Day 2...or is it 3?

What an education this is turning out to be. I'm only here for two days and I've felt humbled, exhilarated, frustrated, nervous, excited and so on.

We woke up late yesterday, having not been able to get to sleep as early as we wanted. Iced coffee was the craving of the moment, and unsure about it's availability at the fancy coffee place, we figured something familiar was good and easy. Yes – Starbucks.

Just like at home – same taste, same over-pricing, same caffeine buzz. Breakfast was non-existent. Really, because I'm not sure what to eat or where to eat. This is an issue that has come up over the past two days, that I'm pretty sure will resolve itself eventually. I'll be happy once we have an apartment and a kitchen. The thought of cooking actually excites me – something I couldn't have said last week.

Getting to the office was good, and I had a chance to feel useful – printers to be installed on laptops, shared network drives to be connected, some minor troubleshooting. Ahhh. Got to remember that I got some skills, even though they aren't of the visa issues/migrant worker/legal-ish type. I didn't think I'd miss the hours of working on computers every day, but I kind of am.

Am I a nerd for getting a knot in my stomach when I think about how there isn't a good backup system for the office? I think the answer is yes. I hope to implement (nerd word!) something soon.

We got in touch with the airline about our missing bags, and it turned out they were finally at the Zacatecas airport. They would have delivered them, but customs wanted to question us about the box of 300 or so contact lenses that were in Miriam's bag. Seems they suspected us of running an underground ophthalmology smuggling ring. I'll admit I was dreading having to deal with the legendarily difficult Mexican government and was kind of nervous that we'd get screwed somehow. At the airport, however, I can honestly say that we had the most straightforward dealings with government officials that I have ever had. They opened the bags, asked why we wanted to supply the entire Zacatecas with a -4.25 prescription contact lens and were totally satisfied with our (honest) answer – They are disposable lenses, one pair per day. Two minutes later, we were on our way back to the hotel, insanely heavy (and broken) bags in trunk.

Wow.

Back at the office, we sat in on an outreach training session. Basically, they were teaching how to be a labor organizer. Serious stuff. The real deal, like you (or at least I) have read about. Get people involved, get their spouses involved, don't let meetings get sidetracked by troublemakers, work with a partner to marginalize those trying to derail the meetings. Don't take pictures of people attending because it's intimidating; excitement is catching, so get into it. Learn how to respond worker's fears of repercussions from recruiters and employers if they were to speak out.

It's just tragic that there are legal workers who have been severely injured on the job who are afraid to come forward because it will mean they or their brother/son/cousin won't be able to find work.

We learn how to track down people in small towns and villages through the "town phone", local municipality, local police - but don't give too much info about why you want to track them down. Police are as likely as anyone to go after someone who received a settlement payment, not that we're talking big money to your average American. Man.

We kicked it around the office for a bit after that and headed back home. Rachel, the esteemed directora of the organization showed us her apartment as a possible place to live once they move out. She's got a kid that is about as cute as they come (no offence to any relations reading this). The apt is nice, with a view from the balcony that is just ridiculous. We'll have to see what else comes up – we did see a couple other apartments this morning, but they were not so viable. A big issue with renting here, is that if you get an unfurnished apartment, it comes with nothing but the floor, walls, and ceiling. No stove, fridge, or anything else you might expect. That limits us to the furnished places that are mostly brokered through the different hotels and hostels.

Off to our new hangout – Il San Patrizio coffee shop – for some iced tea and bagel-like substance (round doughy thing with cheese, black olives and grape leaves, pressed and toasted) with Rachel and the boy. Zacatecas is just a great place to walk around in the evening – cool, clear and tons of people out and about.

Unfortunately, the tons of people were partying late into the night, seemingly outside our hotel window. Cars blasting music, people singing and screaming, horns honking to no end, or so it seemed. Around 2:30am, M turned to me incredulously and said, "This place is noisier than Brooklyn!!"

Check it – there's a link on top right that goes to more pictures than you see on this page. Also, please comment, question, or anything else you can think of.

I'm interested in what you have to say about what I have to say.