In an academic world of structured and formal presentations, spontaneity is hard to find. Educational events involving beads, beeswax and wooden boxes are downright scarce. But that’s just what senior Samantha Raymond and the Anthropology Club have planned. “Just prepare yourself for anything,” Raymond said. Rosendo Carillo de la Rosa, a Wixarika Indian from Jalisco,…
The excursions that my classmates and I take to other parts of Mexico never fail to surprise me. With every trip to a new pueblo or city, one assumption or another shatters under the force of experience. Our stay in Capulálpam, a Zapotec pueblo in the northern mountains of Oaxaca, was no exception. My classmates…
A month and two weeks have passed since I arrived in Mexico, and the first phase of my study abroad experience ended this weekend. My group and I lived with families during our stay in San Cristóbal, but now that we are moving to Oaxaca City, it’s time to pack up and say goodbye. My…
I’ve been living the good life in San Cristóbal de las Casas. A small city in the mountains of Chiapas, Mexico, San Cristóbal de las Casas is the meeting place of many cultures and political ideologies. Both mestizos and indigenous people live here; U.S. backpackers and European tourists flock to its hostels; and scholars know…
Even before going abroad, I’ve already learned a lesson: Traveling is nothing more than misadventure. My semester in Mexico begins this month, so I spent my lengthy vacation looking for ways to pass the time. When my friend Jess invited me to visit her in Mallorca, the small Mediterranean island where she is studying Spanish,…
