Change of Plans

Two days ago we were ready to settle in to Villaflores for a few more days. We had developed a reasonable routine of running errands, watching cartoons in Spanish, hunting down the closest “alberca” (swimming pool), and jumping on the trampoline in the Centro before dinner. We had begun to run into people we had already met and be invited into houses for conversations and café. This small city with no other gringos felt like a comfortable place to hang out and get into the groove of life in Chiapas.

But Thursday we were just coming back from the post office and preparing to head out to the alberca called “El Paraiso” (with no less than 10 pools and a dozen concrete water slides) when we got a call from Peter letting us know that plans had changed and he needed to be in San Cristobal (a popular tourist town about two hours north) for a meeting the next day. “How would you like to pack up and go to San Cristobal tonight?” Sure. Why not? We headed back to the hotel and started packing.

Josie likes to know the plan. She starts each day by reviewing the schedule and making sure she is clear on how things are going to progress before she even finishes breakfast. She is a girl after her grandmother’s heart, with lists and agendas, keeping us all in order and on time. However, on this vacation, she has had to learn to be flexible, as have we all, as we bend to the weather, illnesses, other people’s plans and preferences, and just life in general.

When I told the kids the change of plans they said, “Okay,” with hardly a question. In the past they would have balked, asked why we needed to leave so suddenly, complained that we weren’t going to get to do the activity I had promised. Traveling seems to have taught them that even if you aren’t going to do what you had planned, you will probably be doing something cool in any case, so just relax and enjoy the next bend in the road.

We packed up in record time and made it to the alberca for a lunch of fried fish and an afternoon of “swim at your own risk.” Once Peter returned from the field and we loaded the car, fed the kids, and were on our way, it was about two hours later than originally planned. We didn’t leave until 7:30. As we approached Tuxtla Gutierrez and I realized we would be driving an hour (at least) through the mountains at night in the rain, I proposed we stop in Tuxtla for the night instead of continuing on to San Cristobal. Change of plans, again. The kids expressed only relief at being able to get to a bed sooner, no questions or complaints.

Yesterday morning on the way to San Cristobal we stopped a few times, once for over a half hour to buy textiles from Mayan women along the side of the road. Two weeks ago they would have whined in the back seat, resisting our tendency to follow whim and begging us to get back to the plan of driving to San Cristobal. Today they waited patiently, eventually getting out of the car to examine the beautifully embroidered fabrics and try some on, tasting the passion fruits they sold by the dozen, and waiting until we were ready to roll.

Today we wandered through the streets of San Cristobal with particular destination. We took a picnic up to the steps of the Iglesia de San Cristobal. We sat in the main square for over an hour and Jasper made friends with the kid selling peanuts. We take our journals and a deck of cards with us everywhere, just in case we are not sure what to do with ourselves. But usually we find something to do. Even if it is not exactly what we had planned.