Chiapas

Choza,

Caballo,

Telefono celular

No bromeo...cruzando frontera a Chiapas llegamos a un pueblito, well, smaller than a pueblito, just a couple of chozas, with a horse parked out front and what did we see? A girl talking on a cell phone. Lo juro...I swear. Choque de los mundos.

Mexico is such a country of contrasts and contradictions, I love it. I suppose my country has it contradictions too, but it seems they are more striking here. Everything is close up and in your face. We gringos like to put distance between us and our environment, between us and our neighbor, between us and our poverty. In Mexico everything is anywhere and everything is everywhere. La pobreza y la riqueza existen una al lado de la otra.

They searched us in Tabasco just before we crossed into Chiapas...weird. Seguridad stop, soldados con rifles, puros jovenes. Young faces, I could have been their mother. I asked one of them if we were almost to the border of Chiapas, a question I already knew the answer to, but I knew if I spoke I would become human and no longer be merely a namesless gringa tourist traveling in a rented car in Mexico. He was polite and helpful and waved us on our way.

Hoy visitamos Palenque, (noten, mis alumnos que Palenque es un lugar y no es persona, entonces no lleva la "personal a"). Oops, sorry, didn´t mean to talk grammar. Mañana vamos a Bonampak y Yaxchilan, cerca de Guatemala...a ver como nos va.

Well, the days are moving right along. It´s been very warm the weather, I think I´ve forgotten all about New England winters.

Soy Lorena
1/16/07