As I am sitting in the internet cafe typing this up, little 4-year-old Sandy is playing with an orange balloon and telling the dog, Peter, to “quite pa´afuera!” because he bit a woman this morning and so he should not be inside. Juanita, the owner of this internet cafe, occasionally puts on slow jazz or marimba or 80´s pop. Cristian, the eldest son in the house (there are 4) just pulled up on his motorbike from a day of work.
From Cuautla, Morelos, I traveled to Asuncion Nochixtlan, Oaxaca, where my dear Antonio´s family picked me up and drove me another hour into the mountains to their pueblo, San Antonio Nduayaco. With them I spent two beautiful and relaxing and peaceful weeks and learned so much about rural campesino life in Mexico! Almost all of our meals came straight from the land (happy veggie girl!) and the occasional chicken from the backyard. We went for long walks into town, into the corn fields, up the hills, grasshopper hunting… I was the chauffer for those two weeks and tied my seatbelt to the buckle with a little rope since it was broken.
There was a lot of relaxing and resting during this time, which I think I needed in part because there was a period of adjustment to the well water (my best guess?) and also to the slow-paced and schedule-less lifestyle. The views were out of this world every single day!! Lots of nighttime rain (thanks be to God!) and muddy shoes.
On the first weekend we drove to Oaxaca and saw a bit of the city as well as Monte Alban (incredible!) and stayed the night at Antonio´s almost finished but not quite yet house in the outskirts of a small town outside the city. Oh did I love those hours! Here is a brief journal excerpt about that time:
Even though we didn´t have electricity and there was so much dust and there were spiders in the latrine (they hadn´t been to the house in 3 years!), I loved it! Citlali and I went to two corner stores and got candles, matches, water, sweet bread, two Victorias, peanuts, roach spray, and a 1 day recarga for her cell phone. Then we relaxed and enjoyed the view (well, I did. Doña Trinidad and Don Rafa were sweeping and washing sheets and pulling weeds). By 8:30pm, it was pitch black. We went to bed by 9pm and Doña Trini, Citlali, Alberto and I slept together horizontally on a double bed with our feet hanging off onto chairs and stools. By 2:45am, we were all awake and talking to each other again. Doña Trini told lots of stories of when she lived in that house with all of her children for a few years and her eldest son´s partner was pregnant. Then I said, I wonder how I will be when I am pregnant! and then shortly after we fell back asleep. Just such a silly and memorable time.
After the cherished time in Oaxaca, I went to San Pedro Rincon de Tlapacoyan to visit the older brother, sister-in-law, and niece of my family´s housekeeper (who has worked for us for over 20 years!). Oh that was also such a lovely surprise! I got to join for the nightly novena for a recently deceased aunt, we went to see some amazing underground caverns, we wandered in a river and got caught in a downpour (lots of those around this part of the world!), and explored the market in the larger town 30 minutes down the road.
Then I headed to the airport to take a flight to Guatemala City, where I was picked up by the family I am with now. What a tender moment to arrive at the airport and have them waiting there for me!! (this has not been common) We drove back to their home in some rush hour traffic, stopping in the city about 30 minutes from their town to pick up a few groceries, one of the kiddos from school, and a new sim card for my phone. They decorated the room I am staying in with a beautiful handmade sign “Welcome Brinkley” and lots of balloons!!
During my stay here in Montufar, I left for a week to visit the Proyecto Linguistico Quetzalteco, a Spanish language school in Quetzaltenango, where I stayed with a host mom and two other students and had an amazing week of adventure! My teacher and I mostly focused on more complex verb forms that I am slowly learning, and we went for a couple outings to show me the city. The school specializes in teaching Guatemalan history and highlighting the guerilla/subversive efforts during the 36-year armed conflict. It was really special and incredible to learn even more about this reality which I have studied in many books over the years. We visited a Mayan ceremonial altar, an ex-guerilla community, and a women´s weaving cooperative, and heard the testimony of a former guerilla and current community organizer and political activist, among many other activities. I spent hours in an Irish pub in deep conversation with a Canadian and New Zealander… such a memorable week!
And since that week I have come back to Montufar for a few more days to spend quality time with this family. The other day I accompanied the mom and youngest son to her land where she has chickens, turkeys, pigs, corn fields, and banana trees. We also went into the city and got some groceries and beautiful flowers (a whole incredible bouquet for Q5, which is less than $1).
Another excerpt, from that day:
5pm: I am here with Felix waiting for the microbus in Caserio los Caneles. Doña Florencia just got on a man´s motorcycle and took off (something about a document?)…She and Felix fed the pigs and gave them water. They cost Q300-400 as babies and by 9 months she can sell them at about Q1300-1500. It´s not exactly lucrative, she says, given the cost and labor of caring for them, but it´s a way of accessing a larger sum of money once the pigs are sold…
Now we are in the microbus. This one is called Georgina. I like them because they always have music and go so fast! As long as there´s a little air, I don´t get too dizzy. The young gentleman who takes our money and directs the driver is still on the roof when we take off hauling. This is normal. Right now there are two schoolboys hanging off the back ladders as we go about 35mph up a windy road (we are in the mountains!). The young ones enjoy the adrenaline rush for sure. They stand on the edges and barely hold on. We just stopped in the middle of the road so that a woman from the street could pay her fare from the morning. Oh Georgina!
I lament that I have to skip over so many details to summarize all of these travels, but hopefully some day I can go deeper and be more specific, on this blog or elsewhere… !
Tomorrow, I will be going to Antigua for the weekend to meet with a new friend who will show me around. Then, hopefully, to Esquipulas, Chiquimula, to visit the family of another friend! (Most of the main highways in Guatemala are currently blocked by protestors demanding the resignation of the attorney general and other corrupt officials who have been involved in trying to stop the president-elect, Bernardo Arevalo, from assuming office in January. I am so moved by the mobilization of thousands of farmworkers and Indigenous people demanding accountability of their government. We will see if it persists through the weekend and changes my plans!)
After that, I am heading to El Salvador for 12 days to visit Centro Arte para la Paz in Suchitoto and FUNDAHMER in San Salvador. I was also invited to participate as a moderator in the panel “Experiences of integral accompaniment to people on the move in Central America and North America” at the Gathering of the Jesuit Migration Network on October 16 at the University of Central America, San Salvador!
My next stop from there is Honduras where I will visit lots more families of loved ones. Then I will wander down to Nicaragua for a week to reunite with two ladies I met my senior year of college and a former Annunciation House volunteer who is living down there, and then my final stop!! is Costa Rica for a week with my mama. So much movement and so much travel!! God willing I will make it out alive.
I am so blessed and privileged to be able to embark on these endless travels and move freely across so many international borders (a right that every human being should have, regardless of their place of birth or country of citizenship). Visiting these families is very bittersweet, because I have the freedom to come here but their husbands, daughters, sisters, brothers, and children who have gone to the U.S. do not, and they miss them terribly. Even as I am typing this, the two ladies sitting in the internet cafe behind me are talking about how painful it is when someone in the family goes to the U.S. (“when my brother left, my mom cried and cried for weeks”). So much to be said about this, so little time and space on this little blog page!!
I am excited, after this incredible year of travels, to return to a more stable, rooted, and working posture – I am eager to find new employment, to get involved in more activities that inspire me and give life to my dreams, to continue trying to cultivate and share my gifts with others! We will see how these months unfold… my prayer is that I think less and love more!
Thank you for reading this update and hopefully I can find a way to write another in the coming weeks before this chapter of the journey ends 🙂 <3
Peace and love and inspiration be with you all!