being there

El caracol

by beth kohn

I hadn't expected a passport check in Zapatista rebel territory, but the diminutive compa in the black ski mask wanted to see my identification. And he had some bad news: He didn't think anyone had shown up for my friends' composting toilet workshop. After a five-hour journey through pockmarked roads infested with speed bumps, this was dispiriting information. The dust-encrusted, packed-to-overflowing pickup truck groaned under the weight of power tools, sacks of beans and vegetables, bags of dry cement, and two freshly painted white commodes. Stringing up our hammocks, we tried to shrug off the looming possibility of a wasted trip.

In the late 1990s, a number of activist friends of mine headed down to the Mexican state of Chiapas to do support work for the Zapatistas, and for years my inbox regularly contained e-mails about imminent military offensives. It's been 12 years since an army of masked indigenous fighters emerged from the jungle to take a stand against the Mexican government, capturing the world's imagination as they proclaimed their right to land, justice, and self-determination. And just this past July it looked like the EZLN (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional) might resume active military engagements. However, tensions diffused, and in November I accompanied two friends to Chiapas as they resumed work in the field.

One of five EZLN model communities – curiously called caracoles, or snails – the town of Roberto Barrios (near Palenque) shows few signs of having once been a major conflict zone. Banana trees bend with clusters of ripening fruit; vibrant murals animate the walls of open cement-block buildings. But just across the river that bisects the main road, the footprint of a deserted army base lies hidden under brush and bitter memories. The military presence was once the biggest danger to the town; now armed paramilitary townspeople constitute the main source of tension. A peace camp for human rights observers was constructed in Roberto in 1995, and thousands of international supporters have passed through to act as witnesses and as a buffer against potential violence. During my stay, the shift of observers consisted of a dozen chain-smoking Catalan anarchists, who busied themselves with women's literacy classes and tackling an overdue cleanup of the popular, well-stocked library.

Serenaded before dawn by the majestic roar of howler monkeys, we awoke to find that three participants had magically appeared for our workshop. After a breakfast of beans and hot handmade tortillas, our crew set to work clearing brush, trimming lumber, and building cement molds for the compost chamber doors. On break from a different workshop, dozens of young educators spilled out of an adjacent building and fanned around our work site, the men gazing at the buzzing circular saw with undisguised gearhead envy. We worked until the afternoon sun made exertion unbearable, and the skeleton, then the skin, of a basic wooden restroom slowly materialized.

Fresh from a nippy river bath, I made my way to the basketball court, the lighted center stage of evening activities. Men practiced layups, young women dribbled expertly in long, slim skirts and sandals, and adults took turns riding circuits on a kid-size bicycle. On the periphery, groups discussed the implications of the neoliberal infrastructure project Plan Puebla Panama; teenagers giggled in Chol and Tzeltal. A town leader came to tell us that the caracol had decided to launch a municipality-wide composting toilet project, and we turned in knowing the trip had been worth it.

Beth Kohn is a freelance writer who gets blisters from using machetes. Write her at fiercesf@igc.org.

Trip planner

Read First World, Ha Ha Ha!: The Zapatista Challenge, edited by Elaine Katzenberger. The War Against Oblivion: The Zapatista Chronicles 1994-2000, by John Ross.

Volunteer With even basic Spanish proficiency, you can be more than a "Zapatourist." Peace-camp human rights observing generally requires only a one-week minimum commitment. Spanish fluency, specialized skills, and the ability to make a multimonth commitment increase your choices.

The Chiapas Support Committee (510-654-9587, www.chiapas-support.org) takes delegations to visit autonomous EZLN communities and meet regional NGOs (next delegation March 2-13), and it places volunteers with NGOs and peace camps through Enlace Civil (www.enlacecivil.org.mx).

The Chiapas Peace House Project (www.chiapaspeacehouse.org/cs) requires at least two weeks of peace-camp work, after which volunteers are placed with one of some 30 organizational partners. The project runs a communal house in San Cristóbal for its volunteers.

Junax (pronounced hoo-NASH; www.seva.org/junax; its office has moved to Ejército Nacional no. 17) is a San Cristóbal-based NGO that places longer-term volunteers, preferably with special skills. Junax runs an inexpensive, popular posada that can be a good place to find volunteer work.