Protests Continue in Mexico City

Here in the Mexican capital, plenty of people are upset with the recent elections. It's common to hear about people receiving $20-$50 for their vote, and poll stations altering data by the thousands. Nonetheless, I actually know people who willingly voted for Peña Nieto. Kind of like voting for Bush in 2000 in the US...

Suffrage with cash does not constitute an election.

Lies and ignorance create a submissive populace. Public education creates rebels.

I said this in 2000...

Shouting "Sin PRI México!" -- No PRI, the "Revolutionary Party" of Peña and Carlos Salinas Gortari, his mentor.

Abortion vs. Drug Violence

I've seen a lot of quotes like this recently here in Mexico:  Son más víctimas a causa del aborto, que aquellas de la guerra contra el narco. There are more deaths from abortions than those from the war on drugs.

Perhaps we can also put it this way: It is hypocritical to want to stop the war on drugs while maintaining abortion should be legal.

But I disagree. Making abortion illegal does not necessarily make it less likely. A person can be in favor of legal abortion, or more correctly, against criminalizing abortion, while still being strongly anti-abortion. If you want there to be less abortions, don't assume that merely making something illegal makes it go away, but instead examine the cause. Why do some women seek an abortion?

I would guess desperation. Fear. Hopelessness. And why do these abound?

Lots of reasons, such as social and economic inequality, the decay of the family and community unit, violent environments, poor education, poor nutrition, a loss of touch with the natural world...

Does it make sense to compare these two measurements? Is any rational person in favor of deaths by abortion, or deaths from the violence related to drug trafficking? And why do the latter exist? Are they related to abortion deaths?

Why do people become involved in drug-trafficking? For some maybe it's the excitement, the chance to become rich. But I'm sure it's more likely that most people get involved because they have little other opportunity. They are afraid for their lives due to the violence that surrounds them so they perpetuate the problem. They have little hope for the future because of their social and educational status. They get involved out of desperation.

It looks to me like these two issues should not be pitted against one another. They both stem from the same problems: inequality, injustice, environmental degradation, and a lack of good public will. Not all of these are easily fixed of course, but one that is relatively easy, one problem to ameliorate first would be to narrow the opportunity gap. In an unjust society in which a small percentage of the population enjoys most of the opportunity, there will be more desperate acts than in a just one.

Three Volcanoes

I've gone up three volcanoes in the last month or so. First Ajusco with my wife Pily. It's a pretty easy run up from the parking area, though there wasn't exactly a trail the way we went. It's technically in the DF (Distrito Federal), but remote and nearly 13,000 feet.

Pily on the slopes of Ajusco.

Two weeks ago we drove off to Tlaxcala to climb La Malinche, the fifth highest peak in Mexico. Summiting took about four hours and coming down another two. My fellow ASF teacher Aaron Mines was the trip planner. All was great but the traffic coming back to the city was incredibly horrible. Close to two hours to get home once we were in the city.

Aaron on La Malinche.

At the top of La Malinche.

On April 2 we drove through Amecameca to the base of Ixtaccihuatl, the third highest peak in Mexico. We camped at just under 13,000 feet and it was about 25 degrees F when we woke up at 2:30 am.

We were on the trail by 3 am. This is necessary this time of year since there are frequent afternoon storms. The day before there had been a nice one, and going very far up would have been impossible. By six we were in the metal albergue, and decided to snooze a bit and wait for daylight. A good idea, since after that we needed crampons, and the trail is very steep.

It was my first time using crampons, and the experience was scary. I'm sure it would have been scarier without them, though.

Ixta is a woman lying on her side. The peak is her breast at just over 17,000 ft. I made it to the knees, by far the highest I have ever been on land. The altitude felt great, but I think living in Mexico City has made it easy. Every day I trek up hundreds of stairs on my daily commute. That helps me to be in great shape, but the pollution does its best to keep me down...

The view from the Knees. You can see La Malinche and Orizaba as well as slash and burn agriculture.

Dos alpinistas. Popocatépetl is in the background, and has been smoking a lot. Before dawn you can see the red in the smoke.

Xpujil

Xpujil is a Mayan Ruin in Campeche not far from Quintana Roo. It is not heavily visited by tourists -- we had the place all to ourselves!

El Pantano de Centla

The Centla Swamp is in Tabasco close to the border with Campeche. Here three large rivers merge shortly before entering into the Gulf of Mexico. We saw all kinds of herons, caracaras, iguanas and a couple of alligators. 

Pejelagarto is delicious

Christmas in Villahermosa

Pily & I went to visit her sister & our niece in Villahermosa for Christmas.

 Pico de Orizaba, the highest point in Mexico.

Lowlands in Veracruz

The objective of the trip: Renatita!

Spider monkey at the museum in Villahermosa

:)

Cute, huh?

This one lives in the museum, but his wild relatives live just outside in the river

These guys run around wild at the museum

These guys run around wild at the museum

I love this guy!