Fight for your rights

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Today is my last day in San Cristobal. The week here has been one of the most enjoyable yet. Last thursday we were on our way back to the hostel after a Zapatista protest and decided to have a couple a beers the Revolution bar. As it turned out a authentic indigenous folk band was setting up to perform. There were seven guitar players a violinist and one percussionist. Their songs were very rhythmic. Each song had a verse and chorse that would repeat over and over. As the song went on each member would take a turn singing chorus. There was no order to who would sing next. The percussionist was one of the highlights of the show because of the unique instrument he played. It was a Horse Jaw with origional teeth that he would play by raking a wooden stick across the teeth and by slapping the side of the jaw bone which would make the Jaw vibrate violently. What a sound he produced and texture he added to the music. I have never seen or heard anyhting like it. The crowd was so worked up during each song that people would be clapping in rhythmic patterns as if they were a part of the show. Though I was unable to see as many spanish bands I had hoped to, this band made up for it all. After the show Travis and I were sitting at the finishing our beer when a Mexican named Hectar introduced himself. We go to chatting and he tells us that he is a drummer in a Mexican surf band like Dick Dale or the Beach Boys. He goes on to tell us that he just shot a video for a movie at the Revolution bar and his band is on the soundtrack. This was very suprising because Travis also played in a surf band from Boston and they too were on the soundtrack to a movie. We all had a good laugh at the coinsidence and then went to another bar that just opened. There we watched couples dane salsa to the radio and met a twety year old film directer currently finishing his fourth film. It was a good night. The next day we traveled just out of town to San Pedro Chamula The town was in a small valley in the mountain and the people believed in a very strange religion. It was a mix of Catholic and their crazy native beliefs. There was only one church at the center of town and we had to pay an addmition to get in. When we entered it was like non church I have ever seen. The nave was empty of pews. Instead the hall was full of people offering prayer by the light of hundereds of candles that were in rows of squares all over the floor. Thousands of candles were lit in effigy. The strange thing about this odd ritual was the soda pop people would use to cleanse their sins. They would make their prayer then take a sip of soda and then pour the rest over their head. We watched awile and then checked out the small museam. When we arrived back to San Cristobal we went to a Zapatista documentary film at the theater. When we arrived the film directer from the night before met with us to give Travis a copy of his film which have yet to watch. The film was really good and showed how the Zapatista revolution began and why and its current state. Basically it has been going on for over a decade and the people of Chiapas want to be recognized by the government as indigenous indians with rights to the land. The inhabitants of Chiapas are three fourths indigenous, yet they do not receive any aid from the government. They want access to health care and educational benefits, but they receive nothing. Most villages have no clean water and struggle to farm enough food to eat. The government refuses to recognise them, but at the same time it will not give them access Mexican benefits. As a result the Zapatistas have set up their own form of government throughout Chiapas and are trying their best to take care of the peoples basic needs.
The town of San Cristobal is very beautiful and the people here are very nice. I have enjoyed my stay here. Today we are off to Palenque for three days and then to Flores where we will fly home. See you in a week!
Chad

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