Wednesday 17th and Thursday 18th - UNAM

Ready to start promoting, Steve, Roger and I decided to spend the next couple of days in UNAM. UNAM is the largest Spanish university in the world.
This university has its own highway circuit, its own inner university transport system which is free of charge for anyone doing any business at the university, a natural reserve, a stadium, a huge five story library and
over 150.000 students attending classes every day.
Remember me saying this city was big? Some students take three hours to get to class on public transit and three hours to go back home.

We met some amazing people at UNAM, but we only got one team out of our three-days of promotion on this huge campus. We planned this race for a long weekend (el Dia de los Muertos) or the Day of the Dead. As a result, there were numerous other university events already planned for the same weekend, and many potential rafters already had plans.

Wednesday, October 16 - Getting Lost

This week we needed to get the posters and flyers ready. Getting to the printer was difficult, expensive and time consuming. Half a day would go by just for that one errand.
We got lost. We got lost every day. The line most likely to be heard from our car was, “Where are we?”

On the way to the printer, we had our first encounter with the Mexican Law. We had been warned about the Mexican police. In fact, we had been told that the only people who were going to cause problems for us in Mexico City were the police. This seemed to be the day for it.

Traffic was heavy and we were not moving much, so I decided to film the madness, sitting out the window of the passenger seat. After about a minute, we started moving slowly towards the intersection where a cop was trying to direct traffic.
He was waving at us to pass when he realized that he could get money out of this situation. He stopped us to list our infractions: sitting out the window in moving traffic, not wearing a seat belt, and passing the pedestrian crossing (that he was telling us to pass).

In the past, I have been able to talk my way out of sticky scenarios like this one. Being the only person in our group that spoke Spanish, I pulled myself out of the car and went to try and talk our way out of the predicament. The officer threatened to tow our car because of our “three infractions”. The officers had an old uniform with buttons that were ready to be popped right off by his belly, and he had the mandatory Mexican mustache. He carried the conversation smoothly, attempting to get a deal, “una mordida” (a bite). He was as corrupted as they come. $400 pesos ($40usd) later he gave us our papers back and we drove off.

We got to the printer, located in one of the city’s sketchy barrios. As we waited for the printing, we had the opportunity to talk to some kids who were playing street soccer. We started to play soccer with them, these kids who have very few resources, and rarely get the chance to kick a ball around with others. We realized that these kids don’t get much attention from their parents because they work 12 hour shifts and spend at least two hours on public transit to get to work. By devoting our attention to the kids, the love that we received was unconditional. We had nothing to offer but time, and in this case, time was enough. These kids were so important to us, and we let them know. They were the only kids that we were able to spend time with in Mexico City.




We also had a pretty cool car that any kid dreams of having. These kids signed the car and drew on it, then jumped on it. We figured as long as they were having fun, we weren’t worried about the car getting scratched up. We finally got the posters and flyers and got out of there right in time for evening rush hour. That day I think it took more than two hours to get to the other side of the city, going home would take longer than from Vancouver to Hope.

Tuesday, October 15

On Monday we moved to our home for the next few weeks, Imagina Un Mundo School in Satelite, a Northern suburb of the city.


This city is bigger than you think. I’m sure you are thinking “really big”…but think again. It takes one and a half hours to get anywhere. There are five lane highways to go into the city, but it doesn’t matter; they would be five lanes of massive traffic jams and aggressive driving skills. I don’t use the word aggressive lightly. Every one is in a rush, but no one is going anywhere. They love blowing their horns, primarily to release road rage.You wouldn’t even be able to fit a soccer ball between cars, changing lanes is a threat to your life. Indicating signals don’t exist; it’s survival of the fastest and the bravest.

Imagina Un Mundo School is an amazing place. It’s an old colonial house protected by a four meter wall, with a rustic wood gate. We were treated like VIP; we slept in the store room with blankets and a huge number of mats. This was great until the temperatures dropped. Who knew Mexico City can be so cold. The altitude of 2400m may have had something to do with it.

Bienvenidos a Mexico

After almost a year of planning we are leaving Vancouver, Canada in our 87 VW bio diesel (veggie oil) towards Mexico City. We are going to go to different universities in the largest city in the world to promote the first University river race on the Papagayo River. The Papagayo River is three hours southwest of Mexico City and one hour east of Acapulco, surrounded by jungle and mountains. This river is one of the cleanest in Mexico because there are not many communities that live in the dense mountains. This also makes this river and its valley’s ecosystem unique.

