It is Sunday, and our group has a travel day. At 5am this morning we said goodbye to our friends at SENDAS (students and faculty). As we flew in to land at Mexico City, I was overwhelmed by the magnitude of the urban sprawl. I have never seen anything like it. It makes Los Angeles and New York look small, but then again it does have 28 million people. We are holding our classes in a building called Casa de las Amigos, a place owned by Quakers who welcome international students and volunteers from around the world.
Julie and I walked around the city in the afternoon. It was so cool experiencing new sights and sounds. The city is much more modern and clean than I had anticipated. It has its own unique culture that has been greatly impacted by globalization and urbanization. I walked the streets with an urban lens, focusing first on people and then on structures.
In the evening our professors led us through a time of reflection from the previous week, while introducing us to what we can expect for the upcoming week. Several things seperate Mexico City from San Jose. It is much bigger, has a much greater depth of history, has a convergence of three main cultures, the role of the Catholic church is much different (much more secular here), and it has intense regionalism. I'll be learning much more tomorrow.
1 comment:
Bryan
I hope you get some time to talk with the Quakers and get their perspective on urban mimistry. I'll bet it's interesting. :)
John V
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