June 13, 2014

Today in Spanish class we explored the topic of migration of Central Americans to the United States. This was a very timely topic given the recent news coverage of Central American immigrant children in the US. We watched a documentary about the journey that Central Americans make through Mexico on their way to the US. The journey is incredibly dangerous, and there is a very high probability that the immigrants will be severely injured, killed, robbed, kidnapped, and/or raped on their journey. Yet despite these dangers, thousands still attempt the journey because their homelands are dangerous and/or lack economic opportunities. We will continue to discuss this topic further over the next two weeks. We were supposed to visit a rural school today, but that trip was postponed because Mexico played in the World Cup today and school was cancelled. (!!!) Mexico ended up winning. It is interesting to be in a town full of soccer fanatics when their team plays in the World Cup.

After class, we stopped off at a supermarket called Chedraui, which is similar to Walmart. We were mildly horrified by how some foods-- such as raw meat-- were not kept in refrigerated sections. This could explain why Brandi keeps getting sick. :\ 

We visited the Biblioteca Palafoxiana . It is the oldest public library in the Americas, and it has an amazing and beautiful collection of books, some dating back to the 1400s. We were disappointed that the library did not have informational placards or a tour guide to help us understand the significance of all of the books. Also, we were forbidden from taking any photographs, but here's a photo of the library taken from the Puebla tourism site:

After visiting the library, we relaxed for a little bit at a little outdoor cafe in the Zocalo. We went to bed early so that we could be ready for Saturday's trip to Tepoztlan.