Module 3

Some of the problems faced in the Mayan society today are the revolts that keep happening to push out their culture. In December of '97 45 unarmed women and children were gunned down by a group of people from the Acteal village. Also in the 80's the Mayans of Guatemala were in the middle of a feud between the government and leftist guerrillas. The guerrillas demanded certain supplies and shelter from them which in return a massive amount of Mayans found themselves murdered. These acts of violence just go to show how disrespected and taken advantage these peoples are and shows more racism that is still alive today. Some Mayan men are unwilling to wear the traditional weaving that are so much a part of their culture because they are afraid of showing their Mayan heritage.

Another problem faced by the Mayan culture is the lack of communication to outsiders, particularly with people they do business with. A representative from a company that buys coffee from them talks of how difficult it is to do business with them because they have no telephones. The telephone companies refuse to build there because of its once being a place of conflict.

These problems faced by the Mayans today just goes to show how the treatment of natives is unruly and unjust. It is very sad to me to hear about this in modern society, and I can only hope that Mayan life can get better at some point. I guess people will continue to think that taking advantage of smaller populations is okay. This is very baffling to me being from such a large mixed cultural country. We still face our own problems in this country, but on a smaller scale and not so devastating as to just demand things from smaller subcultures by threatening them with such brutal force. 

Module 1

I personally don't have much experience with any of these places directly. I did visit Puerto Vallarta when I was in fourth grade, but unfortunately did not get to have much experience with the culture. I mostly did silly tourist things and stayed at the resort. I do remeber going to an island off the coast a little and did get to do some fun stuff like kayaking and snorkeling, and remember the water being amazing. I also remember going to some beaches that were very dirty and unappealing, this probably caused by the massive amounts of tourists that migrate every summer. Which is sad because it seems foreigners are still abusing the land.

When I think of any of these countries I unfortunately think of the poverty that is there. But I also think of how strong family values are and how these cultures do stick together through all the devastation, corruption, and poverty that surrounds them on a daily basis. I also admire the strong culturual beliefs these people have and stick to what has been around for centuries. The art is beautiful and shows strong ties to the imediate culture, something modern America lacks. All we have is ipods and things that distract us from the beauty of life, love, and culture that has been lost through our history of technology and trying to live the "American Dream". The last thing I think of is definately the food! I know we have variations of this in our culture, but when you find that "hole in the wall" mexican place it's nice to be able to get some of the authenticity from those countries. Being from Southern California and spending a lot of time in San Diego these places are a little easier to find and is always fun to go on small day trips to find these places and experience that culture through food.