As seems to be the case throughout southern Mexico, my ride from Oaxaca to Chilpancingo, Guerrero, was a delight of twisty mountain roads in generally good condition, with just enough rough spots to add an extra dimension of excitement. Since this journey was too long for one day but a rather easy two-day run, I finally overcame my habitual reluctance to stop and enjoy the sights. In this case, sights worth stopping for were almost always yet another beautiful little country iglesia (church). The pueblos, themselves, frequently looked charming from a distance but, up close, less so, with their poverty obvious in their rutty dirt roads, shacky buildings and ubiquitous trash. It appears that such economic "surplus" as is realizable in these communities all goes into their iglesias. Click on the thumbnails to see specific photos. Wish I were clever enough to play for you the Brandenberg Concerto that was playing over the speaker system of one of these while I took my picture. What a delight!
My Oaxacan friends had been dismissive of Chilpancingo but, to my surprise, I found it a rather pretty little city, the usual crush of Mexico city traffic and the ceaselessly honking horns notwithstanding. In addition to a nice Zócolo it has an even prettier park two pedestrian-walkway blocks distant. It is not a tourist destination. I like that. The thumbnails below show a few scenes from El Centro. As always in Mexico, there are protest groups camped out in front of the government offices seeking, usually in vain, correction of some injustice or another.
I am staying with the family of the woman who invited me here, Judith Rodriquez. Her father, a mechanical engineer by profession, was also a skilled and imaginative artist.
This is one of his pictures. The central figure is the famous historical freedom fighter Emiliano Zapata. The woman center, bottom, with the pinkish mask, is his daughter Judith. To her right is the famous contemporary freedom fighter Subcomandante Marcos of the Zapatista National Liberation Army. George Bush and Vincente Fox choose to call him a terrorist, as I imagine the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz so-called Zapata, but the Zapatists have never terrorized innocent civilians, never committed massacres, never tortured, never "disappeared", never falsely imprisoned, as does, routinely, the army of Mexico and its paramilitary allies, the army of Vincente Fox, the army lavishly funded and equipped by the government of George Bush.
I have generally been of the opinion, as the old saw has it, that guests and fish smell in three days. These people are of a much more gracious nature and, four weeks later, as I write this on 12/14/2001, still seem content to have me camped out in their little study. Indeed, it appears I will be doing so for another week before I journey back to Oaxaca to spend the "Navidad" holiday with daughter Alicia.