Land Of A 1000 Dances

Argentina, Chile and Peru followed on from Mexico and Brazil and flew by in a blur of colour and music and beautiful people. I arrived back in the UK, knackered from months of working hard and playing hard, and bleary eyed from a journey from Lima that took almost an entire day. Fortunately arrival was immediately followed by fun times and great food with friends in London!

Pic 1: Arriving cold and bleary eyed into the London winter

Pic 2: Immediately brightening up after friends and great food!

Out there I was so immersed in the things I was doing that about all I could do was take notes and hope that I’d remember enough to write everything up when I got back. It seemed like such a waste to waste days writing or blogging when I could be living the experience.

As it turns out though, the million photographs I took mean that I have a pretty good diary of my life on the road, and the mind-maps, notes and documents I created mean that I have great reminders of the things I worked on. When you add the fact that I’m still in touch with almost everyone I met, and am continuing to help a number of the organisations I worked with, the act of retrospective recording isn’t proving to be too difficult a task.  The challenge lies in the scale of it. I recently did a small analysis of time spent, and over the last year alone it works out to around 1000 hours of pro-bono work across approximately 60 social enterprises and NGOs ranging from start-ups to global entities.

So anyway, this should hopefully be the first of more regular blog posts, but for now I just thought I’d share a small glimpse of who I’ve worked with and what I’m planning to write up – I’ve got as far as draft lists :)

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Organisations I engaged with in 2009 

London

• Ashoka International
• UnLtd
• Red Foundation
• Imediate
• i-Genius
• BANG Edutainment
• Bold Creative
• Positive TV
• Living Lens
• Carbon Outreach
• DigiTalk
• Cool2Care

Mexico

• Ashoka Mexico
• Ojos Que Sienten
• Revolucion con Letras
• Fundacion de Investigacion y Desarrollo Educativo
• Fin Comun
• Sustentavia
• Fairtasa
• Yansa

Brazil

• Ashoka Brazil
• Catalytic Communities
• CDI
• The International Exchange
• Factory of The Future
• Ayllu Initiative
• Artemisia
• Barca
• Ocarete
• Movimento Nosse Sao Paolo
• Article 19
• Projecto Alavanca
• IDEC
• Sitawi

Argentina

• Ashoka Argentia
• La Usina
• Fundacion Leer
• TangoVia
• Cimientos
• Help Argentina

Chile

• Regala Tu Compleano
• Escuela de Guias
• Rodelillo
• Corazón de Chileno

Peru

• Ashoka Peru
• Instituto Del Peru
• Care Peru
• Grupo Geo
• Ciudad Saludable
• EnseñaPerú

India

• UnLtd India
• Grassroutes
• Youth Factor
• Dream A Dream
• Youth Venture India

United States

• Shareable.net
• Charity Champs
• Broncs Weblog
• Literacy and Poverty Project

Nigeria

• Paradigm Initiative Nigeria

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Things I’m planning to write about in the next month or so

Regional – Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru

• Travel Reflections – Places and Cultures
• Social Issues Covered + interview transcripts
• Social Enterprises worked with incl. ideas and changes

Article Topics

• Principles of Social Design – Ecosystems, Timeframe, Impact focus
• Practical mechanisms of scaling for social enterprises
• Differences between mature and immature information economies – developed vs. developing economies
• Inclusive Business
• Hybrid Value Chains
• Social Business
• Fair Trade vs. Direct Selling
• Micro-Resourcing – Shared Service Centres
• Incubator Design
• New Social Lending Models – Recycling grants
• Failures in Global Support Systems
• The problem with focusing on Innovation
• The problem with Training Social Entrepreneurs
• Crowd-funding for Social Organisations
• Microfranchising
• Creating Identity
• Projects Transforming Communities – True Social Enterprises?
• Designing Movements
• Creating donation cultures
• Mobilising the Facebook Generation
• Partnering for Financial Sustainability and Social Impact
• Financial Sustainability - Business Model Innovation for the Social Sector
• Social discrimination and Economic Status
• Collaborative models for addressing poverty

How To’s – Guides for Social Enterprises

• How to build successful a social organisation – 20 steps
• Creating useful mission statements
• Understanding the difference between Mission, Vision, Strategy and Tactics
• Creating flexible 5 year plans
• Board Responsibilities for Charities
• Using Brand to Achieve Your Social Mission
• Using Social Media to Achieve Your Social Mission
• Tips for Successful Fundraising
• How to Write Good Fundraising Applications
• Critical factors in managing social projects/initiatives
• Understanding Social Return on Investment

Hopefully this gives you an idea of where I’m going with this project. Drop me a note if you’re in London anytime during February and have any thoughts you’d like to discuss or add. All inputs welcome!

