While I love Mérida, it is the pueblos around it that hold a special place in my heart. In particular a pueblo called Sierra Papacal. I first went there with Brazos to teach at a school sex education/HIV prevention workshop and completely fell in love with it. If you went there and took around you would probably think I was crazy. It is about an hour and half outside of Mérida and was the end of the road up until a couple of years ago until they extended the road to Chelem. There aren't any real tourist attractions there (no public ruins or cenotes, no restaurants, no gift shops, no hotels), its just a traditional Mayan pueblo outside of the city: small and rough around the edges, but to me is a magical place. Maybe I am so drawn to it because it is different than any place I have been before, maybe its the students I worked with and the bond I have with them, regardless of the reason(s) I find myself humbled by my experiences there.
We went to Sierra this Friday to meet with a few of the kids there and I was surprised to see how much it has changed in the past 6 months. I started working in Sierra almost 2 years ago and I am used to it being a very quiet place with not very many people out and about, even in the evenings when it cools down a little bit. However, when we got off the bus the Zocolo was full of people. Kids were playing kick ball, the comisaria had people going in and out, and the businesses around the zocolo seemed to be busy as well. It was a much different place than the one I had last seen 6 months ago, a much healthier and seemingly stronger community. I have also heard that a large number of kids were now attending high school in Komchen (there is no high school in Sierra so the students have to go Komchen, 2 villages away), including a number of kids that I had been told would never go onto high school. If you know me, you know how happy it made me to hear this. And if you know these kids, you know how significant this is. There is a great man named Father Bill (Padre Guillermo) who has a scholarship program for students, and I wouldnt be surprised if his program had something to do with the number of kids who are now in school.
As we were sitting waiting for kids to show up I asked if we should go to their house and look for them since our cell phones didnt work there. The one student, Santiago, that was there asked me why my phone didnt work and showed me that his phone had full signal! WHAT! The cell phone tower that had been sitting without power for a quite some time (since the day it was erected), was finally doing something useful. However, I didnt get to make use of it because three students showed up right after and then, instead of calling their friend, walked to her house to go find her. I am glad to see some things haven't changed.
Pic from last summer
Who knows what could be driving the changes in the town, Father Bill's community programs, the new technology, or maybe a mixture of things. Regardless, I think it is a pretty incredible thing.
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