Of news about places I loved which are closing forever because of the pandemic, I was most moved by an announcement I read online from San Cristobal, Chiapas, Mexico. Memories flooded in of Tierra Adentro, a restaurant under a high roof, a center for music and poets, and an outlet for goods made in Zapatista communities nearby struggling for existence. During the days I was researching my firstbook, Maya Roads, One Woman’s Journey Among the People of the Rainforest, I met friends and sources there, reviewed my notes at night. All around, in pamphlets for sale, written on rough boards, even printed on placemats, were a memorable words from an eclectic crowd that reflected the spirit of the place. I want to remember some of them (my translations) to make myself feel better, to recall Tierra Adentro in joy. Luckily, I saved a placemat.
“That two and two is necessarily four is an opinion many of us share. But if anyone sincerely thinks otherwise, let him or her speak up. Nothing amazes us around here.”
---Antonio Machado
“Craziness is like gravity. All it needs is a little push.”
---Batman
“For the one who loves, a thousand objections do not make a doubt; for the who does not love, a thousand proofs do not make a certainty.”
---Louis Evely
“Sorry for the inconvenience. This is a revolution.”
---Sub-Comandante Marcos
“Utopia is on the horizon. I walk two steps, she is two steps further away, and the horizon runs ten steps farther. So what good is utopia? For that, to walk on.”
Eduardo Galeano
“If there is no coffee for all, there will be no coffee for anyone.”
---Ernesto “Che” Guevara
“My name is Esther, but that isn’t important now. I am a Zapatista, but that’s not important either in this moment. I am indigenous and I am a woman, and that is the only thing that’s important now.”
---Comandante Esther
And from Guille, the brother of Mafalda:
‘"Isn’t it incredible how much there can be inside a pencil?"
And from Guille, the brother of Mafalda:
