Retracing My Steps

San Cristobal was dark and quiet, when we began our journey to the border at 5am. Still struggling to wake up, I sat in the back of the car as Ricardo practiced driving, a standard shift car, and the ever energetic and cheerful Martin chatted away. Our destination was Chamic, the closest border town to San Cristobal, about three hours away.

Chamic is where the 10 hectares of land that the Chihuahua colony Mennonites with the help of MCC purchased for the Mexicalapa community after they became landless due to the 2005 hurricane that destroyed parts of southern Mexico and Guatemala. During the summer of 2006, I spent a few brief months based in Motozintla in southern Mexico working with MCC on their disaster relief projects. During my time I worked with a group of pastors and also had many an adventure with the campesinos of Mexicalapa driving the countryside in search of appropriate land, though at my departure in August 2006, no land had been purchased.

In 2007, MCC entered into an agreement with an ever dwindling group from the original Mexicalapa community in the purchase of land in Chamic that was part of an ejido. The idea of ejido dates back to the Mexican Revolution and the agrarian reform. The land is owned by the group, not individuals, and there are obligations to the group including meeting attendance and fees. At Chamic, we met with the comisariado (leader) of the ejido, to discuss the situation with the group from Mexicalapa, who during this three year period had struggled to work the land and to meet the obligations of the ejido and of MCC.

After our brief meeting and a breakfast of mushroom quesadillas, we returned to the road full of topes (speed bumps) to meet with the Mexicalapa group. After the hurricane, the government built simple houses for the community in Aguazarca, an hour away from Chamic and their land. As we drove to their houses, it became apparent why the group had difficulties working the land and meeting the ejido obligations as it was so far from their homes.

I was excited to meet the group, hoping that I might recognize some of the members from my time in 2006. However, my excited turned to disappoint when I realized that none of the people that I worked with remained in the group. The original group included close to 20 families, but for various reasons, people left the group which was now a mere seven families. Our meeting with the women representing the households was brief, simply discussing the current obligations and creating a plan to meet the repayment obligations in a timely fashion. By 1pm with the sun high in the sky, we had to leave in order to return to Tuxtla by the evening to make our flight to Mexico City.

On our return trip, I wished I could have slept as soundly as I had this morning. Sleep would have avoided the sudden braking for topes or, failing to see them in time, taking the topes at high speeds. Instead, I listened as Martin held forum on a range of subjects from his marriage to a woman twelve years his senior to the history of the Zapatistas. And if I concentrated hard enough, I could ignore the grinding of gears and the groan of the engine as Ricardo continued to practice his standard shift driving.