Day by Day 2 - Accompanied

Sunday, Feb. 15, 2009

I woke up in my Mexican hotel room, forgetting at first where I was, as one does while traveling. What came back to me first was my memory of feeling lonely and depressed the night before. Then in that parallel way of a life accompanied by God, I remembered something besides the human angle of things - the quote the night before from the gals, and the prayers for God to be with me, and I joined the others downstairs for breakfast, more heartened and ready to greet the new. A spread in the hotel restaurant was waiting for us, and we began our day.

As would be the case of each day following, the Greyhound size bus was waiting for us outside. We filled our water bottles each day from a large jug (tap water might make us sick), and boarded the bus. I sat beside Kris Snavely, a blonde woman from South Dakota who became my "bus buddy" (a way of keeping attendance). We began our long journey to the state of Michoacan, the butterfly state which had the mountains where the monarchs overwintered. Leaving Mexico City was a steady climb uphill throughout the 3+ hour trip, and we passed out of the smog of the big city into beautiful mountainous terrain. Our first view of the monarchs was on the signs in the small mountain villages, where many shops had the name of "Monarca" in them. I enjoyed getting to know Kris, a Grade 7/8 teacher who made me appreciate a school system not created by Bush. She was laboring under some pretty crazy expectations.

The most enjoyable part of the morning for me was the official introductions of everyone on the trip. The bus microphone was passed from person to person, and each one told where they were from and what had brought them on this trip. I got a bit teary (I know, it's surprising) when I told my story of being supported by my church community and how despite the odds, you all supported my vocation by telling me, "You're going," when my administrator was cautious. There was some spontaneous clapping when I told everyone of your support. I also mentioned that this was a spiritual journey, for myself and for everyone in some way. A Canadian woman named Helen from Ontario later told me she was glad I had said that since no one else had mentioned the spiritual aspect of our trip. I really enjoyed hearing everyone's stories and the group I had felt disconnected to the evening before now seemed like a unique and human bunch of folks. I and the other 6 Canadians felt proud of being Canadian, and at least I reveled in telling people the stories of snow, and of our relatively short monarch season.

We stopped at a gas station for refreshments, then went on until we came to our destination, a small mountain town. We walked to the place that would be our lunch stop in a few hours, and agreed to meet back there after we all got a chance to tour around. The village was just beautiful, with Sunday outdoor markets in full swing. We had been told not to buy anything to eat from the street vendors, even though it looked so good, because it would likely make us sick. The highest point in the village was a huge Catholic church, made from the stones of the Aztec structures which the Spanish conquerers destroyed. There was mass going on every half hour, and many families dressed made their pilgrimage there for a short mass. We stepped inside briefly. A Saint named Carmen was the patron saint of this church, and the figures of Peter and Paul were carved on the side of the church. I was humored by a busker in the form of an old Mexican man, whose guitar was totally out of tune. But when I put 10 pesos in his hat, he sang his heart out for me.

Lunch in the small restaurant was delicious, and was my first taste of authentic Mexican food. The restaurant was extremely beautiful inside, and used to be part of the silver mine. I sat beside Arlene and Dawn, who were friends. Arlene was a retired emergency room physician and Dawn was the woman who would break her arm a few days later. Arlene told the story of her 4 year old grandson whom she retired to care for, who has a very rare disease which has made his development very delayed. At 4, he was just learning how to walk. I admired her resilience in the face of this difficult lot in life, and her obvious love for the boy.

After lunch (and our first experience trying to pay in pesos), we drove to the silver mine, where we learned of the mine which was shut down in the '50's and where many many young men had met a young death from lung disease. Not coincidentally, there was a museum of crucifixes there, each one testifying to the suffering this town had bore for many years.

After much teaching from Erik and Marcos, we headed back down the narrow mountain roads. We stopped once so Marcos could show us a typical Mexican cactus which had been used long ago to make the glue for the pyramid stones. On our way to the hotel, Erik told us not to expect the quality of hotel we had seen in Mexico City. We later saw that he had been joking, since this was the lavish resort. The best feature in my opinion was the Internet room where I could finally write to everyone and phone Lyle as well. It was great to talk to people. 

Later after supper, Erik invited anyone who wanted to to come out into the field for a mini-star gazing lesson. This is the one I e-mailed about back then. What stood out for me was Erik's lesson on the star Venus, and how at certain times it is a morning star and other times is an evening star. The ancient culture took that to mean the two faces of the gods, one was the god of choice and the other the god of fate. The god of choice gives wisdom and the god of fate is the trickster god. These are the two realities I had before me at the beginning of the day - human fate in all our weakness and the choice to trust in God. These two realities are always with us, inextricably bound. Thank God we are not left to our own devices.