On the Hills of Monte Alban -- October 16

After living in Oaxaca for more than a month, I finally got to see Monte Alban. This includes the touristic site of the ruins of Monte Alban just outside of the city, as well as the Colonia Monte Alban, of which tourists might get a quick glimpse from the bus, before turning their heads in shame and / or disgust. All in all I can describe the day as a beautiful, relaxed, and insightful family Sunday.

It all started with Minerva's question if I could help her two children with their English. She is the lady in charge of the food at the hostel. Of course I was interested, trying to supplement my rather meager schedule with whatever extra hours I could. After a long back and forth we agreed on a price that was bad for both of us. On my end I was selling myself way under value, she on the other hand had to work a whole day for the two hours of English. This alone showed me that we were coming from completely different worlds. Yet I accepted, as I needed the cash, and what was I gonna do on a Sunday morning anyway. When that day came, however, I ended up giving my classes for free, which I explained with the fact that I was going to relocate to Mexico City, and hence couldn't continue my lessons on a permanent basis. Minerva understood.

She picked me up at eleven in the morning, and we took the bus to her house in the Colonia Monte Alban. I have seen the shacks on the hills from the distance, but couldn't imagine that someone, who worked eight hours a day, six days a week in the kitchen of a hostel, would have to live in one of them. Fact is, she has to. But that is nothing to be ashamed of, and she never showed the slightest bit of discomfort, so I tried to do the same. It wasn't easy not to notice the bare concrete floor, the tin walls, the plastic bags that kept the rain from flowing in, and the large holes in the structure fixed with broken sheets of plywood. There were two rooms, one had two beds and some old chests and wardrobes in it, in the other one there was a table with some chairs. The kitchen consisted of a fire-pit and the only tap of running water. The bathroom was an outhouse in the yard.

Only two of the four kids in my class were actually Minerva's. The others were cousins, who lived not too far away. Their ages ranged from ten to eighteen, and some had been studying English for several years. My initial worry, that this might cause problems in teaching them successfully, was soon forgotten, as they all were pretty much on the same level: absolute beginners. After the first intensive practice they seemed to understand the difference between I am, You are, and She is. Meanwhile they all made the impression of bright and enthusiastic students. So what was the problem? How could these same kids have studied three or more years of English without any results whatsoever? The answer they gave me was deeply shocking: The ever present Mexican corruption.

It works something like this: The teacher in a public school gives the class a price-list for grades. For top marks you have to pay the teacher approximately as much as his paycheck is to begin with, which illustrates the incredibly low salaries of teachers. If you just want to get by you still have to pay a pretty steep amount. If you can't, or don't want to support this dirty business, you will be ignored all year round. This is exactly what has been happening to these kids ever since they entered school, which diminishes their likelihood of ever leaving the shacks of Monte Alban.

After our class Minerva suggested to take a walk to see the ruins, as I have never been there before. It wasn't far, about an hour from the city limits. On the way we picked up Minerva's sister, who was going to look for chapulines, and the ruins were a perfect place for that. Chapulines are Mexican grasshoppers that are sold at the market as a local delicacy. They are red, crunchy, and are prepared with limes and chillis. I could never imagine how they were collected, as the beasts, like decent grasshoppers, tend to flee from their predators. Well, there is nothing more to it than simply being quicker then them (if you don't come before sunrise when they are frozen stiff). Usually, however, a good eye is enough to spot them in the grass, then pick them up with your hands, and place them in an empty water bottle. This takes about ten seconds per grasshopper, but then again, we had the whole day and everyone was helping along.

On our excursion we didn't only collect chapulines, but all sorts of plants. Not only the adult women, but even the young girls had a vast knowledge of all the different plants. They got a kick out of overwhelming their teacher with pieces of info on how to use this grass or that herb. Some added a strong flavor to a soup, others kept a certain insect away (I guess the bedbug, but I'm not sure), still others were good against stomachache or wounds, or cramps. One of them was rather esoteric in nature, as it was used to clean one's aura. I felt a bit stupid not knowing any of these herbs, nor any herbs whatsoever (okay, there might be one I'm quite familiar with...) even though they could come in handy anytime. And I considered myself to be "educated".

The ruins of Monte Alban were nice. They were built by some ancient people, and had the usual temples, pyramids, ball-courts, palaces, etc. kinda like in Coba, Teotihuacan, the great Chicken Pizza, and all the others. This time they didn't really capture my excitement, as they were rather a nice backdrop for a crash course in botanic. It was much more memorable to run around chasing grasshoppers and eating wild herbs. After the bottle was almost full, we headed back home.