Burning Thoughts at Fahrenheit 451

Busy days in Buenos Aires follow busy days in Sao Paolo and my life is a blur of new information that I commit to processing and adding to without really knowing how. In between I worry about what do with all this information. Today I met with Mei Ling who has written a book and is writing another, through Vanessa who pointed out that in books lie the legitimacy and permanence of big thinkers. More immediate than books lie articles; 2000 word ones that Neal will pay me to write for Shareable.net and I haven’t even got there yet.

Maybe its because sometimes I feel like my mind has a mind of its own and I'm merely an observer taking photographs of my imagination. If that sounds like a poor attempt at wordplay, rest assured that its utterly literal…

 

 

  

I don’t really know where it comes from, or why I’m able to do it. I don’t really see myself as a writer or a big thinker. The world is overloaded with words, and big thinkers rarely create anything the person on the ground can use. But then today I read Fahrenheit 451, which is just stunning. A book about the power of books, and the dangers of simplification and the simplification of simplification, until the point where richness and complexity of thought become anathema. A pain to be avoided and destroyed. And then I started thinking about thinking and wondering what do with the stuff I create.

Hopefully at some point my mind will make up its mind and I’ll figure out what to write, and how I’m going to do it!

Searching for Marcelo Lima: Adventures in Brazil Pt.1

It’s another month gone and I’m at the airport in Sao Paolo, waiting for my flight to Buenos Aires. The taxi ride was expensive (80 Reais) but very fast and I’ve now got an extra hour to kill and time to reflect on another whirlwind few weeks of vibrant people, new problems, passionate conversations, beers, and days so full that I haven’t even had time for blogging.

In truth I’ve been meaning to post more often, but I’m finding that I just don’t think in actively reflective ways, so I don’t have much to say on a daily basis. My notes would be all be repetitive… “I met some great people, had interesting conversations about social development, offered some new perspectives, ate well and had a few beers!” Can’t imagine how any of you would find that interesting after about the 5th time :) Churning out emotive descriptors of daily experiences is therefore not proving to be an option with the time I have. But I find if I carry on absorbing things in my usual go with the flow type way, then things aggregate and crystallise and the writing occasionally just happens. Like today.

I’m sad to be leaving Brazil. I’ve met as many lovely people as I did in Mexico City, which is pretty amazing. I’ve been looked after and entertained and included, to the point that I’ve never had a single day with time to occupy by myself. In my short time in Rio, I caught up with Iris, Theresa included me in the amazing things she’s doing and Gilberto showed me around. In Sao Paolo, the Ashoka crew took me for beers, Elenice showed me around the city, the Wikimedia guys made me feel part of the movement, and my fellow travellers from the hostel hung out with me in the few moments there was time to spare.

Brazil is great but different to the way it’s held in western social consciousness. I was surprised that people don’t wear bright colours so much any more. It’s all gotten a bit European on that front. The food on the other hand is very American in terms of size. Big portions of solid food – meat rice and chips. Missed the spiciness of Mexico, but welcomed the simplicity and straightforwardness of big plates.

Samba is not what I thought it was either. It’s so much better! Rio was more fragmented and Sao Paolo less hectic than I was led to believe. Favelas too, are not what I imagined. Tom and Ale took me to visit a project in a slum that borders the very fancy University of Sao Paolo, and when I checked to see if I should leave my wallet and camera in the car, I was told that it wouldn’t be a problem. And yes, I still have everything!

Life in the Sao Remo favela is lived out in the small streets that weave through the brick structures, so the vibrance of people and youth really strikes you, but for all it’s close crowdedness, no one could tell us where to find Marcelo Lima. He’s a young kid who’s trying to become an economist and has been there all his life, so it really surprised me that no one even seemed to recognise his name. The doors have no numbers or names on them and tiny shoulder wide pathways weave through the dwellings, making me wonder how people know where to find each other or what they use as markers for reference.

On an insider’s tour with Marcelo after finally finding him!

