Veracruz Update #1

Saludos de Veracruz!

Day 3 in Mexico is at an end and though my feet are sore and I am sweating like a roasted pig after my first outdoor Zumba class (stay tuned for a post about that), I am all smiles because this trip has been awesome and it’s just the beginning!

Before I continue, I just want to say thank you again to the over 50 people who donated online and offline to make this happen. Through your generosity I exceeded my goal and raised $3,340 (and apparently there are still a few checks in the mail)! Amor Spiritual Center is officially my fiscal sponsor which means your donations are tax deductible and you will be receiving an email for your records sometime in the fall. J

I am especially grateful for the extra money we raised because I will be traveling within Mexico a lot more than I had originally anticipated. My first foray will be Sunday. I will be visiting Playa Chachalacas and the Pyramids at Quiahuiztlan. Then Tuesday I head to Xalapa to meet with Jesus from Agrupación de Derechos Humanos, a local non-profit dedicated to working with indigenous groups with regard to Human Rights. I anticipate visiting Cordoba, Yanga, and also Puebla.

In the meantime I’m getting to know Veracruz. I arrived Wednesday morning and caught a cab to my hotel. It was too early for me to check in so I just left my bag and hit the ground running. 

Veracruz is blue skies and palm trees. I love the way the sea salts the air. The heat sneaks up on you. It feels good, the warm damp air, then suddenly you are practically melting. I don’t know if there is an official siesta, but you don’t see a lot of non-tourists moving quickly throughout the day, it’s not until night time when the boardwalk is really packed with joggers and families out for snow cones by the water. Everyone takes advantage of the mild temperatures. It doesn’t get cool exactly, just cooler and then the music starts to play and it feels like an ongoing party.

Everyone here is very excited about the aquarium. It was the first thing the hotel staff told me to go see. Fish are cool and all, but when I got to the aquarium I realized I had zero interest in actually going in. The aquarium is set inside a mini mall of crap next to a Wax museum (that is creepy in every country) and a Ripley’s Believe it or not Museum. If you are 12 years old, need to eat icecream or buy something cheap and touristy, the Aquarium is the plaza for you. It is truly a one stop shopping for tackiness and children that make you temporarily forget that all humans are a blessing. The only redeeming feature besides its proximity to the beach is that in the depths of all that there is a chair massage parlor with new age Mexicans dressed in all white waiting to work their magic with flute and mystical wind music playing just loud enough to drown out the singing mechanical clown I wanted to destroy with a pickax.

After a massage and some cold water I felt like a human being again. Having seen enough of the Aquarium I walked back past my hotel until I found a sidewalk café. It was empty, which usually isn’t a good sign, but I took a chance because it was a weird time to be eating. The waitress was kind of weird towards me and seemed irritable when I ordered shrimp. We don’t have that she told me…and I could feel myself getting annoyed, but I asked for a recommendation and she said mojarra. I still don’t know what kind of fish it is, but I love it! My first meal in Veracruz has so far been the best. Mojarra frito al ajillo with rice, avocado, tomato, lettuce, and warm corn tortillas. Actually all my meals have been great and half of them have been mojarra. I did try seafood stew today and some kind of spicy pork medallions. Yum and yum.

I digress. While eating, a man named Luis came to talk with me. He was the first person to introduce himself to me and even took the time to introduce me to the seemingly surly waitress whose name is Elena (turns out she was just kind of shy and afraid I didn’t speak Spanish). Luis is a jewelry vendor. He has a push cart that he walks up and down the beach.

“Veracruz is international,” he told me. “We are a port so people come here from all over the world.” While I know this is true, the more I walk around here, the less true it feels. There are lots of tourists here, but most of them seem to be Mexican and from other parts of Mexico. Even here at the hotel, I haven’t seen one other visibly foreign person. Moreover I have so far seen only 1 person I would classify as Afro-Mexican. Though when I bring this up everyone points to their nose and tells me about their African grandfather who was coal black.

Despite the rich history of African heritage hidden in bone structure, the Afro-cuban salsa blaring from every restaurant, and the hints of Africa in the well-seasoned food, I am clearly an anomaly. People stare at me openly. It’s a bit disconcerting. At first I thought it was just people trying to sell me things, but now I realize it’s actually everyone. Some guy actually took a picture of ME with his camera phone while on our bus tour of Veracruz. And he was not the last, people can’t wait to ask me where I’m from. So I have taken to putting on make-up and wearing dresses ‘cause I want to make sure they get a really good show. Though it is hot here so mostly I’m cute for the first five minutes and then I am a sweating mess towering a foot over everyone in all my voluptuousness complete with my orange afro. Nope… not inconspicuous at all.

But the men seem to love it. “Mi linda, mi reina, mi morenita,” they call out as I walk by. Yesterday I was serenaded with Celia Cruz songs. Once again I am “Morena”- dark one. The women look at me too. Today the comment that most touched me came from a tiny wrinkled old woman who smiled at me with such a face of delight and told me I was beautiful and black. It made me think what it would be like for a 15 year old black girl from Seattle to be walking down the streets of Mexico to have her beauty affirmed by complete strangers.

After lunch that first day I walked four hours (literally). I walked from the beach down into the historic part of town which is more in alignment with what I expected to see. Pastel colored buildings, white sidewalks, bustling streets. I walked past the Yacht club and the Naval Museum, past the Cathedral with the Black Jesus, the marimba players in the plaza, the market place, and the Zocolo just breathing in the city and trying to see it not only through my eyes, but through the eyes of the young people I hope to bring here.

One of the gifts being a study abroad leader has given me is the chance to orchestrate the magic of travel. There is a lot that goes into this process. It’s helpful to know where things are and what to expect, cultural tidbits like whether you should tip or not or how to identify safety concerns. So far the most dangerous parts of my trip have been trying not to choke on fish bones and trying to figure out when and how to cross the street. I found a cool bus tour that took me all around Veracruz. I also went to the Museum and met a woman name Carmen Cruz who was a well spring of information about this entire region and cued me into the cheapest ways to get to the Pyramid and also to the fact that there is a public dance hosted in the afternoons. I will be going to that tomorrow.

In terms of the program. I have come up with a home stay family vetting process and a tentative 15 day itinerary. Meeting Carmen really gave me more ideas on youth appropriate activities and tours. So I am pricing everything and working on my budget. My hope is to start vetting folks in Yanga next week while checking out the Festival de Negritud! I hear Yanga is a small town, which is ideal for home stay experiences because they kids are forced to spend time with their families.  As always there is so much more to say, but this is already pretty long. So just know all is well and unfolding beautifully. Thanks for your continued support.

Also please check out my website for my updated calendar. www.rejjarts.com  I will be giving an interview on the Ms. Camay radio show in September and in October I will be giving a vision boarding workshop at East West Bookstore. Sometime in between I will be facilitating another self-publication class and doing some writer’s workshops TBA. Message me if you are interested in any of those workshops.