Today started off with class, as usual. I had forgotten the extension cord, so I borrowed one from Instituto Jovel. There were no prongs on the thing, so they just stripped the two wires and stuck them into the wall socket. Seemed iffy to me, but it worked.
Much of the class was a continuation of an earlier presentation on Maya calendars and hieroglyphic writing. The material can be confusing but the class behaved like troopers. Then we went on to discusses some triads of ballplayer sculptures that include symbolic forms of calendric information to represent primordial transformation.
My afternoon was one of total frustration. I needed to send money to the hotel in Santiago Atitlan for our Semana Santa (Easter Week) trip to see the Maya celebrations there. After several calls I got the bank account number, the bank branch and its number and address. Everything seemed fine at my bank except that the bank branch at Santiago Atitlan didn't exist in their records. The fact that the branch is listed on the internet with its address and phone number, and that I had spoken to a bank official to get their international code or "swift," meant nothing. If its not in their data base they can't send the money. So I went to another bank, waiting an hour, paying over 80 dollars for the transfer, only to find that they dont have it in their database either. So I went to three more banks. It took four hours of waiting in line and getting steemed at tellers, but after trying every single bank company in San Cristobal, I gave up. I emailed my son hoping he could send it from Vancouver. He immediately went to the bank and gave them the information, but he wasn't very positive thatit was going to work. We'll have to wait and see.
Then after a quick trip to the market and wolfing down supper, it was also time to go to the women's day rally. I stopped by the tour office to make some final arrangements for the big fieldtrip that starts next Wednesday, and then to the rally. There were disturbingly few people there. LASOMers made up much of the crowd. Many other foreigners, and many Maya, especially Zinacantecos. We noticed some women wearing the Chenalho traje and suspected they were Abejas from Acteal. Some of the speeches were very effective, as well as scary, particularly the report on paramilitary violence against Zapatista comunities in the Selva Lacandona that have gone along with death threats to members of CIEPAC, a leftist NGO. A Zapotec woman also spoke about Appo and Zapotec activism in Oaxaca. She sang a Zapotec song which was familiar to me from a disk lent to me by graduate student Joshua Schwab. I wish I had the text on this computer to upload, but that material is only in Vancouver. Above are a photo of the ralley and a detail of a pinted cloth displayed next to the stage.
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