After six and a half days of driving we arrive to Mexico City, exhausted, dirty and smelly. We can’t wait to shower. This means no more driving for at least a day.
We arrived on a Friday with our back suspension broken, so our first stop was the mechanic. If you are driving a VW in Mexico you are in luck. It’s Volkswagen paradise.



We had the weekend to rest and to plan the next couple of weeks. We met up with Alex and Fabiola, the owners of Imagina Un Mundo School and Rafting company, our partners for the Papagayo River Race. We knew the next few weeks were going to be busy, but we had no idea what we were about to encounter.

Success!

The river race on the Papagayo River (Carrera Papagayo) was a huge success!
Eight teams participated in the race, creating a great community of activism and enthusiasm.
We want to thank everyone who came out, either as a volunteer or a participant. The event would not have been the same without you.

We hope to hold this race again next year, as those who attended enjoyed the event and want to bring it back. The group did lots to raise awareness around the PPP and the damming of the Papagayo. An activist demonstration was organized on a bridge that crosses the river.

Check out this picture. These are the leaders of our sustainable future.


"Que Los Rios Del Mundo Fluyan Libres"
"That The Rivers Of The World Flow Free"

More pictures and stories from the race will be posted here soon.

Free Flowing Rivers is now working to raise funds for our 2008 Road Trip across North and South America. We will be promoting awareness of rivers in danger, creating a documentary on these rivers that may be lost forever. Along the course of the road trip, we will be holding more races, and starting the creation of outdoor community centers.

To help us in this endeavor, please go to www.givemeaning.com/project/FreeFlow
and donate whatever you can! Every small amount helps, and your contribution is greatly appreciated.

Hasta pronto,

Prepping for Carrera Papagayo

Promotions were finished up yesterday.
At the moment we have 8 teams, which we are pretty happy with since it is our first year in Mexico. We know that next year's race is going to be much bigger as word gets around and we have more time to promote. A lot of people have said they would love to hold more than one race a year.

Having eight boats out on the river is considered a huge day for this rafting company. We’re providing a lot of marketing for them. It’s nothing like the big Lytton rafting companies, the profits are much smaller here, so everyone involved is excited.

After having such big parties in Vancouver, we’re looking forward to the smaller party being held after this race. It will give us more time on the water, more time to get to know people, and more time for presentations.

One of the lawyers representing the hydroelectric project is coming
to do a presentation, and we also have a local activist coming to speak about the river. We will be doing a Free Flowing Rivers project presentation for the students to let them know more about what we are trying to accomplish, and how they can get involved.

Some of the things we have done so far:

• Taught some local kids how to get their kayak roll in the swimming pool at the rafting base
• Planned a hike to a high jungle location so people can see the area that is going to be flooded.

We will be offering kayak rolling classes on the weekend, and are planning an activist photo on the bridge over the Papagayo river.

There will be a lot more going on here in terms of creating awareness about the rivers being dammed. We are really getting the community involved, and have great opportunities to work with the kids and teach them about the river.

Let it be a smaller event. We are ready for the first race here in Mexico.

On a mission in Mexico

During these past three weeks we went to over seven universities in three different cities. We have teams coming from two cities.

Approaching universities is a lot more difficult here, people don't trust anyone (especially in Mexico City). You have to leave your ID at the front desk before you can enter the premises, and you can only enter if you have a prior appointment.

We did large presentations in two of the universities where I got hold of a microphone and we drove the VW to the most central place on the campus. It worked out perfectly: not only are you talking about a race, you are also talking about a dam being built in their country, and all the social and political controversy that surrounds it. So many students came up and were saying thank you, thank you for doing something. That alone keeps me going.

One of the things that Roger and I have been talking about, is how being on the road will motivate anyone to keep going with this mission and to do what it takes to help the kids and the environment.

We are changing lives, while changing our own.

We played soccer in a hood in Mexico City with the kids one day and they loved it and we loved it. We came back two weeks later and it was probably one of the best days in Mexico city. We gave them a world map and stickers as gifts, and gave a little
geography class of where we were from. By the time we left they were happy because of the maps we left them, but sad because we couldn’t come back anytime soon.

Hope the power of free flowing rivers will fill you up with positive vibes.