Future Voter

I took a 3.5 hour long, 2nd class bus to Merida, Mexico. It is the capital of the state of Yucatan. When the Spanish first set foot here, they asked the Mayan people what the name of the place was. The Mayans didn’t understand what the Spanish were saying, so they replied “Ma Chi V’Tan” which means “I don’t understand you” in Mayan. The Spanish mis-heard this as “Yu Ca Tan”, and so they assumed that was the name of the area.

The AC on the bus is at full blast, and the vent was leaking water on my head, so I couldn’t sleep. A 2nd class Mexican bus stops at all the little towns along the way, so it takes a bit longer than a 1st class bus. Fruit and food vendors get on and try to sell you refreshments, then get off a few stops later.

When I first got into Merida, I walked through the pouring rain to Zocalo Hostel which is right above the main plaza of the city. After I got settled in, I could hear cheering and commotion in the plaza, so I grabbed my camera and went for a look.

Beatriz Zavala of the PAN Party

It was a political rally for the Mayor’s race in Merida, candidate Beatriz Zavala of the conservative PAN party. There were thousands of people cheering her on, even though she had just lost the election the day before.

I slowly worked my way to the front of the stage, and people assumed I was press because of the big camera and tripod so they let me past them. There were thousands of people at the rally. One guy even pushed other people out of my way so I could get a good shot of Beatriz herself.

The crowd was going wild, and it was quite an experience. A little while after I got to the front, the microphone cut off and we could see fire under the stage where two wires must have shorted out! People started screaming and pointing to the fire under the stage… I was about to run, but suddenly the fire just died out and men got under the structure to fix whatever was wrong.

Crowd at Political Rally

The winner of the election was Angelica Araujo Lara of the PRI Party. I didn’t know this until the next day though, I had thought I was photographing the winning candidate. The passion of that crowd made it seem like Beatriz had won. I felt completely welcome to join in their celebration, an obvious foreigner. I had no idea what was being said during the rally, although I’m pretty sure I heard some anti-Obama speeches.

Beatriz herself was paying close attention to me, as was the man next to her, César Nava Vázquez. He is the leader of the PAN Party, the ruling party in Mexico. A very important politician. He is the equivalent of Michael Steele, head of RNC in the United States. César was the right-hand man for the President himself, Felipe Calderón.

I’m sure I stood out from the crowd a bit… They were whispering to each other and looking at me suspiciously. They were obviously curious who I was and why I was there, the only white person in the crowd, up front with a big camera. I think they sent someone down to watch me, because some guy appeared behind me and was trying to peer at the LCD screen on my camera, to see what photos I was taking. So I just smiled and showed him.

He seemed startled that I did it, like he was trying to be sneaky about the whole thing.