epitomizes the crisis of our times.” However, the education reform is not a panacea. It is a response to the education crisis but is not a solution. The quality of education here varies drastically from school to school;  and is a facor which contributes to the high levels of inequality in Mexico. Currently, 43% of the population does not meet the requirements for a basic education including key skills such as reading, writing and maths. This figure is unacceptable in an increasingly competitive and educated world. Enrique Peña Nieto may have passed some new laws but he needs to do much more than that to introduce and maintain higher education standards in Mexico.  

Independence Day

Mexican Independence Day and it’s raining. The town centre, usually packed for the event, is half-filled with a sodden crowd of Mexicans; their beautiful traditional dress covered by raincoats. One baby braving the climate has a raincoat that looks like a duck. The Mother looks bemused when I take a photo of it; but not angry so I guess I got away with it!

Grumpy policemen also donned their raincoats. (But the baby's one is better, of course!)

The reason it’s such miserable weather at the moment is due to hurricanes in nearby Guerrero and Cuernavaca. About 20 people have died and the roads are flooded.

Back in rainy (but not hurricaney) Puebla, we saw some traditional folk dancing which was beautiful and the music was really good as well. They played songs like Viva Mexico!, Ojala que llueva café en el campo and other Mexican classics. There were Mexican flags everywhere as well as masks, hairbands, horns & all sorts of tatt emblazoned with the national colours: red, white and green.

Undeterred by the rain, market sellers advertise their goods and the people missing from the Town Square take shelter under their tents. They gorge on tacos, gorditos, molletes, tamales, lotes, nopales and pozole, or a combination of the above.

Returning to the car at dusk, Edu couldn’t open the car door. The lock had been broken as some hooligans had evidently tried to wrench it off. We waited by the car as Edu went to find help and felt very tense because some dodgy looking people were passing. Maybe we were just being paranoid but given the vandalism we had just encountered then it was probably wise to be alert.

Eventually, Edu stumbled upon a mechanic while asking where to find a locksmith in the pastelería. He managed to prise the lock off the car so the door opens but now it doesn’t shut. He didn’t charge for his service but offered to put the handle back on so I’m sure Edu will pay him handsomely for his services.

Given the course of events, we were late to dinner at Nadya’s house. Her Mother’s food was famous in DF (=Mexico City) where she sold fried fish and a fiery prawn soup (which I’ve tried but don’t remember the name of. ) She served pozole, frijoles, patos and much more and although I was hungry when I came, I was achingly full when I left.

Frustratingly, I’m still in culture shock when it comes to the food. Although I’ve recovered from gastroenteritis and I’ve been here for over a month, my British belly can’t stomach a plato fuerte. In Britain, I thought I was fairly good with chilli but now I realize that I barely knew the meaning of spicy food until I came to Mexico!

                                                    Source:Icanhascheezburger.com. 

By the time we had finished eating, it was about 10.30pm and almost time to leave for the club. We had a table reserved (all Mexican clubs have tables so you buy more drinks/fall onto table and bruise self by accident) but we wanted to stay and watch the telly to see President Peña Nieto and his telenovela wife announce ‘El Grito de Dolores’ in Mexico City.

11pm and the bells sounded for ‘El Grito’. This marks the moment when in 1810, the priest Hidalgo rang the bells to gather a congregation and proclaim Mexico’s independence against the Spanish. The sky lit up with fireworks across the whole of Mexico.

Zocalo, Mexico City. Photo from noticierostelevisa.esmas.com

The Two Faces of Mexico

There is a lot of stick on social media at the moment for Year Abroad blogs. People seem to think that bloggers writing from abroad are pretentious, self-indulgent twats who have an unlimited budget and a massive ego. I’d like to promise you that this blog is a chunder-free site which does not include any ‘spiritual’ clichés such as ‘the awesome power of nature and the insignificance of man.’ If at any point, I do sound like this, feel free to punch me!!

Above: Please no!! Don't let me become one of those!

By writing this blog, I’m not trying to patronize anyone; only to show from my own personal experiences that the media depiction of Latin America as a drug-haven with masses of violence and corruption is a gross generalization which causes people to overlook some of its more positive attributes. Even the media portrayal of Mexico’s problems is somewhat simplistic and unfair. I’m not going to pretend that everything is perfect here but the fact that English-speaking countries only seem to hear about the most dangerous, radical events does not give you a balanced impression of the country.

Most people are not drug-lords; they are just ordinary people going about their day-to-day lives. If you believe the stereotype about Latin America, you would trust no-one and be suspicious of anyone who approaches you. In which case, you would alienate yourself from a society which will often go out of their way to help a stranger. The same cannot be said in London, where no one will help you up if you fall over in the street and no one has the time to tell you directions.  

Above: what Londoners are likely to do if you fall over

As anyone who knows me well can tell you, I have a horrendous sense of direction so I often rely on fellow passengers to help me out. But even for people with a better navigation system, the Mexican bus system is pretty much unintelligible. The route can change without notice and there are no printed maps or timetables. So you must ask people where to go because there is no chance you can figure it out on your own.

Last weekend, I was on my way to Capu to see my boyfriend in Mexico City. I’d had a long week and think I drifted off halfway through the bus ride because when I woke up, I was in a small town called Capulín on the outskirts of Puebla.

I asked a fellow passenger where I was and the lady told me to get off with her because she was dropping her cousin off soon and could give me a lift. Off I got and instead of heading into the car with her cousin, she brought me into her house and invited me to lunch with some relatives.

