San Cristobal de la revolution

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After a 5 hour bus ride climbing through winding mountain roads we arrived at the colonial town of San Cristobal de las Casas. We have ascended to 2,200m so have experienced a dramatic change in temperature. As it is Christmas I didn’t mind this as much but did not come prepared for it.



The town is famous for an uprising of the Zapatista group in 1994 who took control of the city. They were quickly evicted by the Mexican army and are now continuing their revolution in communities in the outlying jungle of the state of Chiapas. I had not heard of this group until we came here and I was wondering if their influence was still strong in the town. This question was answered as soon as we arrived at our hostel. We met a young passionate man from Mexico City who was staying in San Cristobal on his way to a five day Zapatista conference. He taught us all about the Zapatista philosophy as well as the history of Mexico. David and his girlfriend invited us with them the next day to a Zapatista village. I was intrigued to see how they live outside the system so a group of us hopped in a collectivo up into the mountains.



When we arrived we were greeted at the gate of the community by three men wearing balaclavas who asked us a series of questions before they let us in (our names, profession, nationality). They then took this information inside and came back a little while later. This seems to be the procedure for everyone as there were other people who arrived after us. We were then shown around by two men. We asked them questions (through our Spanish speaking friends) but the answer to most of them were ‘I don’t know’. We are unsure whether they were not allowed to answer us or whether, as most of the community speaks a regional Mayan language, they did not know enough Spanish to be able to answer.



As such I came away not knowing an awful lot about the Zapatista movement but it has led me to find out more and was a really interesting experience. Here is a recent article by the BBC if you want to know more http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-25550654



Spending Christmas here has been great as we have met some brilliant people in our hostel. We cooked a bbq for Christmas Eve with so much food that we carried on into Christmas Day. We also had quite a heavy night out drinking tequila, mescal and margeritas where I was taught how to salsa by the Mexicans in a club. I thought I was great but I dread to think how I actually looked.



The town itself is lovely, it feels like a European ski resort but without the snow. There are great bars, restaurants and shops and a German style Christmas market. The atmosphere has been very festive with fireworks going off all over the city. Feliz Navadad!

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