La Realidad- Living The Simple Life With The Zapatistas

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La Realidad (the reality) is a famous Zapatista pueblo about an hour camioneta ride from Guadalupe, my last stop. Learning from my previous experience in Guadalupe, as soon as I arrived into town, I immediately went to look for someone to get approval to stay in the pueblo and help out with any work that needed to be done. I was eventually led to a small wooden house where I met with a guy who was volunteering to check visitor information etc. He asked me for my passport and wrote down my info and asked me why I wanted to stay in town. I responded that I had been traveling through Mexico for over one month and that I loved his country's warm people, natural beauty, tranquillo (laid back) lifestyle and mouth watering food but now I wanted to experience something different. I continued that I had spent most of my time in the bigger cities and now I was ready to see some of Mexico's pueblos and I thought Mexico's smaller towns were much different than in the cities and I wanted to learn about their lives and learn more about the Zapatista movement. In return I told him that I would be very happy to help out with any work that needed to be done around town- I let him know I could teach kids English or Math in the schools or I could help out the residents with their manual labor- wherever they had the biggest need for work I wanted to fill the void. I stated that I wanted to learn what pueblo life is like and that there is no better way than living as they live, working as they work, eating as they eat and I was very excited to be in his town. He said he would be happy to have me in town but needed final approval from "la junta de buen gobierno" (or the group of good government) and that I could hang out with him until they arrived in a few minutes.

I ended up talking to the guy for well over an hour asking questions about the Zapatistas. He explained to me how there were five main Zapatista zones in Chiapas (called caracoles)- Las Margaritas, Comitan, Ocosingo, Morelia and La Realidad which are each run by their own "junta de buen gobierno" (a group of elected officials that had an equal number of men and women) that is completely autonomous from the Mexican government. He stressed that their main objective was social change- no matter who was in office in Mexico City. Change defined as attention called to the many poverty stricken pueblos (small towns) in Mexico that are always forgotten in Mexico City's legislative initiaitives. Their fight is for better education, medical facilities and an end to exploitation by outside sources and big businesses who are gaining the most from Chiapas rich resources, while its residents can hardly afford to eat. He stressed that the Zapatistas are a worldwide organization who want attention called not only to the pueblos of Mexico but the pueblos of the world (meaning all poor areas of the world that always seem to be forgotten in political decision making).

I was getting hungry as we were talking and was still waiting for "la junta de buen gobierno" to arrive for at least an hour and a half. So I decided to get some food at the local comedor- beans, tortillas, an egg and a cup of famous Chiapas coffee. By now I had grown accustomed to eating that exact meal for more than a week every time hunger set in. I was growing pretty tired of it, although that was all they had to offer so I had to just eat what was available. It was so disturbing to see how little fruits, vegetables and meats were available in the pueblos I had been visiting- with the area being so rich in agriculture you would think those items would be plentiful. Unfortunately the hand of exportation brings in more money than selling the abundant items to the local people- which made absolutely no sense to me. Why can't the residents of this town even enjoy the natural resources their land provides? They should be the first ones to benefit from the vast resources of their land!! Meanwhile, residents in pueblos of Mexico are malnourished from eating just beans and tortillas for every meal- there is something purely wrong with that picture!! Every time I asked one of the town's residents what they had eaten for lunch or dinner I would always get the same enthusiastic response- beans and tortillas- although they loved these coveted items it seemed like they had no idea what a well balanced diet was!! I could not imagine a life of eating the same thing day after day and felt extremely lucky to have the privilege of eating a well balanced and varied diet (in addition to having the knowledge of what a healthy diet entails).

By the time I had finished eating another hour had passed and I figured I should go see if the "junta" was ready for me. I waited for over a half hour (almost 3 hours in all, this experience was a real patience test) and finally someone came back and led me to the town's leaders. Much to my surprise, I sat down with a guy and girl who were not more than 25 years old- I totally expected a group of older wise looking people with at least a few grey hairs but I guess they were elected by the people of the town. I gave them the rundown on why I wanted to stay in their town and told them I wanted to work while I was there. They mentioned that school was not in session so teaching was not an option and that due to the current season and the fact that I was only staying for a few days there was no manual labor I could help out with on the land. They said they wanted me to stay there anyway and I offered to pay them a few pesos for my stay but they refused and said all visitors stay in town for free. I thanked them for their time and was led to the wooden shack that would be my home for the next few days.

What a great experience it was to stay in town, I got to observe and take part in pueblo life myself, which was much different than the life I was used to in Mexico's cities. In the mornings it was common to see residents cutting their lawns with just a machete- before observing this act I could never imagine completing such a task without a lawn mower! Working six days per week, the majority of the town's residents went up to the jungle clad mountains outside of town to bring back coffee crops. An average day for this type of worker would consist of leaving town at 5 AM, walking for about two hours through roadless mountain jungle clad terrain, working to cut down coffee with their machetes and then carrying the crops back into town for another two hours during the hottest time of the day. By that time it was usually about 2 PM and everyone would bathe in the river that ran through town after a long day of work. You could often find women washing clothes in the river at about this time as the town had no running water or electricity. The remainder of the day would usually consist of laying around in the grass listening to music as if the residents had absolutely no worry in the world and nowhere to be- which may not be far from the truth.

The average kid in town would attend school for about 5-7 years- just enough education to read, write, count and learn a trade such as construction or farming techniques in order to contribute to the pueblo life. Schools taught only three classes- math, history (or "historia del pueblo" which included only information on the Zapatista laws and beliefs in the form of comic book stories) and the natural sciences. Kids would always be sent to work in the fields when school was not in session- as was the case when I visited the pueblo. Much to my surprise , upon being questioned where I was from, many of the town's residents had no idea where the United States was (or even Guatemala for that matter- seeing as I was now only a few miles away from Mexico's southern border country) and I often found myself drawing a map in the dirt and giving residents a geography lesson in order to help explain a little bit about myself. I found it extremely unfortunate and sad that given their conditions and lack of education they basically had zero chance of climbing Mexico's social ladder for a better life. In a country where the minimum wage is less than $5 per day it is easy to see why so many of our neighbors to the south risk their lives to cross the US border, what a sad sad situation. Something definitely needs to be done to fix this grim situation.

The few days I spent in La Realidad really changed my impression of the Zapatistas- the only image I had of them was of ski mask wearing guerrillas training in the jungle carrying around old rifles. This was not my experience at all, as I had come to know them as warm hearted, peaceful, friendly people going about their everyday lives just like all the other Mexicans I had met over the course of my trip. What set the Zapatistas apart from everyone else was their immense level of hope- that unifying for a common cause will call attention to their situation and bring a greater level of justice to Mexico and the world. I found their attitude towards life to be very inspiring- despite the extremely modest living conditions they are forced to endure- they never ceased to emit genuine happiness and a carefree attitude towards life, appearing much happier than many people in the developed world. This is a question I have always found myself pondering on- why people that barely have anything appear so much happier than people that have it all?

To end this entry, I leave you with a Zapatista poem-

para todos la luz
para todos todo
para nosotros la alegre de rebeldia
para nosotros nada

English Translation-
For all the light
For all everything
For us the happiness of rebellion
For us nothing

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Photos

La Realidad Mural
Translation- it is always a custum to respect women.

My Sleeping Accomodations
I slept in the middle wooden house.

Comments

[Jo]

language exchange
I have heard that the Zapatistas have a language exchange program that you can apply for online. Have you heard about it? You're supposed to apply with your background in cooperative living and/or social change/justice experience and pay some minimal living fee per day or maybe week that you stay... sound familiar?