Roberta & I go to the Zapatista party in "El Caracol", it's a small town up in the mountains near San Cristobal called Oventik. The van up costs us 16 pesos, I'm running out of money and feeling it. Roberta is cool, she comes from Italy and reminds me of my old friend Rachel who I dearly miss. She has a good sense of humour and a happy voice that makes me smile.
When we get into Zapatista territory we're asked to hand over our passports, and led to a shack where a group of armed and masked men interview us, we are then walked to a smaller shack where we again get interrogated and are finally cleared for entry. The scene is bizarre, the men are armed and ask us a number of questions.
"What are you doing here?"
"Um.. dunno?"
"Who are you with?"
"No one"
"What do you do?"
"Nothing"
"Nothing? Do you work, study?"
"Nope"
The Zapatistas look at each other, one of them smiles.
"Ok, you are cleared. Is there anything you want to know?"
"..."
"Er.. where's the bathroom?"
The masked Zapatistas return our I.D and let us through, we go to see what we can do, feeling disorientated and sussed out by the whole strange experience.. The scene outside is just as surreal, every man, woman and child wears a balaclava, except for the many outsiders who are there to raise awareness about various issues and help the Zapatista cause. We're also told that smoking and drinking are prohibited.
We find a dine, inside are a group of foreigners who work for NGO's (Non Governmental Organizations). They represent "Schools for Chiapas" and "G.M Food Awareness". They tell us about the appalling conditions that the indigenous Chiapas population have to live under due to economic reforms and negligence from the government, and about the worrying spread of polluted, or transgenic genetically modified corn that is now being found in Mexico. Mexico is based on corn, its food and its culture, the spread of G.M maize is a worrying trend.
"Activists say the contamination of Mexican fields with GM corn could lead to yet unknown effects on native corn varieties and ecosystems. "Corn embodies deep Mexican cultural values that should be respected and protected," said Areli Carreon, director of Greenpeace's consumer campaign in Mexico. "Most campesinos don't receive benefits from GM corn and view its presence in their native crops as a threat to their form of life."
We leave the diner and find Miguel our friend from San Cristobal outside, he's wth an argentinian girl called Victoria, introductions are made as we walk down the hill and find something to do. I join in a crayon colouring contest organized for the kids by one of the NGO's, kids surround me and watch, I put lots of effort in. I am bored! The group goes back to the diner to get some beans and tortillas and I follow, across the table I overhear two girls talking in english and call out to them. They are Abril from Mexico City and Sherry from Freemantle Australia.
"Hey Im from Australia too!" I call out.
"Where from?!" she excitedly replies.
..."Penrith" I hesitate..
"Oh no! Go the Panthers ya derro!'
We have a laugh and talk in Aussie slang, it feels good, we chat about shrooms, Nepal, Mexico, Shiva. She is a bogan hippy traveller who has been all over the world and never learnt another language than english, the sky darkens and we go out to join the party. A band plays in the main courtyard at the bottom of the towns incline and we're all soon dancing with the zapatistas. Congo lines, Kumbian, Limbo. Its all a lot of fun, and rather strange since an eighty percent of the participants remain with their balaclava well put. We have fun, native Tzlokin kids hang out with us and ask us questions about our countries then show off the little english they know, they also teach us a few words in their native language, they're all very friendly, we take photos and go back to dance.
At eleven everything stops, we are forced to leave, there isn't much left to do, there's no drinking or smoking allowed in the zone so we get some tea and coffee at the diner. Languages are shared, we buy a bag of animal cookies and play with them, figuring out what they are and pitting them against each other in mock battles. Roberta gets into it. Abril finds a spider in her coffee, Miguel orders a coffee "with two spiders please" he jokes.
We go to sleep in a large shack in the middle of town on the cold wet ground with our fellow Zapatistas. I sleep plenty.