Minerva invited me for family supper, and as the day had been very friendly and familiar, I accepted. We went to her sister's house, where her mother lived, along with about ten other family members, under comparable circumstances. It was difficult to make out who lived where, but for Sunday Dinner all were gathered at the home of the old folks. It felt like Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, even though it was "just" a Sunday. There was lots of food, charbroiled meat, a strong soup, lots of tortillas called "tlayudas" (pure corn of course), a vegetable stew, and of course... Coca Cola! The tlayudas made up for the absence of any spoons, recalling the old Hungarian tale of eating your utensils! All in all it was a delicious meal. Only the Coca Cola didn't fit somehow. Why do poor people drink so much Coke? Does their meager diet require a higher sugar concentration in their drink? Or is it maybe the fact that the stores on the hill sell nothing but junk-food, and that it has the same price as water?

After dinner the grandmother asked the kids about all the plants we had collected, and they stuck them into a thick notebook which had many, many other ones in there already. Grandma made sure not to leave any of them out, and the granddaughters were eager to show off their knowledge about them. Grandma explained that this was their health insurance, since none of them could afford to seek medical help, or pay for expensive drugs. But with the herbs they could take care of themselves so much that they never had to go to the doctor. I believe there are certain ailments where a hospital can't be replaced, but on the whole most chemical drugs would be redundant if we just had the knowledge of plants that the people in the Colonia Monte Alban have.

Disaster News from Guatemala -- October 13

Right after my last entry (just about a month ago) I took a trip to the beautiful Lake Atitlan in Guatemala, mainly to get a stamp into my passport and to take a look at that wondrous place all the travelers seemed so enthusiastic about. In San Pedro I ran into three familiar faces from my CELTA course in Playa del Carmen, Mairi, Meredith and Neale. They were doing the most popular Atitlan thing, staying with a local family and taking Spanish classes. The story of the trip can be summed up like this: went there, hung out for a day, came back to Mexico. The detailed description is in my Hungarian blog, waiting to be translated.

A few weeks later Central America was hit by Hurricane Stan. Apart from heavy rains I didn't get to experience too much of it. (I might have mentioned something of it in my German blog. Some day I'll get to translate it too. ) Actually it was the news that brought it to my attention, that it was more than just simple rain we had to deal with. Death and devastation was being reported from everywhere: Guerero, Veracruz, Chiapas, the coast of Oaxaca, and even more from Guatemala and El Salvador.

Today I got the complete update on the situation from Meredith. They are fine, but it seems like they were right in the middle of the disaster. But read it yourself:

Well I hope you are all well at home and enjoying your creature comforts. For those of you who don't know, Hurricane Stanley has hit Guatemala with devastatingeffects. It was mainly El Salvador, the South ofGuatemala and Mexico Chiapas region that were hit. The area most affected in Guatemala was the LakeAtitlan region. We were staying in the Lake Atitlan region!

So, we've been living in San Pedro de Laguna by LakeAtitlan for the last four weeks. We're off season anyway so its been cloudy most afternoons and rains almost everyday for an hour or two. Anyway, 10 days ago (Sunday) the rains started again and we thought nothing of it. Monday morning, still rain, thought nothing of it! Electricity went down Monday morning, thought nothing of it! Monday afternoon still no electricity and the rain is getting heavier, it has now rained for 24 hours non stop. Still had classes and moaned about the weather! Tuesday the rain continued and became heavier, no wind luckily, managed to struggle through Spanish class and then headed to the local pub to discuss the weather with everyone! Stuggled home in some of the worst rain I have ever seen. The streets were rivers and the streams into the lakes were now torrents. Tuesday night the storm attacked with a vengence. Neale woke up to the curtain in our room blowing up against the ceiling and 4 inches of water on the floor. He quickly rescuedall our bags, books and shoes from the floor and put them onto the only table we had in the room. Neal, Rene and Rosario of our family spent most of the night sweeping water out of the house and down thestairs to avoid anymore flooding. I slept through it!!!!

Wednesday morning, still raining! Spent most of the time tidying up the house and struggling through the streets to get to shops for food and water. San Pedro wasn't that badly affected. There was a lot of water and the Lake continued to rise, but the town itself had little damage and most people were fine. News started to come in about the other towns around the lake, especially Santiago and San Marcos where whole areas had been swallowed in the landslides that had swept through in the middle of the night. The whole area around the lake is really fertile land, but it is also very steep so heavy rainfall results in landslides and with the amount of rain that we'd had for the last 4 days meant that half the mountainside slid into the town! San Marcos lost two schools and hundreds of homes, Santiago lost the area the size oftwo football pitches! Its estimated over 1500 died inSantiago. Over 2000 refugees flooded into San Pedro for help with food and clothing, so many people were displaced! Luckily San Pedro was the least hit with problems and so could help the other towns. San Pedro is built on the rocks where as the other towns are built into the moutainside. Thank goodness for St Peter!

