In July, I went to Chiapas to meet up with my sister, who was volunteering there on a project that gives cameras to indigenous people to document their lives. I also wanted to speak to Bishop Ruiz. As it happens, I had met Ruiz in my hometown of New Glarus, Wisconsin, in 1993, a few months before the Zapatistas rose up in arms. He was visiting the Reverend Tom Nielsen of the United Church of Christ. Ruiz gave only hints of the conflict brewing in his native country.
Many passengers become ill with motion sickness.
Action movies such as Ninja Warrior dubbed into Spanish play repeatedly on small overhead TV sets. We pass a town where a group of villagers, all dressed in pink embroidered garments, gathers around a priest who holds a microphone. Other nearby markets feature mangoes, bananas, radishes, pork, chicken, beef, spices, peppers, roasted bugs, and beans. They kiss and hug us, hold our hands, introduce themselves. Please,'' they say in English.