Week 1 January 27th-Febuary 3rd 2007
We are Off!
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Eric, Britt, and Katie Just before we left from Tennessee |
Jan 27, 2007
And we're off!. . . It has now been 5 days since we left Tennessee and already it seems like it's been a week, and yet time has flown by. Full days. On the 25th and 24th we spent some time in New Orleans staying with Britt's cousin, Steve. It felt like we had just been there the week before and not one year ago. (to learn more about our Gulf project click «here».)
There were a few changes but they were hard to see at first glance. FEMA trailers still dot the neighborhoods and many damaged houses remain untouched since Katrina. We talked with some of our friends that live in New Orleans and they had major concerns about the health of their city and the city's political leadership. In other words, New Orleans still has a long way to go to get back on its feet. Britt and I visited a few places where we worked in
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Meg Perry Bioremediation and Community Garden Project |
New Orleans last year while on our sailboat journey. The Meg Perry Bioremediation and Community Garden Project, was quite empty compared to how it looked in May 2006, when we left. It looked as though most of the garden was put to bed under the protection of a couple of inches of bark mulch. At the back of the garden, I was pleased to see four beds full of chard, peas, beets, and other garden goodies. There were also two ponds that had been landscaped in.
After our visit to the garden, Britt and I took a trip out to the Marina where we lived for 2 and a half months last year. Besides the presence of a few new sailboats, I could hardly tell that anything had been done to clean up the docks. The marina was suffering the same fate as the rest of New Orleans. Maybe one day in the future the city won't have such dramatic reminders of what it went through.
After New Orleans, we made made our way to Houston, where Britt and I spent two days getting ready for the trip across the border. Our friend's mother, Karen allowed us to stay in her apartment with full access to the internet, phone, and natural foods store...unfortunately she was away so we'll try to meet up with her on the return trip. Our time in Houston was invaluable in making more connections with people in Mexico and getting some last minute details taken care of. We were able to buy more video tapes (for the camcorder) and have more brochures printed in Spanish and English. This seemingly small task was quite a remarkable feat. Ruben, a friend that we made while working at Four Directions in the bayous of Louisianna, contacted us after a year to let us know he had made a documentary of the relief efforts, and to deliver more food to Four Directions Free Store. He has been working with Islamic Relief Fund delivering food and supplies to people in need all over the Louisianna area. He offered to help with our project in any way. It turns out that his wife, Edith, speaks fluent Spanish and she stayed up all night translating our most important documents, including the brochure! It is amazing to have friends all over the planet. And thanks to Eric who did the last minute job of switching out the text from the english version and sending it to the printer.
So that brings us to the present. We are just North of the border staying with a friend's grandparents who have so generously opened up their home to us. After a supper of chicken spaghetti, rolls, brocolli with cheese, and pink jello dessert, we are parked in front of the computer, writing this log. We were
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Lala picking out a some seeds |
happy to find out that Lela liked to grow flowers, so we got out our favorite box from the car (the one containing the seeds) and she picked out a packet of Shungiku Chrysanthemums. When I told her the flowers were edible, I think she was even more pleased with her choice.
The weather here is wonderful 73F and we are ready to go. The connections we have made already are very promising and we have several meetings planned in Mexico. Thanks to everyone who has encouraged and supported us these past months and weeks, so that we could make it here. May you all be well and healthy and we will try to do the same.
Katie
Crossing the Boarder
Jan 28th
We rose before the sun this morning in an RV park inhabited mostly by elder Americans who much prefer warmer climes. Katie and I spent the night in a very comfortable bed at the home of the Bishops. Lena had the table set with coffee, orange juice, cereal, and biscuits so as to make sure our tanks were sufficiently full before heading out across the border. They were.
By 830, we were at the official border crossing and within the blink of an eye, all signage spoke to us solo en Español. We paid a road toll, then gave our passports to the guard who waved us through with narry a glance. We looked at one another, Could it be that easy? We remembered the People’s Guide to Mexico making reference to tourist cards and a bond for our car. We decided to stop and try to find someone who would take our money, ask us a bunch of questions we couldn’t answer, and officially approve our entrance into Mexico with the official stamp or 2 or 3. We found a woman who looked official and serious,so we headed in her direction. She took our passports for 10 seconds then handed them back without tourist cards. Geez, that was way too easy but there was nothing else there for us and no one trying to get us to stay, so we hopped in our car and merged with the rest of the crazy stinky cars in Matamoros. We couldn’t believe how quickly the whole process had gone. What red tape? Yea, well we found ourselves right back at the border in the kiosk directly across from the tourist lady 3 hrs later. You see, it’s Sunday and there are no banks open in which to post the security bond. That’s what we give to the fed bank as proof that we won’t dump or sell our car in MX. The 2nd border guard (the one that is 20km south of the 1st, it delineates the day visitors from the serious tourists) chased us down as we passed through its checkpoint without even knowing we had violated a law. No problem though, we just needed a sticker for our car! We were supposed to have bought a car permit at el Banco Banjercito with the bond. But its Sun. no banks are open, and worse yet. No one knows what Banjercito is. We got to practice our Spanish...I am now totally proficient in the question, “Perdon Señor, pero save usted donde esta el banco banjercito?” Finally we chased down a border guard en el supermarcado. He was trying to make a fast get away into the aisles of the supermarket from us gringas con questiones. Finally, we learned that el banco banjercito is at the border crossing. And that is how we got ourselves back where we started.
