Chris' 55th Birthday, Part 1

Having recovered from fever and aches of several days, Chris valiently joined me on the trek to the Mayan ruins of Palenque. We left right after dawn, on a 12 passanger van, climbing through dry rolling hills of tall pine and scrub oak and then into rain (for the rest of the journey) of the lush rainforest itself high in the mountains. Passing through small villages and larger towns, filled with small concrete houses and tiny stores along the road selling the ever-present sodas, chips, packaged sweets (another of our finer USA exports...), we spotted numerous murals and references both to the EZLN (Zapatistas) and to Che Quevarra. This is the region where the EZLN has received alot of local support, as they have challenged government forces to return ancestral lands to the indigenous Mayan people here. Some of these towns up here have actually succeded from the state and are providing their own schools, electricity, water, etc. We first stopped at a popular site called "Aqua Azul" to view the "Blue Waters." Well, as you can see from the first photo of the Birthday Guy, that day it was "Aqua Caffe con Leche" due to the large amount of rain recently. We spotted one of the jungle "ceiba" trees, from which the Mayan people (up to the present) construct their large green/blue/aqua colored crosses (see previous blog of cross in Chamula). These crosses are often in front of homes and always in front of Chiapas region Catholic churches, representing the complex Mayan symbolism that the people incorporated into their veneer of the imposed Catholicism after the Conquest. The next photos of "banos" for "caballeros y damas" next to the satillite dish seems to summarize much of what I see throughout the Chiapas region....rustic and poor mixing with new and modern. As we drove home that night, winding forever on the rain splattered dark road filled with huge trucks, speeding cabs, small local buses, big tourist buses, I could see the blue-grey glow of televisions from inside even the most modest dwellings and small stores. And to think they are watching stations from the States which, to me, show us in our most consumptive and unreflective light. The final photo is Chris and a young couple who traveled with us that day, at the "Casaba de Misol Ha," high falls which plummet into a large pool below. Helen and Matt are from the UK, and have just finished a year in Guatemala City and surrounds, working for an NGO called "Peace Brigade." Serving with this human rights watch group, they would be assigned to accompany a variety local community activists and politicians whose lives had been threatened by the government (or sometimes by guerrilla forces), thereby assuring local embassy and national attention to the harassment and possible imprisionment/injury/death. Helen and Matt talked about how many more Europeans travel to Guatemala and Chiapas than North Americans, simply because they are more aware of and in simpathy with the Zapatistas. "We are in solidarity with them and their cause," remarked Helen. They were headed next to the Yucatan and then Cuba (which one can do on a UK passport.....but not one from USA at this point). I write this now from San Miguel de Allende, where we will be for the next 6 weeks. It's always great to hear responses to our blog postings, and we send you all our warm regards....

-ASG