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About the Bohemians…
There are a handful staying here at the hostel. One young blond girl fromGermany, one Swiss, one drunk and one from Canada by way of Minnesota with dreads to his knees. The blond has been traveling the coastline surfing, starting with Puerto Vallarta. We all shared a cocktail or two before the four of them set off for what ended up an all nighter.
We awoke this morning saying goodbye to Blondie as she set off to Costa Rica, her long board surfboard in route to the nearest bus station. Meanwhile we went to breakfast, (it’s included with our stay here). Shameful. For those that know of my breakfast skills… it was shameful. However, this area is well known for their coffee so that made up for it.
We hopped into our ATOS and headed to San Juan Chamula which is a bit north of here. The town is known for their indigenous population. All the ladies wear traditional garb of blue and black. The long skirts are black mohair. The men all wear the traditional mohair vest/jacket. One or two still snuck in a cellphone. (?) There was some sort of large ceremony in the huge plaza. Sharon says it was a funeral. I think it was a bunch of guys beating their collective chests. We decided to configure my camera bag, punch a large hole in it so as to seek some footage of the whole thing. So as to not be obvious we trekked back to the car to perform the surgery. On the way back there was a man kneeling and praying in the middle of a yard that ended up being a chapel forOur lady of Guadalupe. Once he left we went down to investigate. Sharon, with camera in hand was getting ready to snap a couple of stills when we were surrounded. Instantly there was a sea of blue and black mohair and all speakingMayan, or Indian, or something that was definitely not Spanish. First they wanted money for Sharon to take a picture of them, we think. Then they walked us across the dirt road and indicated that we had to buy the special incense that they burn in the chapel to remove evil picture taking spirits, we think. When we said “No” they summoned a small sea of men in mohair. The jefe (main guy)proceeded to look at all the pictures Sharon took… many times. Once they discovered there were no chapel pictures, he raised his hand, said something indiscernible and the whole crowd dispersed. We think.
Let’s get out of here…
We drove up the road looking for a village that starts with a “Z”. Though the short drive was exquisite with scenery, it was not the way to Z town. We did eventually find Z town which known for flowers and it’s own traditional indigenous population with colors of red and black. In order to visit the town we had to pay a cover charge. Really. There’s a guy at the “door” at the edge of town to collect the 30 pesos. Once in we were again attacked but this time it was more like Wizard of Oz. It was all munchkins; flying monkeys with mohair. Ok, it was actually just the kids of the town. The adults pretty much didn’t pay us any attention. Here also there was some ceremony going on and I got to try out our new “super sleuth” camera bag. It seems to have worked and there was no impromptu tribunal.
The rest of the afternoon and early evening has been calm. I did get to talk to my friend Cecillio from Acapulco. It appears that he may meet us here on Tuesday. He’s the worlds greatest guide. Till then we have decided to find our own guides to help with any upcoming mohair clans.
Mas tarde.
