Updated July 2, 2010
Who am I? I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mexico for 2 years. I was in 2 different cities, each for one year: Querétaro and Puebla “de los Angeles”. My assignments were in information & communication technology (GIS, mainly). For more details about me and how I arrived at Peace Corps Mexico, read the earliest postings in this blog.
What is this blog? You know, nobody really likes the word “blog”, myself included. Sure, “weblog” has twice as many syllables (and who has time for that?) but there has to be something more pleasant to use than “blog”. What if weblogs had been conceived as “webjournals”. That abbreviates nicely to “bjourn”. Yeah, I like that. I may use “bjourn” from now on in this bjourn … but don’t hold me to it. Anyway, I digress … which is actually apropos of the question “what is this blog / bjourn?” since it may well turn out to be merely a collection of rambling tangents.
The URL I chose was well-intended but hastily executed. “buen guerro” was an unintentional miss-spelling of “buen güero” … that I’m now stuck with forever.
More interestingly, I created this to record and relay some stories from my Peace Corps experience in Mexico. I arrived on April 2, 2008 for training and in late June began serving a 2-year assignment doing software consulting work as a “Knowledge Systems and GIS Specialist”. I finished my service and returned to the US on June 22, 2010. In a nutshell, I tried to help Mexico’s Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) with mapping and other software used for data management in the states of Querétaro and Puebla to aid their goals of forming and enacting environmental protection policies. I’m excited to use my skills to play even a small part of protecting Mexico’s amazing biodiversity and indigenous cultures. And of course, the cultural, language, travel, technical, and other aspects of this experience benefited me in exchange.
Enjoy!
Shane
PS. About adding comments… When you post your first comment, it won’t be automatically displayed on the web page. I get a notification and have to approve it before a comment is added.
PPS. Some techie stuff… I chose to publish via WordPress because they do not lock down my content – I can easily export with a provided tool to Blogger (or elsewhere) if I choose to later. Also, my previous travel photo albums are already shared through Flickr and I’d rather not start adding photos to Picasa (used by Blogger). The only major advantage I saw with Blogger that was relevant for me was integration of Google Widgets. That’s pretty cool but in my quick comparison of WordPress and Blogger, all other features are more or less a wash from my perspective. HOWEVER, when Google rolls out their magical new “GBlogs” service I’ll have to reconsider. (Just kidding – GBlogs was yet another April fools’ joke from Google.)
Shane's In Mexico ... No Longer 
Glad to see you’re journey has truly (and finally) begun! All is well here in KC, well…except for my broken toe. Remember that big ol’ honkin Hot Cocoa you sent home with me for Nick (your fake nephew!)? It fell off the counter and landed on my toe. Thanks Shaner! cb
Chris, I promise I wouldn’t have given that to you if I’d realized you can’t handle your cocoa. Glad to hear you’re doing well otherwise, though. 🙂
Hi Son doing some catch-up reading of your webjourn. I agree, blog sounds to me like having the blahs in a bog or being bogged down with the blahs. Good to hear/read from you and know you are liking the Corp, your location, the people, etc. Sure hope your sudden, short illness was only a fluke, or something you ate and that was the end of it. How are you feeling now?
Much better! I was only out of training for 1 day and was fully recovered after 2. Have been right as rain ever since. Speaking of “rain” … I just heard thunder and think I’ll step out for a run while I can!
Hello,
Thanks, meeting more about you.
Happiness by this blog.
Cony
¡De nada, Cony – muchas gracias para leías esto!
Pull!!! A little English you can teach the locals.
Hope all is well
Yes, things are still going well – hope they are for you 3 also!
Good tip – when the time is right I’ll teach that as a combo midwestern skeet lingo and drinking etiquette lesson … not to mention hand-eye coordination practice.
Shane – Just got the message you sent me back in April as I don’t check the other e-mail account very often due to tons of SPAM. Glad to see you are adapting well in Mexico. If I wasn’t married and had kids, I probably would have joined for the experience. After 14 years in IT, I still question if it’s what I really want to do for the rest of my life. I wish you luck!
P.S. Thanks again for helping me purchase the GPS. It has been quite handy. Except, I have found that it’s not exact! 🙂
Take care,
Troy
Hey Shane,
I was just tooling around the internet and found your blog. I am currently living in Cholula so it was really exciting to see pictures of some of the same DOD altars I had just seen downtown. I will be completing my Masters at la UDLA this month and I am set to leave for the PC in June 2010. How did you end up in Mexico with the whole PC process?
Hi, Olivia. Yeah, we’re practically neighbors! In the PC application process, I gave first preference for the type of work (ICT) and second for regions – I specified the Americas/Pacific/Caribbean. It turned out that the best skills match was here in Mexico, so basically I just got lucky. (I actually wouldn’t have been accepted to other Latin American countries since I wasn’t fluent in Spanish … but the Mexico program is different.)
You’ll get an email from me too – feel free to ask more questions!
Shane
Hello Shane!
I am PC applicant with my target country of Mexico. I have a few questions I would like to ask you, would you mind emailing me?
PS: You blog is great!
Cheers,
Steve Walker
Sure thing, Steve!
Hello Shane,
I just wanted to drop you a note to say I obtained an invitation to Mexico!
Thank you again for the email and I hope to be able to thank you in person sometime in the near future!
Steve
Congratulations!
Hey Shane,
I am sure like 80 other people I have recently received an invite to Mexico. I am having a hard time finding others who have been invited and would love to talk to you about some hints, tips, and a few quick questions. Do you have an email we can talk over?
Congratulations on the invitation, Lindsay. I’ll contact you by email to answer your questions.
Shane,
Great blog.. I’m a senior in college, just got back from spending my fall quarter in Mexico (Mostly in Xalapa, Ver.) Reading your blog certainly brought back memories! I hope to be returning soon.. Could I get in touch with you? I’m studying CS, have been looking into the PC and am hoping to get back to Mexico. Hope you’r still monitoring the site!
Hi Paul!
I haven’t gotten a comment in a while, but yes this blog is still undead. 🙂 The intersection in the venn diagram of PC volunteers and CS majors is small, but it exists! I’ll send you an email also.