All the while we were fine, no real problems in San Pedro and our family were fine. The rain didn't actually stop until Thursday where once again the dogs started to bark! For once we were pleased to hear the buggers barking all day long!

Spent Thursday night looking after the kids in our family as the parents headed out to find food! There had been no chicken, meat or eggs for a few days and even the beans were running low! They came back two hours later with more cornflakes and UHT milk than you can shake a stick at and pot noodles! No food in thevillage! Any food that was available had doubled in price, talk about kick people when they're down!

Anyway, everyone pulled together and we were living quite happily even though there was no electricity and the water supply was getting low so no showers, and flushing the toilet became limited! Rene (familyfather) put out buckets and bins to catch all the rainwater so we could use that for washing and flushing! Rosario (mother) even started the fire to boil water so we could all have hot water for our washes. The gas was getting low and so she went back to the traditional wood fires for cooking. The problem wasn't that we were in danger or hurt or sick or hungry, the problem was that all the roads around SanPedro had been cut off due to the landslides and so no supplies were getting into town. We still had clean water to drink and pot noodles to eat, but weren't quite sure when deliveries of proper food were goingto start coming in. There were rescue missions heading out to Santiago and San Marcos where people were digging out the schools and hospitals. The problems were only just about to begin, during the storm you stay inside and hope for the best, its afterwards that the problems start. The clear up, the food and water supply, the transport and electricity systems, and worst of all help for the sick and medical supplies.

By now the rain had more or less stopped, only light showers in the afternoon and we'd been without electricity for 5 days. The lake had risen by 4 foot in 4 days. This is a huge lake, I can't begin to imagine how much water that is! As I said before, luckily for us we were in the safest town in the Lake area and very few people had died or lost their homes. There was lots of talk about when the roads would open, when electricity would come back on, when we'd get some access to money as the banks couldn't give out money on ATM cards as no electricity to authorise withdrawal! Luckily I had a few American ExpressTravelers Cheques which we cashed and paid for food etc with. Didn't want to run up bills in case the problems persisted for another week!

All the tourists were discussing the situation, what we could do to help, how the hell are we going to get out of here etc etc. On Saturday quite a few people decided to risk taking the boat over to Panahachel, which is the main tourist town on the lake where all the transport out of the area leaves from. We decided to stay until Monday then head over to Pana, get some cash, come back to San Pedro and leave mid week when the rush and panic was over.

Anyhow, Sunday comes, raining again! Have lunch with the family and the electricity comes back on. We were overexcited about the electricity and rushed down to the dock where there are lots of tourist places, internet cafes etc. Email was on, hurrah, emailed home in a hurry as hadn't had any communication for over a week and we weren't sure how much you all knew about the problems we were having. We either thought that the news at home would be awful and everyone would be worried, or you wouldn't have heard ofHurricane Stan and wonder what the hell we're talkingabout!!!

Went home for lunch, as you do, and another student staying in our homestay came in and said there was a women representing the embassys on the dock insisting all the tourists leave! We weren't quite sure what to make of it as there had been a few people running around in a panic making matters worse by telling everyone they're going to die!!! So, we finished our lunch, of course, and thought we'd check the situationout ourselves. Got to the dock and sure enough there was a representative from various embassys on a RESCUE MISSION!!!! What?! I've never been rescued before! She was adamant that all the tourist should leave as the clean water supply is getting low, food supply is becoming a problem, the roads are still cut off and the towns around (Santiago and San Juan) are beginning to have problems with disease and this is your one and only chance to be resuced!!!! Well, she had quite a convincing argument! We hadn't realised how bad the situation was in our little homestay with our family, eating pot noodles and watching the rain! No news and no communication really cuts you off from the rest ofthe world!

Well, we left on the rescue boat! It was all very rushed and quite emotional as 30 mins before we'd been eating lunch with our family, now we were packing our bags and saying goodbye. We said goodbye to the kids and managed to get a few quick photos. Gave Rene and Rosario a hug and said goodbye, Rosario then proceeded to cry which started me off and then almost started Neale and Rene off!!! We'd had a great four weeks with them and it all seemed so hurried that we didn't get a chance to have a last meal, last weekend, last class, anything! Plus I think for Rosario the fact that the tourists were being escourted out of town made the problems seem more real as her and her family were being left behind to deal with all the problems and we were being wisked away! We felt like we were abandoning a sinking ship and it wasn't a nice feeling to think that we were being resuced and they weren't!

