Red Alert

¡Hola, amigos! Soy yo, Don Simón, el changoleón. I realize it's been quite a while since I been writin' at y'alls. Things in Chiapas have been busy and good for the past month. Partying, bike workshops, more partying, worm & composting workshop, partying again - but not quite as hard... This week, everything has gotten even more interesting, due to a series of communiques sent out by the EZLN, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation that operates in Chiapas. You can read the translation of the initial communique here; and check out the Peace House website to get our summary of the developing events. The FZLN website is a good source to keep up on all things Zapatista. Basically, the Zapatistas have closed all their Caracoles and communities and are holding an internal consultation to determine the next steps of their movement. This has come as a rather big surprise to everyone around here, and they have requested that international solidarity workers and human rights observers leave Zapatista territory. San Cristóbal has been a bit tense as we all wait to see what happens, but all are safe and well with the Peace House crew and community, myself included. Another communique issued today assured that the EZLN is not preparing for military action, but consulting with its members and support bases as they decide how to continute their struggle.

I'm affected rather directly by these developments, though, because the bike repair training I have been doing for the past month or so was in a Zapatista community about 1 hour outside San Cris. So my progress in this department are currently on hold. It's a bit of a bummer, too. I've done four workshops in the past 6 weeks, and have been creating my own curriculum for the training, as the workshop is well stocked with tools, but lacks a bike repair manual in Spanish. Which is funny: all of the people in the community I was working in speak Tzotzil, a Mayan language, as their native tongue. So we were both speaking Spanish as a second language when we worked together. I made up some cool instruction sheets with images and graphics I stole off the internet. It took a bit of time working with the compañeros to establish a rapport, and sometimes I would arrive at our prearranged time to find that they had all gone out to work in the milpa (corn field). But after a bit of reorganizing, we set up a regular time to meet and do some repairs. A few weeks ago they fed me lunch, and presented me with a formal letter requesting parts and supplies for the workshop. They spelled my last name "Boquer." Last week we fixed a kid's loose handle bars, and they began teaching me phrases in Tzotzil. I can now say "Mooyuk tyuk," which means "It's not straight" (as in the handlebars on the bike we'd just fixed). I was looking forward to visiting the other bike workshops in 2 other communities next month, when there's less work in the milpa. But again, it's on hold to further notice. For now I'm working on translating some documents for the House, and giving a workshop on privilege and international solidarity to a delegation from U Mich.

I also got to give my composting and worm workshop for the house last Saturday, which was super fun. I gave it in Spanish, as a Mexican friend of the house also wanted the good dirt on how to get good dirt. This is Julieta, who is dating our neighbor Juan Carlos. She calls me Don Simón, after her favorite cheap wine. She always says it's my fault she's drunk. Changoleón can by roughly translated to vagabond, but the word is a fusion of chango (monkey) and león (lion). Juan Carlos told me it comes from this Mexican reality show where they take this drunk guy (El Changoleón) off the street and put him in wierd situations, like making him take ballet classes n' shit like that. {It's always so great to see which aspects of American culture are being exported to the rest of the world.} Anyway, put it together and it rhymes: Don Simón, el changoleón.

In other news, it's raining. It's been raining a lot. June is one of the biggest months for rainfall in Chiapas. But I got me some big black boots to wear. They're a little big, so could one of you please send me some thick hiking socks? Thanks.

Surprise, surprise: I've also been partying. Exiting Peace House member Diego planned 3 days of despedida (goodbye party) before he left two weeks ago. This entailed dancing til 3 am on Thursday, House Party til 5 am on Friday, and going out to Wicho's on Saturday aftenoon. Wicho's is one of the family bars we like to frequent. They have 2 fer 1 beers and botanas, which are plates of food that come each time you order drinks. So we passed another merry afternoon there. Sometimes I get afraid that the party won't end. Our friends Jen and Julia left later that week, not without much festivities. I kept it low key for those events, tho, so as to be fresh for my bike workshop last week.

I guess that's about it. I'm doin' good and feelin' fly down here. Wishin' you all the same wherever u be.

I'll leave you with a tasty treat that some of you all are familiar with. Smash hit "baby bok choi" has a new home on the net, thanks to my friend Joe (big ups!). Visit this site to listen, and while there, you can also check out Jawa, Joe's band from highschool.