More from Mexico

by Kristina

Last weekend I traveled to Uxmal, a Mayan ruin about a hour's drive south of Merida. One of the reasons I wanted to study Spanish in the Yucatan was the rich history here. I'm fascinated by the Mayans, and their ruins leave plenty more to pique my curiosity.



I think this cultural history is essential to learning a language; the Mayan and the Yucatan cultures still permeate life in Merida.



This weekend I'm headed to Chichén Itzá, another major ruin. More to come from that spot!

Reporter´s Mexico Diary

by Kristina Tabor

I´m in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, taking an intensive Spanish course. I´ll be here for four weeks, and during that time, I´m keeping a reporter´s diary on the Aspen Public Radio blog!

Merida is a lovely city about 200 miles west of Cancun. There are a few direct flights here from America. It´s at the heart of the Yucatan and the heart of Mayan culture.



This is the Monumento a la Patria. And it's just a taste of what the architecture is like here in Merida. There´s a mix of Mayan and Mayan-inspired buildings as well as colonial architecture.

The Spanish Institute of Merida's building falls in the latter category. It's on a busy corner of Merida, but within the walls, la escuela is a peaceful space.



About ten of us started school on the first Monday of January. Most are here for the full month, and everyone's taking classes all day, whether individualized or in groups.



Here's my class, where we are all beginners. Edith is our very patient teacher. This week - week one - we learned about sentence structure, how words are gendered, etc. Next week we take on verbs -- and I can't wait because all I can say is, it's very hard to speak in Spanish without verbs!



Afternoons at the school are spent one-on-one with a young Mexican guide. This is probably the most valuable time: practice through conversation. I have an amazingly patient and kind guide, Miguel, and I have learned a lot about Merida from him.

This is the Catedral de San Ildefonso, the oldest in Mexico. It anchors el Centro Historico in Merida.



As you may imagine, there is incredible food here, lovely culture and the people are so friendly. I'll write more about all that later!

A Look Back...

Last New Year's Eve (2008), former Aspenite Jim Blanning planted four homemade bombs near banks in downtown Aspen. The incident closed down 16 blocks of downtown and several businesses suffered huge losses in revenue. The Aspen Police Department was also challenged to tackle an incident unlike anything they had dealt with before. They called in agencies from as far away as Grand Junction and Vail to help block off the area and dismantle the bombs. The evacuation order was lifted at 5 AM on New Year's Day, leaving businesses like restaurants empty-handed on one of their busiest nights.

Since the bomb scare, some restaurants have recovered, but just barely. Denise Walters with Social and Elevation restaurants says the evacuation kick-started a tough year, combined with the recession. The eateries lost 5% of their total revenue that night and the recession pushed revenues down 20 to 30% compared to the year before. Fortunately, the restaurants are nearly booked for this New Year's Eve and the staff is positive.

For the Aspen Police Department, the biggest success of their response to the incident was that no one was hurt and no major property damage was reported. But, the Department realized they needed more radios, as batteries died during the night. And, phone calls backed up so the Department expanded their phone and computer capacity. Officers also realized they needed to communicate with local media more during significant incidents.

Despite the lessons learned and hardships battled, the incident is now just a "foggy memory," according to Walters. Now, there's nothing more to look toward but the future.

Holiday Struggles

It seems the Holiday season brings out the best and most difficult circumstances in a community. Today I did a story about how the Toys for Tots charity in Basalt is struggling to raise donations for needy people in the mid-Valley. Organizers believe people are so strapped for cash, they are waiting until they buy their own Christmas gifts before buying some for others. It's hard to hear about the impoverished side of our community--people having difficulty paying rent or putting food on the table. Maggie Cruz of the Roaring Fork Family Resource Center at the Basalt schools says basic needs assistance has gone up. More people are applying for programs like Medicaid and Child Health Plan Plus, which is a low-income insurance plan for children. More people are applying for Toys for Tots too--the number of families who asked for gifts this year was more than double what it was in 2007. Cruz says most of the poverty she sees is centralized to the trailer parks in El Jebel and Basalt, where large families often squeeze into small living spaces.

If you would like to donate to Toys for Tots, you can find donation boxes at Alpine Bank, Aspen Valley Hospital, Big "O" Tire, Basalt Community United Methodist Church, Novel-Tea Bookstore, Red Rock Diner, American Furniture Warehouse, Capo Tile, Christopher and Banks, Edward Jones and Moe's Southwest Grill. The boxes will be picked up on Friday.

First Turns

I made my first turns of the season yesterday, on Aspen Mountain. My legs were reminded of the sport as I led them slowly (at first) down runs like Copper, North American and finally Spar Gulch. I heard the sounds of the World Cup as I finished the day at the bottom. It felt good to ski and there was a surprising amount of people on the mountain, which should make the Aspen Skiing Company feel good too.

The Ski-Co is gearing up for a season that it hopes will match last winter, when it comes to ticket sales and general business. The Company logged 1.36 million skier visits last season, which was down more than 7 % from the 2007/2008 season. The Ski-Co is using more marketing dollars this year and aggressively promoting deals. Ski-Co Senior Vice President David Perry told the Aspen Times recently "We're still battling economic headwinds."

Despite the challenges, everything seemed in its place yesterday with a packed Ajax Tavern and lift lines at the Silver Queen Gondola. Let's hope the early-season visual signs are representative of what's to come throughout the rest of this 2009/2010 ski season.

Veterans Day in Aspen

U.S. Representative John Salazar spoke at a Veterans Day event in Aspen yesterday. He talked about legislation he's working on to help veterans get medical care when they return from serving overseas. He also mentioned how a new National cemetery in southern Colorado gained approval from the House last week. After discussing "business," Salazar told a story obviously close to his heart, about his father who was a veteran himself. Holding back tears, the congressman told how his father mentioned family and being buried in his uniform right before he died.

The most moving part of the ceremony though, was not Salazar's talk. Instead it was a short comment made by an unidentified soldier who had served in Vietnam. He said he had never felt welcome upon his return home until 37 years later when he came to Aspen. He said the Fourth of July parade where veterans walk through a cheering crowd, was the first time he had felt "welcomed home."

Another veteran I interviewed said nowadays, "greeters" are standing by and called to duty when a veteran returns to the United States. He said no longer do veterans need to feel "unwelcome" when they return home.

Mental Health Behind Bars

Nationally 16% of inmates in jails suffer from mental illness. At the Pitkin County Jail, Administrator Don Bird estimates that number is even greater. He believes between 20 and 25% of inmates deal with issues such as psychotic episodes that are often the reasons inmates end up in jail.

In order to better protect the community and serve the Jail's population, a more aggressive approach is being taken at the Jail. Jail officials will work with health providers to identify, diagnose and treat mental illnesses among inmates. The inmates will also be referred to local health providers after they are released from jail.

Bird says the new approach sprung from a greater awareness of mental health issues in the Valley. He says organizations such as Colorado West are bringing mental illness to the spotlight and making it not such a taboo subject.

So far one inmate has successfully gone through Pitkin County's program, from identifying the illness to seeking treatment with a health provider after release. Bird estimates more inmates will go through the program as they fine-tune it. It's currently being funded with County dollars allocated to medical expenses in the Jail's budget.