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118 AN EXILE OF THE MIND A BOXCAR TO PALENQUE 119
The Tzotzil Maya community in the Chiapas.
the trip nestled amongst coffee bags back in one gulp every time some-
in the back for the next three days. one made a toast.
We drove through quaint colonial With sore heads the following
Spanish towns in the chilly pine day, we convalesced in Chapultepec
forests of the Chiapas and visited the Park, one of the largest parks in the
Tzotzil Maya. A unique community Western Hemisphere. Anne gave
with their own time zone, language me a little peck on the cheek as I
and religion. nursed a thumping hangover and
On reaching the capital, Pepe we were immediately pounced on by
took us to a mariachi bar where the Park Gestapo for breaking a ‘law
Mexicans strummed guitars and of a moral nature’. Dobbed in by a
blew trumpets under large sombre- small boy earning pocket money by
ros swaying in rhythm. They sang spying on couples from the bushes.
romantic songs on bended knee to This morality squad claimed
blushing couples and salt-rimmed
glasses of tequila were knocked Mayan ruins of Palenque, Mexico.
