Rubber Boots & Barbed Wire: October 2012

We just returned from a great adventure this week, where we spent two nights in the community of El Jocote. On Monday evening, we arrived in the midst of a seven-day streak of rain... That streak did not let us down, as it began to downpour soon after we got off of the truck. We almost couldn't get to our final destination after the many "bumps" in the road.

First off, the normal school bus wasn't running because of the road conditions. Instead, a big truck with two metal bench seats on either side was our mode of transportation. We left Teustepe at 1:20 pm, earlier than normal, and luckily we found out it was leaving early, otherwise we would have missed it again. We tried leaving on Sunday, but the truck left early and we missed it. Thirty minutes into our journey we had to stop for 40 minutes as the bus driver had to fix the breaks or something like that. He was running down to the river with a bucket and the rest of us stood by waiting and watching the pigs and chickens. Ah yes, campo life! We have learned to have lots of patience, and to not be in a hurry to get anywhere when we are traveling in the campo, otherwise we would be dealing with many frustrations.

We loaded up and off we went as the tires left the pavement for rocky roads ahead. I counted about 25 adults and 10 children in total riding in the truck, along with the various sacks of rice, liters of oil, 2 bags of bread from the bakery, and the basics from town going home with individuals. We bounced around and slid into each other as we all chuckled to ourselves about how bumpy our ride was. There were about three river crossings, which bounced most of us out of our seats. As we neared the final stop in the community of El Espino, there was a particularly muddy area where the truck got stuck. The mud delayed us only about ten minutes, and luckily the driver had some wood blocks stored in the truck for that very purpose.

At El Espino we unloaded and put on our rubber boots for the 40 minute walk into El Jocote. Cynthia, a teacher in El Jocote was also riding with us, so we had company on our journey. She and her co-teacher, Alonzo, both live in Teustepe and travel into El Jocote on Sundays and return to their homes on Fridays. They make the trek weekly, and spend the whole week in El Jocote. Off we went as the thunder started booming in the distance and grey clouds rolled in. Within five minutes it started pouring rain. Luckily we were prepared with our rubber boots, rain jackets and umbrellas. Nate gave his umbrella to Cynthia as she was unprepared and in her sneakers!

The path deteriorated and eventually became a small river flowing in the direction we were walking. The rain was persistent and by 5 pm we were walking into El Jocote and were breathing a sigh of relief that we had finally arrived. Then we reached the final quebrada (stream) and it was rushing like we had never seen it before. Nate slowly tested the depth and it was nearing the top of his rubber boots before he was even in the middle. We stood there in the pouring rain separated from the majority of the community. We walked up the hill to a house and waited out the rain for 20 minutes. We chatted with the family as the father de-kerneled his corn in preparation for future tortillas. Once the rain stopped, we waited until the stream went down a bit, and we set off again to cross at another location. The whole family went with us to see us on our way. The father rolled up his pants and went in barefoot with a stick to help us across. Nate went first and the water went over the top of his boots! On the other side, we took off our boots and emptied a bucket of river water out them. By sunset, we arrived to Angela's house-wet, muddy and with soggy boots! Even though we were soaking wet, the family was so excited to see us.

We had a full day on Tuesday visiting many families and running into others and chatting along the way. We met with every committee member (5 people) in their homes and then had a meeting all together in the afternoon. It felt like a really productive day and we caught up with many. The evenings were spent watching the family's telenovela (soap opera) from 7-8 pm. On Tuesday night for our first time, we watched a Vicente Fernández movie from Mexico. This man is a legend in the campo. He’s an actor and a singer from Mexico. Almost any house we go into, families have a giant poster of Vicente Fernández wearing a huge sombrero. The posters show him either standing by a white horse or holding a rooster. It was about time we watched one of his movies and heard some of his songs. (I couldn't find the same posters they have in the campo, but the album cover below will at least give you an idea!)

We woke up at 5 am Wednesday morning and put our boots on for our journey home. Luckily, it wasn’t raining and our friend Freddy hiked out with us. We left in the truck and mid-way through switched to the school bus as the roads improved slightly. All in all, it was a great adventure and memories from the campo that we won’t forget.