Scattered bits and pieces

I have never seen so many people being arrested as I have seen in Palenque. I don’t think that this is a sign that there’s more ‘criminals’ here than in other parts of the world. There’s a lot more police here, as far as I can see, and they are eager to show that they’re out in force, safe guarding our streets. My theory (and not only mine) is that they are more active and visible here because of the tourists. They want to portray the image that there is high security here - so that tourists can go back home and tell their family and friends that Mexico is safe – that narco trafficking is under control and that the rebel group (the Zapatistas) are being monitored by the police and military. A good excuse to have so many police and military populating Chiapas.

The other day I went up to San Cristobal for a meeting. Along the way there, we encountered two military checkpoints. One stopped the bus and demanded that we all get off the bus and stand outside with our bags open. They searched the bus as well as our bags (not very well may I add, if I’d had something stashed away in my bag I would have easily gotten away with it). 45 minutes later we were allowed back onto the bus.

On another trip when I was coming back from the border of Guatemala and Mexico, we were also stopped twice, this time by police. The first time they asked a few people from the minibus to show their identification and let them go with no dramas even though some didn’t have anything to show. The next time they asked the same people for their identifications and those that didn’t have any with them were asked to step off the bus. 20 minutes later they were returned to our minibus. Later on, one of the men who was taken off the minibus told another passenger that he was a migrant and that he had given money to the policeman to enable him to continue his journey – probably up to the Untied States.

I’ve been given another week off from work as the coordinator of the organisation I work for has gone on holidays. Although I think that it’s a little soon for holidays after only starting 5 weeks ago, I still appreciated the time off, especially since I had visitors. On one of those days, we went down to visit Yaxchilan, an ancient Mayan city which is located on the border of Mexico and Guatemala. This site is not half as popular as the one in Palenque as it’s a little out of the way – off the beaten track as they say... Once you get to the border you have to catch a boat along the Usumacinta river, which takes approximately 30 minutes to arrive to the site. Yaxchilan is set in amongst thick jungle, probably resembling what Palenque once was before it was populated by swarms of hotels and tourists. To get to the ruins, you have to walk through this jungle, amongst trees that seem to be 1000’s of years old and have a sense of awe about them. It started raining while we were adventuring our way around the ancient city and this set the scene perfectly for my jungle daydream of dangling vines, earthly smells mixed with rain, ancient mystifying temples and stunning views of the jungle from the tops of the pyramids. An India Jones adventure!

Near San Cristobal I went to visit a small town called Chamula. It has a reputation for holding traditional indigenous (Tzotzil) ceremonies and Shaman rituals in its church. Upon walking into the church you are welcomed with the smell of pine needles scattered all over the floor and 1000’s of flickering candles which people have meticulously placed in front of various saints pictured around the church. Bundles of people are seated on the floor around these candles, reciting prayers, singing, crying, offering beverages to the saints (and drinking them) such as Posh (moon shine from these parts) while children play on the sidelines. A small band plays music while people partake in these devotions. Different coloured candles are for different rituals/prayers and the number of candles also depends on the ritual they are performing.

In a small community festival in one of the suburbs of San Cristobal, I was introduced the local brew – Posh. Derived from sugarcane it is drunk with a mixture of fruit or just pineapple which bread can be added to. It’s strong but with the fruit it tastes just like a fruit drink. At the house I was staying at, they had two demijohns filled with the stuff. We didn’t know it at the time and inserted one of the demijohns into the tap and filled our glasses with it – one mouthful later I spat out the gulp that I had taken, surprised to taste pure alcohol rather than water.

Food and other less important things...

For the last 3 weeks I’ve been living off approx. $30 a week (350 pesos). I had set myself a strict budget without even realising it until the other day when I calculated how much 350 was in aussie dollars and surprised myself with how little I was spending. I decided to increase my budget so that I could actually splurge a little and enjoy, most importantly, all the delicious food around. So now I’m on approx. $60 a week (have to pay for accommodation now which I didn’t have to before). I’m cooking a lot at home rather than eating out which is why I’m able to live so cheaply. I buy as much as possible at the market and then go to the grocery store for any extras.