Brazil is also different to the way it’s held in Brazilian social consciousness. Contrary to the powerful belief and constitutional focus that Brazil is a place where anyone can belong, there is serious institutional discrimination against people of colour, particularly women; and there are issues with the social autonomy and recognition of many ethnic groups. In a country where voting is mandatory, corruption is rife, most people have no idea who they voted for, and participative democracy is fledgling. Finally, in a place where there is locally believed to be no culture of giving, there are stunning examples of time and dedication and achievement in the addressing of social issues and in the development and mobilisation of fragmented communities.

As a place, it’s been just another country for me. Buildings are buildings and roads are roads. Malls look the same and cars are universal. Scenery awes and man-made achievements astonish. Ethnic artefacts blur and roadside shops sell the same things. Foods change and language alters in sound. It took a little longer to connect with people than in Mexico, where I was blown away by the warmth of the people I met, but in reality the difference was marginal.

I imagine you’re feeling that this means I didn’t care so much, but I did. Here’s the thing… I love that amongst the all the little differences that we use as separators, lie fundamental and powerful similarities with other places and peoples. I love feeling at home in cities I’ve never seen before, and I love feeling that it probably won’t matter where I go this trip, if I take the time to understand perspective and engage, there’ll be vibrant people, new problems, passionate conversations, beers, and days so full that I won’t have time for blogging!!

Adventures in Photographs: Mexico

Gallery 1:

Gallery 2:

Microfinance in Pictures

While in Mexico I had the fantastic opportunity of spending time with Frida Ruiz Fernandez who worked in regulation for microfinance and banking for Peruvian Government for 4yrs, and Juan Ahedo who works with Fin Comun, a microfinance organisation based in Mexico. From Frida I learnt a bit more about Microfinance, much of which is summarised below, and through Juan I was able to accompany a couple of branch managers on their site visits around the city.

Fascinatingly for me, I learnt that microfinance is not just about lending to rural populations, but also a support system for tiny shops, restaurants and stalls all over low-income areas in cities too. The most fascinating thing was being transported back to a world of notebooks and hand-written accounts.

Microfinance in the City – Typical Clients

   

Introducing Microfinance

Traditional Banking

The mechanisms of traditional banking essentially function around monetising (investing/re-lending for financial return) deposits that people store with the bank; and on providing interest based credit that is offset either by collateral, or risk managed through the use of standardised credit rating systems for medium to high income populations.

Why Low Income Populations Can’t Use Traditional Banks

Low income populations typically have neither the collateral nor ratings needed to access credit, because their wealth base is too small for collateral and standardised credit rating systems are not designed to assess their circumstances. Traditional banks therefore have to invest in completely new mechanisms for managing these demographics, which isn’t worth their effort so they ignore the space altogether.

Finally, where low income populations do have savings, they generally don’t deposit their money in normal banks because

1. There is a lack of accessible infrastructure. i.e. no branches in their areas since it is not profitable for traditional banks to provide these.
2. Low income populations are not used to going into big banks. They feel out of place and intimidated by the experience.

The Critical Problem

Since low income populations often have greater immediate needs around borrowing money, the lending space has traditionally been covered by loan sharks, where exorbitant interest rates mean that people can end up paying many multiples of the money they borrowed, under threat of personal violence. This simply exacerbates their poverty.

The second problem is that without access to mechanisms of depositing, managing and growing money, these populations are typically excluded from opportunities to create the longer term wealth that can help them to escape the poverty cycle.

Microfinance

So microfinance is really just a fancy name for the mechanism of providing safe small (typically high interest) loans to people, groups or enterprises who’s incomes are too small to provide collateral or credit ratings, and are therefore risky and highly cost intensive to manage.

Microfinance organisations make it cheaper and profitable to provide these services by basing themselves and working in the same areas as these populations, and they have adapted their credit methodologies to lend to low income sectors in 3 ways

1. Their assessment model is very human intensive in terms of finding entrepreneurs, getting to know them personally, helping them with paperwork etc, typically by having branch managers which personally go out to meet clients rather than have them come into a branch, which means a much higher cost base than traditional banking.
2. They provide loans without collateral, and manage the risk by replacing collateral with information about the people they are lending to. Hence they are significantly more diligent than traditional banks about each individual being lent to. Branch managers establish close relationships with borrowers and work to understand their networks and personal circumstances.
3. They charge higher interest rates than traditional banks – anywhere between 25% and 40% annually, which although high is still less than loan sharks.

The Goal

Enable people to exit poverty through profits from assets or activities accessed through small loans.

