Holis! My name is Ana Saucedo, and I’m one of the 2022 Loewenstern Fellows working with Cántaro Azul this summer. I’m here in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, with my colleagues Melissa, Jayaker, Hafsa, and Yifei.

A little about myself, I’m a rising senior majoring in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Global Health Technologies. After college, I plan to pursue a career in designing medical devices. I’m passionate about ethical, sustainable, and creative solutions to health issues, so Cántaro Azul’s mission and approach really resonate with me. I very much look forward to learning from the Cántaro Azul team and applying these lessons to my future career as an engineer.

My family is originally from Guerrero, Mexico, so I used to visit my parent’s hometown of Characo, Guerrero almost every summer as a kid. I believe the last time I came to Mexico was in 2010, so I was thrilled to be able to return and experience first-hand the culture of Chiapas. I’m particularly excited to live in a pueblo mágico for 10 weeks and explore the beautiful landscape.

The first weekend here in San Cristóbal was full of exploring the pueblo, navigating the colectivo system, and getting adjusted to walking the hilly streets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few highlights:

• Restaurante el Fogón de Jovel had live marimba music, and they played “Caminos de Michoacán,” which is a song that I grew up listening to. For context, my parents’ hometown is located on the border of Guerrero and Michoacán, so I grew up with the cultures from both states.
• COVID guidelines seem to be pretty strict here, with many businesses enforcing wearing masks and using hand sanitizer upon entry.
• The landscape here is so green with plants and vegetation. A couple flowers that stood out to me were the aretes (fuchsia) and the trompetas de ángel (Brugmansia).
• Given that we speak more English than Spanish in my household, I hope this experience helps me improve my Spanish. So far, I’ve only had to look up a couple of technical words. The LanguageTool extension has been a huge help with accents, too. I really missed speaking, writing, and reading in Spanish!

Once the work week began, we were introduced to the Cántaro Azul office, our supervisors, and La Casa del Agua at Parque El Encuentro. It was amazing to see the technologies used to provide households and communities with safe water. The Cántaro Azul team described their function, their limitations, and their evolution.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a warm welcome from Cántaro Azul, we picked the projects that we will be working on for the remainder of our stay. Melissa and I will be working on designing a siphon to be installed at El Encuentro, as well as the systematization and the translation of Proyecto Chimix.

 

I’m still processing the 8 days that I’ve been in San Cristóbal and all the amazing experiences I’ve had so far. I look forward to sharing about the progress of our projects and the adventures we Loewenstern fellows embark on. Til the next blog!