Well, I got out of Zapata and into San Cristóbal de las Casas and entered the quick note about being safe and all...the next day I sat down to write a detailed entry about our time in Zapata and all was well. Then the NEXT day, noticed that the entry had gone in twice and in trying to rectify that situation ended up deleting the long blog about our time in Zapata! Frustration! I tried to recreate it, but that one deleted, too...so, basically...having some technical difficulties here!
I think I'll backtrack a bit to Guatemala.
After exploring the town of Xela a little bit, we ended up meeting a man named Ernie who invited us to prayer service at his church on Wednesday night. We were excited to meet with other Christians in the area and agreed to go. On Wednesday we started to leave the hostel to go to the church a few blocks away when Ernie pulled up outside to give us a ride. The church is very small, only about 25-40 people. We met with Ernie, the interim pastor and his wife, and two other men. They were all very happy to have us there and I had fun acting as a translator. Some of the prayer requests they had were (please excuse lack of specifics...I don't have my list with me...
* for the city of Xela, * for a pastor...they do not currently have one, * the nephew of one of the men was involved with drugs and gangs and has disappeared. They do not know where he is, but do know he was trying to leave this lifestyle and think he is possibly in hiding. His family is understandably frantic, * one of Ernie's friends who is a pastor is having marital problems.
The people here are hoping I will come to Guatemala to work with some of the many orphanages there. Ernie had heard of an orphanage that was for children with HIV/AIDS and we tried to find it, but weren't able to. The children here are the pariahs of society and are treated like leapors because the people are afraid of the disease and don't understand it. I think prayer for these children is also in order.
One day we thought we'd just get on a bus and see where it took us. We ended up in a small puebla and explored a bit...there was a really pretty view of a volcano from the church.
We decided to leave Guatemala and head back to Zapata. I was a bit wiser about the chicken bus prices!! We got to the border without any inicident, but there was a big traffic jam at the border, so we had to get off the bus and walk quite aways to get there. We finally made it and hailed a taxi to the border. I only had a few dollars with me and figured I'd head to the bank I saw at the border when we got there.
The bank was closed when we got there..."back in half an hour" said the sign. Now, I understand that time is relative and all that..but that was the longest 1/2 hour of my life! We were hungry and bought an ice cream and a bag of chips. The bank finally opened and I confidently went inside, wielding my ATM card, only to be told they only serviced clients of their own bank! Who ever HEARD of such a thing??? Panic set in as I realized I had only 53 pesos and no way to obtain any more money. I thought of begging the combi driver to take me to Comitan and waiting for me to run into a bank to get money to pay for the ride...I imagined the big tip I'd have to pay! I was heading across the street to do just this when the taxi driver who had brought us earlier drove up with another group. He started up a conversation and let me know that the combi ride would be 50 pesos!!!!! We were saved! Thank you Lord! We had enough and happily climbed into the combi.
Upon arrival in Comitan, we headed straight for the bank. It was dark by this time, so I was extra alert. As we approached the bank, a woman came up and asked if I would get money to give her for her sick mother who couldn't afford medicine. I said maybe...let me see. We went into the little booth and I instructed Sierra that this girl very well might have accomplices who want to rob us, so as soon as we stepped outside she was to make haste for the street and not stop! One of the lessons Sierra is learning in Mexico is how to have street smarts! As we headed for the door, I was relieved to see a family with children passing by. I pushed Sierra out and walked right to where the family was and stayed close to them. I hate to be so cynical, but you can never be sure and I wasn't about to be the unwitting victim of a robbery if I could help it! Once again..thank you Lord! If that girl was telling the truth, then I sincerely hope her mother gets the medicine she needs.
We headed into town and and went to the budget hotel...sold out. We went to the next one...sold out. I was not a happy camper! We ended up in a nice hotel that was a bit out of our budget, but it was pretty! The next morning we headed out to see the Centro a bit before we headed to Amatitlan to catch the lancha to Zapata. Comitan is said (according to my guidebook) to have the cleanest streets in Mexico. They were clean, and the Centro was really charming. I would like to return to see more of Comitan.
We took a taxi to the combi station...it was the nicest one I'd seen! Our combi took us to the town of Maravilla, the end of the line. You might notice that Amatitlan and Maravilla are not the same! Very astute. They are 40 minutes apart. There were no more combis or camionetas heading that direction. Also no hotels in town. I had been told the lancha would leave early Sunday morning, and it was late Saturday afternoon. About that time a guy with a horse in the back of his truck (as in...the pickup part....not a trailer!) offered us a ride there as that's where he was heading. We thought we might have to ride with the horse, but we got to sit up front.
We finally made it to Amatitlan! We headed over to the lancha site and were disappointed to find out that there were no more lanchas going out that day, unless of course we wanted to pay $80 USD for a private lancha. Well, we did not want to pay for a private lancha, so we started to ask around about a hotel. No hotels. Rooms for rent?? Possibly, ask at the house on the corner. We headed up there and they indeed had a room we could stay in for the night for $40 pesos. The room was an old storehouse with a bunkbed in it. The beds had fitted sheets and nothing else...we would not have flat sheets or blankets or pillows. And the sheets....oh my! They were filthy....dirty with who knows what. We did identify some blood (niiiiiiiiice) and basic grime and dust. It was so disgusting, and we were SOOOOO thankful for our own sleepsheets that my mom had bought us (thank you mom!). At any rate, we were safe and that was something. We went to bed without dinner and tried not to think too much about what we were sleeping on.
We awoke early the next morning and went to use the restroom. There is no running water, so after you go potty in the toilet, you get a bucket full of water and use that to flush it down. We decided against brushing our teeth for the time being and figured we'd just relish in our total nastiness until we could get to some clean, fresh water. We headed down to the river for a lancha and were told AGAIN there would be no public lancha heading to Zapata. Well, another night on those beds I could not fathom and figured I'd keep hanging around asking til the afternoon and then I'd bite the bullet and pay for a private lancha if I needed to. After awhile, we did meet a guy who was making a delivery upriver and could drop us off in Zapata for $200 pesos. Done! We finally had our lanch ride to Zapata. I was sitting up front and there was a little hole in the boat where someone had dropped their machete, so it was packed with mud to keep the water out...it wasn't very successful however and it was amusing to watch the water squirt up every so often.
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