Week 2 Febuary 4th-10th
Ruins of Palenque 
Feb 4th
After our tour of Palenque in the foothills of the Tumbala Mountains, Katie and I had much to discuss for our 5 hour drive to San Cristobal de Las Casas (or San Cris to the locals). The pre-Columbian Mayas reign began over 2,000 years ago in an area that is now dense jungle and small, tucked away communities. Some theories on the name Palenque is that it means ¨The place where the sun descends on the lowerworld, the place of the jaguar.¨ Today there are only 3 jaguars in the area, according to our guide.
Our guide took us on a tour of the ruins whose enormity is nearly impossible to fathom, considering the 7 or so mighty buildings we toured comprise only about 2 percent of the village which has yet to be unearthed. The families living in the royal complexes were thought to be descendants of the gods and basically kept to themselves and continued their pure bloodline by intermarrying. Apparently some of the royal offspring were born with 6 fingers and toes. There were relatively few occupants in the royal buildings, the majority of the villagers spent their days toiling on the earth. These people were the laborers and farmers who grew all the food and built all the structures. An average lifespan saw person to the age of 35-40 in the fields, and up to the 80´s for the royal family. Pacal, one of the most famous Maya rulers lived into his 80´s and saw several buildings completed in his lifetime (they took decades to complete).
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As far as the eye can see (in this picture) was cultivated and relatively treeless during the peak of civilzation in Palenque (600 AD) |
One of the most striking details we learned about the building practices of the Maya was that they chose to cut down hundreds of thousands of trees to make the stucco plaster which covered the stones. For each kilo of stucco, they needed to cut down and burn three full-grown trees to reach the appropriate temperature for melting the lime and minerals into stucco. Standing atop one of the enormous pyramids, it is difficult to imagine how many trees (and lives) were sacrificed for the unsustainable aesthetics of such a place. No doubt the feats of architectural genius are astounding considering the load bearing walls and intentionally carved holes to let wind and light through. One can´t help but be consumed by the imagination trying to understand what life must have been like. On the other hand, I couldn´t quite believe that such an advanced civilization as this one (judging by their complex calendars and intentional building to mirror the formation of the stars and planets perfectly, their introduction of writing and stucco relief’s, their enduring buildings, advanced technology-they had already made a large stone wheel but did not use it as a wheel because it too closely resembled the sun and thought it might anger the gods if the wheel was used for work...instead it was used as a table upon which to sacrifice lives-)was unsuccessful in designing a way of life that could sustain itself.
After a few hours exploring the ruins in the jungle and watching the misty clouds gracefully lift to reveal the wonder of the Maya civilization, we packed up our recording equipment and hopped in the car for the 5 hour drive through the mountains to San Cris.
San Christobal
Feb 5th
San Christobal De Las Casas, which is where Britt and I currently are, is a city that I have likened to San Francisco. However, it is quite a bit smaller at only 89,000 people and is high in the mountains at about 7000 ft. There are many vegetarian, organic, and world foods around the city. I have even heard rumors of an organic health food store. The other interesting thing about this city and the Region (it is a part of Chiapas), is that the people seem to be more empowered and are very proud of that. From my observation, the people of Chiapas have a lot of support for the Zapatistas and what they have and are trying to accomplish. In the markets and stores you see souvenirs of Zapatista dolls, paintings of farmers with their fists raised in solidarity, and postcards of leaders like Marcos. And for the first time since entering Mexico I have seen fair trade signs and organized cooperative artisan shops. Today we went into a cafe who’s name caught our eye because it included the words social, political, economical, and change. Inside there was a courtyard with tables and chairs for sitting drinking and having inspiring conversation (which I over heard a little if). All around this courtyard, were little shops who’s merchandise was comprised of anything to do with the Zapatista movement. There was even an alternative bookstore. I was frustrated that I could not read Spanish, because it looked like there was some good literature in there.
We will continue on here for a few days getting ready for the plunge. After the 8th, we have meetings scheduled for a good 10 days. I’m excited to do some more filming and meet more inspiring people.
Mayan Medicine
Feb 6th
Katie and I have been in MX for about two weeks now and have had some wild adventures, to say the least. I’ve done a lot of traveling in my life, but never in a country like Mexico. Traveling by car and only speaking un poco de Español is challenging, but we are able to see so much more than what is available to tourist travelers by bus. We have an interview tonight with a woman who runs a cross-cultural exchange and environmentally aware language school here. It´s called the ¨House in the Tree,¨ la casa en el arbol. Tomorrow we drive within an hour of the NW borders of Chiapas and Guetamala to film work with SEXTOL Sol: Organization for Community Action, www.sextosol.org.
