Internet

We are in Palenque at an RV park in the jungle. There is no Internet at all out there but we finally found a Best Western in town with WIFI. My posting will be sparse for a couple of days while we explore the ruins here.

Villahermosa To Palenque

We stayed in Villahermosa for over a week and during that time we got our share of rain! It is a tropical downpour that literally comes down in buckets. I extended the awning but had to tip it sharply at one end to prevent water “Puddling” in the center.

We packed up and got away by 10:30. I hate this job, dumping and putting everything away. Cables, hoses etc. are always bigger when you try to put them away than when you take them out.

As we pulled out and the RV tipped, about 2 – 3 cups of water poured out from above the window beside the kitchen table! I had a look and could not figure out where it came from. It has been very humid so it may have been condensation created by the A/C. I will have to watch to see if the problem repeats itself.

As you approach the city limits of Villahermosa there is a big sign directing vehicles with trailers to the Perifico, a ring road circling the city. Not wanting a repeat of the police incident and as we are towing the car on a dolly, I made sure I took this road. It was a disaster! It was under repair most of the way and had many potholes and level changes that rocked the motorhome. When we got to Palenque we talked to a couple from the same campground and they stopped at the exit and told that because the Perifico was in such bad repair, this law had been temporarily waived! Just my luck! They made it through town on the highway in 20 minutes and it took us over an hour and a lot of frustration.

We drove the two hundred KM to Palenque without incident, paid our $50 Peso fee to enter the National Park where the ruins are located and checked into the Mayabell RV Park. The Mayabell is a eclectic place that rents palapas to hang hammocks, small cabins and RV spaces. The RV spaces have full hookups and are very reasonable at $150 Pesos a night. We booked for three nights and paid about $45 CAN. We found a nice site, parked and hooked up the StarChoice. We have been told there are Howler Monkeys in the forest here that have a very unusual cry. I shall listen for it.

There is a palapa restaurant on the grounds with an unusual method of getting your food. You read the menu on the wall, go to the registration desk where the receptionist writes down what you want and takes your money. You then take the receipt to the kitchen where your meal is prepared. When it is ready you are called to come and get it. I had pescado done in a Verecruz sauce and got a whole deep fried fish. It was actually very good but did not contain all that much meat. Norma had some thinly cut steak with fries and a small salad. I ate her salad so we both went away content but not quite full. No problem, we have desert stashed in the fridge.

The Palenque Ruins, one of the Seven Wonders of The Modern World, are less then a kilometre up the road. Adventure awaits tomorrow, but only after a trip to town to find an ATM and a place with WIFI so I can post some Blog entries.

Remembrance of a Massacre

On December 22, 1997 in the isolated hills near San Cristobol, Chiapas 45 E.Z.L.N. members (Zapatistas) and their families were murdered by paramilitary gunmen. There is evidence that the regular military and perhaps even the Government knew of this planned massacre of 15 children, 21 women and 9 men and did nothing to stop it. There have been dozens of lawsuits for damages by victims families and a few token arrests of assailants but there are still many unanswered questions. We passed this sign on Mex Hwy 199.

EDIT: I found this press release on a Latin America site. Here is some other information my search resulted in finding:

"On December 22, 1997 paramilitary (state-trained and state-funded pro-governing party civil defense) forces surrounded a Catholic chapel in the pacifist Tsotsil Mayan community of Acteal, Chiapas state, Mexico. During a period of several hours, this armed force, with the apparent consent of local Mexican Army units stationed not far away, proceeded to surround Acteal's chapel, and shot to death those inside, and as many of those who escaped as they could find. A number of residents survived the massacre. Those murdered on that day included 15 children, 21 women (four of them pregnant) and 9 men."

"After nine years, the government of the state of Chiapas has finally appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the December 22, 1997 massacre of 45 Tzotzil Mayan civilians, who were mostly women, including pregnant women, and children as young as 2 months old.

Thirty civilians (Mayans supporting the PRI party), 15 civil servants and 11 state policeman had previously been sentenced for their roles in the crime."

