Gustavo is getting a lot bigger than I thought he would – he is supposed to be a small storm but it looks like tomorrow will be a rainy and cloudy day, so, we’re off to read “The Mongols” and finish “Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun” as we start on stories of Japan while lying on the beach.  Afterwards, I’m sure the boys will be VERY interested in kayaking.  The wind has really picked up and I have no idea if it is related to Gustavo or not. (the Gustavo link will only work while he is still an interest in the Atlantic)

Our thoughts are with Jody and her family, the tiny islands of the Caymans, the people of Haiti and Jamica and those in the eventual path of Gustavo.  He’ll be a Cat 3 when he passes us by so we’re battening down the hatches for tomorrow.  I don’t think we’ll get as prepared as we were for Dolly though, as I don’t expect even TS winds here, but we’ll keep an eye on his track and decide better tomorrow.  He sure has taken the tour of Jamiaca and Hispanola the past few days though.  Meandering north and south and west.

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.

Next we move the 100 5litro bottles of water and 106 kilos of Maseca we purchased last night from the car to the palapa. We’ll leave the milk in the car. Now we’re off to Soriana to spend our 3878 points (we’ll get at least 39 dozen eggs with those alone; 38 dozen free eggs) and buy veggies. Well, I decided to do a slideshow on Picasa; it is so much easier than uploading everything to Flickr. Here is the link to the slideshow.

Picasa slideshow

We decided to make up the dispensas when we got to Noe’s house so that he could decide how many to make up and were lucky enough to meet his father and his uncle helping out. His mother, aunt and grandmother stayed in the background though they did come out to say hello. The kids pretty much single-handedly put the dispensas together and Ellen did it all in Spanish (tres papas, un ajo, un Maseca…). Pike insists on English. I’m still waffling on whether or not to speak pure Spanish to them and force a learning; today Ellen asked me to speak just Spanish to her, so that makes me waffle more in thinking they need to decide how much Spanish they hear.

Giving out the dispensas was pretty boring for the kids; Noe didn’t want the people in town to see how much we had (or they’d want more?) so the boys just handed the bags to Noe as he asked. The were able to hand out cookies though; school was just getting out of the morning classes (kids in Mexico generally go to school for either the morning or the afternoon until I think secondary school) and a couple kids passed by. I yelled to Jesse to chase the kids down and force the cookies upon them but word got out pretty quickly and very soon the boys were absolutely SURROUNDED by happy kids. One guy with a mustache who was VERY short managed to get a couple also.

I had hoped to spend some time with Noe and his family afterwards and chat; we wondered where his siblings were (one sister lives closeby and I think that is all of his siblings) and why he lives there and not Majahual where he was born; how we was going to earn money now that the hotel is out of business for the foreseeable future (he is working in Chetumal two days a week) and how the people in town will fare (many work in the “monte” which is laughable only because the land is SO FLAT that a “mountain” must only be a bump on the landscape). He tells us that many people in town live off the land; all that they own and eat comes from their harvest. Others commute to Chetumal now in search of work. But the boys began to feel sick again (Pike had spent the day before in bed) so we excused ourselves and headed back home. Maybe next time.

Noe tells us that only 150 dispensas will be needed to finish the town. I know we’re not giving dispensas to everyone in town; most of the “nicer” looking homes aren’t getting any dispensas. I asked Noe if those people are upset with him but he replies that they aren’t. Everyone simply seems to be very happy with that which they get although many try to convince Noe that their sister or aunt or mother should get one too. So many little children will come up and ask for one for their mother but Noe will tell them that they got one last time or sometimes they can convince him. Generally, it doesn’t take too much.