We were happy to see the grumpy migracion officer...but he wasn’t happy to see us. "You can't take this car into MX", he told us. Katie tried explaining that she had read the rules and that she had all the necessary paperwork. Guard: “No you cannot take this car if it is your brothers, no. Only if it is your father’s or husband’s” Us: “Well isn’t there any other way”? That worked. He gave in to our toothy grins and our staged charm. Ok, you need to put the title in your name, sign here. Phew! Soon we were back on the road. This time we stopped at the 2nd checkpoint, he laughed and waved us through. And so it is in this way that we now find ourselves in Tampico, 11 hours after we crossed theborder the 1st time. We are happy, full, clean, and playing a little guitar before bed.
Britt
The Beach 
Jan 30th
It’s amazing how a simple thing like finding la playa (the beach) can become an adventure!
After forgoing our 1000+ mile round trip to the Yucatan, Britt and I decided we still needed to go to el mar (the sea), for at least a day or two.
After our trip to the Mayan ruins and spending time with our new friend, Eugine, the archaeologist and poet, and his family, we headed 20 kms north in hopes of finding the beach before sunset (at this point it is 4:30pm). An hour and a half later we found ourselves on an unnamed road still far from the beach. The idea of pulling off the road and asking a local if we could camp in their yard, seemed like a better and better idea the darker it got.
Bound and determined to find the beach we powered on. After asking a vendor on the road "¿sabe usted donde la playa?" We finally got some directions that we could partly understand and took us to the place we were looking for, the beach! One thing that was on out side was that the moon was full, better illumination to see the monstrous potholes in the road!! It felt so good to sit on the beach under the full moon, drinking cervasa, listening to the ocean, and talking about our purpose in life and of course the film and what it was going to be like!! We set up our tent, close to (but not directly under) the grove of coconut trees that cover a lot of the area we were in. We had a peaceful night sleep on the beach and woke in the morning to the song of the still unnamed black bird that inhabits this area.
We will spend one more night here in the beach then start heading towards Chiapas to meet with our contacts in the south of that region. That story to come. . .
"Paridise"
Jan 31st
Katie and I had a short drive today after we revised our potentially overly ambitious plans to drive all the way to the Yucatan. There are 3 communities in the State of Quintana Roo with whom we hoped to connect and document, but we had not made a solid connection with any of them. 2 of them do not have email or a website. We’ll save around 1100 kms of driving and a good number of litres of petrol by staying in more northern states.
We have a meeting coming up with SEXTOL Sol, a Center for Community Action coming up next week. This is a newly formed group of 1,000 displaced families from Hurricane Stan. The leader of the group wants to rebuild in the form of an ecovillage. We’ve been trying to arrange the best possible dates to meet and are eager to meet these incredible people.
Until that time, we’ve been enjoying our one week (now that we cut out 3 meetings) of free time. We will spend the rest of this week visiting ruins and museums to learn a bit more of the Mexican culture and that of their ancestors.
Yesterday, Katie and I took a detour to visit the ruins of Comalcalco, which were built around the same time as those at Palenque. Most of the buildings were built out of baked bricks and there are many of them. The area is still being excavated, but we could make out where the other buildings lay. Their telltale bulks are hidden under large mounds of green grass, each one in perfect alignment with the movement of the sun and moon.
We met a man their, Eugenio, who is the area’s archaeologist. He gave us a tour and introduced us to the Saber tree, the ones revered by the Mayans. It is a beautiful tree. He is also a poet and so was happy to recite some of his work with us under that tree. We will incorporate this into our documentary.
Later, Eugenio invited us to his home to meet his family and share a delicious meal of cinnamon chicken, mashed potatoes, salsa fresca and pico, tortillas, and tomato rice. We were invited to return at any time for the rest of our lives. He was a very interesting man who said he had never meet tourists like us before...he loved our project and is excited to be featured in it. We have a copy of one of his books of poetry and it is all written and inspired at and by the ruins where he works.
Today, we find ourselves in a little town called "Paraiso" or Paradise. We are doing some catching up on writing letters and solidifying plans with communities.
Thanks to so many of you who have written us with suggestions for places to visit and people with whom to connect. We now have a pretty full schedule and should be visiting around 8 or 9 communities if it all goes as planned.