Saturday, February 3

Very short entry today. They can’t all be staggering.

The morning was quiet as Rita and I both worked in our office/bedrooms. I am reading a PhD thesis that will hopefully be defended this April (in my absence). After lunch we went to do errands. I took Rita climbing up the stairs to the Templo de San Cristobal and afterwards we went into the nearby covered artesanías market. We found a store next to Madre Tierra restaurant on Insurgentes that sells Yerba Mate. Attention Ewan.

On the way back we met Verity, Flora, and Sarah in the plaza of the cathedral and then headed home to wait for James to bring Joshua Schwab, just in from Veracruz. Joshua will be one of the leaders on the big fieldtrip in March, so I asked him to join us for the excursion tomorrow to get to know the group.

After James and Joshua left, Rita and I went to the film on the “Forgotten Zapatistas” (its title in Spanish actually means The Last Zapatistas). It is a documentary on surviving members of Zapata’s army in his home state of Morelos. The reason for the interest was made clear by showing how Salinas, changing Zapata’s article 27 of the constitution on ejidos in order to sign NAFTA, had undone what Zapata accomplished. The film also showed the EZLN leaders visiting these elderly ladies and gentlemen in Morelos and intently listening to their advice to keep on fighting, to never give up until campesinos have equal rights. Sarah, Verity, and Flora were at the film and came over to our apartment for a discussion, joined by Peggy. Verity demonstrated her expertise in fire-building. We have continued to nurse the fire using lung power and are still enjoying it as I write this, waiting for Max Cameron to arrive by taxi from the airport in Tuxtla.