America 2009 - 2010

Since September 2009 Im traveling in Mexico. Im planing to travel for 6 months and explore life of people in Mexico, USA, Guatemala and Cuba.
This time I will be traveling only by public transport and try to stay at local people homes using the contacts from Couchsurfing.org.
More Information about my Ecojourney in America can be found at my website: www.ecojourneys.info
You can see my videos at: www.youtube.com/ecojourneys
My photos at www.flickr.com/photos/standa
Or follow my journey at my Facebook or Twitter

Mazunte

I'm enjoing a nice beach and weather at Mexican pacific

Water in San Cristobal de las Casas

Coming to San Cristobal de las Casas i felt like in paradise. The city lies in 2000 m and has very nice climate all year around. It is surrounded by mountains and forests similar to those we have in Czech republic. The valley used to be a big lake and swamp. The spanish came here already in the early 16th century and started to build a city. The  city has small streets and old homes and nice architecture dominated by Santo Domingo church and the cathedral. A good weather and relatively inexpensive housing and food makes the city a favourite tourist destination for a short visit or as a base for exploring Chiapas. I felt very good here and I decided to stay longer to experience and understand more how sustainable the life is. 

It did not take me too long to find out that the city that  also has a big problems with water. In the last 20 years 50% of surrounding forests have been cut down for building more homes and selling the wood. This means that here is now much less water than before. I met one farmer who stared to plant trees in order to get more water to his land. Locals told me that in some parts of the city they have water shutting due to water scarcity. At the same time the water is still very cheap and many homes do not use water meters. Currently there is more than 200.000 people living in the city - valley and it is one of the fastest growing cities in Mexico. In 1975 there were only 25.000 inhabitants. Half of the city population are native indians who moved from the high lands of Chiapas. As most of the cities and villages in Mexico there is not any water treatment facility and all sewage is disposed directly to the two small rivers. I have visited the beautiful river spring which comes from the cave in the mountains and I have seen the polluted river (sewage) leaving the city. I have also seen the last remaining parts of the swamp (13 ha left) that still provides 60 % of city tap water. My friends showed me how this very unique ecosystem and source of water is being reclaimed in order to build more houses and there are plans to build a big petrol station next to the swamp. 

In the eighties the biggest mexican Coca Cola plant was build in the city and it is using the water from the richest aquifer under the national reserve to create the most popular mexican soft drink and sell bottled water. In 2004, the Coca Cola plant in San Cristóbal de las Casas used more than hundred million liters of water.

Mexicans are the biggest drinkers of Coca Cola in the world. It is hard to believe that the Coca Cola in stores is cheaper than bottled water. I see how popular this unhealthy drink is among the native indians. It has been more than 15 years when the tap water in the city became polluted and undrinkable. Since than the bottled water home delivery became a very good business for a dozen local companies. More than 200.000 litters of battled water from local springs is sold daily. This might be one of the reasons why the government officials are not taking any steps to protect the local water resources. It is sad to see that cities like San Cristobal de las Casas have the same problems as I have experienced in India - over population, water scarcity and pollution. It is difficult for me to see a good future of San Cristobal de las Casas unless more action is directed toward the protection of local environment.

The day of the death

Im Mexico and Central america the day of the death is a very important christian celebration. There are three days of celebration. People here believe that during these days the souls of the death people come back. They bring them food and their favorite things and eat the food on the graveyards with them. On Sunday I went to the Chamula village that is 10 km from San Cristobal. Here I visited a small cemetery. The graveyard very very simple - only a cross and pile of soil covered with flowers. It was interesting to see how the locals eat their food and drink a lot of very popular Coca Cola. The cemetery in San Cristobal de las Casas was very different. It looked like a small city. There were many big thumbs build as a small houses crowded next to each other. On Monday morning I went to see the Zinacantan cemetery in the mountains. The whole cemetery was covered by many flowers and people. The misty weather created a special atmosphere. There were no tourist. I was observing how they are siting on the graveyard and enjoying the feasts with their death relatives. Taking close photos was not very easy but I was quite lucky to get some good shots.

It was very nice sunny day so I was happy to take some photos of San Christobal and I enjoyed watching the sunset in front of the cathedral.

September 25 the Earths overshoot day

Im in San Christobal de las Casa in Chiapas in Mexico. It is a beautiful city in 2000 m surrounded by nature where a lot of native people live similar lifestyles as their Mayan ancestors lived here more than 2 thousand years ago. I was told that the main reason why the big Mayan civilization collapsed was that they have run out of recourses. It is exactly what our civilization is doing today, but globally.

Scientists tell us that since today (Sept. 26 2009) our global civilization is living on Earth credit.

In the year 2009 our global civilization will require the equivalent of 1.4 planets to support our lifestyles. Put another way, in less than 10 months, humanity will have used ecological services it takes 12 months for the Earth to regenerate.

Of course, we only have one Earth. The fact that we are using (or “spending” natural capital) faster than it can replenish is similar to having expenditures that continually exceed income. In planetary terms, the results of our ecological overspending are becoming more clear by the day. Climate change – a result of carbon being emitted faster than it can be reabsorbed by the forests and seas – is the most obvious and arguably pressing result. But there are others as well: shrinking forests, species loss, fisheries collapse and freshwater stress to name a few.

