Today was our first full day in San Cristobal de las Casas and boy was I surprised…it was FREEZING! It must have been only 50 degrees the whole day, with some rain thrown in. :-/ Combining that with the fact that I haven’t really slept in two days, I was a bit cranky today. Sorry, Fulbrighters! Unfortunately for me, I’ve been having really wacky (and some bad) dreams. I hope they get better soon!
So, today…we started off with a visit to a local center for Mayan medicine. We walked around their herb garden and learned about the different trees/plants that are used to help cure various ailments, including stomachaches, diabetes, eye problems, and more. Then we took a small tour of their museum and watched a very “interesting” video on the jobs of Mayan midwives. The women who become midwives help pregnant women deliver their babies and prepare the children and parents for our Earthly world…although some parts, like their burying of the placenta in their own homes, was a little TMI (too much information).
After this, we took a cab (yes, Benito our bus driver had the day off today!) to Na Bolom Research Center, where we met with a woman named Janet Schwartz, who is a former Fulbrighter and is currently a photo journalist living in San Cristobal (for the past 20 years) and who knows a lot about the Zapatista movement. She gave us three lectures on different topics in Chiapas – one about textiles (the clothing the indigenous people make and wear), another about migration and the people moving to/from the United States, and a final lecture on the Zapatistas. I enjoyed the latter, as it was great to get a brush-up on all I learned a few years ago for one of my classes at Binghamton. Ironically, Janet is also a SUNY graduate too, but from New Paltz.
After our time at Na Bolom, we made our way to Taller de Lenateros, where local artisans design original stationary from recycled materials. This was cool because it was a recap of a project I did with my fifth-graders a few years ago at Wave Hill in the Bronx. I purchased a few cool journals made from recycled paper…I’m excited for those buys!
Tomorrow we will be visiting two local indigenous communities in Chiapas. I’m sure that will be interesting as I’ll likely see the Zapatista influence on a greater scale. Ahh…but I must mention, we have had a couple of Zapatista encounters already (one in getting into Agua Azul where they charged us their own entrance fee and another where they were standing guard on the highway with huge rifles). We’ll see what tomorrow brings…
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