I'm Still Alive!

It's now been over a week since my last post, and I apologize for falling off the radar. Last time I wrote was just after leaving Xela - was that really just a week ago? So much has happened since then, but I'll have to give you the nutshell version.

My trip to Guatemala ended with a last-minute interview, set up by Sergio's lovely sister, Rita. It was a mad dash back to Guatemala City from Antigua for a 10 am appointment, which wouldn't have been difficult if it weren't for a combination of protests, traffic, and police roadblocks. After about 15 minutes of frantic phone calls with my taxi driver, Luis - 80% of which I couldn't understand - we finally found each other and I managed to make it to my interview with no time to spare. My interview subject was one of the few remaining members of the October Revolution in 1944, a man by the name of Antonio Móbil, who also happens to be a historian. Although he couldn't tell me too much about my specific topic, we had a nice chat and he gave me a couple books - and some great contact e-mails! It was a nice way to end my trip.

Much like Guatemala, my arrival in Mexico City was blissfully uneventful. I arrived just before sunset and checked into my accommodations for the month: Casa de los Amigos, a Quaker guesthouse in the center of the city that welcomes all sorts of travelers, researchers, and volunteer workers. So far, my stay here has been delightful and the company at breakfast always interesting. 

In my experience, things rarely go smoothly in Mexico for long and it was only a day before chaos set in. I arrived on Tuesday evening and decided to take Wednesday to settle in. My plan was to head to the Archivo General de la Nación (AGN) on Thursday, stay there as long as necessary, and then move on to a very important collection that I heard was located at the main university in Mexico, UNAM. Wednesday rolled around and I was told that UNAM was going to shut down after Friday...for three weeks. On Thursday morning, I scrambled to get out of UNAM first thing in the morning. Once there, I found the Fondo Reservado and politely asked if they had the collection I was looking for, which I hadn't been able to locate in their online database. Fortunately for me, I was in the right place. Unfortunately, I needed to register for my credentials before they would let me look at the documents. The archivist informed me that I would need a copy of my passport, a set of ID photos, and my address in Mexico City. Off I went to find a copy shop and a place to have my photos taken, which turned out to be surprisingly easy. After a couple hours, I took everything to the archivist, only to realize that I had missed one key word in the previous instructions: "proof". As in, proof of address. To my utter confusion, the archivist kept insisting I would need a light bill or a water bill, despite the fact that he knew I was a foreigner and staying in a hotel. Frustrated, I made my way home without having looked at a single document - though he did let me browse in the finding guide for a couple hours. When I arrived back at the Casa, the manager was very familiar with my tale and happily loaned me an electricity bill. The next morning, armed with everything I could possibly need, I went back to UNAM. This time the archivist was very impressed with my preparedness and happily took all my paperwork. Then she promptly informed me that it would be roughly THREE DAYS to process my credentials. Three days with a three week vacation in between. At this point, I'm hoping to get a couple days browsing the collection so that I'll at least know what's there for when I'm able to go back. Fortunately I didn't need my credentials to use the Hemeroteca, so I spent the rest of Friday looking through periodicals. At least I did something productive.

After two days of navigating Mexican bureaucracy, the weekend arrived and I joined a friend from the Casa for a Couchsurfing trip to Teotihuacán. I climbed some pyramids, met some lovely people, and was surprised to get a rather impressive sunburn after having grown so accustomed to the wet, dreary weather of Mexico City. 

Monday rolled around and I am happy to say, I was finally able to hold real documents in my hands after so many weeks of chasing my tail. I met up with a friend from the DPDF workshop, who was kind enough to hold my hand during my first trip to the AGN. To my surprise, I found all sorts of material during a lengthy search of the AGN database. A day later, I have some decent research under my belt and am getting ready to delve into some secret police records. It feels good to finally be making progress after so much frustration. I can't say it's been in vain though, since  the last three weeks have allowed me to work on one quality that I've always been lacking: patience.