Chiapas

Here I am in the Cañón del Sumidero (Sumidero Canyon) Near Tuxtla Gutiérrez and San Cristobal , and state of Chiapas, Mexico.
I was able to extend a trip to renew my Mexican visa to two wonderful weeks in this Southern region of Mexico. It borders Guatemala which is where I went to get my visa. I will fill in the details of this journey with pictures and a running commentary. at he first part of the trip started at the Guadalajara airport where lucked out with a half fare ticket to Tuxtla on Volaris Airlines. Landing in Tuxtla I immediately jumped into a shuttle to San Cristobal. I was blessed with a place to stay for exchange via the website called "Couch Surfers" where folks offer to host you and you in turn offer to host them if they come to visit  your home area.

This is Jaime, the man in San Cristobal who offered his "couch" to me for 9 days. The couch was actually a private bed room. Jaime was a great host. a busy man teaching math at the local grade school. Consequently I did not get to see him much.
But I had two priorities on this trip, one was to go to Guatemala and get my visa for Mexico as quickly as possible and then return to San Cristobal and learn as much as possible about the Zapatistas, which is an organization that is fighting to maintain civil rights and autonomy for the indigenous Mayan Indians of Chiapas who have been persecuted , exploited and  subject to genocide for many years.
First lets go to Guatemala:

The border town of La Mesilla

They still make tortillas by had in Guatemala

The valley below the La Mesilla

  I traveled by bus from San Cristobal and change buses twice. The border crossing was easy, you get a six month visa for free for US citizens. I stayed only one night because I really wanted to spend most of my time in San Cristobal. Leaving Guatemala was a bit of a hassle. They tell you you must stay for three nights minimum but there is no legal way to make you stay so you just have to politely say "no" and leave. Getting my 6 month Mexican  visa on the other side was no problem, 6 mos. free, again for US citizens.
Heres some road side views along the way back to San Cristobal:

Still in Gratemala

Tuk Tuk

 

Very ornate bus

 I was surprised to see Tuk Tuks and these ornate buses in Guatemala. They were common in Asia but I never saw them in Mexico.

Lots of corn along the way, a Mayan staple

Mayan crafts

More crafts, notice the little toy trucks made of wood

Two Indian ladies protecting their brown skin from the sun, they all want to be light skinned and use face creams to lighten their skin color!

A Lady doing laundry by a spring.

Approaching San Cristobal

The type of van I traveled in

The church near where lived in San Ramon, a district in the outer edge of San Cristobal

An Indian lady selling vegies on the street

Enlarge this if you are curious about what's going on here

There was  a lot of lumber from the surrounding forests. here you also can see a peach tree which was common here.

Below:This was in the center of the city in front of the main church. The Natives were demonstrating against a planned Museum and the people wanted the money to help the poor instead.

Next I went to visit a Zapatista village. The Zapatistas or EZLN (Zapatista Army of National Liberation   was originally rebel army which was organized to fight for the rights of the indigenous Mayan people of Chiapas.  20 years ago they staged a war  in an attempt to take over the Chiapas State Government. The Mexican Government responded with brute force and many Indians were killed. However the UN and countries around the world reacted so strongly that the Mexican government compromised and gave the Mayans an autonomous region which was theoretically free to govern itself with no Mexican interference. How ever to this day they are still subject to paramilitary raids and "disappearances" of  some of its people. But in spite of this they have made great progress with the financial help of foreign nations and there own initiatives as the next pictures will demonstrate.

This school was just outside the zapatista Caracol (compound) to acomadate any student who wanted to attend. It is free.

This is just one of the many school rooms inside the Caracol.

This was kind of a general store. with a mural of  Emilio Zapata, the leader of one of the main rebal factions that fought in the Mexican civil war, roughly from 1915 to 1919.  He was assassinated in 1919 by a rival faction.  The war did break the monopoly of the rich landowners and led to the formation of a new Left-leaning government under the leadership of Cardenas and the formation of the PRI.  The present day Zapatistas have adopted his name. 

The Church

Not sure what this was about, But surely it was a special place in honor of Women.

 The "GOOD GOVERNMENT main office where I was interviewed and approved for a visit.

I think this was an auditorium.

 A Free Medical clinic which is located out side the Caracol and serves  anyone who needs help..

The Zapatistas have now become totally nonviolent, laid down their arms and adopted a "Ghandian" peaceful resistance approach to their cause. However they are subjected to continuous harassment and violent attacks from paramilitary offences. Just last November a school teacher was brutally murdered and no formal investigation has been initiated and no arrests made. If you care to follow the Zapatista current news see  http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/ .  Here you can get involved in supporting them.

Now I will return to pictures and comments about the beautiful city of San Cristobal.

This Santa Domingo church, the oldest church and the location of the Indian (Aztec and Mayan) market. I remember this church from my first visit there over 25 years ago. The tent structure covering the vendor's booths where not there then. It was a more relaxed scene with the crafts just displayed on the ground or small tables.

As you can see the trees are still there but all you see is the trunks!

This part f the central city with many fancy shops and poor folks asking for donations.

In contrast here is a modern department store.

And here are the tourists back at the Indian market. This market is huge, the largest craft market in Mexico second  only to the one in Oaxaca