Wednesday, January 24

The highlight of the day was a trip with Ewan in a combi van to San Andrés Larrainzar, also known as San Andrés Sakamch'en de los Pobres. We climbed higher than San Cristóbal through spectacular landscapes with fields of dried maize stalks adjoining homesteads along the road. At San Andrés we looked around the main plaza, at the church and on the opposite side the building where the San Andrés peace accords were worked out and signed in February, 1996.

Then we asked about the weaver collective and were directed down a slope and up another hill. We hadn't taken the main highway, so we came up against an army base enclosed in a razor wire fence, heavily defended, but with many of the soldiers playing basketball or lifting weights. A young gentlemen led us from there to the turnoff for the collective and we were shortly there. There were no other tourists around, and actually we saw none the whole time in San Andrés.

The weavings are similar to those available in the same collective outlet (Sna Jolobil) in San Cristobal, but divided into several rooms each with their own caretaker. They were very good to us, showing us through the rooms more than once, so I did buy something. The weavings are gorgeous and of course make great presents.

We then walked back into town and through the market, jumping on the combi for another spectacular ride back down into San Cristóbal.

In the afternoon I went to the travel agent who is arranging our great fieldtrip and also got prices and discussed itineraries for day trips. Then I stopped back in at Instituto Jovel and conveyed Rita and Max's preference for seating in the classroom.

Back at the apartment, I sought out the landlord, Miguel, to tell him that the lock was sticky. I also met his brother Alonso, who it turns out had come in for a memorial for their mother, dead three years ago today. They took me into the altar room they keep for her which was supplied with many, many flower arrangements. They had some posh, of course.

It turns out that their father was Maya, native of Tenejapa, and that today was also the saints day festival in Tenejapa, which they attended. The brother, Alonso, is also involved with archaeologists who work at Palenque and wants to talk with me about Maya archaeology. We also discussed Apocalypto, which he had just seen, and he offered to share with me his viewpoint concerning the film. They will be coming down after supper. I'll probably have to report on that conversation in tomorrow's blog. We'll see.