So we’re going back on Saturday. I’m conflicted, wondering if we shouldn’t be helping the people in Majahual but then I see them getting a visit from the governor, I see many dispensas heading out there and I see and hear of no-one heading to these little Mayan pueblos. But then I think, “Everyone in Avila Camacho has a house, be that cardboard and guano and 3 families in a house and there are a few families in Majahual without any home at all” and I’m conflicted again. It is so very hard to determine who is most needy, and all I can do is trust Noe, who has NEVER had a hand out, who tries his hardest to give to the poorest in his community, from the interactions I’ve seen with him and the residents, seems to know the community intimately, and refuses dispensas for his own family (of, quite honestly, three separate families). My eye and camera show the damage from Dean and I’m quite confident that the food is very much needed in this forgotten pueblo; I’ve seen the families doubling and tripling up due to the homes lost to Dean and while I’d love to be able to repartir dispensas to everyone, this is the best we can do right now. If you have suggestions or ideas, please let me know. Many of the homes in Avila Camacho have new guano roofs, there is reconstruction going on; we saw new lamina (metal roofing) on homes on the road into Avila Camacho so people are recovering and I hope that our providing some food relief allows them ease in rebuilding.

We’re hoping for 100 dispensas on Saturday; today we were at Costco and Home Depot to get stuff for the palapa that we can’t get in Playa del Carmen and picked up mass quantities of bananas, Maseca and water. We’re going to take one bench of seats out of the van and we should be able to fit 100 dispensas in. It will be a challenge we look forward to.

Fall is coming to Mexico. I’m constantly turning off the A/C in the evening; that is when you can tell. The days are hot as normal, but the evening is quite cool and that is how we know the seasons they are a changing. I no longer look forward to a cold beer at the end of the day; it just isn’t hot enough. I think I must switch to rum, eh Jody?

Now that the bodega is closed off; doors on both entrances/exits, Jamie and I are spending more and more time there, leaving the trailer for the kids. We’ve been looking at futons and while we’re aghast at the prices ($6000MN at a 1/2 off sale for a good one; $2500MN for a metal one with a futon mattress that allows you to feel each and every irregularity in the metal supports) we’re hoping to support the carpinteros in Limones who are asking only $4000-5500MN for a hardwood futon. Living in a area where the weather can wipe it all out without a second thought makes us really think hard about spending money on quality however.

We have onions, water, chayote, garlic, milk, carrots, potatoes, granola bars (a box of four was 9 pesos on sale; we bought all they had), cookies, eggs, a watermellon for Noe’s family, oil, fresh jalapenos, (the produce guy was taking double, triple, quadruple looks at the gringa filling up two HUGE produce bags with 100 jalapenos in them…) and pure de tomate. We’ll bag everything up at Noe’s house while he directs us in what should comprise a dispensa. I would say we have 50 dispensas, but Noe might stretch that into 75 or 100. He says it is better to give a little bit to everyone rather than a lot to less. The only problem is that a “lot” is about $10USD worth of food. And that is the lastima.

On our way home, we’ll stop at the carpinteros in Limones and see if we can arrange for cabinets for our kitchen and we’ll stop at the pottery place still limping along and try to find something to buy from them. And marvel at how lucky we are to be in the postion of delivering dispensas and patronizing businesses. Thank you so much to you all.

Lastly, in weather news, China is about to receive Typhoon Wipha. She’s come down from a Super Typhoon status, but is still Cat 4 and packing a punch. Keep them in your thoughts, will you?

Gone. None. Zippo. I just found 1000 pesos that I didn’t know I had, so I’m going to kick start another fund raising drive with it, I have contacted Gary at Loco Gringo to see if we can’t help dispense dispensas (as they seem to need dispensers) but if you can help, and send 50 pesos, please remember what it can buy. I’ll try to put together a new picture of 50 pesos worth of food but for now, your job it simply to donate! No donation is too small. I update all income and outgo on this page but if you’d like to remain anonymous, please let me know.

