22nd December

Early start today - need to ring Ma to wish her happy birthday but true to form she was unavailable on all her 3 numbers so I had a cafe to go and ate cinnamon cake back in bed. Did get to speak to her while we waited for the coach which was nice.

Today is a bit different. We are off to visit the villages of the Zapatista Insurgents in Chiapas. The history as you can imagine is pretty bloody. Here it is in a nutshell....

The Liberation Army of the South was an important force in the Mexican Revolution (1910–1919), led by Emiliano Zapata. Zapata was killed by the government - the hacienda de SAn Juan is riddled with bullets to this day and can be visited with those with a sense of the macabre. Today the descendents want autonomy from the government and run their own hospitals, shops, schools but the government are still out to crush their cause and arrest the insurgents. As a result visits to the villages are run under maximum security - we had to hand in our passports to the balaclava-clad guerillas on the gate.

We had a talk from one of the leaders, still wearing his balaclava (which was incredibly intimidating) and he preached his ideaology in Spanish. Our guide did a great job at the translating and Leslie and I filled in the gaps. We were allowed to take one photo of the leaders and visit the shop but any photos of locals without covered faces would have got us into hot water - although I was dying to find out what that meant. The shop was quite good, so I bought a T-shirt although was lost for words when I found a pamphlet praising Osama Bin Laden's attack on the US.

After a quick food stop we visited another Zapatista village - the main church was actually quite interesting (I am so sick of visiting churches) and the locals perform all sorts of rituals for sickness and to recapture lost spirits involving Coca-cola and chickens. Don't ask. We went around the markets but you get tired saying "No gracias" to the local kids who won't leave you alone.

The trip cost 230 pesos which when you convert back to pounds is only about 12 quid but by latin american standards it was a complete rip off. Didn't tip the guide as a result.

Bought Harry Potter in Spanish and went back to the hotel. I am nearly at breaking point with the group - I have never needed a beer with some mates or have a chat about rugby or football down the pub - I think it might be time to come home (or explain rugby to Mikey, who is still sick). I declined dinner - I can't be doing with the whinging and penny-counting that goes on so I am currently "doing my own thing".

We are off to Palenque early tomorrow which are another set of ruins - but this time in the junglew whcih should be great. The trip again will be sponsored by DEET.