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April 05, 2007
Adventures of Bad Boy and Chico: Returning to Merida
So we’re back now in Merida, the two of us; Erich’s at his house up north and I’m here in the centro writing and downloading my photos.
I just want to say that I had a really great time traveling to Chiapas; it was great to pasar un rato with Erich and all of the other people that we met along the way. We had some really great conversations, we got some awesome pictures. I fell a few times and Erich got a rash from a raspberry. I really learned to hate Blanco and respect the number 10; he may have learned a thing or two about music. We became peanut butter and jelly making experts, connoisseurs of flying buttresses, porticos, and high-relief steles. We befriended Australians, a Tejano vagabond, and two Vancouver biking hippies. And we also spoke a bit about how scary it is planning for our future…
Although we weren’t in school, I wouldn’t say that my learning stopped in any way. I really took in a lot while we were there together.
Something that I didn’t mention in my other entry was the time we spent “people watching” (as Erich likes to call it). You know, I never really thought just how much you could learn about a community from people-watching.
Erich and I sat around for a bit almost every day, just observing the people as they passed. In San Cristobal de Las Casas, we viewed immense poverty; men, woman, and children selling anything and everything just to make some money for food. We saw them all: the balloon vendors, the Chiclets children, women with weaving and bags, men with cigarettes and tic-tacs and candy.
I really enjoyed watching the people of Chiapas. It made me realize just how different the culture of Yucatan is; in a way, it’s a lot colder, a lot more “rapid fire”, a lot more advanced. The people of Chiapas seemed like nice people, but people certainly carrying a lot of heavy baggage.
We also learned of the great immigrant influence to Chiapas; in Yucatan, there is enormous pride to be “Yucateco”. Las personas en Yucatán se consideran como yucatecos antes de ser mexicanos. Americans, immigrants, and other Mexicans really aren’t accepted into the same social community.
But in Chiapas, it was different. There are many immigrants: Italians, Brits, Canadians, people from other parts of Mexico, etc. Chiapas is more of an eclectic community—more welcoming, more artsy, more “hippie” (as my host mother called it).
And so Erich’s idea to go “people watching” is something that I will always remember about our trip and something which I certainly will do in the future. At first it seemed sort of foolish, but in the end, I realized there was really much more to it. As the people passed us, we stopped to talk to some of them. I also got plenty of pictures.
That’s just one memory... But there are many, many from the Adventures of Bad Boy and Chico— many which I hope to relive in the near future…
Posted by jlsumich at April 5, 2007 08:11 PM