Zapatourism

In accordance with the local authorities and autonomous municipalities, the transport of illegal vehicles, planting of drugs, and assaults are prohibited. You are in Zapatista rebellion territory. Here the community rules and the government obeys.

The Zapatista movement is a huge part of San Cristóbal history and continues to this day - for many international and Mexican tourists in the form of romanticized revolutionary dreams and for residents of nearby caracols (autonomous Zapatista communities) in the form of a nuanced reality.

In honor of fellow Fulbrighter Andrea´s visit to Chiapas, we decided to venture a visit to the closest community, Oventic. Unlike other nearby indigenous towns, it doesn´t advertise itself as a tourist destination, but we were allowed to enter. After finally locating the taxis that travel in the right direction and after surviving a hair-raising hour of steep cliffs, sharp turns, dense fog, and inadvisable speeds, we arrived at a road-side gate where a masked Zapatista took our information. Then a soft-spoken and kind woman (also masked) showed us the highlights of the small community.

As in many indigenous communities, photos of people are prohibited, but there were impressive murals on many of the buildings. The fog, which turned to drizzling rain, added to the other-worldly ambiance, but made the pictures a bit blurry.

We are the root

Office of women of dignity

In the autonomous Zapatista schools, children
are educated in the spirit and collective
conception of the world.