The Gap

Microfinance organisations however are typically not banks, which means that they still do not address the issue of saving and wealth accumulation. One reason for this is that lending entities (like store finance) operate without much scrutiny, but taking deposits makes you a bank, which requires compliance with a whole new range of costly financial regulations that can otherwise be avoided.

Since these organisations fall outside traditional banking mechanisms, in many countries they often exist without any regulation. This means they often grow too quickly and operate at very high risks of bankruptcy.

Another issue that is now being recognised is that the mechanism of micro-finance still struggles to bring people out of poverty. Apparently the reason is to do with the focus on funding entrepreneurs rather than stable business models, and because of the lack of education and understanding of money management in low income populations.

Finally, microfinance is a profit model, and many of the players are not in it for the social goal. They don’t always operate ethically, and are not necessarily interested in mobilising communities out of poverty. Education and health components added to the financing model, can cynically be seen as mechanisms to reduce the risk of default, but the really good ones invest significantly in the development and mobilisation of the communities they work with.

Solution 1: Regulation

Peru recently won an award for the creation of regulated environments for successful growth and scaling of microfinance. They minimise the risk of failure of microfinance orgs by enforcing a step by step system of growth by modules. Every step in scaling operations requires governmental approval, using a risk based approach covering 4 areas:

1. Credit
2. Market
3. Liquidity and Operations
4. Capital adequacy (i.e. having enough capital to support operations).

This approach prevents microfinance organisations from growing too fast or taking risky decisions, and unregulated Microfinance organisations are not allowed to take deposits.

Benefits of regulation

1. Access to ratings and ranking makes these organisations open to investment
2. They get feedback that helps them grow and get better
3. Regulation means they are better run, so they have access to better human resources
4. Access to guarantee funds up to a certain amount of deposit to help offset risk.

Solution 2: Education & Community Investment

Microfinance organisations are now beginning to provide financial and health education, in order to offset risk (well educated and healthy populations are better placed to repay loans), but the really good ones also invest in education and community programs to transform civil society in low-income areas.

Solution 3: Microfranchising

Entrepreneurs are great at finding opportunities to set up ventures, but not necessarily so good at scaling or creating stable and repeatable business models. Since microfinance typically lends to small entrepreneurs in low income populations, the quality of enterprise is typically not suited to scale or growth. Your average tiny corner shop isn’t very likely to become 10 large corner shops. Results are starting to show that while microfinance has benefits, it isn’t necessarily mobilising communities out of poverty in the long term.

The solution may involve offering finance for proven micro-scale business models that can be scaled by franchising. The value here lies in the creation of new jobs as it does not involve funding existing enterprises. Next week I will be talking to Melissa Richer who is developing microfranchising in Brazil through her organisation Ayllu, and I’ll provide some more insight into this model once I’ve done that.

Eats Drinks and Leaves - Adventures in Mexico Part 4

Back to a last look at life in Mexico… I left off my previous Mexican adventures post talking about food and drink; both of which I’m missing after a few weeks in Brazil. The food because of the spicy salsas (sauces) with everything, and the drink because of clamato, which really grew on me!

I went to a whole host of nice restaurants in Condesa, Polanco, Lomas, Palmas, Downtown and many more small roadside places with the people I met. Mostly I ate tacos, enchiladas, and huaraches. Must admit that having cheese in everything started to get me down after a while. Even the sushi contains cheese! Chilli salsas with everything on the other hand was a great bonus, which sort of made up for things. 

Salsas and Lemon!

Breakfast was always too heavy for me. Chilaquiles, beans, scrambled eggs with meat and various other dishes that really looked they should be saved till dinner time. Almost everything is eaten with tortillas and wrapped up to make tacos. For some reason I always thought Tacos were crispy, but apparently that’s Tex Mex and NOT Mexican food. Tortillas are soft like Indians chapattis, and called tacos when you roll them up with stuff inside. Everyone has their own favourite taco place, especially for Tacos al Pastor, which is the Mexican equivalent of a chicken donner kebab but so much nicer.

Tacos al Pastor

In general though, at the low end of the price scale food is basically some combinations of tacos, sauce, cheese, lemon, and bean paste. Soup is big as an entree. Lemon is used on everything and even squeezed into Tequila. Fresh vegetables were nowhere to be seen – to the point where I actually noticed, which is saying something considering I’m not exactly Mr. Vegetables!