If you’d like to give to the people of Majahual, we pay our own gas, travel expenses, Paypal fees, food, etc. and any and all monies will go directly to purchasing food and dry goods for donating directly to those in need. Please email me at jamnkats at gmail dot com for an address to mail a money order or cheque and PayPal bank (funded) donations by clicking the button following and send your donation to dulce@support.net. If you have a pathological fear of buttons, please click this link RIGHT HERE

If you’d prefer to use your credit card, click the following button (you don’t need to be a PayPal member to donate this way) and send your donation to jamnkats at hughes.net. For those with pathological fear of buttons, this will take you directly to Paypal and the donation account RIGHT HERE

We saw ocassional broken tree tops after Tulum, but it wasn’t until just after Felipe Carillo Puerto that we were stunned silent with the obvious effects of hurricane wind. There were occasional missing roofs but much reconstruction had begun and all the towns, Limones included were bustling with activity and commerce. It looked like a hurricane had definitely hit, but that life was very much on the road back to Normal. We had forgotten the Guia Roji (road atlas) at the trailer so I relied on memory to take the correct roads. As it was, memory would have been futile as road signs were completely leveled after Limones. We gawked at the gigantic ceiba tree which was no more, but again, Limones, although much harder hit, and with obvious damage, seemed to have a return of commerce and people were bustling about. We found the road to Majahual and only had to turn around once after bypassing the downed sign and were happily surprised to find that the destruction was not as catastrophic as we’d feared. It was 50 or 60km of road to the sea and Majahual, however, and the winds must not have been Cat 5 at that point.

We were absolutely stunned by Majahual. The town looks like it was recently, like Yesterday, hit by a Category 5 hurricane. Sand still fills vacant retail space. The road was rebuilt only 3 days after Dean devistated the area and shows signs of wear. The pictures really speak for themselves and I am still horrified by the absolute destruction. Concrete fares better than wood but some concrete structures were blown over and ripped apart and some wood structures fared ok. We drove in and out of town a couple times trying to figure out where to find people organizing relief and finally found ourselves at the Costa Maya Inn who directed us to another hotel where all the clothing and dry goods were being stored for townsfolk to pick up or be delivered after sorting. It was then suggested we find the tienda comunitaria (common in small towns) to drop off the food.

I’d had visions of the kids bringing the food we’d sorted and bagged directly to those needing it, but I figured if someone needed food, they’d go to the tienda anyway, so off we headed with vague directions ending in, “then ask someone where it is”. On the way we simply HAD to pass some food out; it felt inhumane not to and it turned out to be the correct choice as the tienda comunitaria suggested we simply hand the food out. No-one ever mobbed us, demanded anything or pressured us. Twice, when people noticed the kids handing bags out, approached me, cautiously, and asked if they might have some too. I so wished I could have carried the store with us. It felt like such an insignificant drop in the bucket. We finally gave out all our bags, but unfortunately, it seemed like we were just getting to the really needy ones. Turning home, I remembered the bags of candy we’d bought for the kids and stopped at the school. It looked like some sort of recess was in process and as soon as the boys headed from the van to the school kids began running and yelling, “GRINGOS”. The boys were definitely mobbed but it was very comfortable; no pushing or shoving, but definite ENORMOUS interest in the candy. If only we’d brought more.

All in all, it was an AMAZING opportunity and quite honestly a PRIVILEGE that you, the generous reader, has bestowed upon US to participate in this community of giving. We hope to head back on Saturday and do it all again. THANK YOU for your donations.

If you’d like to give to the people of Majahual, we pay our own gas, travel expenses, Paypal fees, food, etc. and any and all monies will go directly to purchasing food and dry goods for donating directly to those in need. Please email me at jamnkats at gmail dot com for an address to mail a money order or cheque and PayPal bank (funded) donations by clicking the button following and send your donation to dulce@support.net

Remember what 50 pesos (5 dollars) purchases… No donation is too small. I update all income and outgo on this page but if you’d like to remain anonymous, please let me know.

Thank you all!

If you’d prefer to use your credit card, click the following button (you don’t need to be a PayPal member to donate this way) and send your donation to jamnkats at hughes.net

ARGH! I can’t get the buttons to go directly to the correct accounts, but I need cawfee now, so I’ll try to work on it later. Sigh. At any rate, they’ll get you to paypal and you can put the correct addy for either funded or credit card in then. Sorry about that…