The networking we did before leaving is really paying off and we have made a full schedule for the remainder of our trip. It can be very challenging at times, organizing and making dates for visits on the fly, in 30 minute increments. Some of our finalized dates are still needing to be ironed out, but we have about 11 orgs and communities on our list to meet with and interview.
Yesterday, Katie and I visited the Mayan Museum of Traditional Medicine in San Cristobal de Las Casas. There was a good deal of information about the 4 main types of healers: herbalists, bonesetters, the healers who pray to the spirits on the mountaintop, and the midwives. There was a healer in the museum who practiced medicine through first consulting with the patient and then offering treatments the following day, depending on the severity.
There was an educational garden detailing the herbs, plants, and trees used in medicine, and several exhibits complete with models of midwives delivering babies, a healer praying to a cross covered with pine needles on a mountaintop, a candle maker (candles for the offerings, each candle signifying a different specific prayer). And the church where the actual healings took place amidst the models of some of the tribes people praying to the alter. This is where the actual consultations took place as well.
It was all very fascinating. There was a short documentary running about a group of indigenous women who work here in Chiapas. They inspire women who know some of their traditional healing techniques to educate other women in the communities about midwifery and caring for the mother and child. In the film, they discussed how modern doctors sometimes prescribe medicines that harm the mother by making her more sick and how this must obviously harm the baby as well. These women were reminding the others that their wisdom has been practiced for many years and should not be forgotten or discredited by new medicine and doctors.
We met two new friends, Corinna and Jesse, from the US who are a brother and sister traveling through Mexico. Jesse has just graduated from Evergreen College in WA and is connecting with farmers engaged in organic, sustainable agriculture. He´s spreading word about ¨GrowFood,¨ an org based out of the NW that promotes the networking of farmers with volunteers. Corinna is working on building a mandolin with a local musician and woodworker. It´s great fun to connect with like minded individuals and share contact information.
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Entrance to La Casa en el Arborl |
La Casa en el Arbol
Feb 7th
On our way to the traditional medicine museum of the mayas, we passed an interesting little school...La Casa en el Arbol. We met Nadia Guillard, the Director of the organization and after speaking with her for over an hour, we asked if she would sit for an impromptu interview with us. We returned the next day and were greeted with hugs and kisses and cups of mint tea. Here}s what we learned from her about the work she and her colleagues do:
She is from Rome, Italy, (her parents are from Argentina) and she runs a socially committed and ecologically conscious language school in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas. It is an independent organization that relies on people{s donations, the revenue from the school, volunteer help, and the Mexican teachers who come to teach the youth. Nadia came to Chiapas in 2004 as a coordinator for International Volunteers with Youth Action for Peace. After 3 months, she decided to stay in San Cristobal, making it her permanent home, adopting and being adopted by many of her neighbors.
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Inside one of the classrooms at La Casa en el Arborl |
When one walks into the school, bright colors greet the eyes, laughter permeates from the classrooms, and the sun seems to linger a little while longer over their central courtyard. This school is different from other schools in San Cristobal in that it works to raise the standards of education for the Mexican youth in Chiapas, accepts no industrialized foods, has a recycling program, and teaches 7 languages (including the two indigenous Maya languages Tsotsil and Tseltal). Did I mention they have a huge tree house (hence the name of the school) in the backyard near the chickens and garden space?
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The treehouse at La Casa en el Arborl |
In addition to teaching languages to local kids and to foreigners wanting to learn Spanish, they also work with the communities to build playgrounds for kids of some of the most marginalized cultures....hence the reason for the Zapatista movements in this area.
Her humble approach might be summed up in something she said in the interview, "We know a little bit, could you please come and teach us or interchange (knowledge)?" Her organization does not assume to be an authority on anything they are doing, they are always open to learning new things from volunteers, from commununity members, even from 2 traveling gyspies (Katie and me) with a portable solar oven to share.
Their volunteer program runs for 4 weeks and is an integrated program where people come from around the world to learn from and about the communities in the Chiapas, learn Spanish, and work with the people to create something they (the people of Chiapas) have requested.
I asked her to tell us how people could help this work and she told me the best way is through active participation. Come to Chiapas and sign up for the 4 week program, learn Spanish, learn about the culture and customs, what it means to volunteer (it is not helping on behalf of the communities, it is working WITH the communities), and then spend 3 weeks working on a project with one of the communities.
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Nadia picking out seeds |
We had an enchanting interview with Nadia and her 9 cats! Thank you for taking the time to explain the ways in which you make this a better world.