I did eat at a few fancy restaurants too, including Loma Linda where the speciality is Lomo, Las Grutas at Teotihuacan where they had Aztec dances, Sobrinos where the business guys go to eat local Mexican food, El pendulo where there's a brunch place inside a bookstore and rich Mexican families go for Sunday brunch, and a Pakistani place called Tandoor where the Hindi part of the menu bizarrely was literally the Spanish word spelt using Hindi letters, but the Tandoori chicken rocked and the Balti lamb was great.

Lomo

The Mexicans eat chilli on everything. Even when it makes them suffer! Apparently there’s about 50 types of chilli, and you have to know when to use different kinds. I couldn’t really taste much difference between them, but everyone else seemed to have no trouble.

Cheap meals cost about 70 to 100 pesos, which is 4 or 5 quid. Tip is never included or suggested on the bill. You ideally leave about 15%. Water is not drinkable, but apparently not because there aren't enough purification plants but the piping system is so bad that it's not safe to drink water that's been through it.

But by far and away the best part of the food experience in Mexico was that lunch times are from 2 til 4pm, which I thought was the greatest thing ever. You really get a decent break in the day, although it does mean you need a really solid breakfast and lots of coffee in the morning. When you do get to 2pm though, you can really sit down and focus on lunch and socialising and take a proper break from the grindstone. Fantastic!

Drinking in Mexico is largely an Agave experience. Tequila, Pulche and Mezcal are all made from the Agave Cactus, but taste quite different. The shameful Tequilas we get in the UK are seriously put to shame by the good stuff, which is sipped out of a brandy glass and NOT knocked back. It is drunk with an accompaniment of spicy tomato juice and lemon. Mezcal is typically drunk alongside beer, which is either ‘clear’ or ‘dark’ (claro or obscuro) and comes in mid-sized mugs.

Tequila 

Mezcal (in the shot glass)

More common than beer though is Clamato, which is a bit like a spicy Bloody Mary, but includes clam juice and is mixed with beer and is apparently really good for hangovers. I tried it one afternoon and it worked like a dream. Talking of mixers, probably the only thing I really couldn’t get my head around was that when drinking spirit mixers like rum and coke, Mexicans usually mix coke with tonic water to reduce the sweetness, and also to reduce feeling like crap the next day. Imagine drinking really watery coke and you get the idea!

Clamato with Beer

Thursday is the day everyone goes drinking, and 5am finishes are pretty common. If you run a business in Mexico City, best keep things light on Fridays :)

On nights out, I started to get a better grasp of Spanish. Mexican Spanish is much easier than Spanish Spanish - there’s no lisping. It turns out that ‘bueno’ and ‘entonces’ have too many meanings to follow, Haha is spelt jaja, Que padre! is the Mexican way of saying ‘very cool’ and the distinguishing feature of Mexican Spanish is the use of diminutives; they use ‘–ita’ to indicate smallness… not just Ahora (now) or Poco (little) but Ahorita (really soon) or Poquito (really little), and Ahoritita (really really soon) or Poquitito!

And to end my Mexican adventures here’s my favourite Mexican phrase…

“Tu di rana, y yo Salto”, which translates as “You say frog, and I jump”. In other words, “I'm there for you!” Loved it. Will have to go back one day.

Of Gravatars and Charity Champs

It’s another beautiful balmy night in Sao Paolo, and I’m sitting out on the patio in my hostel, winding down after a long day of discussing concepts and issues and potential futures, followed by more birthday beers.  Two nights in a row. Fun, but tiring, because the 7 very conservative university kids in my room all keep waking up at about 6.30 – it makes no sense; they’re on holiday!!

Turns out Brazilians are proud about the openness of their culture in that anyone can be Brazilian, regardless of colour or background; but they lament the fact that there is an envy and revenge side aspect that isn’t so pleasant. Apparently everyone’s out for themselves and want to show each other up. I can’t confirm this because everyone I’ve met has been fantastic, but then I’m mostly meeting people involved in social change, so it’s a bit skewed.

Been learning all about Hybrid Value Chains and Ashoka’s Full Economic Citizenship, which is about trying to design and prove replicable models of symbiotic partnerships between private and social organisations in the areas of Housing, Health and Agriculture. Fascinating but complicated.