Palenque doesn’t have the widest variety of food to choose from when you’re cooking at home – the market caters for strictly Mexican diets and the grocery stores are small and full of foods with lots of sugar and processed to the max. No wholemeal breads here, no cous cous (my favourite grain!) and no basil to add for taste. But there’s definitely an abundance of chillies, tortillas and tropical fruits which I have never heard of or seen before. Agua stalls are at every corner of town which provide an abundance of fresh fruit drinks from Jamaican flower to coconut to tamarin and corn. With Palenque’s heat they are definitely a necessity! Paleterias (ice block shops) are also everywhere (which I have developed an addiction for) and so is corn, served with mayonnaise, salt and of course, chilli.

They say that your appetite diminishes when you live in a hot place. I believe this is a misconception – at least for me! It seems that all I think about at the moment is food, which is why I’m writing about it! I have now moved in with 3 girls from Mexico city who are also big eaters and enjoy food just as much as I do (damn, less for me!) They arrived here last Monday and we all moved into a house together that same day. They are here till the end of the year to do their internship with the same organisation I’m volunteering for. This has meant that I have finally relinquished my living room living and sleeping on the floor situation (and inferno…) for a house with a lot more space and breeze entering through its large windows, cooling the house down. There are two bedrooms that we share between four.

I have realised that peoples attitude to sharing space is different here than it is in oz. People are much more communal livers here and share space quite openly with no qualms about sharing all space, all the time. The girls I live with have become like a family. Everything is done together – eating, going out, working… It has taken me a few days to get use to this as I am programmed to live more independently, doing my own thing in and out of the house. The other night I went out for a coffee with a couple of people from my dance class and just before heading home I checked my phone and saw that I had four missed calls and a message from the girls asking where I was and that they were worried about me. I was really touched by their caringness after only knowing me for 3 days. This generally summarises how people are in Mexico. People look out for you even when they don’t know you well. They help you if they can and will share what they have with you if you are in need. Hospitality is taken seriously here. If you are a guest, you will be put first in front of everyone else and everything will be done to make sure that you have nothing lacking, even if it means another person needs to sacrifice e.g. their food or bed for you. Guests are accommodated quite happily even if there is very little space left; there will be a way to reshuffle everyone so that all fit. This happened to us (3 girls and me) when we went to visit a community outside of Palenque on Friday. After meeting the local women’s group and organising some workshops with them, we were invited to have lunch with some of them at their house. They made us a feast for lunch, took us down to the local river for a swim (in all of our clothes as is the tradition here) and invited us to stay for the night. The hammocks were bought out and we were all found places to sleep. We also got taught how to make sweet tamales (if you don’t know what a tamale is, refer to previous post!). We used 70 corn cobs and only ended up with 20 tamales (trust me, it’s not all that much). I was surprised with how much work went into making them, definitely will value them more now!

On a complete different note, I have started guitar lessons. I am meant to go everyday for an hour after work, five days a week. The teacher though, is a little more relaxed about which days he works and which days he doesn’t…! I’m being taught Mariachi style guitar which will allow me to stand outside of my loved ones window at midnight playing him love ballads, as they do here! The idea is that I’ll be able to take what I’ve learnt and apply it to other styles of music…Hopefully! Like I mentioned above, I’ve also started dance classes (my only form of exercise in this intense heat) I’m doing Columbian salsa and hip hop. I didn’t realise that Columbian salsa existed. It’s a mixture of the jive and swing with some funk added and of course, Latin sensuality. I love it! It’s danced very fast and you finish the class completely drenched from head to toe, feeling like for once, you’re not just a sweaty blob but one who has actually done some exercise. Hip hop on the other hand is surprisingly less to my liking (I find it harder to do some of the moves) although we did learn a dance routine to a Michael Jackson song the other day which I’m definitely going to replicate on the dance floor sometime! Speaking of Michael, since his death there has been a massive revival of his music here in Mexico. He’s played everywhere including on the tourist party bus that laps around Palenque at night. All accusations have definitely been forgotten here and he’s now reached the status of untouchable god.

Casa and Tabasco

The organisation I work for is called Casa de Apoyo a la Mujer which translates as support house for women. The ‘Casa’ works mainly in 2 areas: health, which involves consultations by a doctor and sexual health promotion in communities; and support for women’s groups in communities such as micro-credit projects or a community garden.