We currently maintain this overshoot by liquidating the planet’s natural resources. For example we can cut trees faster than they re-grow, and catch fish at a rate faster than they repopulate. While this can be done for a short while, overshoot ultimately leads to the depletion of resources on which our economy depends.

How can we live in balance with nature and use the available recourses ?

More info about the Foot print: www.footprintnetwork.org

Here is a link to my Fotprint youtube playlist

Mexico Independence day in Veracruz

It has been 199 years since Mexico started the independence movement that let to a victory over a Spanish.  It was nice to experience the celebration of Mexico's independence in Veracruz where Hernan Cortes landed in1519 and shortly after  gain control over Mexico capital. The celebration was quite peaceful and I enjoyed the Salsa music and dancing in the streets.

Tampico and Madera

The journey by a night bus to Tampico was comfortable. There were only 3 other people and the bus did not have any stops. It was a very different experience than my last bus travels in Nepal and in India. The very luxury first class bus from Monterrey to Tampico cost 390 pesos and lasted 7 hours. Fromthe bus station I took a taxi to Playa Miramar and went looking for some cheap accommodation near the beach. Beach and hotels looked pretty deserted and I was hoping that prices will be lower. In the hotel Miramar they wanted 860 pesos for single room. Close to the beach I found cheap accommodation - room with shower for 150 pesos . Owner's son ran the next door Internet café, and therefor I had free wireless connection in my room The beach was almost empty and the sea warm and so I could finally rest. I became friend with the son of the owner. His name is Ivan, he is 23 years and operates two Internet cafes. During a week he is teaching English and mathematics at primary school. His girlfriend has recently left to Atlanta. He processed a U.S. visa so that he could go to see her. Unfortunately, despite the fact that he has a job and is well secured he did not get the visa. They told him he must be employed longer. Well this is the "American freedom". Ivan's wish is to be loved and he does not see a very good future of Mexico. Close to the hotel where I lived is the biggest Mexican oil refinery. Looking at the burning towers, I felt almost at my home in Kralupy, but the smell was a bit stronger. It surprised me that Mexico is the fourth largest oil producer in the world. This is probably the main reason why Mexico's ecological footprint is 3.8 global hectares per 1 inhabitant (1.5 planets), although nearly half of the population is still considered by UN standards very poor. In the Internet cafe I met two Hungarian brother who are walking around the world. The have been walking for 2 years and they are planing to walk four more years. They are sleeping in a tent and every day they walk about 30 km. They passed through Europe, West Africa, USA and now they are heading from Mexico to Chile. Their journey can be monitored at http://worldwalk-peacetour.info. Ivan wanted to make me happy so he took me to the only "vegetarian" restaurant " in Tampico called Carrots ensaladas. They had different kinds of salads, but as it turned out, in my pasta was hidden ham. Being a vegetarian in Mexico would not be so simple as I thought. On the way back we stopped at the lake where I could see many crocodiles, but apparently people do not get eat too often. On Sunday afternoon, Eliza came from Monterrey and I was glad to have my interpreter again. My communication in Spanish is still nearly zero, and not too many people speak English. Close to the hotel we found small restaurant, where they had good tortillas with cheese and rice. The next day they even made some cooked vegetables. On Monday Eliza went back to Monterrey, and I took the night bus to Verecruz to celebrate the 199 years, Mexico's independence.

WSA 2009 in Monterrey - Mexico

From September 2nd to 6th I have been in Monterrey Mexico, where I have presented videos of the worlds best multimedia projects. I have spend more than one month producing and editing the winning projects.  It was very nice to meet all pro producers from all over the world. I have been very inspired by the World Summit Youth Award Winners (WSYA) especially seeing how much the young people care about our planet.

We stayed in the Holiday Inn in the Fududora park. It used to be a big steel factory and some of the metal structures have been kept and used as museums and conference centers. The place was quite strange and I did not feel at all that Im in Mexico. Locals told me that Monterrey is the most american city in Mexico and I really felt like in California. The rainy period started so it was cloudy and partially rainy so it was not possible to see the surrounding high mountains.

After the conference I have stayed in a níce hostel in downtown with two WSYA winners - Andreas from Austria and Denis from Latvia. I met there Eliza (Eliska) - Slovak / Austrian girl who has been teaching English in Monterrey. Sicne none of us spoke Spanish it was very good to have a local guide. Especially for me it was very difficult to find and order some vegetarian food. All restaurants have only meet and the only no meet think I could get were casadias - tortillas with cheese. It was strange for me that I can not find any vegetarian burritos in Mexico or at least get some beens and rice. The beens are always mixed with meat. But the fruits especially my favorite mangos are very cheap so I will not have to starve to death. 

Eliska took as for a hike to a national park Chipinque in the mountains. We were trying to find some waterfall, but before we could find it it started to ran so there was no need to look for the falling water. On Wednesday I took the overnight bus from Monterrey to Tampico. The bus cost 398 pesos and it was quite comfortable. I was a bit surprised that there were no bus stops and that only 3 people travelled with me. It took 7 hours to get to Tampico.