first, im trying to write an article about the history and less about my experience with the AMAZING people of la florida, a collective community that occupied an abandoned finca for 26 months and eventually won and know owns (well, in eight years) the finca. below is a stream of emotional notes cause i miss these folks terribly and my experience there was a ´changer´if you will...i cleaned my eyes and my perspective on a lot and feel fresh, though with a touch of dengue.
in short, la florida, more info at www.websamba.com/laflorida and ill finish this splotchy article here quick-like...is a community comprised of campesinos that are from one of the most fertile coffee producing regions in the world -- outside of colomba, guatemala. the environment in these parts is LUSH wiht rolling hills, mountains, volcanoes, LOTS of water and very old fincas checkered-in with dense forests, waterfalls and tens of thousands living in very harsh situations, with poverty and extreme poverty. during the civil war, 66-96, the mere allegation of being an activist of any sort could lead to execution. it was during the war that most of the core community of La florida, which is now 660 persons and 90 families, were organizers with an organization they founded in 1984 to improve the lives of campesinos and their families. HARSH climate to operate in, to say the least. in their view, there were no other options. owners had shifted from an hourly to a weight-based payment system, often never paid workers - some for over a decade - and those that were organizers were blacklisted and couldnt find work. civil war, no land, no payment and extreme poverty comprised the very basic context.
so, these folks were committed to create a new model of existence based upon universal rights, democracy and ecological sustainability. the VERY short of it is that they heard of la florida, a finca that had been abandoned for 8 years and decided to occupy it with a goal of purchasing it. they descended the hills of this MASSIVE finca (im trying to do the math but i get lost after 101) at 4am with nothing and proceeded to create a life off of overgrown land with no houses or infrastructure for 26 months...again, ill write more about this stuff so bounce back if you want.
9 months ago, after a series of very challenging negotiations with one, Alfonso Antonio Portillo Cabrera , an admitted murderer and strong ally of the brutal dictator rios montt, and the other and current president oscar berger whos averaging 8 evictions of campesinos from farms per month, they secured a government loan -- half of what the government originally offered -- and now own (with a 8,500,000 price tag) la florida.
i was writing this yesterday and last night i wrote the article so if yall can just read the article on the blog. good on ya.
yo know i havent meant any Aussies on this journey nor any Israelis and those cats TRAVEL .
entonces, a few images and experiences im working to capsulate from my epic time with these incredibly strong, lovable folks from the hills where leaves are bigger than houses:
im gonna write about chicken buses later but a quick note about evangelical folks here and the HUGE numbers of folks that are ridding that train right now in guatemala and latin america in general, so i hear. anyway, im on a bus for two hours and my skin´s sticking to the vinyl seat and the kid next to me, my knees have put dents in the seat back in front of me cause im a bit of a giant here and to top it off im sitting right about the back wheels which, if you remember your youth, means you bounce like popcorn on us roads, imagine the strawberry on my ass from a off-the path journey...so, im on this bus and this woman gets up and starts to preach. im diggin it and getting giddy when i can understand three or four words and see the nonverbal reactions of folks -- especially when she approached her SECOND hour.
yall, these buses are hella crowded and old. take the chinatown buses in ny, take 20 years off the bus, paint it crazy colors with crosses and then cram three times the people and shit on there and throw some animals and bulk goods on the roof and youve got a taste of the chickenbus experience. add a 60 year old woman preaching the word while a bus lurches and we all hang on for our lives and the equation borders on absurd.
fortunately, that wasnt my ride to la florida, it was in the back of a pickup rolling through some of the most beautiful land ive ever seen -- rolling hills, volcanoes in the background and fincas in the fore. leaves bigger than the cars, waterfalls, huge birds, moist air and an environment of solidarity with other folks that are clutching tight and feeling a bit like kate winslet in titanic -- not the 'i wanna jump part', but the 'hold me leo, hold me part.'
i was with my school and brought my bags in case the community felt like a good place to explore for a few days...or a few weeks in my case. we had a great tour and conference highlighting their history and the history of campesinos in the region and then we had a huge feed.
after we said our goodbyes -- hollah for the danish crew -- i joined rosolio, one of the guides with a smile and use of hands for communication that kept me constantly smiley in his presence and oskar, a beautiful sweede that was my professor of spanish, guitar and the importance of miel -- honey, which means dandruff in sweedish...claire, i know you got a friend named miel so do with that info what you wish...
we went out with the machetes across this water channel system that flows through the community for fresh, potable water and electricity and ventured into the woods for what is the regions version of grass-weed and the only thing cows can munch on in these parts. after my instruction i got a few goes with the steel and did not cutoff my foot -- success for the day, i reckoned.
in these parts you will always see folks of all ages, 6 to 96, carrying firewood, boxes twice their size and this weed-grass by a string that goes around their head. vision a small toyota pickup carrying a semi´s load and that is kind of what it looks like but these folks often dont have shoes and arent just going for a casual few blocks, often they are journeying for a few miles. fortunately for the folks at la florida they have amble wood close by which is incredibly important because it is their only source of fire...
so, i gave a go carrying a load of weeds, not wood, about the size of what a 14 year old might rock as his OR her eighth load of the day and though i snapped my neck and was going to die. i tried to play it cool, which wasnt necessary for a lot of reasons in particularly because the palpable machismo culture often found, well, everywhere was no where to be found in the community...ill drop some words on that later.
night was glorious and i stayed with the family of the community be keeper and his wife that loved to wiggle her fingers in front of her mouth, like all folks there but especially her, to note the need for food, more food or anything related with food. needless to say we got along real well, real well. i mentioned my love for honey and we chatted about bees and how he climbed a tree to snag a hive and started the honey project with the first hive that yielded 5, FIVE, gallons of honey...i have a liter and a half that im travelling with. addicted. yep. addicted.
quickies: hiking through dense forest while eating honey from a slab of comb in my hand and frolicking naked in the woods and swimming under waterfalls with baudilio, a guide and guy that makes you want to rub his tummy and giggle. he might be the first love muffin ive met in guate... climbing cacao trees, grabbing seeds eating em whiile getting eating by mosquitoes the size of those little cars that i cant remember the name of so this note is not all that witty cause its just a run on sentence but its all good, learning about medicinal plants from rene every 40 feet on a hike, searching for odd chirpy things, seeing weeded-over and robbed graves, eating platanos and knowing i need to setup a stand in san fran when i get back, playing with kids and finding out that i do have patience -- maybe only while teaching adorable kids english, attending conferences and seeing real democracy thrive in a region so corrupt you can taste it, meeting doctors that utilize traditional plants to deal with everything under the sun, hearing the stories, particularly of those that lived in teh encampment during the occupation -- PERSPECTIVE.
ill write more when i get the time but i thought yall might want a drip or two of thougths.
much love and hope yall dont get shot by cheney -- bad joke but if youve read this far then i guess its your prize
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