Mexico City—cuidad palpitante, envigorante, agotante, y conmovedora.... With some 22 million inhabitants it is one of the great cities of the world in the heart of Mexico. While many decry its immensity, it crowded spaces, and its crime, it still holds the draw and magnetism of a great cosmopolitan city.
Internado Infantil Guadalupo, Iztalpa
In Mexico City, I stayed with my friend, John O, who this year has been staying at the Internado Infantil Guadalupano, a boarding house for at-risk and abandoned boys run my the Christian Brothers (La Salle Brothers). The boys are referred to the Internado by a social worker or a government agency. It does receive some financial support from the government, but the community must also fund-raise from benefactors a yearly USD$ 1,000,000 for its financial stability (which is small change if you compare the amount with what US schools must manage).
The Internado is for boys from grades 1-12, and university level. It is impressive how the place provides the boys with their physical, emotional and spiritual needs; they are provided with beds, clothing, food, education, recreation, medical care and moral guidance. The school has a medical doctor, a psychologist, and a few social workers. The work is not easy as it is a 24/7 job to look after the boys. One must maintain one’s equilibrium even as the work is demanding. And the teachers/caretakers will punish the students be posting them or redo activities.
Not all the boys are “orphans”. Unfortunately some of the boys have families who visit their sons monthly or weekly. But some of the boys do not have any families. They parents cannot raise them or they have been abandoned. These charges will have to find the emotional and spiritual strength to overcome this loss.
Understandably the boys are not without their issues. Some of the boys are easy to look after and some are more challenging. But the great majority are wonderfully adjusted children who have acclimated to being at a boarding home. While it is certainly is not the same as having a family, the community provides them with discipline, a balanced curriculum and love. The alternative would be that that boys would be in abusive families or out on the street.
This is their typical schedule:
6:30 Wake
7:00 Line up & Breakfast
7:30 Brush teeth and free time.
8:00 School begins
11:00 Recess
1:30 Class ends
1:30-3:00 Extracurricular Activities
3:00 Comida (Lunch)
3:30-6:00 PE & Chores
6:00-8:00 Free Time
8:00 Cena (Dinner—usually leftovers & bread)
9:00 Bed
They are assigned to clean after themselves such as washing their dishes, cleaning bathrooms, and bedrooms.
Plea on the Subway
On my way down to the subway in Mexico City, I passed a woman on the steps who was begging. She was covered in a shawl and exposed her swollen calf. The choice I confront as I walk down is how do I react to her plea which is communicated in all her aspects: from her outstretched cupped hand, to her dress and posture, to her look and her audible requests. Her entire being is a plea for help. In my mind, a torrent of thoughts and excuses passes by: I can’t help everyone. She may be scamming people in this outfit. Where is her pride? Where is her family? Poor lady, what happened to her? Has her situation come to this point where she must put aside her pride to beg at the feet of commuters? Do I give or not give? The most disturbing reaction for me is to ignore and harden my heart against feeling compassion.
So I give her a coin, but I realize that the offering is not so much for her as it is for me—a plea on my behalf that I not cease to be human, to be compassionate, to be empathetic and caring. Yes it is a challenge to respond to all the beggars and panhandlers. And sometimes I give and sometimes I do not. That is not the issue. The question is do I respond to the solicitations in a manner that is human or not?
February 2, 2009
- Quemanco Park
- Internado
- Computer
- Hang out with Carmen
February 3, 2009
- Wake Primaria Students
- Breakfast
- School
- Comida
- Micro
- Zocalo
- Collegio de San Ildefonso
- Sto. Domingo
- Dinner
- Bellas Artes
- Internado
Security in Mexico City
I was well aware of the security issues that Mexico City is dealing with (killings, kidnapping, robberies). The stories that my Mexicans told me regarding assaults by taxi drivers gave me pause. Brisa, caretaker to Brother Enrique, told me she got into a taxi to get to work when the taxi driver began to insult her, telling her that she would disappear. She was frightened but maintain a calm appearance as she humored the man and discreetly took off her jewelry. After driving around, she was finally let off as the driver continued to curse at her. She was simply grateful to have to been let off.
