A wonderful, if looonnng trip to a Ch’ol village near Palenque, brought a large number of water filters to the residents. Sebastian had made a pre visit to this remote community for other business and had coordinated a return visit with a number of water filters. A list had been made of those interested and able to purchase such.
We returned the other day with the truck loaded with 40 filters and buckets.
What was thought to be a 2 1/2 ride turned out to be almost 4 hours! A stunning ride with amazing vistas of the huge mountains of the Sierra Madres. No matter where you drive in Chiapas, you must wind and circle and cross many ridges and mountains, up, up and down, down. No matter whether your destination is up high into the higher elevations or down to lowland jungle.
We were heading down into hot country. The day was gorgeous and I cannot stop gazing around every curve and over every precipice . The “highway” is rugged, otten washed away, graveled, with great sinkholes . The brush comes over the sides of the road and there are no shoulders, markers, fences, and few signs or lane markers. A great deal of awe and trust goes with every journey!
It was a delightful time in this remote community. Our Tzeltal language is not understood by them. Spanish is the transitional language. They greeted us warmly.
We met in a small community building and Sebastian with his wit and warmth, presented the filters..how they work, what they filter, the benefits. I did a small health talk. Like an itinerant salesman he even asked for volunteers to come up front and drink the filtered river water with him!
I translated small love notes put into each filter packet. The residents were charmed and delighted with the notes of blessings and encouragement. 37 filters are now in operation in this community!
We turned around for the long ride home, feelimg blessed ourselves, and satisfied with our mission.
The ride home was punctuated with a side trip to beautiful waterfalls, in the jungle. Gorgeous. How lovely it is now to capture this wild but contaminated water 💦 to use for drink.
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