My hands are still a little shaky as I type this… About 10 minutes ago I found a big tarantula right beside my pillow where I slept last night. But, so far that is the only thing I would change about our new residence, Cenovia Aguilar. Team Yetti joined our team to make a group of 11, so yesterday we strapped all of our stuff on top of a van and prayed that it wouldn’t be lost on the bumps or turns in the road. Goodbyes were said to the other teams, we left Palenque and drove through steep green mountains that shot up into the sky. There was so much to soak in, men and women carrying big bags of corn with a rope around their foreheads, amazing landscape, and women bent over fields of crops. As my eyes took in the novel sites, my mind started to warm up to the idea of living in a village for a couple weeks. I finally came to the realization that experiencing a new lifestyle would be well worth the sacrifice of showers, toilets, electricity, and a kitchen.
I knew we must be close when the nicely paved street turned to a bumpy dirt road. Brightly painted cement houses, palm trees, little streams, horses, chickens, pigs, and turkeys welcomed us to Cenovia Aguilar. I was taken aback by the grand mountains that surrounded the picturesque village, but amazed by the extremely warm greeting we received from everyone we saw. “ Hola. Buenos Dias.” Pastor Javier welcomed us and led us to our home for the next 17 days. I had prepared myself for the worst (a tent with no facilities), but hoped and prayed for better. Boy, did we get better. We are staying in a casa with three bedrooms (each one complete with a hammock), a living area with a couch and chair, a kitchen, stove, refrigerator, toilet, shower, porch, and the backyard that is home to chickens. My room is kept cool by open windows through which I look out on a horse and coconut trees. Our gracious host, Alfredo and his son have moved into a little room in order to house us. How do you even begin to show enough gratitude for such a great sacrifice? Alfredo is a true Mexican Caballero (Cowboy); it is not uncommon to see a caballero on his horse trotting down the street.
We spent the afternoon settling in and getting to know some kids that were drawn to our front porch. Warm corn tortillas wrapped in large leaves as a welcome gift. A sweet little girl, Susanna, explained to me that she speaks Chol in her house but speaks Spanish in school. So some of the kids are difficult to understand but they are very good about being patient and enjoy our faulty Spanish. Brienna was able to teach games of war and spoons with a deck of cards and got a game of Futbol going. With three young boys as our guides we went for a walk to see the village and to pray for our time there. Cenovia Aguilar is a Mexican Never Neverland; and our tour guides are the Lost Boys. The Lost Boys would never be at a loss for something to do here. There are big streams and little streams, paths through trees, rocky cliffs, and mountains to climb. I asked where the biggest river was in the town. One little boy pointed to the ditch beside the road that was filled with water, “Es el rio mas grande en Cenovia Aguilar. He thought that was pretty funny so every puddle or stream we passed he tried to convince me was the biggest river in the whole town. After cooling off in the water, the boys introduced us to many of the people we passed and we were invited in to many of the homes. Most of the homes are simple yet clean; cement floors, open windows with bars, tin roofs, and hammocks. There are many little tiendas in the village that all seem to sell similar things; soda, chips, yogurt, rice, tuna, soap, tomatoes, and some flipflops. The tiendas seem to be the big hang out spots, some have arcade video games like Grand Theft Auto. Our team was startled at one home to see a toddler wielding a machete that was just about as big as him. Of course our little tour guides thought it was hilarious. We finished the tour and promised to meet up with the Lost Boys after school the next day.
