Poltical Ramblings

Last week Sunday we were warned ahead of time to stay inside all day. It apparently wasn't safe to be out on the streets. That Sunday was the day of midterm elections in Mexico, and there was a lot at stake--if the ruling party lost too much power, it could unsettle all of the Mexican government. In the days leading up to the elections, the local teachers' union had been very active, making things even more unsettled. They had taken control of the toll booth along the main road leading to San Cristobal. Apparently this happens rather frequently. Groups of protesters simply outnumber the toll booth workers, so the workers decide they would be better off going home for the day. When asked why the people put up with this, our teacher's response was. "Well, usually the other groups charge less than the regular toll..." When we asked why the police didn't get involved, the response was, "Well, sometimes the police are the ones who take over the toll booth..." The day before the elections, the teachers' union took control of all of the petrol/gasoline stations in San Cristobal. At first it was impossible to get a tank of gas in the town. Then they started giving away free gasoline. Apparently one of the teachers' union's points of protest is the still uncertain events that lead to the disappearance of 43 students in Chiapas last September. They want this resolved before the government moves on with new elections and new power structures. If you followed the news in Mexico, there were apparently some regions that experienced violence durning the elections, including the burning of a number of ballot boxes. There certainly was some intimidation involved and there were reports of votes being bought. Thankfully, here in San Cristobal, all was relatively quiet. The rumors that the Zappatistas were going to march into the city proved to be unfounded. That morning, though, I ventured out to a playground about a mile from our house with out children. I thought that at least should be safe. On our walk, we passed our neighbor returning in a taxi who had the driver stop so she could warn us that the city was like a ghosttown, the churches were empty, and we should stay home. Moments later an ambulance passed us, rushing into the city center. I began to rethink my decision to venture out... The usually jovial people who regularly line the streets were either missing or clearly reserved. I felt quite ill at ease on our way to the park. While there, however, the whole tener of the city seemed to shift, and by the time of our return, things seemed more back to normal. The upshot of it all seems to be that the rulling party lost some significant power, but most of that ended up being taken up by the relatively new Verde party--a party that was essentially created by the ruling party as a way to maintain power while making the people feel like they were voiting for change. The system, in just a few short weeks, has made me appreciate in new ways the system we have in the United States, despite how broken it seems to be as well at the moment. There appears to be very little trust in the government here, and a general feeling of not being able to do anything about it--yes, even more than in the United States. Our Spanish lessons continue to go fairly well. Elizabeth has had a number of people comment on how well she speaks Spanish. I'm still waiting for that elusive compliment. Peter continues to seem to understand it better than any of the rest of us, though unfortunately, he can't funciton as a translator for us yet. We've done some horseback riding and explored more of the city. We continue to be amazed at the rich cultural traditions that surround us here. Many of the buildings date back five hundred years or more and San Cristobal itself is surrounded by a variety of Mayan cultures--each one unique with its own cultural and religious traditions, dress, and sometimes even language. There are seven different languages spoken within just an hour or two of San Cristobal, and many of the speakers of those languages are unable to understand the other languages or even Spanish. For the funny story of the week: we went to the organic market on Saturday morning. By the time we arrived, it was getting close to lunch time, so we looked for some prepared food to buy. The girls were not too thrilled with the fried rice balls containing ham and peas that we first bought, and the quesadilla maker had just run out of beans, so finally found a sign that said, "Hamburgaesas" There were suprisingly cheap, so I went over and asked the lady if she had hamburgaesas. She said yes. I had expected them to be ready-to-eat, but she opened her cooler and pulled out a frozen pack of ten. She proceeded to cut into the pack to extract the two burgers I had asked for. At this point, it was too late to declare that I had only wanted them to eat now, so I thought that I might as well get enough to cook at home later. I upped the order to five (this was also conveniently one stack of the pack of ten, so she did not need to separate the frozen burgers). We stuck them in our backpack and later brought them home. All day I had been looking forward to the burgers--the first real American food we had bought in the market to cook ourselves. We are also overdue for purchasing several other staples in our kitchen at the moment, so it was burgers or bust tonight. As I started cooking them, I noticed they were cooking up to a strange color. Then there was a bit of a strange smell. Then we remembered that we had bought the patties from the same lady who was selling the smoked sail fish. Yep--they turned out to be fish burgers. A bit different than we expected. I'm not sure we'll buy them again, but they certainly fed us for the evening. We give thanks for the ways God continues to provide for us here. (We're now halfway through our time in Mexico!).