- CIMAC Noticias

News for Women

Mexico City

Dec. 27, 2006

Return From San Cristobol

We took a different route back to Villahermosa. The way out was OK but there was quite a bit of wash outs and construction. It took a lot longer than we thought it would according to the mileage. On the way home, we followed the Pan American Highway for a few miles and then turned North on Mex 199. It was a few more miles but less time as this road is in much better condition.

Signs Of Support!

We passed these signs today on Mexico Hwy 199 on our way back to Villahermosa from San Cristobal. There appears to be strong support in this impoverished area of Chiapas for “Subcommendante Marcos” and the E.Z.L.N. as well as for the same charismatic leader in his other persona, “Delegate Zero” and his “Other Campaign”. Because of this there is a strong Mexican Army presence in Chiapas. We went through four Military Checkpoints, each with me hoping we would not be searched and my EZLN t-shirt found! This was more checkpoints than in all the rest of our travels this year.

San Cristobal Street Scenes

Emiliano Zapata

A short History Lesson – required reading:

Emiliano Zapata Salazar, 1879 – 1919 was one of eleven children of one of the very few “middle class” families of his time. They were neither rich Hacienda owners nor landless peasants, but they owned a piece of land large enough to work and independently support their family, although frequently were on the verge of poverty. Zapata had very little formal education and there is argument that he could neither read nor write. He was however fluent in both Spanish and in the Aboriginal language of Nahuatl. As a young man, Zapata was a bit of a fancy dresser and was often seen at bullfights and around town in his prized elaborate “charro” outfits. Despite this, he was highly respected by the indigenous peasant population and was elected to the position of head of the Defense Committee of his village of Anenecuilco, a post which made him, at 30 years of age, the spokesman for the village's interests. He held this position during the autumn of 1909, a year before the start of the Mexican Revolution.

At the time, Mexico was ruled by the dictator Porfirio Diaz, who maintained the Hacienda system in which unbelievably large parcels of land were awarded to people favoured by the Government. Hacienda ownership gave the owners or, Hasiendados, the power of life and death over the indigenous and mestizo people who had formerly lived independently on these lands. These people were now forced into debt slavery working the lands for the Hasiendados.

Zapata became an annoyance to this system as, using his elected position, he kept going to the courts with things like deeds which proved previous ownership of the lands that were being handed out as political favours. At the same time Francisco Madero was challenging Diaz politically. Zapata quickly joined Madero in the dispute that quickly became an armed revolution.

Madero, with the help of Zapata, who commanded the Ejército Libertador del Sur (Liberation Army of The South) and Pancho Villa, commanding the División del Norte (Division of the North) defeated Diaz in May 1911 in the Battle of Cuidad Juarez on the border of what is now Texas.

Soon Madero, fearful of Zapata’s popularity amongst the indigenous and mestizo people, ordered Zapata to lay down his arms. Zapata, unhappy with Madero’s slow actions on land reform, refused, calling Madero a Traitor to the Revolution and taking himself and his men into hiding in the mountains where they came up with their own agrarian reform document, the "Plan de Ayala" which dispersed hacienda lands back to the people. Hacienda owners who cooperated with Zapata forfeited a significant portion of their land to the peasants working it. If they did not cooperate, they lost all of it and possibly their lives. Zapata was very successful in this undertaking and continued to elude the army sent to capture him.

On April 19, 1919, Zapata was lured into a meeting with Mexican Army General Guajardo who indicated he wanted to join Zapata’s movement. When Zapata arrived for the meeting he was ambushed and killed. Little is known of the actual assignation, except the gate where Zapata evidently tried to escape is riddled with dozens of bullet holes. These bullets missed by such a wide margin that it is speculated that many of the soldiers ordered to shoot that day purposely aimed away. The bloodstained clothes worn by Zapata on that day are still displayed in his museum and clearly show that most of the bullets struck him in the back. These clothes are also very small, indicating that Zapata was a very small man. I like to think of him in that way, a very small man with a very big heart and fighting spirit.

