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Retirement dream comes true in Mexico
I think that most people have a few dreams that must be put off until retirement. A working schedule just doesn't lend itself to frivolous pursuits. I was no different. One of the goals I looked forward to in retirement, and one that I'm grateful I was able to fulfill, was an extended trip to Mexico, particularly the Yucatan Peninsula.
Merida is the gateway to the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. It is the largest city in the region, (roughly the size of Denver) and the capital of the State of Yucatan. The Spanish founded Merida in 1542 and great pains have been taken to preserve the Cathedral from that era as well as some of the original government buildings. It is a colonial city, and quite prosperous. Its window on the Gulf, Progresso, is an important seaport. Yucatan produces and exports a great deal of chicle (used to put the chew in chewing gum) and henequen (for making rope and hammocks) besides sugar and tobacco. By far the largest export activity comes from the off shore oil fields, and there are a lot of them.
But tourism is also a major industry in Merida and the Yucatan Peninsula. The nearby ruins of ancient Mayan cities, especially, Chichen Itza, draw people from all over the world to compare the new world pyramids with those in Egypt. Other tourists are attracted to the crystal clear water and beautiful beaches of eastern Yucatan.
These are reasons enough to visit Yucatan. But there was also another reason I wanted to visit Mexico. I have been a member of the McCook Rotary Club for a number of years and have heard so many times that Rotarians have an automatic friendship with other Rotarians all over the world. I guess I wanted to see if that was indeed true. Each year Rotary International puts out a directory of all the Rotary Clubs in the world, who the officers are, when the club was chartered, and when and where they meet. The idea is that when Rotarians travel they know that they can find friendly, like-minded contacts wherever they are, simply by attending a Rotary meeting.
I found that there were several Rotary Clubs in Merida, but the one I chose to attend met at 8 p.m., Thursdays, at "The Spanish Club". There was no problem finding the address and after a 15 minute cab ride I arrived at about 7:45.
I found that the Spanish Club was just that. It was a beautiful building, with large murals of conquistadors and thick carpets and rich leather furniture. The members of the Spanish Club trace their lineage back to the original invaders and are very proud of their pedigree. In fact they seem to feel a bit superior to other Mexicans of mixed blood.
But by 8:30 I thought that perhaps I'd made a mistake, or things had changed, because the only people around were the bartender and me. The bartender assured me that I was at the right place and the members would be along directly. Directly meant a little before 9. This was very strange to me, as in McCook we meet at noon. By 1 o'clock we have had our meal, our chit chat, our singing and a program. If the program happens to run over a few minutes, members will get up and leave. After all, people have to get back to work.
I found that the Mexicans take things a bit slower. As a visiting Rotarian I was introduced to the President, then lined up to sit with an English-speaking member, a Doctor Ruiz, who had taken his medical training in the United States. He diligently took me around the roorn, making sure that I met everyone. It was quite an impressive group.
People were introduced to me as Dr. So & So the head of the hospital, a judge, a factory head, the mayor, and other government officials. But everyone was very cordial and in spite of the language barrier I was having a good time.
The issue of allowing women to integrate Rotary Clubs was just coming before the members in the United States. Some of the older Rotarians were very upset about allowing ladies in their "all male" club, and some had resigned (after years of membership) over the issue. I asked the president of the Merida Club how they handled that issue. "Why, there is not a problem in Mexico. No, no problem at all. We men have our club, and the women can have their own (all women) club. We get along fine."
About 9 o'clock the members sat down, but they continued to drink and visit for another half hour before our food arrived. We were treated to a leisurely seven-course meal, during which time there was a good bit of conversation and much laughter.
Some, but not all, of the Rotarians were also members of the exclusive Spanish Club. Whether they felt obligated to do good works because of their family position or not, I can not say, but for whatever reason, they took their philanthropic Rotary work very seriously. After the dinner---it was about 10:30 by then--- there was a short business meeting, and then there were detailed reports from the chairmen of the various projects on which they were working. And these projects were impressive. (Through the Dr.'s whispered running comments I was kept informed as to what was going on). One group was building a wing onto a rural school. One group was building a kind of motel for the families of patients in the hospital. One group was working to buy needed books for one of the libraries. And one fellow reminded the club that they all needed to attend an automobile rally on the coming Sunday, where they would be raising money to fund the various projects. A busy, busy club.
But the project that impressed me most was the one that Dr. Ruiz, my host, was sponsoring. He apparently held an important position in one of the clinics that catered to influential citizens. He worked at this clinic for three days each week. Then on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays he volunteered at another "free" clinic for patients who could not afford to pay for medical treatment. He had persuaded some of his colleagues to assist him from time to time. The night I was there he arranged for one of the other Rotarians to come to his clinic to perform surgery on two cleft palate cases.
About midnight the Rotary meeting finally broke up. Dr. Ruiz volunteered to drive me back to my hotel. As we left, members were still standing around in little groups, having one last drink and I suppose planning yet another new project.
On the way back to the hotel we took a detour into a decidedly seedy part of town so we could go past Dr. Ruiz's "Free Clinic". He was proud of that clinic. He said that he would like to spend all his time there, but felt that he needed to work at the other clinic part time, in order to support his wife and four children.
He became quite animated as he described some of his cases and the successes he had had. Then he told me of another project that he was working on. He and some of his friends would soon join other doctors---some from the United States---for emergency medical work in the southern part of Yucatan where he said, "people were really poor".
It was an interesting experience. I was proud to know that the Rotary organization was responsible for doing so much good. At the same time, comparing their club with our club in McCook, I felt that we really should be doing a lot more than we were. And Dr. Ruiz-- I got the feeling that this must have been the way Albert Schweitzer started out, doing his humanitarian work. More power to Dr. Ruiz, a truly good man.