Acuerdate de Acapulco... Remember Acapulco...


Although I decided it at the very last minute, today I'm heading to Acapulco to spend new year's eve. I'm priviledged I know it and I thank God for it :)
This city has been in my mind for so many years, and I know is the dream of my mom, my cousin ofelia and many more to visit this city, I can't believe that it is actually happening, and I promisse to enjoy this trip on your behalf! :)
Hope you celebrate this new year in peace and filled with happiness wherever you are. God bless you and happy new year!!



(pics stolen from Filipe's post) soon my own will come!

Posadas: The mexican way to prepare for xmas!

One of the main traditional events that occur in december here in Mexico is the Posadas. This is something similar to what we do in Colombia (the novenas), as it is an event that takes place everyday since the 16th of december (exactly 9 days before xmas).

Posadas, recall the journey that Jose and Maria did in order to find a place to give birth to Jesus, knocking every possible door to spend the night, they couldn't find any place until some sheepers gave them refuge.

And as religious as it can be, Posadas are actually very fun; basically families, friends and neighbors get together in a house, and traditional food are served ( mexican tamales), and when everybody has arrived they divide in two groups to start the act, one group stays inside the house representing the owners of the house and the other group goes outside to represent jose and maria, they sing some songs (canticos) which main versus says:

"En nombre del cielo os pido posada, pues no puede andar mi esposa amada". In the name of Heaven, I ask thou shelter, since my lovely wife can not walk anymore"

the owners of the house deny shelter for a while (singing other versus) until they finally realize who they are and open the door singing:

"Entren santos peregrinos, peregrinos,reciban este rincón no de esta pobre morada sino de mi corazón". Come in saint peregrines, and accept this corner, not of this poor house, but from my heart.

(if you want to know the complete lyrics click here)

After this ritual, the piñata game starts, it consists of a shaped balloon filled with candies or fruits. In order to open it someone has to blind his/her eyes and try to break the balloon, it usually takes several trials before someone can actually break it and then the party starts (yes alcohol is part of the party!!)

My second posada in Mexico was organized by the bank I work for, as part of their CSR activities, they did an alliance with a foundation and sponsor a posada in a foundation for children in risk (abandonned, living with poor families, etc), it is basically a school run by nuns where children live during the week where they recieve education based in moral/religious principles.

So as one of the volunteers from the bank I went there to share some love with these georgeus kids, playing and teaching them a bit about Colombia. Besides playing with piñatas, they recieved some gifts from the bank and were offer a nice lunch!

Although I enjoyed a lot the day, I still think that this kind of activities don't offer a sustainable solution to the issue, as after this day the lives of these children will go back to the "normal" state, I strongly believe that more engagement is needed to actually improve these kids life, and I definetely hope that the bank assumes education (or any relevant topic) as an issue to be tackled and implements a planed and structured way to be a corporate citizen.

Inocents day (our version of April's fool)

In Colombia, and also Mexico, Spain and some other latinamerican countries (spanish speaking), today 28th of december is celebrated the Inocents day, a day where all jokes and pranks are allowed!!!

The way we celebrate it in Colombia, is by making jokes (usually very soft ones) to our family or friends, also the media plays a key role today, as they prepare false news (in newspapers or tv) making fun of celebrities, or making fun of themselves (like a reporter trying to present something and a dog coming to bite him, or the mistakes they do when they are presenting or interviewing someone), so for a country where bad news are the bread of each day, the 28th of december is the day we are waiting the whole year to just smile while seeing the news.

The origins of this day has a lot to do with christian religion, since this day is made to remember the children that were killed by Herodes, so he could get rid of the just born Mesias, Jesus. Although some people say they were thousand of children, some studies reveal that at that time only 800 people lived in Belen, and there were no more than 20 new births by year, so they calculated that taking into account the mortality rate of children under 2 years old, no more than 10 babies were killed, still it is a strong reason to regret their dead.

Well, it is just interesting for me to realize that this humorous celebration is actually based in a very tragic story.

Anyways, if you are in Colombia, Mexico, Chile, Argentina or Spain.. be aware, don't belive in everything you are told (especially surprising news), and don't lend anything to anyone!!! or you might be suprised with the phrase:

"Inocente palomita que te dejaste engañar, sabiendo que en este día nada se puede prestar".
"Inocent peageon who was fooled, knowing that in this day anything can be lent"

Have a fun day!

Becoming a goddess

My first trip in Mexico took me to Teotihuacan, the largest city in the Americas (by the time it was created, hundreds of years ago!)
The name means in Nahuatl: "place of those who have the road of the gods", or according to other versions "the place where men (or women in my case) became god". This name was given by the Mexicas (Aztecas) who discovered the city.
No one knows when it was created (But they suppose it was by the 800s BC), nor its original name, and neither why this city was abandoned, but what is known is that it is the oldest and most majestous pre-hispanic city.
The biggest attractions in Teotihuacan are the "pyramid of the sun" and "pyramid of the moon" which were the center for worshiping gods at that time. About 250 stairs took us (Hanna my czech roomate, and Filipe) to the top of the sun, and although we got there without breath we enjoyed the view and the energy that this place gives you.

