Happy Mother's Day Mothers

Dear Readers , it has been 3 weeks since my last confession ...oh,oops ! I mean Blog !
It  has been a very religious 9 days around here .... Festival of Guadalupe ... Yelapa style ...

Every morning. at 5 am, and noon and 6 pm the very small hand held cannon ... but a cannon just the same... is deployed ... in order to get her attention ... and wherever she is, she probably hears it !!  I manage ok, but some people and their animals have a rough go of it ...it's almost over now .  At this moment the boats are being decorated with palm fronds and flowers and the priest and followers will get in and parade around the bay singing her favorite song and letting off the last of the cannonballs ! It's just day break now, and i see the fronds being attached to the pongas, and I also see a huge dark cloud up river. 

It rained yesterday morning and this morning.  Not jungle rain, or BC winter rain, but moisture, and cleared some dust away.  If this dark sky does not produce anymore today, get ready for 98 % humidity. Luckily i manage ok with that too ....but, i'd rather it rained !

Dia del Nino, celebrated throughout Mexico was a blast of fun.  So much going on that it wasn't till it was over that I could take it all in .  We are 2 teachers short , again.  Supposedly we will have a new Grade 5/6 teacher today. Not easy for the kids, or the other teachers to adjust to so many disruptions, but our school volunteers are helping the community come together and stick up for our kids !

It's a little like growing up in Northern Ontario, so isolated that many resources and
services were just not available .... cost prohibitive ? ... many teachers, doctors, dentists and etc. don't want to live in the middle of nowhere, where it can be minus 30 c. for 4 months
of the year and minus 10 for 3 more !

 I'm sorry to say, and no offense to past teachers, but I was in Grade 8 with Mr. Anderson, ( the new, young, Principal fresh out of University, who came in to our class to teach math) before I could read a teacher's handwriting on the chalkboard.  That's not exaggerating too much.  My Grade 9 English teacher sat at her desk and picked her nose and ate potatoe chips and my typing  ( is that all he taught ? )  teacher had such terrible body odor, and such strange behaviour, it was very uncomfortable , and many kids acted out.

The quality of the teachers isn't the issue here, it's being ignored by the bureaucracy and not having the resources to get their voices heard. Electricity and Internet and etc. have  been around just 10 years or so .... isolation comes at a price.

Teachers make a difference, and here in Yelapa the pay off will be huge ... poco y poco ...

The hummingbirds are after the Christmas Lights again, and Lily hiding under the sofa.  The bombs are starting again and I can see the people on the pier getting into the boats.  It feels like it could downpour any minute ....up river, through the canyon, the sky is steel grey, hill tops sliceing at the heavy mist ...the Primavera ( pink ones right ) are bloomimg large.
I'm told there were many more scattered about, but still a few remain in my view.
It is as still and calm before the storm as can be ... oh great ocean ...

Yelapa Mother's Day Fiesta , May 10th. This was probably the 101st annual .. A longstanding tradition here, the one day , for many, they do  NO WORK, and have a beer or shot or some
famous Yelapa Punch ! They gather at the dance hall, and are served dinner and drinks, all for free, and there is a live band, and games and raffles and so and and so on ...
Someone told me arrive at 4, someone else said 5 ... we got there at  7:45 ... next year I'm
going to get there at 10 !! They were still serving food but the party was just heating up when I left at 11 .... it's a blow out, full tilt, shake rattle and roll fiesta .... I think the band stopped around 1 but the dj played till 3 ... how much work got done on Sunday is questionable ...

The next holiday/Fiesta is Thursday the 15th , Teachers Day, no school. Everyone in Mexico has their own day, even The Mule !

I'm heading to Beautiful British Columbia, and will pick this up in July.  If I can make the time I will post some new poetry , and other photos .  

Happy Happy spring everyone .... 

kelley .