Of Zapatistas and Zorrillos

We left Mexico City on the Friday morning so as to increase our chances of reaching San Cristobal by Sunday lunch-time (as it's 570 miles or 917 km).  The first day we got all the way to Coatzacoalcos through many dramatic showers and lightning storms, in the back of several more pick-ups which is a pretty common way to travel in Mexico.

 We spent a lovely evening with our couchsurf there, where she and J traded hola-hoop for juggling lessons.  J wants to get one when she returns and, incidentally, is still also keen to learn to play the harmonica, possibly both at the same time.  C seems unimpressed (can't imagine why... - J).

By the next evening we were in Tuxtla Gutiérrez.  Aside from being awash in posters of the new governor gushing over his victory in the July election (at an unknown cost to taxpayers for the advertisements or even if it was solely from party funds, denial of advertising space for anyone besides him), it was nice but like a lot of cities that mostly exist from the latter half of the 20th century, a bit of a generic, industrial spawl.  We set off early again but unable to escape the taxi swarm (a continuing problem hitching on the edges of cities, involving frantically signalling to them that we don´t have money for them, whilst other drivers assume it is a taxi we want) we caught a cheap coach to San Cristobal and eventually worked out how to get out to the school at Oventic, which was another hour or so out into the stunning Chiapas mountain, up where the mist forever lurks and many of the maize fields are nearly vertical.

Wall of our classroom

What can we say about the school?  For those who aren't familiar with the Zapatista struggle, the Wiki overview is here.  But it is much more than another 'People's Front of Revolutionary Liberated People' that plagued the world 40 years ago(1).  It's about community building, and developing true direct democracy and autonomy for communities that have been ignored and denied access to state resources when they haven't been outright repressed and attacked.  The school is situated with several other projects, co-operatives, governance centres and educational resources that have been built on practically no resources.

So, we were going to learn both Spanish and about the organization of the communities and of similar struggles in Mexico.  And we learnt a lot about both, the practice of just talking in Spanish and not even being allowed (although one of the promotores running our classes spoke English) to ask for help in English, for hours each day, being really good or using more more of the language.  We shared a lot of ideas and talked politics and organisation with very interesting people- albeit in imperfect Spanish (J even had to try and explain her education in Spanish at one stage, not always easy even in English).  There was also an amazing library and film collection to bury ourselves in.

The two weeks over, and the only problem a couple of bouts of what might have been salmonella and certainly wasn't a giggle, but only lasted a day, we descended the hills again, feeling like we were emerging from a dream into the real world.  In reality, it's more like the other way around.

We stayed with the same host again back in Tuxtla, who is very lovely, and the next day went to the zoo.  It's more interesting than most because all of the animals in it are native to Chiapas, so its got a much more real and regional feel to it.  Also some of them, like this guy:

are just roaming around loose.  Not this guy though but he doesn't seem to mind:

We're not sure tapirs can mind anything.

On Sunday we hit the road again

I'm currently a big nerd about evening light and pictures of roads- J

for a lengthy hitch- google maps claims it is seven hours from Tuxtla to Oaxaca City and it takes longer because of windy mountain roads.  We made it though, including a ride with a family of fourteen crammed into a pick up and a car (it got even more crammed when we and our huge bags joined them), and a lot of nonchalant whistling as we cruised through some immigration and military checkpoints (2).

Yesterday lunchtime we picked up the keys for the flat we're staying in for the next month.  This came about because it was cheaper to get it for a month than to get a 'vacation home' for a week or two.  With at least two if not more friends joining us soon Couch Surfing would be very tricky and it's nice to have a base for a while.  It feels dead luxurious with a shower and a ceiling fan and bedsheets and everything.

We're off to explore a little of Oaxaca today having stocked up on food we can cook yesterday and in J's case become wildly excited over the amazing chocolate you can get here.

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(1)  And like anything that constantly repeats certain credentials  (our 'free' market anyone, which the 2007 crisis and forced bail-out demonstrates is't free in any sense of the word) usually is the opposite of what it says.

(2) Those with good memories will recall we were officially advised to remain 'illegal'.  But we're not convinced a checkpoint is going to believe that.