Majority of those tourists left left, only about 20 ofus, met by the dock for our evacuation! The embassy rescue staff are there to take us to Panahachel by boat and then overland to Guatemala City. Boat heads out and its so low in the water you're almost swimming! The lake water is so high and the further into the lake you get the more you can see all the brown scratches down the mountainside where the landslide has just ripped through the green woodland. Get into Pana and the rescue staff take us to the nicest hotel we have been to in the last 3 months! It had a swimming pool and everything! We were shown to a conference room which was to be our accommodationfor the evening! Everyone gathered chairs togetherand laid across them or just on the floor, we were refugees!!! Left early the next morning for our trip to Guatemala City... First mode of transport was an army truck, soldiers and all, to the next main town, Solarlar. There had been a major landslide and roadaccess in and out of the area had been cut off. However, you could walk across the landslide to the clear road on the otherside. So, army truck to landslide where we unloaded got on our backpacks andwalked across the landslide to the clear road on the other side, where a mini van picked us up and took us up to the town. Crossing the bridge where the landslide had been was humbling, they had already cleared a lot of the mud and rocks by the time we were there as they had been working on this road link for two days. However, you could still see thedevastation. The bridge is too weak to cross by car so the supplies are being driven in on one side, unloaded, physically carried over by Guatemalans, and then loaded onto a truck the otherside. They are carrying over sacks of rice, huge containers of water, sugar etc, unbelievable strength. It made you realisethat there is actually a huge problem and supplies are low and it will be ages until the roads are back up, power is stable and phone lines work again. We wereso lucky to be in San Pedro.

Once we'd been collected on the clear side we were taken by bus to Guatemala City. The whole route was covered with landslides that were being cleared, farmers trying to save what was left of their crops, villages trying to salvage anything left over. The whole of the South of Guatemala was affected.

Arrived in Guatemala City and put into a hall awaiting our embassadors and believe it or not we were providedwith a Chicken Sandwich and chips from Burger King for our rescue mission meal!!!!! Burger King?!!!!

Anyway, after our fulfilling meal of cold chips and chicken sandwich we had to register with the British Embassy. Nice chap, all he did was take our name and gave us a smile!!! Everyone was the same, apart from the American desk, who not only had a desk twice the size as everyone else, but also had managed to find a flag to drap over it. You can never be too far from the stars and stripes!! The American guys on our bus were a little embarrased, its like having your mum meet you at school and she fusses whilst everyone else is leftalone!! I jest, but the American embassador had brochures, directories, anything to help those arriving (if you were American!) she even had a phone that they could use to ring home. When we asked ourchap about using his phone to call home he said he had no reception?!!! Our American pals were on the phone so perhaps he should join that network in future!!!

A couple of cups of coffee later we were given a choice of either heading to Antigua which is a colonial town in Guatemala on the tourist trail and very nice actually... or finding our own way North! Easiest route possible for us please!!! We hopped onto the Antigua bus and arrived safe and sound 45mins later on Monday night!

So, at the end of that huge story we are fine! We're in Antigua enjoing the luxuries of electricity and food! There are some fantastic restaurants here! After all our troubles we splashed out on a more expensive room than normal and went to a lovelyItalian restaurant for homemade pizza and red wine!!! Its the most expensive meal we've had since we've beenaway!!! Well worth it! We've moved to cheaper digs now that we've recovered!

We keep bumping into people from San Pedro who were evacuated before us or who were the last ones out, and we are really pleased we got on the boat. We nearly didn't as we wanted to stay with our family for awhile, but in hindsight its the best thing we could do. I feel quite selfish and sometimes feel like we just jumped ship, but we were given one chance of a rescue and now we're getting proper news in Antigua. The doctors are saying that they are worried about disease and outbreaks of dengue fever. We've been told we couldn't volunteer unless we have proof of all our jabs as some areas run risks of tetanus, cholera, dengue etc. So, we're going to buy some supplies and donate them to the local collection points. The main supplies needed are nappies, insect repelent and anytype of medicine plus anything else you can give. Its quite shocking really! You just don't realise the devastation these natural disasters leave.

We're not sure where we're heading next. We are meeting friends of ours in Mexico in 2 weeks for a holiday. I can't wait to get by the beach and enjoy the sun. No more rain for a while please! I hope you're well at home. I also hope not to send you another disaster email on our journey!Take care and email if you get a chance. We're backin the land of the living!!!

Love M