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The Journals from the Road
March 31 - April 11: Weddings, websites, and wet weather! - Queretaro - D.F. - Tuxla - San Cristobal Well, in the last two weeks I have traveled over 2000 kms, however, all but about 50 of that has been on bus, metro, and taxi! I took another bus to Queretaro which took about 3 hours. I got a taxi back to the Cesar´s home. He was out for a pre-wedding party. I stayed in his new home, the one for he and Lilian. We had a good time getting all ready. Cesar in his penguin suit and even the PeaceBiker borrowed a silk suit! I wish I could share every detail with you but it would probably be easiest to get a sense of this wonderful event by checking out the PeaceBike Film Room and watching the videos for yourself! I felt so honored to be a part of Lilian and Cesar´s big day. Special greetings to all of Cesar´s friends: to Jorge and Denali(You two were so welcoming! Best wishes as your big day approaches!), Roberto and his wife (Thank´s for the drive home!), Alejandra (Thank´s for teaching me some Mexican line dances and helping me feel comfortable in a new crowd), Tocho (you crazy guy!!), the designer gal (Thanks for the fine words and crazy dancin´.), Mario (Thanks for helping me meet the gang at the big dinner party.), and to many, many more, whose names have unfortunately slipped my memory. You were all so warm and full of kindness! The wedding was conducted in a church near Cesar and Lilian´s new home. A few ¨different that U.S.¨ customs to note: The bride and groom each were encircled with a golden lasso to symbolize God´s never ending love. After their vows they knelt before La Virgin and said a prayer for their life together. The post wedding fiesta was another new thing for me. This party literally went all night long. If you look at the videos you will see the crowd dancing and my camera recorded the time as 2:35 am. We had dinner, danced, danced, danced, and then finally had breakfast at about 3:30 am. I finally headed back to Cesar´s home at about 5:00 am and slept from 5:30 to 7:30 but it was really only one hour because, guess what, daylight savings time! Cesar´s whole family welcomed me in once again! You are all welcome at the Beckwith Ranch in Oregon! I headed out early ( A huge thanks to Sr. Serrano for driving me to the bus station at such an early hour.) and then got on a bus to Mexico City. I stopped in and said hi to Teresa, saw my friend Gabi, and went back to the Museum of Anthropology for some Mayan photos. I wasn´t too worried about getting a bus back to San Cristobal and wanted to finish just one more project on the website. But when I got to the bus station it was almost 9:00 pm and all of the buses to San Cristobal that day had left. After lot´s of questions to almost every bus ticketer in the station I found a bus going to Tuxla which is only a few hours from San Cristobal so I signed up. As I was in line a fellow gringo came up behind me and nervously asked me if I could change his 20 dollars for pesos. I was caught off guard at first but soon warmed up to him and realized that I could have easily be in the same situation. He had miscalculated how much it cost to get from Texas to Mexico City and had to use his emergency cash, which happened to be greenbacks. Jess and I got along very well and ended up talking together ´til about 1:00 am in the morning. He amazed me with how much he knew about world political and economic movements. He gave me the short history of the indigenous rights struggle in Chiapas as well. We talked about pacifism, the World Trade Organization protests, and what we can do about all the injustices in the world. He has volunteered for a non-profit organization with a branch in San Cristobal called Global Exchange. I found their page on their Mexico project and would recommend it to anyone who would like a bit more information about current political struggles in Chiapas. It is, We took a quick break in Tuxla and then got on another bus and headed up into the hills. It was very wet and rainy outside, unusual up to this point. We parted ways in San Cristobal as friends. Jess, I hope our paths cross again. Keep up the good, long fight and keep hangin´ with those optimistic activists. Back at La Casa di Gladys all was well. PeaceForce One and Big Jon were both happy to see me. My second day at the hotel I did some translation work for the owner in exchange for a free night. Well, one thing led to another and now I have built the La Casa di Gladys its own website in exchange for hotel stay, internet use, and PeaceBike publicity. In the process I have become good friends with Gladys, her son Alex, and daughter Gladys. In fact I plan to visit Gladys´ school tomorrow and give her class the PeaceBike show-n-tell-n-pen pal routine! I will miss the many good friends I have made at Casa di Gladys: Jorge from France, Big Jon, Montana Mike, Audree, Jeff and Tanya from Bend, Oregon, Lukas from Italy, Elisa (la dueña pequeña), Adela (hotcakes!), Rafael, the couple from Denmark, the Pineapple brothers from Sudan and Franch, and many more. Jon and I may head out together or I may go solo for a while. We are still working it out. A few more web mini-projects before I sleep and soon off to Agua Azul and Palenque. TAD PS, visit Jonathan's peacelink of the week! |