This work week wasn’t too exciting. Claudia and I worked together on our project as usual, but I also was able to attend a radio interview that ProDesarrollo was having which was sort of cool and a workshop.
ProDesarrollo is only 10 years old and is having more now attracting more publicity than in previous years. During the radio interviews, PDs members, Mexican representatives from FINCA and Freedom from Hunger (organizations that work with SEEP in the States as well) were also involved. Microfinance is widely known in Mexico b/c more people take advantage of the services here. I think a lot of the work ProDesarrollo is doing in the sector is going to gain more attention, so hopefully they can take advantage and teach the general population more about how it’s supposed to function and the other services that they can take advantage of when taking out microloans.
I was also able to attend a workshop that PD was organizing on Codes of Ethics for MFIs. Although many MFIs and MF Networks have a Code of Ethics, PD is one of the first networks to try to regulate it—meaning hold people to their code. Twenty years ago microfinance started out with a social mission, which was to alleviate poverty. When it was an experiment people were not making money off of it and most MFIs could not break even with their MFIs, relying heavily on donors and grants. However, the field of MF has advanced to a point that banks are able to become “for profit” institutions and IPOs, so the question now is what happens to “the mission?” The Codes being developed are supposed to be a way to protect poor people; in other words the MFIs can make money off of the poor, but shouldn’t and should only charge interest rates that keep the institution afloat and sustainable. Anyway…it was an interesting workshop and although I had a difficult time with the Spanish MF jargon, it was well worth the time spent.
Saturday I went to el Palacio de Chapultepec and the Anthropology Museum. The Palacio is in a park called “el Bosque Chapultepec” which is a place for families to go out, buy things, take boat rides, etc. I walked around most of the day and just enjoyed the people watching. No sketchy people came up to me, so I was happy =)
The Museum was pretty amazing, with artifacts and information about all the different indigenous tribes in Mexico and the time periods they lived in. It was ENORMOUS! I couldn’t read everything or even visit all the rooms on both floors. But it was cool to see all the artifacts—of all the museums I’ve seen, this was lo más “padre” of all of them (“padre” is Mexican slang for “cool”). This museum and Bellas Artes were the few museums that compared to the Smithsonian museums in DC.
Sunday I went to see the pyramids in Teotihuacan: City of the Gods. This was by far the most amazing thing I’ve seen in MX so far. It was about an hour outside of the city and in a very rural area. I went with Claudia, Perla, and Valeriano and we climbed both the Sun and Moon pyramids. Needless to say, my legs are killing me today. The pyramids date back to 400 BC! There were various cultures that lived around them throughout time and unlike el Templo Mayor in Mexico City, they were not destroyed or built over when the Spanish came.
After much climbing, we went to a restaurant near the site that was inside a cave. It was beautifully decorated with candles and brightly colored table clothes. There was also a mariachi band that you could pay to play a song for you…someone was paying them quite a bit b/c they played for almost our entire lunch. It was a very romantic spot. I also wanted to steal the napkins b/c they were so cute—hopefully they sell napkins like that at the market near my work! I’m not usually a fan of fluorescent orange and yellow, but it was very striking.
Next, we passed through a market in MX city that had hundreds of vendors in little kiosks selling everything you could think of (mostly fake brands of American clothing). Valeriano has a skater shop set up there, so we went to visit and see what else was around. It was packed, hot, and busy, so after about 15 minutes I lost interest. However, that’s how most of this city is (packed full of people, hot, and busy).
I enjoyed hanging out with my co-workers though and also the car ride, which allowed me to see the areas outside of the city. Not everything in Mexico is pretty, but I think it’s good to have a holistic perspective on the place you’re visiting. Not that I think Mexico City is beautiful, but there are parts of it that are.
Well, that all for this week. Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment