Jul 19 - Among the Zapatistas

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Jul 19 - Among the Zapatistas

Las Margaritas - La Realidad, Chiapas, Mexico
22:00

Today I feel a little bit sad. I invested so much effort to come that close to the main Zapatista base and Zapatistas didn't accept me. The man in charge told me, an hour ago to head back from where I came from.

Zapatism is a guerila movement, established in January, 1995 that protects the rightsof the indigenous indians, that has been, as they say, exploited and suppresed since Cristopher Columbus stepped on this ground. They are a group of indigenous Indians, proud on their roots, that want to warn the world that their culture and nature where they live is dissapearing in the grip of greedy capitalism.
"Ya basta!" - We've had it enough!, they said in 1994 and declared the war against Mexican army that proceeded a huge masacar on both sides. From then on they put pressure on Mexican government to let them be who they are.

Early in the morning I left Las Margaritas and headed into the jungle towards the village La Realidad, for which I found out that is the main strategic and military center of the Zapatista army. Yesterday one of the local bookstore sponsored me with the map of Chiapas and detailed map of the area.

I jumped on the truck that went in my direction and I had a pleasure to enjoy 6-hour drive on the non-paved roads full of holes - I mean - HOLES! The journey was scented with the adventure, when I saw that the driver keeps driving on the edge of the road, just a few inches from the 50-meter clif under us.

So, I arrived to the village, full of expectations, admiration and curiosity, but without a passport, that I left in San Cristobal for security reasons and without a required letter of warranty from any organization that support the movement.

Tomorrow, I will wake up at 4:30 to catch the morning truck.

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Hoy me siento un poco triste. Los Zapatistas no me aceptaron. Llege en la comunidad con tantas expetaciones, tanta admiración a estos guerreros y ahora no me aceptan.

Mañana tengo que despertarme temprano y a las 5 tengo que irme.

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Danes sem malo zalosten. Po toliksnem trudu sem koncno prisel tako blizu glavne baze Zapatistov in Zapatisti me niso sprejeli. Nadzorni mi je pred dobro uro rekel, naj se jutri ob petih vrnem nazaj od koder sem prisel.

Zapatisti so partizansko gibanje, ustanovljeno januarja 1995, ki sciti pravice staroselskih indijancev, ki je, kot trdijo, zatirano in izkoriscano ze od kar je Kristof Kolumb odkril "Novo Indijo". So skupina indijancev, ponosnih na svoje korenine, ki zelijo svet opozoriti na svojo kulturo in naravo, ki se izgubljata v primezu nenasitnega kapitalizma.
"Ya basta!" - Dovolj nam je, so rekli leta 1994 in napovedali vojno mehiski vojski, kateri je sledilo mesarsko klanje na obeh straneh. Od takrat naprej izvajajo pritisk na vlado, da jim dovoli biti to kar so.

Zgodaj zjutraj sem se iz Las Margaritas odpravil v dzunglo proti vasici La Realidad, za katero sem izvedel, da je najpomembnejsa strateska baza Zapatistov. Vceraj so me v lokalni papirnici sponzorirali z zemljevidom Chiapasa ter podrobnim zemljevidom podrocja, kjer se nahajam in v mestu skocil sem na star majav kamion, za katerega so rekli, da gre v mojo smer. Vozili smo se dobrih 6 ur po luknjastem kolovozu, ki mi je ponujal cudovit razgled na neokrnjen pragozd La Candona in razburljivo avanturo, ko sem opazil, da nas zgolj nekaj centimetrov loci od roba ceste in bungee brez elastike v 50-metrski prepad pod nami.

Prisel sem torej v njihov tabor, poln pricakovanj, obcudovanja in radovednosti, vendar brez potnega lista, ki sem ga zaradi varnosti pustil v San Cristobalu in brez garancijskega pisma katere od organizacij, ki je s Zapatisti povezana.

Jutri bom torej vstal ob 4h in pol, da ujamem jutranji kamion.

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