Today marks exactly 2 weeks since I arrived in Mexico City. It is my first time ever to this part of the world, and I must say that I am loving every bit of it ! 

Week 1 

After arriving on the night of Saturday the 6th, it did not take me any significant readjustment of the system to get comfortable with the change in time zone thanks to my daily practice of yoga. I stayed the first night in a fancy hotel in the heart of the city and moved into our also very fancy airbnb the next afternoon. Over the course of the first week, I had the joy of getting to meet and spend time with all my fellow scholars from different parts of the world. Being the only man in this cohort never seemed to be a highlight and I loved that everyone here genuinely had that mysteriously uniform quality every Laidlaw Scholar I have ever met possesses, of being super open to life and willing to learn. Getting to know many of them deeply reinforced for me the lesson that life is absolutely different in different geographical and cultural contexts. 

As for activities, we got stuck in right away ! Over Week 1, our MakeSense coordinators, Triana and Nuri (who are two incredibly supportive and caring individuals :) introduced us to the first steps of design thinking. What I loved about these sessions at our working space (called Impact Hub) was that the whole design thinking process was conveyed to us not generically (as many of us may have come across in the past given its popularity), but was adapted to communicate its application to our context which was the mobilisation of a volunteer base towards achieving a set target aimed at social & environmental good. This was new and very insightful. During the week, we also had the opportunity to meet the head of our organisation in person for the first time. Macarena (Maca) is the General Director of IRRI Mexico, a non-profit organisation working to promote Food, Energy, and Water security among indigenous and rural households across Mexico. Our objective is to work with IRRI to deliver an event on 2nd August (a deadline far earlier than that of most scholars with other orgs) where we invite people from across sectors including Government, civil society, academia, and media, to showcase the work of IRRI and facilitate networking such that many of these individuals go on to become collaborators and potentially donor in the future. Given our time crunch, we got started right away with a brainstorming session and came up with some really interesting themes and ideas. 

On the Thursday of Week 1, we set out on an Impact tour to Iztapalapa, one of the most economically backward parts of Mexico City. We spent the day visiting different "Utopias", which are centers of recreation conceived and executed by the local government with the objective of supporting the wellbeing of rural communities. These Utopias work very very well. We could see first-hand the impact this region-wide project had on the people living there. I was also extremely glad to note that the local government gave priority to the nurturing of indigenous culture and knowledge, and that things like traditional medicine were taught to little children at some of these Utopias. We then took the cable car, which unlike most cable car systems across the world was actually a commonly used and affordable form of public transit for the Mexican people, as opposed to being an overpriced tourist attraction. From the cable car we saw the roofs of most houses beautifully painted and we learnt that many of these rooftop paintings were commissioned by the government to support local artists. It was wonderful.

At the very end of the week on Friday, MakeSense had organised a cultural fair at Impact Hub. The idea was to invite all the volunteers that had signed up to work with us scholars to come and learn more about the specifics of each project so that they could choose. Alongside this, the scholars had to set up a stall representing their country and engage the volunteers in a way of our choice. Mallika (a fellow Indian scholar from Leeds) and I had a lot of fun speaking to all the volunteers that visited the Indian stall, and I had such a fulfilling experience preparing and serving Vermicilli payasam, a traditional south Indian dessert I had made for the tens of volunteers and my fellow scholars. The event was a success, and we all had the chance to meet and interact with many talented volunteers that had chosen to devote their time to such a meaningful cause.

That weekend was pretty chill. I was happy to have met up with fellow Isha meditators in Mexico City, and we went our for Indian food. I also bought a whopping shop of Indian spices, dals, and oils so I could cook up a storm at will back in the airbnb :) Concluded with a visit to Socalo, the downtown of CDMX.