The White Queen
Day 28
Every morning in San Cristobal we enjoyed breakfast on the terrace at our small, neat and very comfortable hostel. It was one of those places that had all the amenities you want as a budget traveller. Basic, bus spotless room with a comfortable bed and even a clothes rack. There was the sunny rooftop terrace and another shady terrace on the ground level. Free internet access and access to a great kitchen. The biggest plus was the included breakfast, anything from cereal to an omelette. All this for 220 pesos. The only thing we couldn’t change was the cold morning weather we enjoyed that breakfast in.
Today we are walking to the north end of San Cristobal to the house of Na Bolom. Now a museum it was formerly home to Trudy Blom and her husband Frans Blom. They both devoted their lives to help preserve the indigenous cultures of Chiapas. Mainly they concentrated on the Lancandones, a group of Mayans who live deep in the Lacandon jungle of Chiapas. They are also noteworthy for being the only unconquered group of Maya.
We arrived at the gorgeous museum and paid our entrance and waited for the 4pm tour of the site. Our tour consisted of us and 2 Austrians. Pepe was or guide, a short maya man. When he spoke of the Blom’s, Maya people or Chiapas his voice was filled with the kind of passion and calm that grabbed your attention, and it made me want to start my own expedition into the Lacandon jungle. Trudy Blom came to Mexico to escape WWII, she met her archaeologist husband in Chiapas and they made a perfect match. Frans led expeditions into the jungle exploring ruins and Trudy fell in love with the people of the jungle. Documenting their lives through incredible photos.
Pepe led us from room to room through the hacienda. Each filled with photos from Trudy and maps of jungle explorations by Frans. Other rooms were filled with information and artifacts from natives, mainly the Lacandones of Chiapas. Not only did Trudy gain the trust of the Lacandon people, she gained respect from them and they referred to her as the white queen. When the Zapatistas took over San Cristobal they messaged Na Bolom to inform then they respected Trudy and the hacienda would not be touched. Trudy had passed away one week prior to their action. She worked endlessly and devoted her whole life to help preserve the culture of the Lacandon people, also to protect the jungle in which they lived.
At the end of the tour I felt inspired to rush out and continue her legacy. Na Bolom is a very inspirational and touching place, it had Jordana in tears and I gotta admit I was close but come on real men don’t cry. I also felt ignorant that I had never heard of this great lady or of the Lacandon before, yet Mexicans respected and admired her. Her death in 1993 was national front page news.
We finished off our educational day with dinner in a large courtyard restaurant surrounded with shops, all run as a co-operative by the local indigenous people. It was great to see the natives of Chiapas making decisions of their own and running their own business. To often this isn’t the story to tell. We excitedly discussed travelling south into the Lacandon jungle to visit the Mayan people we had learned about today and view the same ruins that Frans had rediscovered all those years ago.
Tags: Mexico
Michael Coroneos
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