Papantla and Beyond

I’ll be frank- the last few days have been pretty hellish, including a lot of sweat and tears (thankfully no blood, but a lot of headaches!). After taking the night bus from Xalapa to Papantla, then Papantla to Espinal (6 hours total) without getting any sleep, I was dead on my feet and useless as far as understanding and speaking Spanish goes. Futhermore, it was hotter than a hippopotamus’s mouth and just as humid. However after some delicious breakfast consisting of huevos mexicanos with chiles and tomatoes, agua de mango, and hand made tortillas and black beans that we ordered basically in a lady’s living room I felt a bit better (and it only cost 5 bucks for the two of us! Hooray for small-town Mexico!) Then Azalia and I met some students and professors at the campus of UVI (Universidad Veracruzana Intercultural) in Espinal, which specializes in teaching students for local, sustainable development; the professor that had invited us was very cordial, but I have to say the reception by a good portion of the other faculty and students was at best lukewarm.

Despite this, the professor persuaded two students working with Primero de Mayo to escort us to the community and introduce to send a blessing over our visit. We also scheduled a tour of some nearby vanilla farms of other communities for the next Monday with a few other students. With these plans Azalia and I packed our stuff to Papantla (it’s amazing how much more your bags weigh when you’re beat and it’s 100 degrees outside) and tried to find a place to stay. After going to our first destination and only finding a dotty old woman and prison-like rooms, we looked around a bit more and finally decided to take a rest on a nice bench and eat some mangoes. A man across the way kept letting his eyes stray over towards us, and I thought, “Oh, man, another creepy Mexican man!” Annoyed, I wanted to leave quickly, and as soon as we got up the man across the way jumped over and said, “Aha! I was waiting for you to get up because this is my office- the best bench with the best tree.” He seemed trustworthy, so we asked him if he knew of any rooms for rent. Luckily he did, and here I am in a wonderfully ghetto apartment that has wireless internet but smells like dog piss and poop as soon as you step out of my room or go up to the roof. My room is painted a bright powdery blue with a set of windows that give a great view of the city. I felt so lucky to find it! We settled down and later I explored the city a bit and found it to my liking.

So the next day was the first visit to Primero de Mayo; I didn’t get to talk to people much there, half because there weren’t many people to talk to and half because I felt very intimidated surrounded by Azalia, a very strong personality and talkative woman, and the two students, who had bad vibes almost visibly emanating from their bodies. Overall it seemed like a lovely little community, very green with a wonderful mango tree. After a brief introduction it was back to Papantla, where I then had my next breakdown- I felt so lost, alone, and young and I wanted to leave as quickly as possible because I didn’t know what to do. After talking to as many people as I could get a hold of and doing a good bit of crying I calmed down a bit and devised a plan. The next day though was worse; I felt trapped here in Papantla, men were hitting on me like crazy and I hated them all, hated Latin culture and the damn hot weather (still a bit resentful of that) and cried hysterically. Once again, I eventually calmed down a bit and slept and read a lot, and decided to go to Tajin the next day, an archaeological site with Totonac pyramids.

The pyramids were really cool, and I was reminded how again and again people can achieve great things and still fail. There was a sad air about the place of fallen greatness, which probably fed my own melancholy disposition; thankfully a chance encounter changed that. I was walking around minding my own business, when this girl of 15 named Alejandra came up to me and asked me the usual questions, and also for my email. I complied and recognized her from when I was eating breakfast alone at a nearby restaurant. All of sudden her family (I guessed) surrounded me and started taking pictures, without even having said a word to me! It was such an odd, funny situation that I had to laugh. I said hasta luego and continued on my way by myself.

When I had done with the pyramids I wandered towards the entrance and was looking for a bus back to Papantla. I saw the man I presumed to be Alejandra’s father standing next to a bus and I asked if it went to Papantla. He said “Sure it does! I’m going through that way.” I was a bit confused but hopped on and learned it was a tour bus and Alejandra’s father Polo was the driver! It turns out they had seen me eating breakfast earlier and I looked sad, so they had come up to me in the pyramids to cheer me up a bit. They invited me to continue on with them to a beach called Tocolutla; their kindness and sincerity encouraged me to go. I ended up borrowing some shorts and a shirt from Alejandra to swim in and enjoyed the sea and the conversation with both Alejandra and Polo. All the people from the bus too were very kind; I don’t know exactly how they all knew each other, but nonetheless all were very kind and said a hearty goodbye when Polo dropped me off at the bus station to return to Papantla in the evening. And now I have an open invitation to Puebla, their city, whenever I’d like to go and also to accompany them on a trip to Chiapas August 7. I probably won’t go because my ticket to leave is for then, but still the sentiment is quite nice.

People of Mexico- I don’t hate you! I just hate your creepy men. :)

And this week I begin the real work of interviews- we’ll see how it goes!

Love to all and to all a goodnight,

Allison

P.S. The best things to eat here are enchiladas verdes de pipian and the tamales de frijoles con verdaduras at the little market in the center of the city. I think I got sick off of them, but I don’t care! They’re so delicious. And the pastries here are basically inedible, but I seem to forget every time I order some and end up not eating them or eating them with a sour look on my face. Ooops.

Also, much thanks to my dear mother, sister, father, and friends for all your support! I love and need and appreciate you all!