The first week I started I was told to take a week off as they were really busy and I was quite sick. The following week started off slowly. Everyone was really busy and therefore had no time to sit down with me and talk about what I would be doing. Finally, half way through the week the coordinator and I had a chat and we worked out that I would help launch an environment campaign focused on recycling materials which we could then use in various ways, such as using plastic bottles for seedlings in gardens, or making tote bags out of plastic wrappers/bottles and encouraging people to use reusable bags rather than plastic. I was and still am very excited about this project. It’s exactly the area of work that I am interested in and was wondering before I started if the Casa would be keen to start a project like this. At the moment I’m doing lots of research on how we can use the recyclable material to benefit the women’s groups we are working with. There’s an amazing project taking place in Guatemala where they using plastic bottles stuffed with rubbish to build very much needed housing www.puravidaatitlan.org/index.html (in Spanish but has pictures!).

Last weekend I spent it in Tabasco (right next to a town called Tequila). That´s right, where the hot chilli sauce is meant to come from, but doesn’t. The name was stolen by a U.S. company and adopted as their own.

As I waited for my couch surfer to come and pick me up from Villahermosa (the capital of Tabasco) bus depot, I saw a clown sitting at the bus station, looking miserable. No one else seemed surprised to see a clown just sitting there, blending amongst the crowd. I guess clowns also need to use public transport to get to places – still seemed strange to me. I hear that clowns are quite common in Mexico. Well this was my first sighting of one here.

Also as I waited, I saw a white ute pull up and signal for me to get in. My couch surfer had told me he was coming in a white ute to pick me up so I jumped in and off we went. We said our greetings and 10 metres up the road my fellow driver asks me where I want to go. At this point I realise that maybe I got into the wrong car and so I ask him his name. Name doesn’t match. It turns out he was just passing by and offered me a lift = wrong car! No need to say that I quickly got out (clumsily dropping my bag and sarong on the road in a state of fluster) and said my adieus.

My couch surfer and his best friend had obviously decided that they would sacrifice their entire weekend to chauffeuring me around to the best sites around Villahermosa, the best food and taking me out to various bbq’s and even back to the families for lunch in a small town where one of them grew up. They were the most generous and hospitable people I have met here. I was introduced to beautiful traditional food - a local fish called moharra (cooked on woodfire) which is found everywhere here; platanos (a type of banana cooked in their skin until golden) with cheese and cream sprinkled on top; pozol – a drink made from ground corn and roasted cocoa which is more like a porridge type meal than a simple drink – this drink has been made for centuries and was/is used by field workers to sustain themselves throughout the day in very hot conditions; amazing caramelised fruits which are meant to be eaten with pozol and cocoa slices – cocoa is in abundance in Tabasco – my couch surfers family has fields of cocoa trees at the back of the house; sweet tamales (made from corn dough with lots of different fillings – these one’s had little fruits inside and were the best tamales I’ve had so far!); and last but not least, quesadillas – (tortillas with melted Oaxaca chese) eaten at one particular café called Dona Mary (highly recommended if you’re around the area!) which had pretty much any filling under the sun available including this superb mushroom called huitlacoche… mm..mm..mmmmm!

Don’t have any photos to show of Tabasco as I took with me an uncharged camera… =(

Orientation to Chiapas

Two weeks ago I had an amazing orientation into the situation here in Chiapas. I was presented to a range of different organizations (set up by the organization who organized the internship) in San Cristobal who each gave ma a briefing on their area of expertise (all in Spanish!). I also had the opportunity to visit a Zapatista community, autonomous communities who have very well thought out ideals and political views, with someone who has been working with them for years (Julio) and therefore was able to brief me in detail about their 'lucha' (fight). They have set up an autonomous government completely apart from the Mexican government which is entirely democratic. They are attempting to be sustainable, relying as much as possible from their own communities for everything they need as well as trying to conserve their own cultural practices. But the primary goal is to have control over decisions and issues that affect them. I was able to talk to the ‘good government junta’ on my visit, after being checked by a committee to find out the reasons for my visit. I was greeted with open arms into the government building and was able to chat to the government council for an hour, answering all of my enquiries about the community with eagerness and pride. The community was located in beautiful countryside, up in the mountains in complete serenity from the outside world. This visit was definitely one of the highlights of my trip so far!

Situation in Chiapas
The military presence is extremely high in Chiapas. They're not doing much at the moment but Julio tells me they're increasing their troops and establishing themselves more and more, making their presence known. The most concerning is the para-miliatary gangs which are apparently trained by the army to attack communities.