Zapata (right) with Pancho Villa

Zapata (centre in charro outfit)

His spirit still lives in The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, EZLN), an armed revolutionary group based here in Chiapas, the poorest State of Mexico. I now sport one of their t-shirts and a clearer knowledge of their cause.

This sign reads, in Spanish: Top sign:

"You are in Zapatista rebel territory. Here the people give the orders and the government obeys." Bottom sign:

"North Zone. Council of Good Government. Trafficking in weapons, planting of drugs, drug use, alcoholic beverages, and illegal sales of wood are strictly prohibited. No to the destruction of nature." Federal Highway 307, Chiapas.

Zapatistias!

On January 1, 2003, in defiance of critics who had charged they are divided and disintegrating, the Zapatistas (EZLN) mobilized their forces, assembling as many as 25,000 Indigenous people in and around the central square in San Cristobal de las Casas. Comandante David spoke to the massive crowd stating in no uncertain terms that the Vincente Fox Government, despite their rhetoric, had not lived up to it’s promise of fair treatment of the Indigenous people of Mexico and that the struggle was far from over.

The Zapatistas take their name from Emiliano Zapata’s Agrarian Reform movement of the early twentieth century. If you listen carefully, you can still hear the echso of Zapata’s cry, "Tierra y libertad" or "land and liberty" in the narrow streets of San Cristobal!

WIFI

It is so nice to have WIFI available in the room here in the hotel! Now I just have to read and sort the 150 emails in the inbox! No, I don't have that many friends. They are mostly advertising.

Villahermosa to San Cristobal de las Casas

This trip was only a little more than 300 KM so I figured it would take about four or five hours, tops. It took us a full seven hours! The road is pretty good most of the way except for some construction and some landslide damage that was being worked on in the Mexican way. The big problem was switchbacks every time we changed elevation. We started at sea level and ended up at 7000 feet above sea level. The highest part of the road is even higher than that because we dropped down quite a bit into San Cristobal which is in a valley.

We checked into the Hotel Santa Clara, an Historic Monument, which was recommended by the Lonely Planet Guide to Mexico. We found out right away that you do not use credit cards in San Cristobal as the room was $700 Pesos with a CC or $550 without. The room is OK, probably "good" by Mexican standards. There are two beds, a shower but no hot water. We asked at the desk about the hot water and they assured it would be on by the time we got back from dinner and it was. I suspect they only turn it on if someone asks for it.

San Cristobal is a very International City. Many locals speak English and we ran into tours from France and Germany and some backpackers from Australia and Great Britain. I am not sure what the draw is as the temperature is more like Lower Mainland Vancouver than Mainland Mexico. It is raining and cold. I had to buy a cheap jacket to keep the chills off as we walked the Centro Square. We stopped at a nice restaurant where I had a fish fillet with garlic and Norma had some part of a pig. It was all very good and we finished off in the downstairs bar where there is a Mexican singer. Our room is right above the bar so we will be serenaded into the late hours.

I am not feeling in top form today and have spent a great deal of time in the banos. I will try an Imodium tonight and will probably feel much better tomorrow......

It Rained Sunday Night!

It rained so hard for a short while on Sunday night that the StarChoice signal actually faded out. I only mention this because it has only rained twice in all the months we have been in Mexico over the past two years. I love the sound of rain on the roof of the motorhome but unfortunately it was drowned out by Norma yelling about not being able to watch some awards show or other…

On Edit: It poured off and on all night and the pleasant sound of rain on the roof turned into a racket that kept waking us up. In the morning the power was off in the whole area so we put off the trip to the hotel in San Cristobal for one day so we could catch up on sleep and make sure the electric was back on before we leave. We paid for an additional four days and they gave us a nice discount. We are now paying $200 Pesos a night instead of $240.

Finding Internet in Villahermosa has not been easy but we are managing. Today we are in an El Porton restaurant beside the WalMart that works well.

Les, we will look for the Lady With The Umbrella in San Cristobal and take her tour. Thanks for the reminder.