On Getting Mobbed and Making New Friends

Chiapas is fantastic - we are really enjoying our time here. We are in the highlands and it can actually get pretty nippy. The indigenous people are an inspiration, yet it is difficult to imagine the hard lives they lead.

On being true to my addiction, we did find a fantastic little coffee shop. Sierra thinks their frappuccinos are even better than Starbuck's (who woulda thunk??)...and I have to say that their cappuccino's rival the Goat...

The class differences are so stark here, and there are a lot of Mexican tourists right now from DF (Mexico City for those not in the know). Believe it or not, this guerra actually blends in with Middle Class Mexicans and I have been mistaken for Mexican! This pleases me to no end, of course. Today I was even mistaken for German...I took it as a compliment because it seems the "world at large" tends to have a negative view of "American Tourists"...so I figure I'm making up for that somehow by being a good traveller.

Apparently the reason so many folks are here now is because they were originally to go to Cancún, but were re-routed due to Emily. So, it's interesting to be a traveller among traveling Mexicans! However, there are plenty of other folks too. We've met Peter and Teresia from Denmark, Marco from Italy, and a variety of other folks from France, Sweden, Israel and other places. It's neat to hear all different languages around you. As I wrote about before, we've also met some folks from "home"...Isadora, Seth and Cariña from New Mexico and Pamela and Wren from Arizona.

In addition to other major languages, we are hearing a lot of indigenous languages. Yesterday, I learned some Tzotzil....for example....Cus í a bi? (What is your name?), Maruch bi (My name is Dayna), Mili oté? (How are you?), Milé cot (I am fine). Fun, huh?

So yesterday we went to Las Grutas, some caves nearby San Cristóbal. There you can explore about 750 feet into this huge cave that has a river running through it. They have a raised paved walkway and it is kind of freaky! The water is dripping down and creating stalagmites and stalactites and they look really slimy, but when you touch them they are hard rock. It was eerily beautiful. At one point there was a big sign that said "Prohibido Hacer Pipi"...which means...it is prohibited to go pee pee! Hehe...we got a kick out of that one.

After exploring the cave a bit, we went outside where they had horseback riding, a big park, and of course...vendors! There was this slide of concrete poured into the side of the mountain and kids would sit on a piece of cardboard or an old plastic bottle to slide down. The plastic bottle was the best for conducting speed. Then we went horseback riding through the forest...$5 US per hour! Sierra's horse was kind of lazy, and she had to keep smacking it's butt, but it still wouldn't move, so this little guy came running alongside the horse smacking it's flank to make it move. It finally started going and she loved trotting and galloping. I was done after an hour, but Sierra wanted more so she kept going. She went with a little guy who was about her age and was her guide and they galloped their horses all over those mountains!

After Las Grutas, we went to San Juan Chamula. Sierra was getting tired and a bit cranky and didn't want to go, but I said "too bad". I'm glad I did!!! San Juan was so interesting.

First of all, the ride there was just incredible. They live in a valley that is so fertile and they have small farms with goats, pigs, horses and they grow corn, cabbage, beans and a variety of other vegetables. They wear very distinctive clothing. The men wear white tunics made of lambs wool...but the wool is still curly on the fabric. The women have black skirts of the same wool, and colorfully sewn silk shirts. They make everything by hand.

We wanted to buy a table runner so I began to talk with a woman who had some. She ended up showing us how she weaves them and even let Sierra give it a go! She has a rope around a pole, and on that is connected her weaving apparatus, and the end is a leather belt that goes behind her and pulls the tapestry taught. Then she goes through a series of maneuvers to set up the yarn and weave it. Her 13 year old daughter also weaves, and she began to learn the craft at age 10.

We were a little hungry, so we headed to a little restaraunt for lunch. They had one option, which we got. A peice of chicken (whole, on the bone with skin) in some chicken broth with rice in the broth and about 20 tortillas on the side. We ate a little bit and then Sierra saw a dog she had made friends with, so she threw him some tortilla. Before we knew it, we had 4 new pooch friends...all with big sad eyes and ribs sticking out. Sierra kept giving them food and I was getting on her when a little boy about 7 or 8 stuck his head over the gate and asked for some tortilla too!! I ended up giving him my soup, my 1/2 eaten chicken leg, my 1/2 drank coke and the tortillas! Then Sierra took her soup and just put it on the floor for the dogs. I think we had a big sign on our foreheads that said "SUCKER COMING!!".

