Traveling to Huamustita

Back into the swing of things here in Guadalajara. Yesterday we headed up to Cerro del Cuatro to meet with the Cooperativa artisan group. Josh put together the photos above of me showing them the design for the Cooperativa website. Many of them have not ever viewed a web page, let alone used a computer. It was interesting to hear Danielle describe to them about how anyone in the world will be able to see their faces and their work.
Starting on Sunday I will be away from my blog for about a week. Josh and I will be traveling with a Huichol man and his daughter back to their pueblo, which is north of here in the Sierra Mountains. The man came to Guadalajara with his 3-year-old daughter, thinking that his wife would soon join him with their infant daughter (details on why they traveled separately are fuzzy). The infant has a problem with fluid in her head; apparently it is so swollen that she cannot hold it up. Because there are no hospitals close to them, the mother was coming to seek medical treatment here. The bus ride is nine hours, despite the fact that their pueblo is in Jalisco (the same state that Guadalajara is in). For some reason, the wife did not show up with the infant daughter, and because the husband has no way to contact his wife, he is traveling back to his pueblo. Josh wants to cover this, as it is an example of why life is so hard for the indigenous, and why so many travel/ move into cities and leave their "village lives." We will not only take the nine hour bus ride, but then have to hike 12 KM through the mountains to get to the pueblo. I just cannot imagine the mother hiking this distance with her infant. Or the fact that we will walk with the father and his 3-year-old daughter over that same route. I am trying to imagine my 3-year-old nephews having to do the same! Apparently the father had to make this same trip at the beginning of the summer when his 3-year-old daughter tipped a pot of boiling water over herself.
Another challenge for Josh and I will be that the majority of people in Huamustita will be speaking Huichol, a language that we obviously are not familiar with. Fortunately, the father speaks Spanish, so we will be able to communicate through that means.
I will try to post another entry before we leave on Sunday!

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