Tuesday Day 2... 6-13-06
Day 2 in Oaxaca and loving it! Today I woke up around 8 am and ate breakfast at Marco Polo. I was pleased to see they had pancakes on the menu. I had to order them! They were delicious and the coffee was great! Never ending cups of coffee and a stack of fluffy pancakes, what a way to start the morning!

Today our agenda was to meet in the hotel lobby at 10 am and we were going to visit the university. We all managed to meet on time too! Karen was proud of us! She had already warned us if we were late she was going to take care of us. Karen is sweet and I would hate to see her mad!

Anna Marie met us at the hotel and she was our guide for the day. She is a graduate and a teacher at the Instituto Tecnologico de Oaxaca. Anna Marie received an degree in Engineering. In order for us to get to the university we had to take a local bus. I was anxious to ride the bus. The buses are nothing like the Via buses we have here. It was a bumpy ride and there was no AC. Behind the bus driver was a picture of the Virgin Mary. However, I can't complain because the bus fare is really reasonable. So our bus ride was about 10-15 minutes and we had to walk about a block to get to the university. By this time I was already use to all the walking. Not like back home where you can just hop in your car and take off. But I enjoyed walking, the weather is pleasant and it is nice to see the city and pass by all the shops.

When we arrived on campus Anna Maria led us to a small conference room where we were greeted by the director of the university and a teacher. They gave us some background information about the school. The university is state funded and estimate tuition costs about $400 per year. Student population is 4500 this semester. Their goal is to have 5000 registered. This year 2000 students applied to the university but only 1000 got accepted. The school would love to accept all students but the facility does not have the resources to have all of them there at the same time. There is no space. Currently they are working on improving the curriculum. It is the biggest university in the city. The offer academics, culture, and sports. Right now they have 530 employees. The success rate this past semester was 54%. That is really good! The ratio of women to men who attend the university are 60/40. YEA LADIES! Now there are more opportunites for women so they want to get an education.
After our very informative meeting with the staff, Anna Marie took us through campus to another room. We met with Dr. Pedro Maldonaldo Cruz. He has a dr. degree in economics and attended the University of Cuba. Dr. Cruz has written and published many books. Also, he teaches at the graduate levels which is the highest level in Oaxaca. Dr. Cruz provided us with tons of information about the life conditions in Mexico. Oaxaca, Guerrero, and Chapas is at the lowest in economic development and the poorest in the country. Many of Oaxaca's problems are due to their geography. In 2003 employement rates went down to 3.7 %. Dr. Cruz analyzes 570 counties in Mexico.
Life Condition Concerns and Issues:
* houses with services
* clean water and plumbing
* many of the houses still have dirt floors and only 2 rooms
* education & employment
* ages 6-14 are not in school
* ages 15 and older are illiterate
* health services
* there is a high infertility rate due to the lack of medical attention
* other basic needs

Solutions to make it better:
1. better communication
2. education (values and morals)
3. skilled workers and training
4. form business network

Oaxaca continues to hold strong cultural values and remain confident. They have a lot of pride and they believe it will get better. Teachers, students, and the community continue to be optimistic and work together to build a business and social network. The goal is to establish an active society rather than an inactive.