El 27 de marzo…

Hola! I’m in the land of spiders and crabs and large frogs! Oh and la cucaracha, la cucaracha tambien!!

So, check out the photos….Raul and Zorro I finally found the large insects you were hoping for! I haven’t seen the poisonous coral snake or a python yet, but many people I have met have! I never seemed to have my camera when I saw the snakes and huge toads& iguanas that were all around!! Today I saw a water snake, an iguana, 3 different and large spiders, crabs, a dead frog and mini sucker fish all in the span of about 5 minutes! Not kidding!!

Can you believe that you only have one more week until spring break! Yeah! Pues, estoy muy feliz en Yelapa. Es un pueblo muy linda, con muchos colores brillantes! Es un poco touristica, pero vivimos con una familia local entonces tenemos la abilidad de hablar en espanol todos los dias!

I am writing this blog knowing that I won’t be able to publish it until domingo when we have internet access again. There are two computers here in town that you can pay to use (40 pesos/hr) but it’s dial-up. If any of you are old enough to even know what that means – it means really S-L-O-W connection. I am not kidding when I say it took me 12 minutes to download, write a very short note and send an email to my mom! This blog entry would take hours, so decided to write it on a word doc an send it later!

Right now, JonPaul and I are waiting for Matt and Ammann to return from an early morning fishing trip. We went out yesterday and had no luck – but we did see dolphins and whales though! They are trying again today, but JonPaul didn’t want to go so I stayed with him. Fishing is the main source of life here – obviously since we are living on the ocean! The only road here takes 6 hours in a four wheel drive vehicle so 99% of travel occurs by boat. There are no roads in the village – just cobblestone or dirt walkways.
The great thing about this is that it’s completely safe to let the boys run (barefoot)
where ever they want in the village. They even do our shopping for us now! Their Spanish is good enough to take the money and go to the store and shop. Ammann even got the wrong change yesterday and made the lady pay him the 5 pesos he was owed!

This village is a true mix of locals and tourists. Ironically we are here the week of a memorial service for the first “gringa” who settled here in the late 60’s. Her name was Isabel and she is basically the reason that tourists began coming here. She created rustic, yet beautiful palapas for visitors. The first of their kind. Since then, many more gringos have settled here and have built some rustic and some quite plush places.
The word “plush” is relative here. Remember the only way to transport goods here is by boat.

So, most houses here are made with thatched roofs and wooden/stick walls and are known as palapas. If you want to build with bricks, you have to bring them in by boat. If you choose this route, then you also have to arrange for men to meet you at the dock with wheelbarrows and/or burros – the main way to transport goods throughout the village. Many times transporting means going a mile up the road and always means going up! There are very few level places here. And…the men who do this work do it barefoot! Oh – and the other thing that is almost always done barefoot….futbol! The truth is, there is no need for a tennis/work type shoe here. They are too heavy and hot and attract bugs. Most everyone only wears flip/flops or goes barefoot. I’ve actually never seen a local in anything else!

A day in the life of a local here is based upon whether you are male or female…


Boys – school in the mornings and usually goofing around in the afternoons or helping dads with fishing/hauling goods. .
Girls – school in the morning and helping care for younger siblings and/or helping the women prepare meals and clean the house.
(Note: school is about 20 minutes up the river drainage on a dirt path. Everyone walks except for just a few who come from several miles away and they ride their horses to school. Like other schools in Mexico, they go from 9 am – 1 pm)
Men – work involves fishing, construction or operating a water taxi
Women – maintain the homes and care for their children/grandchildren. (Note: remember it is common in most Latin American families for children to continue living with their parents once they are married. This is because few people can afford to live on their own and so that everyone can take care of each other.)
When everyone has their work/chores done, men can be found visiting down on the dock and the women….well, I still can’t figure out where they are – I think their work never stops!
Ironically, only the tourists really spend time just “hanging out” at the beach. And… most have a nice, burnt, red, crisp skin color from not using enough sunscreen!

Hey 8th graders want to know what has happened with the second batch of the books you made? If you remember, I gave ½ of the books to the orphanage in San Miguel and I planned to give the others to the school here in Yelapa. However, the school here is actually doing OK in terms of resources, and so when I became acquainted with a woman who teaches English to a very, very small village (Pizota) about a 20 minute boat ride from here I asked her all sorts of questions about the school. She informed me that there are only 200 people in the village and many of the adults are addicted to cocaine so the children have a really hard time getting the resources they need. The school is one room (outdoor) with little and at times, no supplies. So, guess who got your books?! I couldn’t take them there personally as it cost too much for me to take the boat there, but I have the woman’s email and she is going to send us photos of the kids with your books! Cool huh? Your books ended up in a tiny village along the Pacific ocean 2000 miles from Columbia Falls!

I am learning so much also about waste and garbage! A strange thing to learn about in Mexico, but it’s true! The only way to take waste away from here is by boat. There are no garbage trucks or people who come and pick up your garbage, so you must figure out how to dispose of it yourself. For many that simply means throwing it into the jungle, the river or the ocean. Malo! Malo! Malo!
There is a big effort going on here to educate people on proper disposal. I actually didn’t know what to do with our garbage, so our landlords, who are very conscientious, taught us what to do. Basically all our dishwater/bathwater goes right into the ocean, any paper products are burnt, plastic & glass is collected and taken into Puerto Vallarta to be recycled, fruit & veggie scraps go into compost and any edible food leftovers go to the many homeless dogs wandering around. It takes a lot of extra time to make sure waste ends up where it should here, but it’s crucial it happens or else this place will be covered with garbage in no time at all, as it’s only about the size of Apgar in West Glacier.

We are off to Mexico City before we return to see the Museum of Anthropology, the Friday Kahlo Museum, the museum of history and possibly some more. Will fill you in with details when I get there!

Que tengan un buen dia! Hasta MUY PRONTO!!! (el viernes, el 3 de abril!)

Sra. Koch

p.s. Oh – by the way all you penny, nickel, dime, dollar donators!!! I found the perfect family in which to give the rest of your money. I still had about $50 - as we gave about a dollar a day up until I met this family. They are a really hard working family who started a business that failed and so they have begun a new one which is showing promise. In the meantime, they can’t make their rent payments, they eat only tortillas, tamales y arroz pretty much ever day and they live so simply. They are a family of 4 – two boys ages 4 & 7. We befriended them in Bucerias and when they told us they couldn’t buy groceries that week, your money did it for them! They were so amazed that people they didn’t even know would help them out! So bravo to you and muchas gracias!