the end of guate, the beginning of chiapas.

we have departed xela after two more successful weeks of language school, which i spent in xela by myself. highlights are many, but i will limit it to a few. first, my teachers (ingrid and ingrid) were wonderful. the first took me to a clinic where i had the opportunity to volunteer for a day - very eye opening. i took names, personal information, height and weight for the many women, men and children who use this free clinic every couple months in a public school as their only health care. very sad.



second ingrid´s entire family is indigenous, so she gave me a deeper look into indigenous culture by talking about the conditions in the villages, the number of people in guate who are indigenous (which she estimates much higher than 50%), and many other things. it is fun to get to the point where we can talk about these things.



i took a weaving course at a place called Trauma Textiles, a textile cooperative run by 500-plus women who lost family in the armed conflict in guate. i took about 10 hours worth of class, and made a very handsome scarf. i am quite proud of it.



i also had the opportunity to teach english class in my last week, which was pretty funny, pretty fun. it is designed to be a free english course for children in the community... so, as it is taught by volunteers from the school, it is pretty disjunct, but fun. i think the kids learned something, and i got to practice my spanish.



i also met a very nice boy named dave at the school, and we went on all kinds of gringo xela dates, including yoga, movies, food and beer. he has since moved on to san andres itzapa outside of lago atitlan in guate, and i am in mexico. but, he is a nice human, and we had a good time.



our travels have now taken me to the heart of this jungle - a second growth jungle, actually, but that doesn´t prevent us from having monkeys on our property. they are howler monkeys, and it took us awhile to realize what they were as they sound like angry dogs in a fight. but, yesterday night, we got up the gumption to find them in the midst of their screaming, and discovered them much further away than one might expect, high up in a tree making a fuss. but cute as can be!

and that is just one element of farm life, so far. farm is a loose term. the site is about 6 months old as a wwoofing area. it is a 27 acre piece of property which is owned by a native mexican who grew up in california, and his wife - anita and manuel. manuel traded this piece of farm land for a school bus about 25 years ago. it began as a vast expanse of farm land, desolate and dry, and has evolved into the oasis it currently is. now, you can barely see traces of its old barren self. i have yet to explore much of the property, as it is, and am even afraid to because it is such a forest.

as the site evolved, they decided to take on wwoofers to further develop the things they have in mind. broadly, they aim to make it a permaculture space which can be used as a tool for education on sustainable development in the community. i don´t have a long term vision of their goals, but from my standpoint, projects have been varied. the first day, i worked to dig up about a 6' by 3' garden bed, mulch it and compost it and all of that. it took us the whole morning, as it involved gathering various types of leaves, splitting coconuts, etc... the next two days, we worked on building a green fence, which involved cutting up hibiscis trees and sticking them in the ground (now we pray for them to take root). in those days, i also learned how to use leaves to thatch a roof, which we made over a new composting toilet (which is really pretty...although vaulted. carrie calls it 'a loo with a view'). today, i split bamboo for 4 hours solid, and i have a blister. i get a new ailment every day. it´s pretty rad.

my most notable ailment is that i was stung by an africanized bee the other day. this is because anita and manuel actually raise them...which i am having troubles understanding...and were moving them. 3 of us wound up at the wrong place at the wrong time, and i managed to suffer for the next day, and on less than adequate sleep. i am, however, feeling considerably better than i was, which is fab. we spent the weekend going out to some famous ruins outside of town. it was fun, but i didn´t get much sleep as i was sharing a bed with carrie, and it was not so comfortable, plus my bee sting managed to work its poison from the crown of my head down my neck. then, we walked around all day in the 90 degree heat, which is popular. and i got a sunburn. which i then put mud on. and woke up today feeling better. and not burned, actually.

and so.

the people at the farm are a mixed bag, sort of. it is strange, first of all, to be in the heart of mexico and never really see mexicans. the next place we will go is a mexican non-profit with in the city, so we should get a mix. but, out here, we are a mix of americans, canadians (french and non), french and aussie. the aussies left today, actually... the leadership is comprised of a couple of volunteers who are pretty alright. i like them a bit more every day. we spend a lot of time reading or finding our own crazy projects.



one guy, dan, is from chicago and 27 and is a musician, too. cari and i spend most of our time with him, and he spends most of his time crafting crazy instruments out of bamboo. he is very clever, and it is fun to see what he comes up with. the aussies also were a fab pair - kyah is the one i got to know the best, i guess. she is a mix of shaved and dreded hair, and crazy clothes she has made. it takes her awhile to be out with the things she has done, or places she has been, so we barely scratched the surface on her, but some highlights are that she lives in a 7 ton truck which she has converted to run on leftover veggie oil, and she constructed a whole house - complete with solar power - on the back. she lives in australia occasionally, but mostly jaunts about the world, working at festivals and fruit picking, and doing such things. the only sad thing about meeting cool people is they all depart, and usually it is possible to know someone about a week before they take off. so, like usual, dan will be departing on wednesday, leaving us devoid of his fancy tie dyed shirts and tight shorts, and particularly bereft of his bamboo instruments. aussies left earlier today for guate, and they will be heading out to the place where temp xela boyfriend is working. that is nice, anyway.

the hard thing about being here, aside from how much of a weakling i happen to be, is how much it reminds me of last year. it seems to be brimming with all the same successes and failures as tucson. it is especially hard, as i mentioned, to be in chiapas but more removed from chiapans than i was during all of last year. i don´t know how to remedy it. this is the poorest state in mexico, and we are living simply, but well, while people lose fathers, mothers, children every day. the train runs by our property, delivering thousands of central americans who illegally jump on to go up north every week, but we have been advised not to speak with them, not to carry money with us, not, not, not. it makes me burn with anger when our leadership fail to realize our passions, our journeys, as individuals, or the varying reasons a person winds up in a remote place like outside-pakal na-outside-palenque-chiapas. for me, it is not happenstance. i burn more with anger for their failure to recognize where we are, and the realities here. we suggested a spanish-only lunch, and it was shut down.

besides these things, we are great. we are eating very well, sleeping well, working well, etc... i am missing friends and family back home! keep up, write when you can, and i will do the same.