Wow, big day of contrasts. A trip back in town to the very traditional mayan town of San Juan Chamula, a trip forward in time to the very happening regional market town of Ocosingo, where every teenager in town is up on their version of myspace, it seems, in snappy caribbean style resort clothing, while car after car goes cruising by.
This morning was only our 2nd morning in San Cristobal de las Casas and we were very, very lucky to choose, for our tour to the outlying ´villages´, the company called Chinkultic tours out of Casa Margarita with their nice and incredibly well connected guide, Alberto. Alberto is not only a great dj he is a great sociologist and he has spent the last 8 years learning as much as he can from his friends in the villages. He can speak pretty good Tzotzil as well as Tzetzal, spanish, english, italian and who knows what else. And he´s not bad looking either. We were with a pretty group of 11 youngish travelers and we really enjoyed the way he ran our day.
It started as we were driving out of town, suddenly at a corner where he was stopped he got out and climbed out of the car and looked back over the roof - he said oh wow look at the sky it has those greenish patches of color this is going to be quite a day. He was looking at the small rainbows you sometimes see in early thunderheads - ice crystals or whatever. Anyway I liked his way of paying attention in 3 dimensions. Then when we got to the ´town´of San Juan Chamula, which I remembered as a pretty small undeveloped place, we were really lucky, he took us off in the back streets first, before we got anywhere near the center, and explained things to us. In this town, people trade off being the religious leaders, for a year; when they do, they get the honor of spending a whole year running nonstop ceremonies. In front of their house goes an arch made of pine branches and bromeliads, and in their yard a cross of turquoise or green representing the sacred ceiba tree of the mayas, nothing to do with catholicism, and this they keep refreshing at the right time of the day with clouds of copal incense. We walked the backstreets seeing gardens, differnt kinds of houses, and the puppies, kittens and sheep that keep the town lively. There is lots of new construction, and lots of small agricultural plots with the look of overfarmed land; but there are also a lot of old timey houses of poles covered with adobe stucco, and it was very nice. Just before we went down to the town, we went into one of the house complexes of a friend of his who is currently a leader, and the wife was there and they welcomed us in to see how their sacred spaces are set up. we paid minimal tips to help offset the costs of their candles, religious ceramics, etc. So this was wonderful.
I really liked entering this ceremony house. the house is a nondescript cinderblock rectangle with only 1 door, no windows, but inside, very cool. The floor is hardpacked clean swept earth. The rafters are covered with old bromeliads and corn and flowers that are dry. There is an ínner rectangle, created by a set of horitzontal poles that hang down, and from these poles hang corn stocks, bromeliad flowers, and other greenery to create a curtain that you must lift and part. Outside of this rectangle, are very low chairs about ten inches high, and some tables with fields of candles, many set in ceramic representations of deer, as many deer as there are months in the mayan calendars, and huge pots of burning copal, in stands. Inside the rectangle there is a special altar to the mayan goddess of the household, here in the representation of the catholic Santa Rosa de Lima, with all kinds of special accoutrements and mirrors and flowers and candles and copal. Since the inside of the house was thick with copal incense smoke and lit by multitudes of flickering candles and the inner sanctum floor was coated in fresh green pine needles, it was a very special ambiance. We also got to partake of the local ceremonial liquor, an aquavit like cane liquor called poch.
After this we went down to the church, which is similar... but we felt very well instructed in what we were experiencing. People were in this ´church´, which is the only one for 60,000 residents in the watershed of Chamula, to do special ceremonies to the mayan deities, with sacrifices of candles, eggs, liquor and coca cola. People would clear an area of the floor of pine needles and spend a lot thoughtful time setting up rows of tiny candles, white and in colors, with the colored candles set in trios and couples. Neat. Often there would be 3 rows, of about 25 candles each. They were pretty good at avoiding eye contact with the tourists and concentrating with their families, on their own business of purification and prayer. Really enjoyed it. It is different than when I visitied in 1974 but still there. Made me glad. Apparently those people from Chamula who convert to pentecostal or mormon or even muslim religions, get thrown out so there is a special settlement near San Cristobal with these other little churches and a mosque. But in Chamula, no, it´s the old way or the highway.
What a contrast with where we are now.
But first - before we left SCLC we got one more mexican holiday under our belts. This is a special celebration of corpus cristi happening in 2 more days and right now, they set up big stalls in the arcades along the plaza, of marzipan candies and delicious cookies with all kinds of combinations of jams and fillings and some made in hearts of rice flower. Apparently it´s like valentine´s day, you buy sweets for your sweetheart. We bought ours, and ate ém.
So - having spent the day from 9 to 2 in Chamula and then in the very green town of Zinacantan visiting a family of weavers, all female and all exquisite and none married, and then coming back to town and hitting the pastry arcade, we got on a first class bus conveniently leaving just when we wanted, and for 42 pesos came about 2 hours down from the highlands into the ´medium highlands´. it´s lots of overcut jungle and a lot sad and when we first saw our destination, Ocosingo (where we are to go to the ruins of Tonina tomorrow), we were pretty disappointed. it´s a cheap looking frontier town, at first. A couple not exciting hotels, we chose the most homey, Hotel Esmeralda (used to be the owners had a ranch in the country, now they just have a small very basic hotel with no bedside lamps for 260 pesos for 2). However... it´s right off the central plaza here called the parque, and as the sun went down and the lights came up, it all came alive. It´s very sweetly active. Lots of rock and roll, lots of music, lots of young lovers, lots of chatting and socializing, everyone knows everyone! and about 7 places to do computers and all PACKED with young adults. It´s the thing to do if you are not playing videogames, shopping for cowboy boots, eating ice cream eating fresh fruit or astonishingly, shopping for foot pedal operated Singer sewing machines! Old meets new.
Tomorrow our first Mayan Ruins, keep you posted!
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