Trip Reviews, Ratings and Comments - Trip Review - Di & Chuy #5

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Day 9 • Thursday, February 24

Up at 7:45 and head to Alexia’s school Ek Balam. The parents and guests are taken to an outside stage on the edge of the playground/basketball court. We take our seats and at 8:30 the procession of children come out. They are dressed as various animals. The story is about a bird who doesn’t have a mother and he asks all the various animals and birds if they will be his mother. (The bear ends up taking him home and the motto is that families are made up of many different types, not just mothers and fathers.) Of course, our niece was the best!!!

Mari, Mario, Chuy and I head to the local taco stand near their house for breakfast and I hug Mari goodbye until the next trip. We head home.

We show mom the video of the play and I head upstairs to finish packing. Mom comes up and gives me this beautiful necklace from her jewelry box and a gold heart “charm” that I’m now wearing on a gold chain. We hug and Chuy comes up to help finish packing.

Mario will be picking us up at 2:00 for the airport. We spend the rest of the morning relaxing. I’m sitting downstairs with Grandma while I read my book and we watch some crazy program on TV. Chuy spends the time with his mom up front in the store. I go upstairs and go out onto the terrace to film the neighborhood. I look carefully all around me. I keep thinking how different it feels out here and I now know it’s because there is no sidewalk, no pavement on the street--just dirt and rocks--so different from what I’m used to. Also, no yards except at very few homes. Most of the homes have only piles of rocks/dirt, some corners have piles of garbage. Most homes out here are made of concrete, many of them just one, maybe 2 small rooms. Those that can’t afford concrete build homes of thick sticks. At night you can see into them and all you’ll see are hammocks slung across the one room, some have a few rickety tables, milk crates with cloths neatly stacked in them. These homes have no bathrooms, maybe running water. Funny, but these were usually the homes that had some type of green front yard. You forget in the Hotel Zone that you are still in a third-world country. But as simple as these people live, they are HAPPY. They are with their families and have so much love. I once remember being in the car a few years ago with my friend Capi. You know the girls at Carlos N Charlies and Frogs that come around to take your picture...then about an hour later you can buy the photo in a plain or wooden frame? That use to be his business. Anyhoo, we are driving to pick up some frames and are in a really rundown part of Cancun and we are talking about our perceptions of wealth. He recalled how he had a pile of what he considered rags--old clothing. He was going to throw them away. His maid (who makes about $20us a week) asked if she could have them. He said, “Yes, but what are you going to do with them?” Her reply was, “I’m going to give them to the poor.” He said that really hit home. I will always remember that story.

What I’m about to talk about is in no way trying to preach anything to anybody, just relaying a “local’s” point of view: I remember driving around earlier in the trip during the late morning. From time to time we kept passing youngsters. Every time we saw them Chuy would get angry and say that they should be in school. I commented that I had seen fewer young children selling stuff to the tourist. This is such a sore spot with him. He realizes that tourist will often purchase items from these adorable, wide-eyed children just because they are so irresistible. But what makes him so mad is that as long as tourist continue to do this, it just keeps adding incentive to the parents to keep them out of school and earn the family’s money. The parents know that a child is irresistible. We talk about this from time to time and he knows that no one means any harm by it, but he feels very strongly about these kids going to school so that they can have better lives and help their country to grow. I tell him stories from this board about the incredible things some of you do with bringing cloths/school supplies, etc. and he just can’t believe it. I can see the smile on his heart. He says that this is better than buying from the children on the streets. Again, I’m not trying to preach anything, just pointing out another view.

I continue to stand there on the terrace with the sun warming my face. I want to cry, I love this country and it’s people so much. My grandparents spent 4-5 months every winter of the 60’s and early 70’s in Oaxaca at Puerta Escondido and filled me with wonderful stories of the wonderful people of Mexico...I look back now and know what they were feeling. I’m sure this is where my love of this country started, without me having stepped foot in it until 1979. I can hear my husband downstairs talking with his mother. I think of how great he was all week with me, knowing that sometimes it was stressful for me being there and not being able to communicate exactly what I wanted with my limited Spanish. I am filled with so much love for him...I stand there for a very long time with tears running down my face.

It’s time to go. Mario arrives with Alexia and Cristian and we pile everything into the car. Lots of hugging and saying our goodbyes. I sit quietly in the back with Alexia (she’s watching the play-back of her play on the camera) and feel so many things tugging at my heart. This family took me in and made me feel so welcome and loved, just as mine did with Chuy. We are truly blessed. He was so worth the long wait.

Submitted by: di -- diane_lopez-velarde@ibi.com
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