| I am one diary away from the end of my Bolivia series, and I'm a few days away from heading out on the road again. This time, for a trip that began with a Facebook friend request. (OK, seriously, nobody tell that to my mother.) A few weeks ago, I got a facebook friend request from a man with a thoroughly American name (Peter) whose profile said he was a Zapatista. Now, at this time, I did not know the difference between a Zapatista and a zapaterÃa. I mixed up the Zapatistas in Chiapas with the Zapotec Indians in Oaxaca (the state next to Chiapas), who were the focus of the recent Nation article Retreat to Subsistence. Well, I didn't mix them up really. I didn't read and I thought it SAID Zapotec. At any rate, I eagerly contacted him and said "Really?" Within a few Facebook messages, we made plans to meet up for coffee here in San Diego.
That happened 2 Sundays ago. He was getting ready for a trip to Chiapas over Thanksgiving, and wanted me to come along. I was interested but leaning toward saying no. I was actually dead set on saying no until my trip to Cancun for the climate summit (which I was starting to feel lukewarm about anyway) fell through. At this time, I was already deeply in debt from putting Bolivia on my credit card, and I did not know yet that my rabies treatment bills would exceed $3000 or that I had forgotten to pay my October car payment. And I was "on the verge" of starting a well-paying software consulting job, one that still might eventually happen but sure isn't happening quickly. As soon as the job started, I'd have no time for travel but plenty of money. I figured I better head to Chiapas soon, but I planned to go at New Years with a Global Exchange trip.
Then Peter started telling me about his organization (Schools for Chiapas) and about the trip. And... wow. He was going for the corn and coffee harvest, and to help with a new diabetes epidemic that had caused some deaths recently. In addition to that, there would be a workshop on a native, stingless bee (the melipona) whose numbers are in decline. The trip would finish up with a visit to ancient Mayan ruins. (And I've had a "thing" for the Mayans since about 5th grade, when my class studied them... ok, I'm a dork.)
So I'm going. We are leaving on a red-eye from Tijuana Thursday night and arriving in Chiapas on Friday morning. My brother died over Thanksgiving 2 years ago, so to be honest, the further I can get myself away from celebrating, the better. This will be great. I'll be doing something meaningful during this difficult time of year for me, and from what Peter's told me (which is a lot more than I've written here), this is going to be INCREDIBLE. I probably won't have internet while I'm in Mexico, but unless the mosquitoes eat me, I'll be back with lots of stories to tell on November 29. |
