Rain Delays and Other Fun in Copales

(Originally posted July 2007)

Hello Family and Friends,

It’s Sunday afternoon, so you probably can already guess that I’m sitting at a small Internet cafe in Cuetzalan writing the weekly update home. Currently, I’m in route to Zapatitlan for a two day meeting with the entire Proyecto, all 5 communities together. This is the third Sunday in a row that I’ve been here and each week the sky has been filled with migrating butterflies. It’s slowing up a bit, but last weekend, everywhere you looked was filled with hundreds of butterflies.

This week has been kinda slow in Copales (well, let’s be honest, the pace is nice and slow to begin with). We encountered a few delays in our work due to rain and materials. Rain interrupts life more here than back home. When it’s raining, it’s much harder to start a fire to cook, you get soaking wet walking to the neighbors house to share a cup of coffee, and all the dogs, cats and chickens seem to want to sleep indoors. Keep in mind, we’re already sharing a one room house for 8 people. It downpours like crazy at least once a day, usually in the afternoon or evening. Taking a shower, in our outdoor shower/sink area, doesn’t function as well in the rain. And making the journey to the bathroom (past the neighbors house, across the stream and up the hill) is a pain during a downpour. Rain also affects our workshops in the afternoon because when it’s raining, no one leaves their house to come join us. We had to cancel two days, hopefully we won’t have to cancel too many even though we’re entering the rainy season.

Lack of materials also has slowed down our progress this week. Construction projects are much easier in the U.S: if you need a different type of tool or webbing you just drive over to Home Depot and buy it. Here, if we need more chicken coop webbing, we need to send someone to Ayotoxco (30-40 minute walk plus a 15 minute “bus” ride, when the bus comes). Then, that person must return by bus, walking and hitching a ride back to Copales with a 50 kg roll of metal webbing. Here, if we need a tool, we try to find a family that can lend us one or try to find someone that can make us one. Yesterday, I spent away to long sharpening the tip of a metal tool we had just made to help us build the water catchments.

All in all, the projects are going well. Our group works hard and works together well. We’ve gotten started and we’re getting the community to participate, learn along with us and help us out in the process. One of our major goals is not only to leave the community with ten new water catchments, but also that the community learns the importance of the tanks and how to build them for themselves. We’ve been encouraging the teenagers in the community especially to join us to learn how to work with metal and concrete, potential job skills for their future. Several are able to join us, at least part of the day, but many are working. Currently, many are involved in planting corn and harvesting limes.

Well, with all the rain and waiting on materials, we haven’t just been sitting around. We continue to enjoy spending time with the kids the follow us everywhere and time with the families. We attended a graduation celebration for the girl that lives down the path.  

One day, I went fishing with Juan and Don Claudio. They told me we’d go for about an hour, they didn’t mention that fishing place on the river was over an hour’s walk away. As it turned out, it was one of the most beautiful hikes I’ve ever been on. We first reached the peak of a big hill that overlooked the pastures and the winding river. As we came down from the hill, we walked in the path of an old stream that had cut the path and “walls” taller than me on either side. As we walked through the pastures, a herd of 40-ish cattle ran past us. In the river, Juan and Claudio set up a small net then moved the rocks so the current would catch the river shrimp and pull them into the net. After an hour, we had about twelve,…not a good fishing day. On the way back, we took a different route down the river and up a very steep hill to a tall double waterfall hidden in the forest.  

One thing I never thought I would hear myself say would be, ¨”Hey, neighbor, could I borrow your machete?” Perhaps, a cup of sugar, but never a machete. Haha. I’ve been learning to use a machete from time to time to cut firewood. My first attempt was semi-comical and drew a small crowd of giggling señoras and the usual kids. Don’t worry, I’m coming back with all ten fingers. I quickly got the hang of it and now quite enjoy carrying around a machete. Here, young boys through old men carrying their machetes around 24/7. They´re quite useful for clearing paths, cutting firewood, and killing the occasional snake (I’ve heard).

I’m sure I mentioned food in other updates, but it continues to be important enough to write about again this week. One evening this week, one of the ladies that lives near us and finds my curiosity of everything new to be quite humorous came to bring us a cane of sugar she had just harvested from her garden. After chopping off the outside (with the machete, of course), we passed the cane of sugar around. Each bite of the cane and the water that leaks out is super sweet, but be sure to spit it out or else you´ll get splinters in your mouth. And now that I’ve arrived at the bustling city of Cuetzalan for the afternoon, I’m off to eat some ice cream, elotes and cold Coca Cola.  

I miss everyone a lot and take out my small photo album to share my family and friends back home with my group and friends in the community here. I enjoy hearing from you all and I hope that everything is doing well back home.  

Hasta luego!

– Megan