Also had a interesting conversation with Kevin Wong from Charity Champs, who is developing a platform to support micro-philanthropy using gravatars as part of a strategy to return social kudos back to people who get involved. If you don’t know what gravatars are go click the link :) As usual the conversation threw up a whole host of ideas in my head and I started to picture awesome opportunities to use virtual worlds like Wii World, which is probably going to be massive in the next 5 years. Very fun conversation, and hopefully I’ll be able to help with their long-term strategy in some way.

Finally, had some great advice from Neal from Shareable.net, around blogging in the moment. He had a great observation that trips like mine are part of a new culture that is emerging where contribution to the common good is the priority, and that appreciating diversity is essential to our ability to change as a people. What I’d add is that in understanding diversity we also understand how similar we all are underneath it all, and how connected we all are in the things that are important to us. And in that lies the recognition that we do not exist alone and that we are fundamentally responsible for each other, far beyond the reach of our own families and immediate societies.

On which inclusive note, here’s something very cool I came across – The Homeless World Cup. Check it out and be amazed!

Equilibriism

A new day in Sao Paolo and I still haven't found the key that gives you the little sign above the 'a' in Sao! I'm in the Ashoka office in Vila Madalena area, which is really nice and chilled out. I've only been here a couple of days and I already feel way more at home than I did in Rio. Sacrilege, considering that you're generally supposed to rave about Rio and use Sao Paolo as a transition point, but hey. We're all different.

I met someone called Daan Schraven last night who was talking about an interesting concept he's come up with called Equilibriism, which is all about finding balance, so I'm going to find out more about it over lunch. Meantime I've very kindly been given my own desk in the Ashoka office, and finally have a decent place to work. I arrived expecting to start from scratch, but Mônica de Roure who runs the team had already sent an email round to everyone telling them to expect me so amazingly it's all set up. I'm always a little surprised (happily so) that people actually make time for me.

The hostel I'm staying at is fantastic. It's called Vila Madalena. The guy who owns it is called Tulio and he's really passionate about the place, and it shows. He spent an hour filling me in about Sao Paolo and things to do! So unless someone offers me a place to stay with them, I'm sorted for the next couple of weeks.

Vila Madalena Hostel

For the moment though, today is going to be about trying to find some equilibrium between writing stuff up, learning about new things, sharing old practices with new people, and then 'happy hour' with the Ashoka team after work!

Pattern Recognition

Well more like pattern discovery... I'm still trying to figure out how to run this blog!! Trying to work out what's the right balance between sharing travelogues, knowledge and impressions. I thought I'd try and keep it as a mix between travelogue and knowledge sharing, but both types of post require a lot more time and effort than I actually have. In some ways it's also limiting because I'm not finding it easy to share impressions on the fly. So here's a third type of post... the random diary!

I'm now in São Paulo, after a week in Rio de Janeiro. A friend of a friend said Rio was like the San Francisco of Brazil in terms of the attitude and mindstate of residents, while São Paulo would have more of a New York feel. To a certain degree he was right. Just one day in São Paulo and it already feels more like city than bay area, and not just because Rio has a beach :)

Ipanema beach, Rio de Janeiro

I'm in a hotel just of Av Paulista, which apparently is a major area, but I haven't gotten out much. Decided to keep my head down and spend the day writing things up. I'm so behind on all the things I need to write up. Every day is a barrage of new and interesting information about social projects and issues and solutions, not to mention new and exciting sights and sounds and tastes.

I still haven't finished writing up my observations on Mexico, and then I've got Rio to share with you. On the social enterprise front I need to write about Hybrid Value Chains and Microfinance and Fair Trade vs Direct Selling and Renewable Energy and Rural Community Development and Agro Ecology... that's before I even get to editing the video interviews I've done and the million photos I've already taken. I probably need a week just to get it all up!

Anyway before I sign off, I just thought I'd share that it's good to be eating food that involves salad - really never thought I'd say that, although after Mexico I'm really missing hot salsas with everything; it's been raining regularly in Brazil as we approach the summer; I've seen my first big cockroach since I was a kid in India (go São Paulo!); and returning to hostel life and big dorms really hasn't been as much of a trauma as I'd imagined. If anything, it's gotten easier because at 32 I sleep more heavily than I used to at 25, when I last travelled around the world!

And talking of hostels, tomorrow it's back to dorms in one near the Ashoka office, which the Ashoka team is kindly letting me use as a base. I'm looking forward to seeing how similar or different things are at this end. Assuming all goes smoothly I should be knuckling down to churning out more useful stuff this week. Til then adios amigos...

