Cultural Quandry

We got up yesterday morning and had an excellent breakfast. Over breakfast, Matt and I talked about the difficulty of judging what kind of neighborhood we were looking at across the street.

One of the first things you notice about a foreign country is that “You’re not in Kansas anymore.” (Can’t remember where that quote came from – sorry)

The night before, twice, we saw police pick-up trucks with 2-4 officers in the cab and 2 more in the box surrounded by a sturdy rail and manning mounted BIG guns. Over breakfast, a military truck drove by looking much the same but with bigger guns.

I found myself trying to decide what affect on the psyche growing up with that kind of police presence has for the population. It was downtown Cancun at rush hour. We also have police presence at downtown rush hour in Calgary; it’s just different looking. Hmm... too much of an understatement?

Anyway, then we hopped a cab to the ADO bus station, bought tickets for Valladolid (pronounced Balla-doe-leed for some inexplicable reason), put our luggage in storage and went for a daylight walk on the same street as the night before.

According to Cancun folks, we were downtown in the heart of Cancun at that point. So, when I saw a building with a thatched roof the contrast to Calgary was just too much and I had to get Matt to take a photo.

We found out just how short a distance I can go in that kind of heat when we realized we had to turn back to catch our bus about 6 blocks down the street. Of course we had made a little detour, stopped in a store and generally walked slowly with wide eyes on the trip away from the bus depot and hoofed it back fairly quickly.

The bus ride into the interior was uneventful and more or less a drive through the trees with the odd glimpse of more trees. The land started looking like jungle prairie; which is short scrub on flat land. We didn’t climb any big hills or spend any time on twisty roads.

At Valladolid, we hired a taxi to drive us to Genesis Retreat at Ek’ Balam. More scrub jungle, some finished corn fields that don’t look anything like the corn fields of Alberta. In fact, I had to ask just to make sure and the only clue I had was the dead cornstalks still standing. I’ll get a photo because my agricultural friends won’t believe it.

When we arrived at Ek’ Balam pueblo, the driver slowed down to avoid running over chickens on the single-wide red dirt track. We passed by true, rural living quarters with families going about daily routines. I’ll be off to photograph some of that soon.

Ek’ Balam is Mexico’s hammock weaving capital and, as we drove past the residences, some of the homes had colorful hammocks hanging from beams outside the house. I’ll be checking that out too.

Genesis Retreat is the creation of a Canadian woman from Ontario and Alberta (as so many Canadians are), so although we are in the heart of rural Mexico, we have a person who can answer questions and advise us about what to see and do.

Hall to our room!

The retreat she created is a 2-acre enclosure with rustic accommodations and a sustainable footprint philosophy. If you want 4-star, go stay in Hotel Row, Cancun. This spot is for people who want to experience Mexico and learn something about how Mexicans live.

Last night I had trouble getting to sleep because of jungle noises, the openness of our accommodations (the walls don’t go all the way to the ceiling) and my own fears about what kind of things could be lurking in the thatch over my head.

This morning, however, I’m happy to sit here in the garden with coffee, jungle noises and geckos. I plan to take this day to relax, meditate and climatise.

Or volumous hair!