March 08, 2006
3/7/06
I spoke a little too soon. I can sleep through anything, but getting to sleep is slightly harder when your lullaby is a chorus of barking dogs and crowing roosters. In reality though, you acclimate quickly. Plus, I was tired. At any rate, sleep came fairly quickly, but so did the morning. I woke up about 4;30, but didn't really get up till about 6:30. Chuck was still asleep, but I went into the kitchen and had some café de olla, and Adin and I tried to converse, using a Spanish/English dictionary and a phrase book. As seems to happen, our plans for the day got changed, partly because a road we were going to use was not in good enough condition I think, and so we ended up having the day pretty free and unstructured. So, Chuck decided to show me Tila, a city about 40 minutes or so from Yajalon. It has a very famous and beautiful church on the top of a tall hill (let me tell you, it was a hike to get up to it) in the middle of town. It's a catholic church though, and he said that if we were local Protestants, it might not be safe, since our visiting it might be considered an insult. As foreigners and unknowns though, we were fine. I think a guy did kind of follow us around in the church though, but I think that was just because I had my camera slung over my shoulder, and pictures of Señor Tila are not allowed. Señor Tila is...well, it's kind of complicated. When indigenous people were conquered and forced to build churches, sometimes they would place their idols in the walls of the church, or their religious symbols in its design, so that when they went in to worship, they'd really be worshipping their gods. Or, other times, they would take and combine their beliefs with the beliefs that were brought or forced upon them. The original Franciscan monks truly tried to teach Christianity to the peoples, but then conquering became more important to TPTB (you might not get that if you're not up on your recent pop culture), and religios conversion became forced as more and different orders of monks and such came to Mexico. Anyway, Señor Tila is...it's kind of difficult to explain, as I don't quite understand fully...but, it's kind of like he's supposed to be a special manifestation of Christ that is unique to that town. Like a real presence or visitation that stays. Kind of like how in the catholic church they believe the bread and wine of communion become the real flesh and blood of Christ. Kind of a poor explanation, but I don't understand it enough to say more. Needless to say, it is a very special church for the people, and is fairly famous I think. Anyway, it is a very beautiful city, but the streets are extremely steep, and I was sweating by the time I got to the top. Before we went in to the church we rested in the town square (every town has one, and they're all supposed to have a church next to them) and I grabbed a few shots. I only wish I could have seen the place at sunset -- from a distance, since the church is the tallest thing in town, and because it is painted such a bright golden orange-pink, it catches the last rays of the setting sun and just glows -- or so I was told. It's very easy to imagine.
Anyway, on the ride back, Chuck missed his turn, and since turns are only every several miles, we drove for 40 minutes before he realized it. Finally we got to a town that we we're supposed to, and turned around. Chuck said I better not tell anyone, but since it was almost the first thing he told everyone we visited the rest of the day, I'm sharing. He was so embarrassed, since he lived here for 15 years. He needs to be cut a little slack though -- he hasn't been here for 2 years, and the last time he was here the road we accidentally took was just dirt. He was just thinking that since it was paved, it was the right road -- it's not like there' that many roads around that are paved and in decent condition.
Finally we got back, and visited with several different families after picking up our stuff from Amin's house. Chuck promised me that I would lose weight on this trip, but if we keep getting fed everywhere we go, that's not going to happen. It's good food though, and the people are simply wonderful. Everything is simple, but shared with an open hand and a smile, even with a "no entiende" and "poquito comprende Española" gringo like myself.
Wow -- there's so much more I want to write, but we have to get going again. We stayed the night at Pastor Jose's house, but he just left to go up to his coffee plantation (I think he has about 15 acres...or maybe it was 8 acres...anyway, it's a pretty big size farm for around here. He gave us some coffee that he grew before he left. I hope it gets through customs okay. We need to go get Pastor Amin to go to a church over in Chilon. Couple other stops, then back to San Cristobal for tonight. I haven't spent two nights in a row in the same place yet. Good thing I can travel light and easily. Anyway, I should have internet connection again, so I plan on posting this, and maybe sending some more pics by email. Probably will wait till I get home to post things on my web site. Anyway...