After catching the breath again we went down and got ready to start our new mission, going to the moon!!

Although is not as high as the sun, the moon has an amazing view of the Avenue of the Dead, named like that by the Aztecas as they thought that the platforms located there were tombs, but now it is known that they were ceremonial platforms instead.

However, my non-existent athletic condition, or simply laziness stop me from going to the top of the moon; I was already happy making it to the sun, so i decided to stay in the middle of the way contemplating the view and reflecting about the sacrifices humans have done since ever to reach salvation.

It was a fun trip, thanks to Gerardo and Lidia, mexican friends, who were amazing hosts and taugh us a lot about Mexico's history!

Learn more about Teotihuacan, in english or spanish

Crossing paths...
Most of you might have faced a situation when you say good bye to one great friend keeping the hope that God or life put that person in your path again... well, Mexico seems to be a country where I will see that happening.
Some very special "reencuentros" have occured, and knowing that many more are about to come, makes me very very happy, here some of them:
Elizabeth Munive, "lizmy", 5 years ago she came here as a trainee from my LC (uninorte) at the time I was LCVP X, well she not only had an amazing traineeship, but also got a scholarship and did her masters in one of the best universities in Mexico, she just got her mexican citizenship and will be staying a long period here in DF.
Jonathan Cardoso, akas "Jona", this mexican charro was part of my OC at AXLDS 2002 (in Cartagena, Colombia), we met couple of times more at international conferences, and finally I see him again, now he is a responsible married man, with an cute argentinean wife and a successful and entrepreneur business man. I even stayed with them during my first days in DF, and had the chance to catch up with them!

Carlos Castillo, "the chamo", although he is not living here I am happy to know that I will be meeting him often here thanks to his job. This was the first of many to come encounters, that will make our friendship bigger and bigger!!!
Filipe Balbi, my loved Filipe, we met in Brazil two 1/2 years back and since then we became very close, he did not only came to pick me at the airport when I arrived here but he has been part of almost every special moment I had had in DF.


I am looking forward to have more shots of "reencuentros", and I hope some of you feel jealous of this people and decide to come and visit me too!!!! :)

first night out

DSC03026
Originally uploaded by johy_81.

During my first weekend, Ana Paulina (my AIESEC buddy) and David (trainee at ABN) took me to San Angel a very nice neighborhood with lots of bars and antros (as they call the discos here).
It was not a typical night, we went to a kind of arabian bar, with this thingy that some people call Hookah, nargile(h), arguile(h), hubble bubble, water-pipe, or even shisha... I enjoyed a non-acolholic night with a drink that had the name of my zodiac sign, with strawberries, banana, and other fruits... if you think this in not unusual well let me tell you something, in this bar 90% of the guys were actually HOT!! and yes, it was still mexico!! :)
hehehehee, well the thing is that no matter how adorable they can be, most of mexican guys don't fit the standards of hot guys (well at least the ones defined by myself, hehe), unless we are talking about some singers or actors that I actually think are chosen from the hospital bed were they are born and directly taken to TELEVISA (the greatest tv broadcast in mexico) or to Universal Music/Sony...
So ladies, it is not true that you can't find the hot love of your life here, so if you come be happy I know exactly where to take you!! :)

ABN building, originally uploaded by johy_81.

After 5 months of waiting I got my visa to work at ABN-AMRO bank (dutch bank), as a business Support, for an area called Transaction Banking, it might sound fancy but what I actually do is being the vicepresident assistant, it is a cool position since I have the opportunity to learn a lot from banking and from my boss (who happens to be Brazilian!) doing a mix of operative and strategic work.

I work in one of the tallest building in the area, exactly in the 23rd floor, from where I have an amazing view of the city, which is reaaaally big almost endless, (comments about the city will come after).

There are three other AIESEC trainees working in the bank, david from USA, Melanie from Germany and Noemi from Venezuela, but we are not the only trainees in the building, in floor 17th and 18th Mc Graw Hill have their headquarters and about 4 AIESEC trainees are working there, so we could say that AIESEC is slowly taking the building :)

The area where the bank is located is called Santa Fe, and it is a brand new neighborhood in DF, it is very fancy and lots of multinationals and big national companies are located here, so the most expensive stores, restaurants, etc., are sorrounding the area, but what it is ironic is that the place used to be a garbage deposit few years back, which have let the annoying legacy of a very bad smell... so it this case, money sucks!

MEXICALAND... MEXICO... MEJICO... my new home

well..It doesn't feel like home yet, but it is a fact that I will be living here for one year so I have to syncronize my mind and be open to feel it like home. I got here 12 days ago, and soon I realized that this will be such a different and open-eyed experience, that for the first time maybe I feel like I really need some back up, angels, friend and everything that God can send me to give me some light. Mexicaland, tierra de Mexicas, on behalf of previous civilizations who habited here centuries ago, and who built the basis of this amazing culture, amazing country... Mexicaland, a new chapter just begins!

new beginning

Teotihuacán 096, originally uploaded by johy_81.

hello all,
due to technical issues with my blog, I will be posting my entries about mexico and this new year here in this blog, my second part of life in motion, be welcomed!