Adventures in Mexico Part 3 – The City & Sights

You’d think I’d have run out of things to write about Mexico City after two posts, but no! The city was built on a lake bed, and today the only legacy of it can be found at Xochimilco which is supposed to be an amazing place to visit. Apparently you can get close via metro but then at the other end you have to use cabs, and I didn’t really feel comfortable with street cabs. Authorised taxis are called Sitio, but the street cabs are known to be shifty. Reasonable likelihood that the driver will rob you at gunpoint somewhere along the way! Wasn’t feeling like risking it, but if I’d found someone to go with, I would’ve loved to have gone there.

I did make it to the Piramides though, which are just outside the city at Teotihuacan. There’s two – Sun and Moon. The sides are shockingly steep, and utterly deceptive. You only realise when you start climbing, and it's worse when coming down. I was almost surprised no one had a terrible accident in the hours we were there! Definitely thought there was a need for better warnings or safety measures, but as my friends explained - Mexicans don’t treat each other like they’re idiots! If it looks unsafe and feels unsafe, people can make their own choices to proceed. Still, I was glad it didn’t start raining while we were on the pyramid. It looked like it would’ve been a nightmare trying to get down without fatally slipping!

 

The city is also prone to earthquakes, and all establishments have signs telling you what to do in case of earthquakes and fires. This makes it all the more interesting that buildings have intricate facades and balconies that look perfectly designed to decapitate or crush people in the event of even a slight tremor. Then again after the last one most of the buildings have been redesigned to cope with earthquakes, so no one looks in any hurry to relocate.

 

I’ve mentioned a few times how big the city is, but you really have to see the A to Z (streets map) to believe it. It has the tiniest text of any map I’ve ever seen, just so that it can fit in a normal sized book. You need a magnifying glass to see anything!

The houses are an eclectic mix of low rise buildings, and the city is very colourful. There are yellow, blue, red, pink and green houses that crowd the cityscape. The city is divided into districts and colonies (Colonias), many of which have long straight, tree lined avenues. There’s a lot to see with the parks, museums and old colonial areas. It doesn’t feel overcrowded, mostly because the streets aren’t rammed with people milling about. I also didn’t really see many non local tourists either, and the few foreigners I met all spoke excellent Spanish, leaving me feeling pretty shabby with my “no hablo español”!

Politically there is a lot of apathy. People are fed up with politicians, partly because of the corruption and partly because they don’t do anything about the Unions, which are hyper powerful. Unions can apparently go on strike even before businesses officially open. They simply block the area in front of businesses using flags, stopping all custom until they cough up. There’s no choice either as some of these Unions are actually run by councillors, so there's really nothing the business can do. Felipe Calderon (the President)however, is starting to break the power of the unions by recently closing down the country’s second largest electrical power distributor, Luz y Fuerza, a massive union driven electricity firm with about 40,000 employees. He consequently has had to step up security all around his residence!

Police apparently can't be trusted either. Corruption is rife. Police cars weirdly never switch their lights off even when they aren't chasing anything. Traffic police wave and blow whistles even though they're standing right underneath traffic lights, which work perfectly; and apparently only a traffic cop can give you a ticket. It needs a different cop to chase street hawkers. Hyper specialisation keeps bigger labour forces in play I guess!

Outside DF, much of the sprawl is made up with land appropriated by poor people who build on the hillsides, and once these accumulate to a certain organised size, they get recognised and receive formal services. I noticed that all these houses have black plastic water tanks on top of them, every single one of which seems to made by Rotoplast, who must be making a killing.

Inside most houses the most worrying thing was the plug points, pretty much all of which seemed to be falling apart! Curiously you can’t get electric kettles in Mexico. Coffee etc. is made in the microwave. TV guides are a little unconventional too, in that programme titles can be completely in Spanish even when the programme is shown in English, or in English when the programme is dubbed in Spanish. So it was always a bit of pot luck for me!

The city isn’t especially noisy, but the sound of cars is regularly punctuated by mobile street vendors sounding out their wares. It appears to be legal to use loudspeakers outside your store to advertise promotions. Noise pollution regardless. The guy who sells sweet potatoes has an insanely loud whistle, and the guys selling tamales on bicycles ingeniously have speakers to do their shouting for them. Everywhere you go you can hear the sounds of speakers blaring out “Sevenden ricos tacos oaxaquenos!”

On which happy note, I’ve got to run, but I’ll share a bit more about Mexican food and drink the next time I get to a computer...