antsy

I´ve been in San Cristobal de Las Casas for three nights now, and it´s been interesting enough. Observations:

I´ve never been in a place where everyone looks like me. After 20 years of being the brown kid, I forgot that most of the world is not white. Instead of sticking out, I blend in; and especially if I´m just walking around town, nobody knows the difference. I´ve never experienced this- being able to just disappear into a crowd. Anonymity is a new thing for me, and it´s comforting in a way.

I ended up not seeing La Cora de Los Abejas yesterday, because I was on the other side of town at the Museum of Mayan Medicine and really needed some hot soup. The Museo was fascinating- the exhibits of Mayan medicinal practices were set up in a respectful and sincere way, and the museum itself was run by local indigenous- and everything was blessed and sacred, so it truly felt like holy ground. The most interesting exhibit was at the end, in which a video of a Chamulan (?) Mayan birthing was shown, with explanations of each practice by a highland midwife. I was struck by the cultural significance of this video- a Mayan birth would normally be very private and forbidden to all but the child´s family and midwife, much more so to non-Mayans. This, more than anything else in Chiapas so far, has made me realize the desperation and hardship that indigenous people in the region are going through to preserve their cultures. The fact that a non-Mayan was even allowed to film this for archival purposes is a testament to how much pressure their communities are under.

It was also interesting that immediately following this exhibit was another attacking neoliberalism, GMO crops, and "biopiracy," or the patenting of indigenous resources by corporations and researchers. These themes felt very familiar, having just come from a week with La Via Campesina at COP16.

As I came out of the museum, I was pained to see a farm store advertising Monsanto seed across the street.

(I bought a tincture for "fear/anxiety and diarrhea")

I´ve been hanging out with a couple of traveling kids- Germans, Aussies, Dutch- and they´re fun, but are more interested in hostel-hopping and tourism. Not my thing. I´m splitting ways today/tomorrow.

I want to spend a little more time in San Cristobal, and I hope to make it out to caracol Oventik. There´s not really anything going on there, but come on. You can´t be in Chiapas without visiting the Zapatistas.

And the Zapatistas? I was talking to a punk kid from San Cristobal yesterday, and he told me about a recent critique in the Mexican anarchist community that is wary of the EZLN becoming another mainstream political mechanism, and in turn neutralized. It´s very telling that all of the anarchist and punk houses in the area packed up last year and headed back to DF.

Anyway.
No internet for a while, so this might be my last post for now?
I might have a phone now and then. 9256956503

wonderlust.

arrivals and departures

busses and pickup trucks.
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i´ve just arrived at the backpackers hostel in san cristobal de las casas. the past few days have really thrown me around.

Friday night- there was a cop16 finale party at the hostel across the street. it was pretty posh, complete with (probably) imported palm leaf huts! the party itself was a great time to put the last couple of weeks in frenzied perspective via dance, since it was a nice cross between all three conferences. the band playing were the latin american hippies from klimaforum, the dancers were mostly COP16/La Via Campesina youth, and Stormy and Spike from Glass Bead dropped by.

I feel so good to have worked alongside Spike and Stormy (and Joshua Tree). I haven´t completely thought this through yet, but I think that they´ve helped me find my calling (independent journalism/film media). the resistance needs a voice. roughly, my goal would be to become as cool as Brad Will without getting shot.

karyn and i wandered around with hanna (a traveler/via campesina rep from sweden) after that and crawled into bed around 2:30. i think we were both conflicted about the last two weeks- a combination of being overwhelmed with opportunities, stampeded with amazing people, and frustrated with our delegation´s group dynamics.

i said goodbye to the CCN on saturday, and hitched out to the klimaforum with Karyn. the final party was going on, so we pitched our tent in the ecovillage and spent a couple of hours dancing. amazing musicians from around the world, most of whom i had met and sung/hijacked busses/argued police with. karyn and i were inspired to start a latin american folk-punk band-- gogol bordello meets andean pan flutes.

i need to learn the pan flute.

we awoke in our tent the next morning hungry and ridiculously drenched with sweat- my sleeping bag was clinging to my body, and i had to claw open the zipper in order to breathe again.

caught a colectivo from klimaforum to playa del carmen, and from playa del carmen we hitched to Tulum. on the way over, the icebox in the fisherman´s flatbed started to leak and our butts got wet.

we met some aussie/kiwi/dominican youth delegates in tulum, and then ran into joshua tree on the beach. ate a fish. drank some beer.

karyn and walked around on the beach after that and pitched our tent behind some shrubbery. we were both anxious about leaving the next morning, so we had our first fight. we were talking the next morning and resolved our feelings before running into the sea in our underwear. the tourists were concerned.

packed up. lost my shorts. got my wallet stolen. and it was such a great morning.

karyn and i hitched and colectivo-d back to cancún airport. goodbye was weird. i´ve never had such a good travel buddy.

so many pale-faces. so much english.

you wake up in cancun, you wake up in tulum, you wake up in a different place and suddenly the places all melt together.

you get on a bus and suddenly it´s freezing cold.

i´m in san cristobal de las casas right now, and i´m glad i brought a sweater/flannel. i should have kept that other one too instead of sending it home with karyn.

i need time to piece together everything that just happened.
i miss karyn, which makes me miss my family, which makes me miss people in santa cruz and at LC.
jared, hanna, leo, anne, kevin, sophia, nicola, mama, papa, gus, lorenzo, gaby, grandma.
i´m doing well, but i miss you.
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san cristobal de las casas!
the first thing i see when the bus pulls into downtown is a big spray-painted circle-a on a traffic sign.
yes, the walls of the city are covered in zapatista stencils, socialist slogans, and circle-a´s.
yes, i need to find the anarchists here.

i feel like i´m in the sierra nevada. there are pine trees everywhere and i can see my breath.

Salutations!

To all!

This blog will (ostensibly) follow my 2010 travels across southern Mexico, from COP16 to backpacking in Chiapas.

There will (hopefully) be beautiful pictures and grand adventures related to you herein.

I am going to Cancún for the UN Climate Negotiations, where I will be a delegate representing the Cascade Climate Network. However, there will be no UNFCCC talks on this blog- in response to the inevitable failure of COP15 and other UN environmental initiatives, I will be searching for real solutions to climate crisis among the outsiders.

The "outsiders" are the indigenous, the peasants, the community organizers, the students, and the radical thinkers. The passion for the new climate movement will come from them.

The Stimulator talks about COP16 (along with other anarchist nonsense).

After COP16, I will travel through Chiapas and practice Spanish speaking. I'm going light and will probably only be able to update when I stop at an internet café or hostel. I'm going to be making plans as I go, so I don't know when that will be- I might even end up celebrating the New Year with the Zapatistas.

Travelers always promise to update their blogs and never seem to be able to.
So if I don't, I'll be keeping a journal. You might read it?
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This is my personal blog, not connected to the CCN. For COP16 reporting, go to the delegation blog where I will be uploading articles, photos, and video. It should be a riot.