After this little episode, we headed up to the church. The people in San Juan Chamula have some different religious practices, and have combined a form of Catholicism with witchcraft. The church is beautiful from the outside, but the inside is mostly empty. There is dried grass spread about the floor, and statues of saints all around the perimeter. There must have been over 1000 candles burning on the floor and in front of the saints. People were on their hands and knees praying and chanting with candles all around them. They had food, soda and alcohol, which they pour on the floor in healing rituals. We didn't see it but read that sometimes they rub bones over sick people for healing. They actually worship John the Baptist over Jesus. The people are extremely devoted to their faith and it was scary and sad to me at the same time. I read that some missionaries had come into the town some time back and many people converted to Christianity, but that the people who didn't convert were incensed over this and ran the converts out of town. They now live on the outskirts of San Cristóbal in an area called Cinturón de Miseria (Belt of Misery), which is a shanty town. I tried to find this place, but no one seems to know where it is.

While in the church, two men approached me to ask if it was okay to walk around the church...maybe they thought I was in charge??? Haha. Anyway, I told them it was fine. Later, we ended up talking more. They were visiting from DF and also found the church scary. They also had "SUCKER" tattooed on their foreheads, and together we were all acosted by children everywhere wanting gum, money, notebooks, pens, sodas and anything else we would give them. One boy saw something in my fanny pack and was begging for it, saying he needed a pen for school. I finally took it out and showed him it was mascara!!! That got a big laugh from everyone. Our new friends, Roberto and Polo, offered to give us a ride back to San Cristóbal, but asked if it would be okay to go to another town first called Zinacantan. We thought that would be interesting and agreed. As we were leaving, kids were literally dragging on us, begging and demanding things. We had bought several packs of gum and were giving them out, which caused more kids to run out and they were grabbing and pulling at us and pushing each other. It was awful. One girl asked if we could take her picture, which I did, and then she demanded to be paid! I took out a peso for her, and it was all over...the kids went crazy. They wouldn't let her take it, they were grabbing my hand and trying to pry the pesos out. It was a mob and it was scary. I hate that this is what these kids have been taught in their lifetime and I think it has stolen their pride. We finally had to throw the pesos to get them off of us so we could even get into the car.

We headed out to Zinacantan, a little shook up. However, Zinacantan was just what we needed. As we pulled into town, some girls ran up and offered to be our guides. We said we weren't sure and kept going til we got to the church. There another girl offered to be our guide. We agreed to pay her 5 pesos and she showed us around town and the church. The church here is very quaint, and we soon had a group of girls following us and giggling. Sierra got bored in the church and went outside with the girls. We came out to find them playing Cat's Cradle, and other string games. Si had some excess energy so she began to cartwheels and backbends, which the girls found truly amazing and they kept wanting her to do it again and again. They tried and tried, and were giggling the whole time. Finally, a few girls and Sierra ended up having a footrace around the church and then they all ran in front of us while our guide showed us the way to the Artesan's homes to look at the handi-work of the town.

As you might gues, the Artisan we visited was our guides (Cristina) mom and grandma. Well, we headed in to look and before you know it, all the girls were playing dress-up with me and Sierra and dressing us up in the traditional costume of their town! Soon they were also dressing up Roberto and Polo and we took many, many pictures of us all in our new garb. Then the grandma, Petrona, invited us in for dinner. They have a large room that is empty except for a few child-size chairs and a firepit with a very large pottery bowl that they cook on. The homefires were burning!! It was such an honor and a treat to eat with them, and I'm sure it was a big sacrifice for them, too. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and it was them who taught me a few words to Tzotzil. The girls all sat Si down and braided her hair in two braids, and they couldn't get enough of her red hair. All in all, it was a magical night.

We all came back into town and walked around San Cristóbal a bit, had some coffee and then we bid our new friends good bye.