Hello! What an incredible two days it has been. Yesterday, I was able to take the day off of work as it was mi cumpleaños. I ventured out for a four hour walk with my true partner to the Charco del Ingenio. The Charco is an 170 acre nature reserve and botanical garden here in San Miguel. It is stunning. Within moments of walking in the reserve Ted and I felt as though we had drifted onto sacred ground. Cactus of rare varieties, some even endangered, thrive with gracious endurance from the sides of the canyon. Agave blossoms take to the air in towers that appear to be massive alien asparagus. Every weekend closest to the full moon, the Charco also hosts a Temazcal. This is a ritual and curative ceremony that uses aromatic herbs and steam and takes place in a sweat-lodge located in the ruins of the Hacienda Las Colonias in the northern part of the garden. Another wonderful fact about the Charco, in 2004 the gardens were proclaimed a Peace Zone by the Dalai Lama, during his visit to Mexico. It is a place of rare beauty and I felt honored to be able to celebrate my day of birth there. Today was Mexiquito. Ted and I were solo for the bike program, a thought that prompted some panic for me as we were walking there this morning. I had looked up as many phrases as possible to explain that today would not be a bicycle maintenance day but rather a riding day only as we didn't have enough human adult power for more than that. "What if all their tires have flats.. what if they fight over the bikes...what if one of them falls off the crazy unstable but awesome homemade ramp they set up each Saturday?!" All this and more. Thankfully, things went pretty smoothly. Actually half of the bikes did indeed have flat tires but they appeared to be slow leaks so we were able to pump them up and send them on their way. By the time the cycling hours came to a close, each kid handed their bike in with out a fuss and we went on to our soccer hours. A bit more of a challenge as we were ALL exhausted, however, the kids are really starting to connect with us and that felt invaluable today. Tonight, we are off to a kickboxing cage fight. Yes. One of the pieces of advice I received from my IE3 directors before I left was, "if your co-workers invite you to events (always be safe of course) go!" So we have been and so we are! More on that tomorrow. Buen noche to all!

Thursdays are fundraising meeting days. I do tend to look on these days with less excitement than my other days at CASA. Meetings are a challenge and I know I've written about these challenges in the past. Lots of opinions and ideas and more opinions. Still, when I looked around the table during our meeting today, I had a strong appreciation for the inter-dependance of things. I was grateful that we were all gathered in Gerardo's beautiful Cafe Muro, sipping mineral water and coffee, determining what our next moves were going to be. There have been disappointments and upsets in this group. For obvious reasons, I can't go into detail about any of it, and more importantly, what matters is that we've managed to keep it together! I have a feeling it often takes groups like this a bit of time to move around and settle and stretch and settle and walk away and come back and settle, until you have people that are working "synergistically" and constructively with one another. I also truly believe that people want to be a part of something they believe in or have a strong connection with. It's just possible that support may come in many different forms. I was recently cataloging some of the press releases CASA has received over the years, and realized how long it has taken this non-profit to succeed. Well, thirty years to be exact. There have also been a lot of huge set-backs and disappointments along the way. They stuck with it. At times, I believe that perseverance is as important as passion. Passion can waiver in the face of adversity. Perseverance takes the hand of passion when it cannot move along on its own. Damn, I have learned a lot about working with people.

Okay, I'm learning some very important lessons in the art of humility. And I'll say, that whenever I do find myself getting a little cocky or too preoccupied with my needs being the most important, I ...am...leveled! Perhaps if my partner was not as incredible as he is, or if there was a lack of ice cream or sun, I'd be less gracious about my shortcomings. After feeling my feathers sufficiently ruffled yesterday (details not important as it happens to us all) I was about to hightail it out of a project that was occurring today. Thank the fill-in-the-blank that I was able to work through the blur of my pride in time to actually participate in today's events. The coordinator's of Colectivo 41 arranged (in about 24 hours) to do a provocative photo campaign with a successful Mexican photographer. Make-up, models, and snacks were all arranged as well. We wanted to document to entire process, so I had a camera as well as the graphic designer from CASA and another volunteer. All of the models (mainly youth from the LGBT community) had their faces painted to appear as if they had just been severely beaten. The message of the campaign will be something to the effect that "The violence stops with you." There was a lot of laughter and general enjoyment whilst everyone was getting bruises and blood painted onto their faces. At quite a few points (and I'm sure I wasn't alone in this) I did take a look around and think, "we can afford to laugh because we feel safe right now" and it hit me really hard that tens of thousands of people have and continue to be victims of horrible acts of violence because they are considered "different." At one point today, one of the coordinators started conducting video interviews with the volunteers. Many told their own personal stories with such honesty and depth... well, no words to convey my own reaction. One women told of an incident in Mexico City, walking down the street with her girlfriend, simply holding hands, and a group of about 30 men started yelling aggressively to them that they were going to "rape them in order to teach them a lesson." Well what can be said? This hatred, is too profound for me to comment on. All I can do is silently create benevolent energy, an energy based in undifferentiated awareness and love. We have to do something.

