Sunday, December 11, 2011

The Palenque Jungles

Palenque…here we are immersed in Mexican culture. It’s 10:30 am and we’ve just been walking the streets looking for a café con café ey wifi. Small shops line the streets displaying goods overflowing out of windows onto the street. Small tables, covered with fresh fruits, vegetables, and newly slaughtered chickens occupy corners. Residents wander purchasing their food. People, busy in the streets, carry on their daily routines.

Music blares throughout the village. It’s loud. Spanish is a loud language even when it’s spoken quietly. I’m learning to speak some. I’m hoping by the time I return to Canada I will be fluent. My formal lessons really start once I get to Guatemala. For now I am learning by trying to speak with people on the street. Ironically I am realizing how much French I know. Too often my ‘Spanish’ comes out in ‘French’. I usually rely on the universal language of communication. I can often make myself understood. But there is nothing like speaking the language of the people. I am trying hard to get there.

I am noticing how different I feel in the Mexican culture. It’s heavy. People speak loudly. There is not much subtlety here. Joyful Latin music blares everywhere. There is no attempt to try to please travellers by playing popular music from the west. There is a simple pride here. I feel it everywhere I go. Mexicans demonstrate their cultural presence just by being who they are. There is no sign of pretence, just a natural way of being. It’s comfortable for me, and yet, I don’t feel ‘home’. I am a visitor.

Military presence is evident throughout the state of Chiapis. Checkpoints occur often on the main roads and security stops are regular occurrences. There is societal unrest, due, mostly, to the oppressive attitudes towards the Native locals here. Like our Native community in Canada, there is fear of losing cultural identification and of being eradicated as a civilization. The culture is strong now, due, I suppose to the cooperative efforts of Mayan people throughout Central America.

As we travel I am very aware of the difference between being a tourist and being a traveller. As a traveller, I feel relaxed. Paul and I wake up where ever we are and say, “What do you want to do today?” Sometimes it’s just about hanging out at a café and experiencing Mexican life around us.

Our accommodation is called The Jungle Palace. It really is in the middle of the jungle. Our room is basic. Fortunately we have our own washroom, and a simple balcony with a chair for sitting. There, I find myself lost in the wild.

I have been practising Yoga daily and loving the experience of laying my mat down on the wet dirt of the jungle. As I smell the wet dirt I make friends with the palm tree that receives my touch with each sun salutation I complete. I get to listen to the sounds of the jungle mingled with the rumble of cars in the background and local builders using chain saws and other construction machinery. It is all a part of what is around here. Yoga reinforces that presence of the whole for me.

As I travel further south in Guatemala I am open to embracing more and learning about this interesting and rich people!

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