San Felipe, Our pueblo

Well outside the reach of Merida, passed the abandoned tourist coast of Progresso-Dzhilam Bravo, on the other side of the Yasilhon desert, where a small coastal road of 30km starts, you will find San Felipe, our pueblo. To the untrained eye, you see your regular Mexican fishing community, a port full of small boats, a lighthouse, a sea wall, and thats it, and that's what I saw at first. What few outsiders see are the little hidden treasures, springs in the marsh, the sparkling beach on the isthmus protecting the port, the flamingos flying over head, and the occasional crocodile. These things are great, but they do not make up a pueblo, a pueblo is a community of people, each with their role in the master play that makes life worth living. We have the doctor, the old fisherman, the extentionist, the English teacher, the rancher and the gang. And one day, in the middle of Act 3, as a tense electon day came upon San Felipe, entered the Texan on his bike ...

The Doctor, Freddy (First guy on the right)

Four years of Medical school are over, 1 year of residency completed, all that lies between him and a diploma is 1 year of social service, a duty all Mexicans have. Like all medical students, his social service is 1 year working in a clinic in a pueblo, good fortune put him in San Felipe.
Merida has a great medical school that graduates 150 doctors per generation, they all go out at one time to do their social service in the Yucatan state. This creates a network of docs that know each other, and more importantly, know how to treat a bicycling gringo. Outside of Merida I've stayed in nothing but clinics, it's a bed (operating room), full bath, and a buddy.

The Old Fisherman, Don Gilberto Aguilar

Don Gil, worked most of his life as a carpinter in the nearby town of Panaba, when one day he uprooted his family to spend the last of his days as a fisherman in San Felipe, where he has lived for 20 years now. Don Gil no longer fishes, 3 months ago he was struck by a deabilitating disease that took away his power to walk and use his left arm. Months before this happened, he took his first international trip to Cuba. A widower, he fell in love for the 2nd time with a big dark Cuban woman. In the middle of the legal wranglings to get her off the island, he fell ill. With his daughter Isidra and the dream to go back to Cuba he works on gaining his mobility back, he now walks 400 yards every morning.

The extentionist, Geraldo

Geraldo lives with his family of 2 kids, Daniela and Alfredo, and his wife Sylvia 7km down the road in Rio Largatos. Growing up there and then later working as the director of the local reserve, Geraldo is an expert on the area. He now works in Kin Kualkin, Quintana Roo managing farming and fishing coops for the secretary of agriculture.
Geraldo was awesome enough to let me ride along while he worked one day. Here are some of the sites...

Rio Largatos

Cuyo

Holbox

The English teacher, Katrina

Katrina is the only daughter of a rancher, and the beautiful half of a set of twins (boy-girl twins). She has had a passion to learn English all her life and is now passing this on to young minds at the only high school in the area in Panaba. She is also the resident translator, when foriegners arrive without Spanish skills, she is called on to translate, and does it professionaly and always with a smile.

The Gang

Felipe, Joselo, Stefanie, Gaby, Roger, Santiago, Rosy Mary .... these are some of the names of the gang. Most are students, others work, but all of them come togther to hang out at Santiago's internet cafe to pass time in San Felipe.

The sites

San Felipe

(More pics coming soon)
The people of San Felipe have spend their free time in various places. The malecon that runs the shore line, this is where the fishermen spend their days by th pier, everyone else spends their nights by the kiosk, and Everyone spends the sunset. A cenedero is at the end of the malecon where the sunsets, built by Earth Corps, a 500km walk through the three types of mangrove that surrounds the port. Africa, a natural spring hidden in the mangrove, accesible by small boat and pole, is at the other end of the malecon. By boat there you can reach another spring Kuburna, it offers isolation and sirenity with the mangrove. Then there is always the beach, accessible by boat across a very shallow canal, a toll of 50 pesos will put you on an unpopulated island with a white beach, turqoise waters, and never-ending sunsets.
The whole coastal road runs along the reserve Rio Largatos, it provides nature walks, Flamingo viewings (there are 1000's everywhere), more natural springs like Chiquila, and beaches full of giant sea shells.

A typical day in San Felipe consists of everyone doing their work in the morning, then around 2 or 3 they are free. We would get together some pesos, buy a couple of cartons of beers, and head to the destination/party of the day, and if there isn't one, well someone is always willing to offer their patio. The patio is the best, everyone walks or rides a bike, so friends come for a beer, chat a while and then head off, you can see the whole town pass by while polishing off a carton of Sol.

The Campaign

Election day was a week off and campaining for PAN and PRI was in high gear. The town is nearly split in half between these 2 parties. Walls are painted (blue-PAN, red-PRI) with slogans, banners hang from every pole, the political headquarters (across the street from each other on main street) blare music with catchy slogans, and the fiestas. There was a party in the town discoteque with models for the PAN, the next day a street party with music, tortas and cokes free, then the PRI street party with the same, then free taco nights,

then ..... it was non stop party till 3 days before election day. By law campaigning ends 3 days before elections, they also prohibit the sell of liquor for those days (that doesn't make since, don't worry, we stockpiled the day before). For 24 hours, small bands of PRI and PAN go around the pueblo with cameras and binoculars making sure neither one of the parties is buying votes, it's kind of humorous actually. On election day, everyone votes, the parties are outside the school keeping tabs on the voters, and if you don't show, they will get you out of your house to vote. At 6 the polls close and at 8 they annouce the results. This was awesome, the whole pueblo outside the gates of the secondary school, waiting and hoping, the scene is tense, there are police everywhere to keep the crowd in check. Then it happened, a little man left a classroom with a poster, walked up to the gate, posted it, and a 100 cell phone lights lit up the results....

a victory for PAN roughly 400-600. They partied in the streets, a parade immediatly formed and ended at the campaign HQ where the new mayor, Maruca, gave his crowd a speech on how the town will improve by leaps and bounds. The next day was better, the final results for governor came in, the PRI won, the whole parade-party fiasco again.


Home is where I hang my bike helmet, and for10 days I gladly hung it in San Felipe, Our pueblo.