surreal

these past couple of months have been insanely busy... first with the organization of "convergencias," then writing my metrics paper, and now thinking about possible topics for my dissertation and putting together my presentation in the macro seminar.

i should've written more often before and after "convergencias" took place. it was an amazing feeling to be in touch with some of the most influential politicians and academics in mexico, the top decision-makers in various yale departments, and with the great number of mexican students who came from other schools in the u.s. both the organization of the whole event and the event itself were a great learning experience. the sense of accomplishment upon completion of the event, the multiple congratulations from the outsiders, and the incredible teamwork was unlike anything i've felt before. and on top of it all, it was fun. so, all in all, it was a fabulous experience... although, given the ridiculous amount of work involved, i doubt i will plan something like this in the near future.

an even more surreal experience, though, was the one i had two days ago. ricardo lagos, former president of chile, visited yale and, unfortunately, i was unable to attend his talk at the law school. however, i was able to attend a breakfast hosted by another former president (now of mexico), ernesto zedillo. and there we were, lagos, zedillo, about 8 other students and i, conversing about latin american politics, about our interests, professional and academic, and about life in general. the room was cozy, the conversation was engaging, and best of all is that the whole thing was quite informal (i was sitting on the floor since we were out of chairs).

but my surreal experience doesn't end there. pipi drove me to hartford right after breakfast and i took a flight to chicago. my visit to noel and iván was long overdue and, given that i didn't do much for spring break and given that a big party has been planned at noel's for iván's 29th birthday tomorrow, the timing couldn't be perfect. plus, as part of a colloquium on the leftist movements in latin america, iván organized a conference with cuauhtémoc cárdenas, former mexican presidential candidate and father of the modern left in the country. his speech was great, although not particularly gripping. the q&a section was not as interesting given that he avoided most of the questions. following the talk, a cocktail was held in the u of c's international house auditorium, but the best part was still to follow.

cárdenas, his daughter luciérnaga lunar, and a group of about 10 students went for dinner to la petite folie, a french restaurant in hyde park highly recommended by yolis (of course, she works there!). my tuna steak was ridiculously good (although i forgot how to say "pan seared" in english... do not forget next time!), the salmon appetizer was yummy, and even the bread was out-of-this-world. quite logically, the dinner conversation started out very seriously, we kept talking about mexican politics, and we were quite pleased that, now off-the-record, mr. cc was answering all of our questions. an hour later, the whole interaction was much more relaxed and politics were not the focus of our chit-chat. we loved mr. cc, his charisma, his warmth, his captivating discourse.

after having conversed with these three authorities in latin american politics in only one day, the one thing that became clear is how many interesting situations these guys have faced, how committed these politicians are towards their countries' well-being and social justice, and how well-grounded their ideas (and their feet) are.