San Juan Chamula y Zinacantán

Today we met together at 9:30 to leave for our trip to some nearby pueblitos and learn about the indigenous culture in the Chiapas region. We boarded two smaller vans this time and headed out. First we stopped in the small town of Zinacantán. To enter the town you have to pay a tourist fee and only special tourist organizations are trusted to enter. First we stopped in the main square and visited the church. The alter was completely adorned in fresh cut flowers that are grown in nurseries around this region. All of the women and a good majority of the men in the town were dressed in the traditional attire. All the women, and even the tiny children, were draped in elaborately hand-stitched shawls in a palate of purples and blues. Even some of the men wore the same blue and purple flowery decorates shawls. The town is known as the town of the bat or “murcielago” in Spanish. The people here still talk in their indigenous languages as well as in Spanish. Across from the church there was an outside basketball court where a group of school children were practicing a traditional dance to waltz that I recognized but could not place. After visiting the church the tour guide guy took us to a house in the town where he talked to us about the changes and adaptations of the traditional clothing worn by the indigenous of the this region. We got to try a traditional alcoholic beverage called bosh, which is made from sugar cane. It tasted terrible and I couldn’t drink all of it. The inner room of the house was filled with the stitch work of the women from the village. It was all very similar to the work found in the marketplace in San Cristobal. All the shawls and bags were hand stitched and adorned. There were two or three tiny little indigenous girls who must not have been more than 5 or 6 years old who where stationed at one table selling potholders and macramé bracelets. Next we went into the kitchen area where the guide explained the four colors of corn and their relationship with the concept of the four cardinal directions. The women in the kitchen were making blue-corn tortillas over a small wood-stocked stove. They cook everything without the luxuries of propane ovens, stoves and refrigeration. After leaving Zinacantán we drove to another small town called San Juan Chamula. In San Juan we went to the centro and the main church where the people of the town come to perform healing. Picture taking within the church is strictly forbidden and enforced. As I took my first step into the church I was met by a wave of incense. There were candles everywhere and groups of people kneeling near each group of candles performing medicinal rituals with eggs and herbs and recently sacrificed chickens. I felt like an intruder into their healing rituals and as soon as the incense smoke became too much to handle I left to get some air. When we were all back outside we walked back to the vans and drove back to San Cristobal. Ellie and I decided to climb up to the top of a church along some steep stairs. It was a pretty hefty climb, and along the way we got ambushed by some children who convinced us to sign our names on their “homework” and then donate to their school. They were very young little kids and it was obvious that our money was going straight into their pockets, but you couldn’t be mad knowing that they really did need the money. The view from the top was amazing and you could see all of the Chiapas valley of San Cristobal. The church at the top was locked but we walked around anyway. There was a really awesome strip of what looked at first to be playground toys, but were actually gym-style workout devices. They had pull-up bars and crunch tables. It was pretty cool. It gives a whole new meaning to playgrounds. After taking lots of pictures of the amazing view we climbed down the steps past the children who had recently trapped some more gringos into donating to their cause. Smart little kids. We walked back down and had some lunch before heading back to the hotel to crash for the afternoon.