The Big Picture

Friday, December 10. Gisèle and Philippe - the owners of the house - have planned a little pinata gathering for the children today. Philippe is a fun guy, very light spirited and chatty, he loves to express his feelings and philosophical thoughts. He has become Leo's fishing pal. Gisèle is a bit more reserved, she seems to be more business driven and down to earth. She knows everybody's name in the community, and knows the names of all the fish and creatures we see.
The back of the property is on the lagoon, and they just finished building the dock. It seems to be Philippe's little heaven, and to him it's just as marvelous as the beautiful Caribbean in front of the house. They both love the water, and when they go out snorkeling they are gone for 3 to 4 hours. They swim out to the other side of the reef barrier, and go way out about 2km - to a small reef formation located straight out from their house. Philippe leaves with a couple of harpoons and a mesh bag, and a good knife. He always comes back about one hour after Gisèle, with some snapper in his bag, and the odd lion fish. They must eat fish every day. If not from the sea, it's the catch of the day from the lagoon. This is their home, and they only go back to France to work for a couple months about twice a year.

The last day in Majahual was nice, we went to Miriam's husband's restaurant (Miriam is the owner of the Montessori school) - a road side taco joint. It was fabulous! He showed us the many fillings to choose from and explained the ingredients, all very local (cactus, pork skin, etc.) and all very delicious. We all had seconds. The funny thing is that he is located right on the corner of the main road into town - you can't miss him. And all the tourist tour busses from the cruise ships go right by, but they never stop. He said that he doesn't expect to have tourists there. What he has is local food for local folks, and that's the way he wants it. Eating there was one great highlight of our adventure so far. Gracias Tio George! After lunch the boys and I went to the school, and I gave my last class. It was fun, and it's satisfying to see that the kids know the new songs I have been teaching them. They will continue to sing them, and knowing that is the great joy I take back with me to Canada. I left about 20 maracas and bells for the school. I also gave a bunch of scarves that I made from fabric I bought in Chetumal. It was in the left over bin at the entrance of the fabric store, and alltogether it cost me $1.50. I made 18 light scarves with it, for the children to dance with - which we merrily did today. Miriam was very happy.

I emailed Jane to find out if we can drop by her house this weekend. She has invited us but time flew and with only a couple of days left, I think that it would be a shame to not take the time to get to know her better. She has a great energy, very warm and very interesting. I hope we can make it happen.
It seems unlikely now that we will go to the Chinchorro, it's too bad, but I think that it might be a bit much for the kids and for Tim. It's a two hour ride out to sea to get there. This one will remain on my 'lifetime to do list', so I might come back. Maybe with friends, for an all adult vacation? I would be in for that of course. But while we're still here in Xcalak, It would be nice to get on a boat at least once, I'll see what we can do. Maybe this weekend?

Tim and I were discussing the big picture about this trip. What are we going to gain from this? Are the kids realising how special this is? And so on... It's funny how I feel it's so clear to me, and how Tim struggles with finding a purpose to it all. It is mainly my project I guess, so for me the questioning phase was done long before we left. Now I am just enjoying the great ride. I believe that in the big picture, the boys will learn that they must stick their neck out, take some calculated risks, and overcome some fears to discover new, enriching and exciting things. This was certainly true for the snorkeling. At first they did not want to try, and were scared of going out on the kayak - probably because they know that there are sharks in the sea. So we practiced with the gear on here in front of the house, and they saw tiny striped black and yellow fish, and many others, and they saw their first lion fish and their first barracuda. Then we went on the kayaks, to a small reef about 100 meters off shore. They were blown away, and were hooked from that point on. Now they want to explore farther. The fear is gone, replaced by the knowledge of what is there for them to enjoy. And that's a wonderful gift. Now that we have demystified the sea, we will move on and experience life on a farm, and ride horses! But I must say that leaving the sea will be difficult, I love it here.