The house was a concrete room with no floor, one bed for four people,one sink and a load of junk hidden under the bed. I politely refused lunch on the grounds of hygiene and my eyes were drawn towards a massive television which was showing a telenovela. My boyfriend later explained that even the poorest people can afford TVs because they pay it off in a loan bit by bit, month by month. Even so, I was surprised that they chose to invest their money in something that might be considered a luxury item when they seemed so hard-up.

About an hour later, the family finally finished their lunch. The husband came in and said hello to me, without even questioning why a white girl had unexpectedly turned up at his house. The children were all staring at me and pointing, as if they had never seen a foreigner before.

On we walked, me and the lady to find the bus station and get to Capu. By this point, I had figured that there was no car and that this was a stupid place for a Westerner to walk because non-poblanos simply don’t come here. I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable; but at the same time, I was grateful for the opportunity to see Mexico from the perspective of how half the population really live and escape the middle-class bubble I was stuck in in Puebla.

I’m not going to lie, the scared foreigner part of me was certain I’d get robbed. And everyone told me how stupid I was to trust a stranger, especially when I was carrying some valuables and didn’t know where I was. Of course, they were right and I won’t be so reckless in future.

But, thankfully, the only thing that happened to me was the señora asked me to donate a T-shirt because she sold clothes to be able to afford her children’s education. Of course I gave it to her but was careful to hide the contents of my rucksack, which she was becoming a little too interested in. I paid her bus-fair back because it was less than a penny but said goodbye to her at the next stop. I think she wanted to help but I needed a second opinion and the driver told me I was going in the wrong direction. I wasn’t about to risk turning up at a second household god-knows-where with god-knows who and continued my journey without her.

All weekend I was thinking about that woman. I still don’t know what she wanted from me. Maybe she was trying to help me in her own misguided way. Maybe she would have robbed me if I’d have got off at the next station. But I guess there’s no point speculating because I’ll never know the answer to these questions.

I was very late to DF because of that detour and also because it’s the rainy season at the moment so the roads are flooded so you have to go slowly when driving.

Source: http://www.m-x.com.mx/2013-09-06/la-lluvia-provoca-mas-de-100-encharcamientos-en-10-delegaciones-del-df/

The next day, we went to see the teachers protesting, which I will tell you more about in my next entry as part of my article for the Globalist. The only think I want to mention now is that to me, it seemed like a very selfish strike which is leaving kids who should be in school on the street and is making life Hell for millions of commuters and residents in Mexico City.

Having said that, I’ve got pretty used to the chaos in Mexico City. It’s so full you feel engentada (overwhelmed by the number of people), which isn’t helped by the number of casually-employed street sellers which tend to sell the same thing in the same space. Whenever you stop at traffic lights people try to sell you confectionary or newspapers or perform tricks. The saddest thing is when you see kids doing it.

. 

Source: 20minutos.es

Another thing that contributes to that engentada feeling is the protests Protests are a national past-time in Mexico and some causes seem more worthy than others. I want to end with the most entertaining protest I’ve ever seen in which about fifty to one hundred campesinos were salsaing naked in the street.  To be honest, I’m not sure what they were campaigning about but they certainly got a lot of publicity and everyone was wolf-whistling their encouragement. 

How to Indulge your Sweet Tooth in Mexico

Mexico's sugary treats are a little kid's wildest dream and a diabetic's nightmare.

Here's a list of the top ten sweet things you should try if you visit Mexico:

1. Miguelitos

In Mexico, they put chilli in everything... 

Chilli & chocolate, chilli & mints, chilli & sherbert (see above)

and many more weird and wonderful combinations!

2. Pan Dulce/ Pan de Fiesta

Deliciously fattening: sugary bread, perfect for fiestas or a mid-day snack.

My friend Alma treated me for lunch today.

We started healthily with a soup and salad

then ended on a sugar high with pan dulce filled with nieve (ice cream).

Loved the textures and sweetness.

3.Pastel 

                                              Birthday cake from a local pasteleria.

                          Topped with mango, pineapple and a glace cherry. Chosen by Ale :)

                        (And yes, if you look closely, you can see the bitemark in my cake. See

                                                previous post for explanation!!)

4. Pozol

Mexican legend states that if you drink posol 

(traditional Mayan drink made from fermented corn dough with cocoa),

you will return to the place where you drank it.

Does this mean I'm going back to Chiapas?

45 Jamoncillo

Dulce made from pumpkin seeds, milk and sugar.

A traditional poblano sweet.

.6. Jugo de toronja y guayaba

Sweet guyaba (plus a sprinking of sugar) 

compliments the sourness of the citrus fruit, toronja.

7. Mango

You don't know what mango tastes like until you go to a country which grows it.

Divine.

(If Mexican, add chilli as desired)

8. Dulce de Leche

Personally, I'm not a fan. But this sickly sweet

confection made from caramelizing milk

remains popular all over Latin America.

You can eat it with toast or on its own (gross!)

9. Alegrias

Nutty, seedy, sugary delights

10. Borrachitos

Another poblano delicacy. 

A bit like turkish delight but with a hint of tequila;

hence the name.

Jokes about Borachitos-the people not the sweets-in Spanish

Amigo de borrachito: ¿Quieres tomar un taxi?

Borrachito: ¡No, ya no quiero mezclar!

______________________________________________________

Borrachito: Bebí para olvidar de ella. ¡Pero ahora la veo doble!

______________________________________________________________________