Brisa had another incident with a younger taxi driver who had parked along a forested street. He had a chain to the passenger door which prevented her from leaving. He kept telling her that he wanted a child with her as he looked back at her through the rear view mirror. Brisa, in her inestimable way, told him that she was already married with children. She was finally let go.
Brother Enrique shared that his Rolex was stolen as the taxi he was in was at a stop, when masked and armed men pointed a gun at the driver and himself and robbed them of their valuables.
A fellow passenger on the plane related how her brother, who was driving with his father and mother, had made a right hand turn in with his car around another auto. The occupants didn’t appreciate the slight and followed him until he came to a stop. The men came out and put a gun to the brother’s head and the father’s head. The mother came out of the back seat, kneeled in front of the assailant and plead for her son’s life, which save him. She also related how her partner was coming home from work when his auto broke down in a dicey part of Mexico City. Seven different police officers had stopped to see him but none offered to help him. They suspected of having drugs, illicit dealings, searched his automobile. All in a manner of plying him for a bribe.
Then you have my friend
John, who has no compunction about negotiating down the price of taxi fare.
After the Prowler’s Ball (party) in Liz’s apartment in Polanco district at 3:00
a.m., John didn’t want to get a sitio
taxi (while they are more secure, they cost more) so he decides to hail a
street taxi a few feet from a sitio
place. He gets one and negotiated: “Regular es 80-90 pesos, y como es noche, es
20% mas. Entonces $M 120 es bien.”
The driver counters: “No. Esta muy lejos Lomas Estrella. $M 150.”
John counters back: “No. Creo que $M 120 es un buen precio.”
“No. $M 150. Cuanto les cobran los de sitio?”
We get off. John says he is stubborn about not paying more than necessary.
We get in another taxi. John asks: “Cuanto por ir a Lomas Estrella?”
“$M 150.”
“Que tal $M 120?”
“No. $M 150.”
John does not easily give up. “Bueno vamos a subirle a $M 130.”
The taxi driver finds a middle ground: “Bueno, no Usted ni yo. Vamos para $M 140.”
“Esta bien.” At this hour in the morning, John gives in to finding a cheaper fare. Later we find that $M 150 is a very reasonable fare and John and I were just lucky not to pushed our luck or get assaulted in the light of the incidents that have happened to our friends.
February 4, 2009
- Cathedral
- Gran Templo Mayor
- Museo Jose Luis Cuevas
- Iglesia de SS. Trinidad
- Templo de Loreto (Beautiful)
- Templo N.S. de Pilar
- Museo de la Ciudad de México
- Parque Alameda
- Post office
- Internado
****
Tú eres el patrimonio vivo
De la Ciudad de México,
Heredeo, interprete
Y renovador de una cultura de muchos siglos.
Tus eres la pieza más importante
De Museo de la Ciudad de México
Tú eres el Museo
De la Cuidad de México.
****
El 13 de agosto de 1521, heróicamente defendido por Cuahtemoc cayó Tlatelolco en poder de Hernán Cortés. No fue triunfo ni derrota que el doloroso nacimiento del pueblo mestizo que el el México de hoy.
—Plaza de 3 Culturas.
Promises, promises
Brother Paco, the head master at the Internado, asked if I could give a hand with the boy’ athletic competition at 7:00 am. I said I would. I arrived at 6:50 am to the patio where they line up and I waited and waited and waited. I finally went inside to get out of the cold. I came out at 8:00 am again but asked the security person if he knew where they were. He said they had left in the micro at 7:00. I was confounded as I was there before that time and didn't here the bus leave. I guess I will do other things today. I just bothers me that I said I would do something and I didn’t fulfill it....
February 5, 2009—San Felipe de Jesús, first Mexican-born saint
- Breakfast
- Mass
- Basilica de N.S. de Guadalupe
- Tlatelolco
- Plaza de 3 Culturas
- Museo de Arte Popular
- Internado
February 6, 2009
- Micro
- Fundación de Mier y Pesado
- Classes
- Comida
- Museo Frida Kahlo
- Internado
February 7, 2009
- Taxi
- Fundación
- Polanco
- Castillo de Chapultepec
- Prowler’s Ball at Liz’s
February 8, 2009
- Breakfast
- Mass
- Comida
- Free Time
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