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September 5, 2005
Immigration Office
We started our day at the immigration office in San Cristobal. It was shockingly easy. The immigration official that looked at our cards told us it looked like 90 days to her, and she typed it out on the card so we wouldn’t have any problems at the border. Like I said we left the office 10 minutes after we entered both surprised how painless the experience had been.
The day was now free as we had assumed we would be trapped in the immigration office for a good part of the it. We decided to head to the café where Nicolas worked to catch up on some writing and reading. He was there again and we talked with him and another co-worker about everything from Pemex (the state-owned oil company), to languages, to the Zapatistas between coffees and scribbling down posts for the website.
That night, we headed over to a small movie theater and watched a documentary on the recent Zapatista movement. It really left with me with more questions than it gave me answers. Where the general demands were made clear: justice, liberty, democracy for the indigenous people of Mexico, who do indeed face discrimination, the film was short on specifics. Days later I would read that some of Sub-Comandante Marcos’ more recent, specific goals are to unite the political left to fight neo-liberalism. My message to the indigenous groups would be less Marcos and more De Soto (one of my favorite economists who shows the importance of the combination of justice, liberty, democracy, and property rights), which would be the clearest path to better lives.
Tomorrow we’re off on a boat tour of the Cañon del Sumidero. It should be fun.
Posted by Peter Mork at September 5, 2005 6:50 PM
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