Hell’s Half Acre

Oh, I did NOT want to go down today. I was still not absolutely well, Jesse was still sick and Pike was on the sickboy fence. We are leaving in three (NO!!! NOT THREE!!!) days and have at least a week’s worth of work to do. I just wasn’t up for it. But I could not have NOT gone either. And knowing that the torrential rains we got up here were even worse down there (and it was raining so hard today on the way home I couldn’t even get pictures of the flooding) made it impossible NOT to go. So we bought massive quantities, arranged for a second vehicle (THANK YOU DEB AND IAN) so we could carry a super dispensa this time and headed out. We handed out water, eggs, a bag with 4 potatoes, 2 onions, 1 chayote, 2 jalapeños, 1 bola garlic and another bag with kilo rice, beans and Maseca, litro milk, oil and pure de tomate, and a can of tuna. It was a hefty dispensa. I also wanted to spend as much money as we could and bought cans of powdered milk and an oat/milk concoction for the particularly poor families with many children. One Dad joked he had a “Kinder” with five kids (probably all under 7).

I’m really getting to know some of the families and people in town but I still need a translator (Maya to Spanish) for some. I think I need to learn Maya but honestly, it doesn’t grab me like having to learn Spanish to survive when I was 27. Geez. That was 20 years ago! If possible, I would really like to go back again, perhaps with Christmas dispensas, when we come back. So I guess I’m ‘over’ not wanting to go down.

I left the boys with quite an extensive list this morning and it was a joy to come home. Generally, a dispensa day dawns at 6am, after 5 hours sleep (why can I NEVER go to sleep earlier than 1am on a dispensa day?) and spending the day and night before putting the dispensas together; moving 87 tones of food in and out of the van; back and forth and back and forth, spending the evening feeding the mozzies as we put the last of the dispensas together. We can’t do it much further in advance as food spoils so quickly down here. After 3.5 hours driving down, 3 hours handing out food and 3.5 hours driving back, I then figure out dinner. This time I decided the boys could help and it was the perfect solution! They got to be on their own (they LOVE being alone in the trailer/palapa) and I didn’t have to stress with dinner and chores when I got home. They put away dishes, hung up laundry, made lasagne (from a recipe I gave them), swept and cleaned up. It was absolutely LOVELY. And I believe a tradition will have begun. Jesse text messaged me after the lasagne was done, “The, err….lasagne is done”.

It was bittersweet being in Avila Camacho, it was hard to believe we wouldn’t be back next week and at the same time, relief that we won’t be back next week. I would like to thank each and every one of you; Joan, Jody, Michelle, Ian and Deb, Mom and Dad, Jennifer, Niri, Chris, Brenda, Grandma Elinor, Rachel, Whitney, Katherine E, Janet, Wayne, Judy V, James G, Coral K, Tricia D, Jonna and Mimi, Greg S, Linda K, Robert H, Kelli, Beverly C, Shannon O, Kathy K, Laura T, Jeff and Sara and Andre and Deb, Kenneth J, Colleen D, Mando and Linda, Laurette, Elizabeth P, Scott M, John VG, Stan W, Vaiva B, and Judith A. You allowed me to act on your generosity and I honestly cannot thank you enough. It was a pleasure and an honor, quite honestly, to be able to act in your stead and hand food over to people who most need it.

Now we keep one eye on ex-94L as he re-enters the Caribbean and pack like mad. We have someone to watch the palapa while we’re gone and drive the car ocassionally, we are arranging someone to bring the boatloads of books I’ve been ordering for the kids overland to PaaMul, I made a trip to the airport and got replacement FMT’s for the kids’ which were lost, I have 2 car rental reservations and need to try to get one through Priceline as soon as AMEX enrolls my card in their auto insurance thingie, I need to arrange non-owner insurance with USAA and probably a million other things I don’t even want to think about.

Did you hear Martin Sheen sing last week on Prarie Home Companion? Did you cry? Did you hear Carole King tonight? Will you listen to Garrison Keilor on some show Monday (Forum?) that I’ve already forgotten?

I think I have about $200 left over from the donations. I’d like to collect for one more dispensa in December when we return and keep that money earmarked for that trip but if you’d like your donation refunded, please let me know. I’ll update this post with the exact amount when I get a chance.