On Friday, March 11 we left the Nelson Lakes region and boarded a plane for Auckland. As soon as we landed we found out about the earthquake in Japan, but quickly boarded another plane before we could really find out what was going on. Sometime during the 11 hour flight we flew over the smaller version of the tsunami that caused flooding in Hawaii and landed safetly in LA.
Being back in the US after almost 6 months felt strangly normal, like nothing had changed. I took the opportunity to pick up a New York Times and found this tucked away on one of the last pages. It reminded me of all the energy Vermonters put into stopping the relisencing of the plant last year. Fortunratly, the state legislature has the last say on this, not the Federal government. The irony, of course, is that this decision came the day before the earthquake in Japan caused an unfolding nuclear disaster.
I had little desire to stay in LA and boarded a plane to Mexico City after only a few hours --phew. Its my 4th (I think) visit to Mexico thanks to my parent´s near obbession with traveling when I was child, although it´s the first one in 14 years.
Its great to be back. The first morning I spoke with members of Mexicos electrical workers union who have set up a camp in the Zocalo (city center) to protest Presidente Caldarons decision to dessolve their union to make is easier to sell off Mexicos utilities to ¨tansnacionales,¨ (foreign corporations).
Then, I went with a Mexican friend of another girl on the trip to a meeting of student organizations called Colocam, which are trying to organize against the increased violence and militarization caused by the war on the drug cartels. The stories are terrifying. 35,000 people have been murdered since the ¨war¨ began 3 years ago. The lines between government and cartel are have blurred and both have commited atrocities. There is an enourmous police present in Mexico City, which I have only seen rivaled in Colombia and Venezuela, who both have their own histories with narcotraficantes. We are in a relatively safe part of town and head to Oaxaca in a week, which shoud be very safe. More to come soon
Being back in the US after almost 6 months felt strangly normal, like nothing had changed. I took the opportunity to pick up a New York Times and found this tucked away on one of the last pages. It reminded me of all the energy Vermonters put into stopping the relisencing of the plant last year. Fortunratly, the state legislature has the last say on this, not the Federal government. The irony, of course, is that this decision came the day before the earthquake in Japan caused an unfolding nuclear disaster.
I had little desire to stay in LA and boarded a plane to Mexico City after only a few hours --phew. Its my 4th (I think) visit to Mexico thanks to my parent´s near obbession with traveling when I was child, although it´s the first one in 14 years.
Its great to be back. The first morning I spoke with members of Mexicos electrical workers union who have set up a camp in the Zocalo (city center) to protest Presidente Caldarons decision to dessolve their union to make is easier to sell off Mexicos utilities to ¨tansnacionales,¨ (foreign corporations).
Then, I went with a Mexican friend of another girl on the trip to a meeting of student organizations called Colocam, which are trying to organize against the increased violence and militarization caused by the war on the drug cartels. The stories are terrifying. 35,000 people have been murdered since the ¨war¨ began 3 years ago. The lines between government and cartel are have blurred and both have commited atrocities. There is an enourmous police present in Mexico City, which I have only seen rivaled in Colombia and Venezuela, who both have their own histories with narcotraficantes. We are in a relatively safe part of town and head to Oaxaca in a week, which shoud be very safe. More to come soon
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