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View from Sextosol |
Sexto sol
Feb 8th
Right now, we are about 6 miles from the Guatemalan border at a permaculture education site/community organization and action organization. I would definitely suggest that anyone interested in community action/permaculture check out this website: www.sextosol.org
We just drove today from San Cristobal in Chiapas and have 2.5 days to film, visit, meet the communities Tamara and her husband, Francisco are working with. They are in the beginning stages of working with communities (1000 families who were displaced by Hurricane Stan) rebuild ecologically, away from the flood zone, and in a place where people can make money by selling the fruits of the trees there. One of the leaders came to Tamara´s home/permaculture school and loved all the green and abundant veggies and fruits and wanted that for all the families who are needing to rebuild. Some of the women who have been experimenting with solar cooking are baking us some banana bread in their solar oven so we´ll be able to film it and share what they are doing with the world.
This project has been so amazing and inspiring to meet all these people who let us into their homes, shops, and orgs to share with us what they do. Our Spanish is... well, let´s just say that this is now a lifelong goal of mine to learn to speak fluently. There is so much mutual learning that can go on here (Latin America) when the intimate barriers are crossed and linked by sharing a common language and vision.
To read the follow up log to Sextol Sol Click Here then on Sextol sol Dos
Site of the Eco-village |
Ecovillage
Feb 9th
We had a really great day today. We got our first look at the beginnings of an eco-village here in Southern Chiapas.
In 2005, a really large and devastating hurricane came through this area, hurricane Stan. I was under the assumption that a hurricane always involved a lot of wind; I was surprised to find out that wind is not always such a big factor.In Hurricane Stan's case it was water, a lot of it!
Motozintla is surrounded by steep mountains, with the town nestled in the valley. About 18 years ago, the Mexican government started clear cutting the rainforests all around this area. Francisco, the man co-crated Sextol Sol along with Tamara his wife, was born in these mountains. He was telling me that not to long ago, the forest (that is no longer there) gave homes to Jaguars, Toucans, monkeys, and other tropical animals, but most of them have are gone or have moved south, because there is no where for them to live. Because the hills are virtually bare, there is nothing to hold the mountain in place. So, Along with the consequence of losing these animals, this area is now very vulnerable to land slides. Which is what displaced 1000's and 1000's of people in 2005 when it rained for 4 straight days, and I mean it rained sheets of water.
1000 of these families that were displaced formed a group called Groupo Stan Unquilinos A.C. The group is still very young, but the idea is that they will all live together and the only thing they have all agreed on is that they will not cut down any more trees.
Their President, Francisco (different person than the Sextol Sol Francisco), saw the ideas and concepts, like Permaculture and organic gardening, that Sextol Sol was using and he liked it. As a result, Sextol Sol and Groupo Stan are working together to form what might be referred to as an eco-village. Like I said it is still the very beginning of this process. But they have the land and have started building an office and 15 homes all out of Adobe.
They have some major hurdles to overcome, the first being the shear number of houses to be built, 1000 on 52 hectares. And secondly, the idea of an ecovillage is very new to the people here and some of the ideas will take time to be accepted. Some Ideas like using adobe and composting toilets are socially unaccepted and do not reflect progress.
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Adobe Bricks Drying |
Working on the Adobe Building |
However, we interviewed Francisco, the president of Groupo Stan, and he seems to care a lot for the health of the earth. One thing he said referring to global warming that I appreciated was (roughly), Scientists have said we only have 30-40 years to reverse these things we have done, this is not much time, so lets get going!!
Obrador
Feb 10th
In a little town, in the foothills of the Sierra Madre, Katie and I were in the right place at the right time. There was a rumor that Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) was coming to Motozintla. He is known in these parts as the ¨Legitimate President¨ after having lost the election for President of Mexico to Calderon. Many people say that the election was stolen and that the business and industry sectors were stacked against him...Calderon having much more influence here. Still, AMLO travels throughout Mexico, giving speeches to people in towns (mostly in southern Mexico where the majority of his supports live...it is also the poorer half of Mexico) about what he is trying to do to make their lives better.
Katie and I waited for AMLO with Tamara and little Nicole along with the throngs of people inside a meeting hall. Mariachi music played live and loud in one corner, there was a booth to sing people up for the PRD party in another corner, and a stage with a man yelling exciting slogans from the podium at the back of the hall. People handed out yellow balloons to wave as AMLO walked past, confetti to throw on one another, and there were abundant handshakes and the usual gossip...of which I could only pretend to understand.
AMLO said he wanted to bring a university to this town, better healthcare, and conditions for old people. It was just like any other political event, except that his opponent is sitting in the President’s chair while AMLO refuses to succeed his victory and continues to make promises to his constituents.