Colonial town in a temperate pine-ridden mountaintop at nearly 7,000 feet above sea level. Surrounded by mysterious Indian villages. Tzotzil - have mayordomos (senior cargos - cargos are temporary posts, usually a year that cost money. Tzotzil villages: San Juan Chamula - huge church with only pine needles on the floor (no pews) and tons of ivory taper candles on the floor too. No photos. Catholic saints along the alcoves in the walls. Chamulans believe that Christ rose from the cross to become the sun. Carnival is celebrated here and our anthropologist neighbor told us of a very bizarre funeral where chickens are slaughtered for the dead one to feed on and the body is buried at sunrise in order to successfully cross into the underworld. Zinacantan (men in red tunics) no photos. Tzeltal village of Amatenango del Valle, pottery. Men sit on one side of the church and women on the other. All the men drink nasty booze that smells like fire. No thank you. Although some in our group did try a shot of the rotgut. Syncretism - Catholicism and Indian religion.

My host family owned Madre Tierra Restaurant & Panaderia and we ate there every day. We lived on Dr. Navarro street.

Na Balom - the house of Danish archaeologist, Frans Blom (deceased) and his wife, Swiss anthropologist and photographer Trudy Duby-Blom who champions the cause for the survival of the Lacandon Indians. Bull fight. Brown rice and alfalfa sprouts on baked potatoes. La Caridad Church. Zocalo.