In our morning trainings today, I was lucky enough to be able to watch one of the most amazing and bizarre informational videos I have ever seen - and I am pretty sure that has ever been made. The topic was quite serious - molestation. The storytelling conceit? Monkey puppets. There was the bad monkey, the one who was inappropriately touching the other monkey. This was met with some laughter by the promotores, but more seriousness than one might expect. At a certain point in the video, the monkeys stop, and break into song. Onto the screen flash animated "genitalia." We sat together listening to - "los genitalias les gusta amor"or, genitals like to be cared for. It went on to instruct us on good washing practice, with a smiling vagina, bow in hair, and a penis with a face singing away. I couldn't help but think of a kid coming home from school, met at the door by mom or dad asking, "so what did you learn in school today?" One thing that I haven't mentioned yet is how great/common the snack/junk food is here. All manner of cookie and crackers, ice cream and candy can be found in even the smallest of aborrates, or tiny convenience store. Most days I just nod at the temptation and then walk on. But today was one of those days that, after work, after being tired, a bunch of goodies just found their way into my bolsa. Oops! Oh well. Its cultural exploration. Although, Ritz crackers are pretty much the same anywhere. In seriousness, there are really quality bakeries here, with a surprising selection of treats - many different cookies and pastries, most of which I can't identify, so I have to take it on faith that they will be good. And, my friends, they always are. Today, a palmier, which is french I suppose, a donut (as good as anything I have gotten before), and a little cute swan shaped things, that as it turns out was filled with custard!!!

Another round of capacitaciones started today. These are the educational trainings that are given to the promotores before they go into the any of the local communities. These next few weeks they (and I) will be learning about the PESSANE program at CASA. To take from the CASA page, "PESSANE was founded in 1992 with the goal of providing essential, age-appropriate, sexual and reproductive health education to teachers, parents, and students through interactive workshops in the Guanajuato state school system. The team provides orientation on sexuality, family planning, self-esteem, depression, substance abuse, and violence. PESSANE runs a popular annual summer program; its unique model aims to coach adolescents from all over the country and turn them into leaders in their own communities and schools." This program is particularly inspiring to me in that one of the main goals is to encourage and foster youth education and leadership. As the coordinator for the program was explaining to the promotores today, it's one thing to talk about family planning with young people (which can provoke taboo subjects such as abortion or sexually transmitted diseases) with an older teacher or parent and quite another thing to talk with a peer counselor. It opens up the possibility for more open discussions and trust. Obviously when I was younger I would have chosen a peer to talk to about sex over any teacher or adult I know! This week we will also learn about PESSANES recycling program and community garden project. A wonderful way to round out my last few weeks here.

Bicycles! Soccer! Mexiquito! We spent five hours at the orphanage today. For the first two, we were with three fantastic people from the states who have set up bike repair classes and a free-for-all bike riding day for the kids. Two evenings a week they have classes in which they teach the kids how to fix flat tires (which occurs about every 3 minutes) repair bike pedals, bike chains, adjust seats, handlebars, and more. It is now the good fortune of Ted and I to be able to join them for the bike riding part of it that is every Saturday. The kids fly ecstatically down to the bike shed after their breakfasts to get started. One of us volunteers takes their name, writes a description of the bike they will ride, and the shape the bike is in. When it's time to return the bike, the child needs to identify if any problems have occurred and then they repair them in the next class. Most of the children have godparents, and it is the godparents of many of the past kids from the orphanage that have provided the bikes over time. One of the volunteers had helped a young boy, the newest addition to the orphanage, ride a bike by himself for the very first time last week. I continued to help him in this venture today. He fell a lot. He got back up every time, pleaded for help with his start off push and then adelante! He started to ride for longer periods of time and he started to take off by himself. So good, his smile went up to the clouds. Next week Ted and I will be leading the bike crew. The volunteers that run the program will be out of town and they have entrusted us with a job I'll be looking forward to all week. Next was soccer, oranges, and conversation in Spanish with a new friend. She is a teacher from Guanajuato and has been coming with Mike, the man that started the soccer program to help with translation and for support. We talk about our favorite authors, traveling, and more. She used to work with a group of Zapatistas. I have developed a girlfriend crush! After coming home from a long day in the sun and a surprisingly cold wind, I feel the fatigue that carries pure happiness in it's threads.

The traditional weekend is here. I'm going to be honest, I'm ready for it! Even if it's just two days, I'm going to try and stay away from the computer and I'm going to try and read twenty pages of a young adult book that's in Spanish. One of today's tasks involved a jaunt through the middle of town, or, El Centro. The sky was filled with clouds this morning. The air was cold, it seemed as though rain was imminent. I felt momentarily whisked back to life in Portland. I started looking for coffee! I was on my way to the post office to deliver letters and lo and behold, there was a fairly large festival going on in front of the grand parroquia. People were dressed in gorgeous costumes, feathered headdresses and covered in a variety of face and body paint. They danced to the strength of a group of drummers. There was incense and charcoal burning. Hundreds of school kids in uniforms taking notes and pictures surrounded the square. I have been told quite a few times that one never knows when there will be a festival or parade here in San Miguel but chances are you will run into one almost daily. Yet another reason for me to feel fortunate for my time here. I actually don't mind being woken up before dawn by fireworks. I prefer it to an alarm clock! How could I have known three months ago, as I was finalizing plans to do this internship, that I would be given the duty of delivering letters to a post office as part of my time here. That this simple task would enable me to witness a dance. I have no idea, nor was I able to find out, what it was that people were celebrating. That's okay - they are!