| Travelling Companions in Cyberspace |
by Candace Fulton
As I walked up the dusty road in La Barra de Potosi, the sun caressed my shoulders like a strong massage. Ahead of me, my teenage son and a new young friend from the hotel in Zihuatanejo toted bags filled with colorful art and school supplies. We passed an immense bush exploding with brilliant blossoms. I spotted a handsome man crossing the road, heading toward the house described to me by the cheerful vendedoras in the back of the pasajera on the drive down from the highway.
“Noyo?” I called.
“¿Si?” he responded.
“Soy Candice.”
“Candice!” he said, giving me a huge hug and kisses on both cheeks, greeting me like a long-lost friend. We grinned hugely at each other. In fact, this was our first meeting—outside of cyberspace.
Five months earlier, while researching our first trip to Zihua, I had discovered zihuatanejo.net, a website rich with photos, information, and recommendations for restaurants, tours, and lodgings of every description. A click away, I found the Message Forum, and entered a lively and fascinating community inhabited by area locals and visitors from the U.S. and Canada. Here were questions from first-time tourists to Mexico, from honeymooners and retired vacationers, from moms and dads with parental concerns, from experienced travelers. Where to stay? What to bring? What about turista, bugs, pozole, deep sea fishing? Where’s the best snorkeling? What will our children eat? How about side trips, ATM’s, bus routes and taxi fares? And here were answers and opinions from fellow travelers and from the residents of Zihua, Ixtapa, Troncones and La Barra de Potosi, suggestions ranging from tummy medicines to fishing boat captains to wedding banquets and cerveza mas fria.
This was (and still is) my first and only message board affinity, but I was instantly hooked, as are many who discover this busy forum. We rejoice with those preparing for their visits (“Only 17 sleeps and we’re there!”), anticipating the lengthy trip reports they will submit upon their return. These trip reports are mini-travel guides, colorful and candid and packed with real experiences. Restaurant reviews often include course-by-course descriptions of meals and drinks, enjoyed vicariously as we read. Stories of lazy days and active days, of things to avoid and of tiny miracles, like the little fish that accompanied a fascinated snorkeler all the way from Los Gatos to La Ropa.
Over the past year or so, I have learned that a message board is like a small town, with all its idiosyncrasies, character, and characters. Residing there are the politicians, the teachers, the storytellers, the business owners, the guides, and the town nurse. Of course, as in any small town, one also meets the gossips, the grouches, the drama queens, the fibbers and the occasional madmen. Opinions are varied and subjective. Now and then a tiff breaks out, sometimes surprisingly vitriolic. But, as in any small town, the diplomats and peacekeepers step in to soothe tempers and explain points of view. All in all, the residents are good-hearted and well-intentioned: they take care of each other.
Shortly after finding this community, I read a post about Laura Kelly’s project, the Children’s Library of La Barra de Potosi. In a little house beside their Casa del Encanto B&B, Laura and her husband, Noyo Verboonen, have created a learning haven for the children of their village. It is part day-care, part Headstart program, part community outreach, and most of all a nice place to be. In this “after-school school”, the children have a friendly and supportive place to do homework, create art, learn some English, and meet visitors from other parts of the world. When the word got out that they could use support and supplies, the response was generous. Message board readers added books, paper, paints, pencils, puzzles and first-aid items to their luggage and carried them to La Barra via bus, pasajera and taxi. When they shared their experiences via the message board, those whose hearts were touched joined in. As we corresponded, we learned more about Laura and her project, about her imaginative efforts and sense of fairness. About the eighty children of the village, and how Laura waits sometimes until there are enough pencils and notebooks and crayons to hold a giveaway, at which each child happily receives his or her very own packet of brand new supplies.
The Children’s Library is only one of the worthy ventures accessible through this message board. Niños Adelantes in Zihuatanejo is another that helps the area’s school children. And on April 22, a fire in the Puerto Mio Marina destroyed the fishing boats and subsequent livelihood of three of Zihua’s top panga captains. In only a few days, a fund was set up by a few message board regulars (local residents and loyal visitors), to channel donations and supplies to help these fishermen rebuild, an effort that is ongoing.
I remember reading an article some years back, when computer correspondence was first becoming popular, in which the writer lamented the loss of human interaction and predicted a fragmented future in which people contracted into the tiny space of self, keyboard and screen. I admit I found the theory laughable even then, as my own correspondence had grown exponentially with the ease and convenience of email. Oh, sure, there is the endless spam and the occasional virus to combat. That’s why the universe gave us delete keys, anti-virus software, and computer savvy friends. On the message boards, there are misbegotten posts from malevolent or foolish writers. That’s why the universe gave us discernment and a sense of humor.
I look now at the contacts available to all of us. My son has played chess online with fellow teenagers from Denmark and Brazil. I am regularly in touch, from my Seattle desk, with people all around the U.S. and Canada. Our first trip to Zihuatanejo last year felt almost like coming home, with the friendly places and people I had discovered via cyberspace. We anticipate our return this year, along with a stay in Troncones to meet face-to-face the community we have come to know through their words and websites.
Isn’t connection what travel is all about? Connection to places and to like-spirited people? To return home with the understanding of a piece of the world different from our own, of its residents, and of the common threads that weave us all together, is one of the greatest joys of travel. To have discovered fellow explorers along the way, people with open hearts and open minds who look at life as an endless adventure—that is the other.
After our embrace on the dusty road, Noyo ushered me and the young people into the shady and colorful garden that is Casa Del Encanto. We were greeted by the gracious Laura, who took us on a tour of gauze-draped bedrooms, enticing hammocks among the trees, a cheerful dining area on the patio. She led us into the kitchen, where the teens spilled the contents of our bags onto the table. Later, as we peeked into the little house that is the Library, the front gate opened a few inches, revealing the big, curious eyes of three little girls. With many shy smiles, and encouraging nods from Laura, they greeted us proudly in English.
“Nice to meet you!”
“And nice to meet you, too,” I said. Meaning it, feeling it, and knowing I’d be back.
Candice Fulton loves to travel, and when she is constrained from traveling corporeally, she does so via cyberspace from her starship/desk in Seattle.
Resources: message board: www.zihuatanejo.net/wwwboard/; Children's Library, Laura Kelly: lauragecko2@hotmail.com; Niños Adelantes: http://www.zihua-ixtapa.com/zihua/charities/ninos_adelantes.htm or Sandy Thompson de Reyes: tacoinusa@hotmail.com
January 2002
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