Wind And Waves

After all the craziness from the Feria in January, its been nice and quiet! And Willow a new teacher has just arrived. This weekend, she Jon and I went to explore a waterfall. I’m excited to have here around, she is a really inspiring person.

On our way to the fall, we were chatting with the taxi driver and ………….he excitedly told us he had seen Jon on T.V dressed as a chunta (Mexican Woman). Its true. Wherever we go, people seem to comment about having seen him on national TV. Being the great sport that he is, within his first 3 days here he was participating in the cultural festivities as if he had looked forward to it for the whole year (Like everyone else in the area has!) A Tv crew found him and interviewed him. Check it out, its soo funny!

Below, Jon is on the right (He is a guy usually…….they did a pretty good job with the make-up though, huh!)

During the month of January, for the Feria, there were parades almost every day!  It was incredible.  Really, I”ve never seen anything quite like it.  This particular night was the last parade of the Feria.  We watched it from the balcony of Javiers’s house (on the right in blue) and were invited for lunch and dinner and……as the night wore on it erupted into Salsa dancing!…..and only Toné is talented enough to dance while balancing a bottle of Tequila……!

Here are my fellow Teachers here in Chiapas. In the middle is Jon’s host mom who got us all dressed up for the very special opportunity to dance as a parachica during the Feria (a month long festival in January) She has been so kind to us and inclusive of sorts of activities going on around here that we would otherwise how no idea about.

Here I am! I was a little apprehensive about marching around in the heat of the day (90 degrees F) with a wool blanket and a hat that would have been perfect for the freezing cold nights I spent in the desert. After a summer of teaching kids how to protect themselves from the heat of the desert………this felt absolutely crazy to me! But hey, I’m in Mexico and when am I ever going to have an opportunity like this again!

Here we are….can you tell which one I am? 🙂

And……..after a day of dancing dancing dancing in the hot sun….some were Tired!  But also, strangely VERY energized.  I had a spiritual moment.  THE whole Idea of this dance in the first place is to get energy from the sun,,,,,,my hands were tingling I had so much energy!

Here it is! The town where I’ve spent the last month earning my TEFL Cert!  I’ve had an incredible time getting to know the place, my co-workers, the directors of the school (Joanna and her family), Sonia (the woman with whom I’m living) and the students (they are so sweet!).  I’ve decided to stay here and teach through April and then……..?

Chiapa De Corzo is located at the base of Canyon Sumidero  (1Kilometer high ) and along the Grand Rio Grijalva. The bus ride from Guadalajara took 20 hours…and included a stop and transfer in Mexico City. I would have loved to explore Mexico city but it will have to be another time for that.   For the last 12 hours there were only 2 passengers on the big air-conditioned,recliner seats, movie playing bus………so I was able to stretch out and sleep 🙂  When we arrived, the fellow came to wake me saying “Lauda” estamos aqui!  It was such a friendly awakening and it made me feel welcome to this new area of Mexico I knew nothing about.   Chiapa De Corzo is in the middle of the state of Chiapas, Mexico ( close to Guatamala.)

On the bus, as I was dozing in and out I woke to catch the sunrising over canyons and rivers and clouds hanging low.  It was beautiful!  So beautiful!  unfortunately I had my camera with my belongings underneath the bus!  The sight was so unbelievable, I’ll have it forever etched in my mind.