Page 32 - AT

A32 FEATURE
Wednesday 28 august 2019
Back to Chiapas 25 years after covering rebel uprising

By ANITA SNOW no street advertising on
Associated Press Real de Guadalupe.
SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CA- Nearby was the circa-1528
SAS, Mexico (AP) — We cathedral where the now
rode up to the mountain late-Bishop Samuel Ruiz
towns of Mexico's south- had served as a mediator
ern state of Chiapas and for early talks between the
straight into the aftermath government and the rebels
of an army shootout with named for Mexican Revo-
rebels. lution leader Emiliano Za-
It was Jan. 2, 1994, and The pata. But on this year's trip,
Associated Press had sent the cathedral was closed
a photographer and me for restoration work follow-
to investigate reports of an ing an earthquake.
uprising in the highlands At the market outside the
city of San Cristobal de las Santo Domingo Domini-
Casas. Just outside town, can convent, indigenous
we were shaken to discov- women still sold necklaces
er the bodies of 14 rebels and earrings of silver and
strewn across a grassy slope amber, and mountains
and the two-lane road. of colorful textiles. I found
Twenty-five years later, I fewer Mayan people
returned to Chiapas on a dressed in traditional cloth-
very different kind of trip, ing, although many older
traveling along that curvy women still wore the elabo-
mountain road right past rately embroidered blouses
the slope that had been called huipiles (wee-PEE-
the scene of so much les).
bloodshed. This Feb. 13, 2019 photo shows two visitors at Misol Ha waterfall, tucked away in the rainforest of And everywhere, there
During the visit earlier this Chiapas state, in southern Mexico. were signs the Mayan peo-
year, I was finally going to Associated Press ple in one of Mexico's poor-
see the waterfalls and pyr- est and most isolated states
amids I didn't have time to took us past small towns pool encircled by tropical known during reporting remain independent and
visit during the hectic early and jungle vegetation and greenery. trips a quarter-century be- rebellious in the city named
days of the uprising by the finally to the waterfalls I had Several more hours in the fore, just with more chain for Bartolome de las Casas,
Zapatista National Libera- heard so much about dur- minivan took us to the Ma- stores and other develop- a 16th century Dominican
tion Army. And this time, I ing my earlier reporting trips yan ruins of Palenque, a 7th ment around the outskirts friar and the first resident
was traveling with my boy- a quarter-century before: century former city-state of and lots of new cars plying Bishop of Chiapas, who
friend, on his first visit to one Agua Azul and Misol Ha. stone temples surrounded the streets. wrote about the atrocities
of Mexico's most visually Named for a distinctive by centuries-old red cedar, The orange-toned Hotel Spanish colonizers commit-
lavish regions. turquoise blue caused by sapodilla and mahogany Santa Clara, where many ted against the indigenous
After getting settled in the the water's mineral con- trees. The cries of howler journalists stayed while people. "Stop the terror-
La Joya boutique hotel that tent, Agua Azul is a series monkeys emanated in covering the rebellion and ism of the state," reads in
opened a few years ago in of cascades, some nearly the distance, where stone subsequent peace talks in part one of several defiant
San Cristobal, we hooked 20 feet (6 meters) high, lo- structures evoking the old 1994, still stood at a corner slogans spray-painted on
up with a local tour com- cated deep in the rainfor- Indiana Jones movies were of the city's main plaza. A the side of San Cristobal's
pany and climbed into a est. The stunning Misol Ha draped with jungle vegeta- few blocks away, the La municipal palace, which
minivan with other tourists. is quite different, a single tion. Joya hotel where we were the Zapatistas seized dur-
A winding, hours-long ride cascade of some 115 feet A late-night, hours-long registered was discretely ing their uprising a quarter-
on the state's main highway (35 meters) spilling into a ride took us back to San hidden behind a wall with century before.q
Cristobal and the stylish La
Joya, which is operated by
an American couple cel-
ebrated by clients for their
sumptuous breakfasts and
attentive service.
The next day, we made
the short drive to the white-
washed church in the town
of San Juan Chamula,
where ancient indigenous
rituals mix with Christian be-
liefs. Families sat on the dirt
floor scattered with pine
needles, burning large can-
dles affixed to the ground
with hot wax, drinking cups
This Feb. 13, 2019 photo shows the Temple of Inscriptions, con- of sugar-cane liquor and This Feb. 14, 2019 photo shows a whitewashed church where
sidered to be the Mayan site's most impressive structure at the sacrificing live chickens in the community's Maya people mix ancient indigenous rituals
ruins of Palenque in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, healing ceremonies. mix with Christian beliefs in San Juan Chamula in the southern
where te burial tomb of the ruler Pakal is located inside. Back in San Cristobal, I Mexican state of Chiapas.
Associated Press found the same city I had Associated Press