The overall plans of the government here is to take land away from indigenous communities so as to be able to sell it to mining companies or ‘develop’ it for e.g. future tourists. They are also planning on growing 1 million hectares of bio-fuels in Chiapas by 2012.

The Plan Puebla Panama, a highway that is planned from Mexico to Columbia is already taking place – they have started work on the highway from Chiapas to Palenque (have done approx. 9 km’s) but they have encountered opposition, especially since where they’re planning on building the highway is through some Zapatista communities. They will also be destroying a very rich ecosystem which is used as a haven by migratory birds on their way up or down every year. There’s also another highway planned (under a different name – IIRSA) stretching from Columbia all the way to the South of America. The main reasons for this highway is to create infrastructure for mining companies (mainly coming from Canada) to come and extract resources as well as the opportunity to create new sweatshops, where labour will be cheaper down south and the transportation will be swifter with this new highway.

No need to say that my head hurt at the end of this week from the overload of very interesting but quite confronting information. I was taken to Palenque on the Friday to be presented to the organization I will be working with for the next 3 months. But all the travelling I had been doing ended up catching with me and I fell sick as a dog as soon as I got to Palenque. I had all the symptoms of swine flu, or so it seemed to me! I couldn’t do much more than moan about having a fever in 40 degree heat and try and sweat it out. I did go and visit the ruins in a fit of insanity with my friend Flo who happened to be in Palenque at the same time as me, but quite obviously didn’t appreciate any of the amazing archaeological ruins in my presence.

Next blog issue – my organisation – what will I be doing? Not to be missed!

Travelling - not the right time?

First, here's the link to my pictures - there's been a little problem with uploading to flickr... many of the photos have lost some of their colours and contrast - but you get the drift!

I am writing to you based from Palenque, Mexico. Yes, that’s right I’ve left Guatemala (quite sadly) and am in one of the hottest towns of the country not to mention the big tourist attraction – the impressive Mayan ruins just down the road.

So to recount the last 3 weeks or so, I left Xela about 3 weeks ago (quit my bar job and said goodbye to Spanish classes) to go and see the rest of Guatemala. I traveled up to Semuc Champey, a natural wonder where the river flows under land and there are a series of stepped turquoise rock pools on top of the river. It’s a beautiful, sacred place that reminded me of Kakadu and made me realize once again, how beautiful Australia really is.

From Semuc I went up to Tikal. The journey there was the most thrilling of the trip. Two oil trucks that had taken the same route the night before had experienced leaks and therefore oil had spilled all over the road. We were driving in a chicken bus where all passengers and driver seemed quite alarmed with the condition of the road (not a good sign if locals are concerned!) The driver was being extremely careful and maneuvered our chicken minibus with great ability, sometimes driving on the wrong side where there was less oil (but on coming traffic!). An hour and a half of this and we managed to surpass most of the oil. Sighs of relief were heard throughout the whole bus.

Tikal is an extensive archaeological Mayan site which was one of the largest Mayan cities during its peak. It is still being excavated and will take years before it’s mostly uncovered. As everyone tells you, you need to go nice and early in the morning otherwise it just gets too hot and you have no energy to walk around and see these amazing pyramids. The best thing about Tikal for me is the jungle that it’s set within. It’s thick, green and tropical and makes you feel like anything could happen in the vastness of the trees. You can also hear the cries of Howler monkeys in the thick vines that surround the ruins, an impressive cry if you’ve never heard one before! At Tikal I decided that my heart wasn’t into traveling at that point and that all I wanted to do was head back to Xela. With my heart and mind set, I caught a night bus with a fellow Israeli for safeguard. We got the cheapest and nastiest bus tickets possible and were sure that we would be pushing the bus after purchasing our tickets from two very strange sales people – one being a serial smiler. Luckily enough the bus was safe, although we were cramped in like sardines. I got back to Xela and spent the last few days enjoying knowing a place, people and feeling at home.

Since then I’ve left Guatemala through a series of Chicken buses (10 hours worth) I crossed the border to Mexico with no hassles whatsoever. I don’t like border crossings. They make me nervous for some reason. I always feel as if I don’t have the right documents on me and I’ll be refused entry. You get a little piece of paper when you go through the Mexican border which is meant to be your tourist card that you have to pay for at the bank. No one tells you this of course and if you can’t read Spanish, well good luck to you! Finally at 8pm I arrived in San Cristobal, a city situated in the mountains of Chiapas with colonial Spanish architecture. There are so many churches in this town, all built on hills overlooking the city. It’s a bohemian city with many hippies flocking here for the easy lifestyle it brings. You can sit in a Zapatista café sipping your café late discussing the politics of a revolution while listening to street buskers and feeling like you’re a radical.

