Pie in the Sky Adventures #32

"From the Lacandon Jungle to Hopi Territory: A Feather Trader's Odyssey". "Hammocks, Howler Monkeys, and Feathered Beauties: My journey to the Lacandon Settlements"

A Lacandon Indian of Chiapas,, Mexico about to shoot a bird.

We began this week gathering fresh organic veggies at the La Cruz Sunday Market. Here is Teri admiring some prize winning beets and dill.

We’ve been meeting lots of new people these days even when we think the number of visitors this year so far is considerably lower than last. I wonder why? Could it be that the negative press Mexico is receiving up north is affecting travel plans? Or perhaps the difference between 20 pesos to the dollar and 16? It’s still too early in the year to know for sure. We’re optimistic and busy, what more could a growing business ask for?

When I started sending newsletters on Substack, I described it as a slice of expat life, creating and running a small business here and also a continuation of ‘Pie in the Sky Adventures’, our Amazon book. Week by week stories rather than additional chapters. Occasionally I’m asked

to expand on areas just touched on in the book. One was as question asked last week, “how did I know about Caye Caulker in Belize.”

The fact was I walked from Palanque, Chiapas south across the Usumacinta River into Petan Guatemala and then walking thru the Petan jungle using river canoes on the Usumacinta river, into Belize and over to Caye Caulker.

Lots of stories of that trip that took 6 weeks of stringing the hammock at a different place almost every night. I’ll tell that tale some other time. Today I’m remembering a trip, again thru the jungle to stay with the Lacondon Indians in southern Chiapas in the Lacandon Jungle.

I had never heard of the Lacandones before renting a house in the Mayan town of Palanque in the 70’s.

I would see a few of the men in town selling their bow and arrows. Really beautiful works, primitive but beautiful and deadly to birds and monkeys. They are the last of the Mayans. the most isolated and culturally conservative Mexican indigenous peoples. They have been studied by anthropologist from the world over. I knew they lived in very small settlements in their 2 million hectare part of the jungle in Chiapas. Nibbled at the edges by lumber interest, they are still ‘way back there’.
All 400 of them.

During my time in Palanque I had several travelers string their hammocks around the house I was renting . We, all new friends, had many nights sipping mushroom tea and playing music on a wide variety of instruments. My specialty was a Nido can. On one of those trippy evenings someone talked about ancient trading routes used by trader/travelers. One was taking feathers from the Mayans up to the Indians of the Southwest, namely Hopi’s and Navajos. Having had some ‘trading’ experience it sounded interesting to me. and a trip back to the U.S. was hatched. All I had to do was find the right feathers. I was due to return to Sausalito as the fishing season was about to begin and I was playing at being a commercial fisherman at the time and had to get my boat ready.

Pointed in the right general direction, I left using bus and finally walked using hard to see trails towards a big lake in their jungle. I was told by Lacandons walking in the opposite direction to wait on the shore for a canoe going over to their settlements. This I did and finally after sitting there alone with the howler monkeys and a variety of feathered beauties for a day, hitched a ride.

My being able to stay there, very much up to the head man who would be there to meet my ride.

The settlement consisted of no more than a dozen palapas in the style of the Mayan with bamboo like poles as walls.

You can see out but not in. The first thing the chief wanted to know was “where was my gun” and when asked how I handled the snakes without one, I answered that I did’’t bother them. That was the correct answer as it turned out and I was given a space in a storage shed to string my hammock. Once they heard that I was there to re enact the trade in their feathers I became an honored guest. Hours were spent accompanying them in their hunt for something to cook. Really an adventure.

Over the next week I was sent from one family to another to gather a collection. The woman of the house would reach up above the open wood stove cooking area under the palm frond ceiling which was blackened from years of cooking smoke, and extract a corn husk. Actually two corn husks when placed right together would create a grease free holding environment for the feathers. And What Feathers! A large variety from birds shot for meat but the precious feathers saved for just such a day when they would demand one peso per feather! Scarlet Macaw tail feathers almost 3 feet long.

Mealy parrots and so many others. Also the tanned breast pelts of the toucan with their brilliant reds and yellows. Holy cow! I was becoming a “feather merchant”. When asked what they would do with the money earned they all said that they were saving for a taxi to use when the road was put in. One of the interesting things witnessed during my stay was to see the same husband appearing with a different ‘wife’ in a different house! That’s their way, maybe not enough men around.

I fabricated a carrying case for my new treasures with cardboard and duct tape, said adios to my host and others and was whisked back across the lake and civilization. I will ever forget my first view every morning still in the hammock, were the dozen pairs of little eyes peering in thru the slats to see this blonde, blue eyed, bearded white guy.

I returned to Palanque and caught a series of trains, 2nd class up to the border. Finally hitchhiking up to Flagstaff and a hoped for meeting with the Hopi’s.

Tune in again next Friday for the continuation of this trip and my meeting with the chief of a Hopi clan. ‘Trading with the Hopi’s and the Navajos.’

Dear subscribers and other readers we thank you for your support and interest in our weekly adventures. We hope you find them interesting enough to share. If so please show your support by pushing the Share button and sharing them with family and friends. We appreciate it.

‘