Bonish (bow-neesh -- "goodbye" in Tzeltal)
I spoke a little too soon. I can sleep through anything, but getting to sleep is slightly harder when your lullaby is a chorus of barking dogs and crowing roosters. In reality though, you acclimate quickly. Plus, I was tired. At any rate, sleep came fairly quickly, but so did the morning. I woke up about 4;30, but didn't really get up till about 6:30. Chuck was still asleep, but I went into the kitchen and had some café de olla, and Adin and I tried to converse, using a Spanish/English dictionary and a phrase book. As seems to happen, our plans for the day got changed, partly because a road we were going to use was not in good enough condition I think, and so we ended up having the day pretty free and unstructured. So, Chuck decided to show me Tila, a city about 40 minutes or so from Yajalon. It has a very famous and beautiful church on the top of a tall hill (let me tell you, it was a hike to get up to it) in the middle of town. It's a catholic church though, and he said that if we were local Protestants, it might not be safe, since our visiting it might be considered an insult. As foreigners and unknowns though, we were fine. I think a guy did kind of follow us around in the church though, but I think that was just because I had my camera slung over my shoulder, and pictures of Señor Tila are not allowed. Señor Tila is...well, it's kind of complicated. When indigenous people were conquered and forced to build churches, sometimes they would place their idols in the walls of the church, or their religious symbols in its design, so that when they went in to worship, they'd really be worshipping their gods. Or, other times, they would take and combine their beliefs with the beliefs that were brought or forced upon them. The original Franciscan monks truly tried to teach Christianity to the peoples, but then conquering became more important to TPTB (you might not get that if you're not up on your recent pop culture), and religios conversion became forced as more and different orders of monks and such came to Mexico. Anyway, Señor Tila is...it's kind of difficult to explain, as I don't quite understand fully...but, it's kind of like he's supposed to be a special manifestation of Christ that is unique to that town. Like a real presence or visitation that stays. Kind of like how in the catholic church they believe the bread and wine of communion become the real flesh and blood of Christ. Kind of a poor explanation, but I don't understand it enough to say more. Needless to say, it is a very special church for the people, and is fairly famous I think. Anyway, it is a very beautiful city, but the streets are extremely steep, and I was sweating by the time I got to the top. Before we went in to the church we rested in the town square (every town has one, and they're all supposed to have a church next to them) and I grabbed a few shots. I only wish I could have seen the place at sunset -- from a distance, since the church is the tallest thing in town, and because it is painted such a bright golden orange-pink, it catches the last rays of the setting sun and just glows -- or so I was told. It's very easy to imagine.
Anyway, on the ride back, Chuck missed his turn, and since turns are only every several miles, we drove for 40 minutes before he realized it. Finally we got to a town that we we're supposed to, and turned around. Chuck said I better not tell anyone, but since it was almost the first thing he told everyone we visited the rest of the day, I'm sharing. He was so embarrassed, since he lived here for 15 years. He needs to be cut a little slack though -- he hasn't been here for 2 years, and the last time he was here the road we accidentally took was just dirt. He was just thinking that since it was paved, it was the right road -- it's not like there' that many roads around that are paved and in decent condition.
Finally we got back, and visited with several different families after picking up our stuff from Amin's house. Chuck promised me that I would lose weight on this trip, but if we keep getting fed everywhere we go, that's not going to happen. It's good food though, and the people are simply wonderful. Everything is simple, but shared with an open hand and a smile, even with a "no entiende" and "poquito comprende Española" gringo like myself.
Wow -- there's so much more I want to write, but we have to get going again. We stayed the night at Pastor Jose's house, but he just left to go up to his coffee plantation (I think he has about 15 acres...or maybe it was 8 acres...anyway, it's a pretty big size farm for around here. He gave us some coffee that he grew before he left. I hope it gets through customs okay. We need to go get Pastor Amin to go to a church over in Chilon. Couple other stops, then back to San Cristobal for tonight. I haven't spent two nights in a row in the same place yet. Good thing I can travel light and easily. Anyway, I should have internet connection again, so I plan on posting this, and maybe sending some more pics by email. Probably will wait till I get home to post things on my web site. Anyway...
Bonish (bow-neesh -- "goodbye" in Tzeltal)