To be continued…

Working and women

So as some of you have noticed, I’ve skipped a week in my blogging… mainly due to the fact that I’ve started working. After 3 job offers I decided that it was a sign that working here was something that I should take up. Now, I thought my hospitality days were long gone,, along with my uni days but I guess you can never say never…

I’m working in a bar/restaurant called Salon Tecun, the oldest bar in Guatemala which is located in the centre of town, in a beautiful old arcade. It’s a bar where Che Guevara drank when he came to Xela I’ve been told and it’s definitely very popular with locals. My Spanish is improving from having worked here, or at least my table and wine Spanish is. I think the main reason why they hired me was because foreigners apparently attract more tips, therefore meaning more tips for all the staff. I get approximately $1.50 an hour, and a total of $15 (90Q) for my 8 ½ hour shift and around $2-3 in tips a night. Not exactly raking it in! Now I’m not working to make money, it’s just for the benefit of practicing my Spanish that I’ve decided to work. What is amazing is when you consider that what I’m earning is above the minimum wage for Guatemalans (approximately $9 (52Q) for a days work) and a litre of beer for example costs $ 6.50 (35Q). Life is extremely expensive for Guatemalans earning an average salary, particularly now with the economic crisis, unemployment is extremely high, especially in rural areas. That’s why a lot of people can’t afford the necessities of life such as fruits and vegetables and sending their kids to school.

Before I came to Guatemala I had read that the society here was entrenched with patriarchy. This seems to be true from my experiences so far. I have met so many women who have been left by their husbands, with kids to look after or women who are regularly beaten up by their husbands. Women do all the housework as is to be expected in a machismo culture and many accept to be subservants to men. It seems to be a regular occurrence for men to cheat on their wives and almost accepted within society that this happens. I’ve been told that women who separate from their husbands find it much harder to find a new partner and are sometimes ostracized by society. Therefore many women don’t by choice separate from their husbands. Violence against women is amongst the highest in Latin America with over 4000 women killed since 2000. They say that approximately 4 women a week are being killed here and the majority being poor young women.

Looking different and being a woman here attracts a lot of unwanted attention. Sometimes you take it in your stride and brush it off and other times you can’t help but react with offense. Obviously working in a bar opens you up to this sort of behaviour and you just have to politely decline the offer and continue handing out the drinks.

The lake

Hello fellow readers – My ‘editor’ recently told me that I should write smaller chunks, more frequently. After some pondering, I decided that this was probably a good idea although it does means that I will have to stop procrastinating so much and push myself to write on a more regular basis. So here it goes. You can now expect more frequent updates (maybe once a week?) without having to read an essay. Gasps of relief from all…

So recently I made a weekend trip to Lake Atitlan. The lake is surrounded by amazing volcanoes (like almost everywhere in this country!) and provides you with mystical journeys in more than a few ways. I was lucky enough to stay with a couch surfer who had quite a few others crashing at his luxurious palace, situated in a town called Panajachel. Some of the beds in this palace were 4 x 4 meters, easily fitting four people comfortably. The place included a sauna, a tropical garden refuge and some squirrels that the cat liked to chase, creating loud bangs on the roof as if a person were breaking and entering. Thanks to the people staying at the palace I was able to learn about Guatemalan politics, spoken in Spanish which meant that I was able to understand about half of what was said – I say proudly. In summary, the situation in Guatemala is getting worse, with much distrust in the government but at the same time, with the possibility of opposing groups taking advantage of the situation.

We visited a few of the other towns also situated on the lake, one called Santiago which seemed to be quite touristy, especially in the initial few 100 meters after getting off from the boat. The other we visited was San Pedro which had an interesting café where we found most of the tourist population on a rainy Saturday afternoon. This café had cushions spread all across the floor with low to the floor tables and colourful lamps that hung from the ceiling creating a Turkish feeling to the place. The only thing missing were hookah to go with the smell of the grass floating around the place. All in all, a beautiful place to spend a weekend. I recommend it to all of you!