The Road to Glory

 

I have been reading some things to make last minute additions to my history of Guerrero from 7000BC to 1600AD. The University of New Mexico Press has sent it to academic readers for reports before considering it for publication. Fingers crossed.

 

One of my readings was a report of an expedition by four archaeologists (Miguel Pérez Negrete, Hans Martz de la Vega, Guadalupe Paoky Rueda Robledo and José Aguilera Almanza) to study and register petroglyphs high up in the Sierra Madre del Sur at a place called La Gloria. Armed with official authorization from their employer INAH (National Institute of Anthropology and History) the first stop was the office of the Presidente Municipal (roughly, the mayor) of Atoyac de Álvarez. The Presidente gave his official blessing and a municipal vehicle. The municipal delegate of La Gloria offered to accompany the group.

 

The next stop was the local radio station for an interview to inform the people of the municipality of the expedition. The motive for this interview was partly publicity, but above all the safety of the archaeologists. In these mountains, unfamiliar people might be mistaken for members of organized crime gangs, of the Ejército Popular Revolucionario (EPR) guerrilla who operate in these mountains, government officials on some unwelcome mission, or simply suspicious characters. These are dangerous parts, to be travelled with enormous care.

 

Not far into their journey the group encountered their first retén (a roadblock), staffed by officials from the Procuraduría General de la República (the federal prosecutor’s office) and municipal police. Because they were travelling in a municipal vehicle they were waved through without inspection. The next retén, higher up in the mountains, was a more serious affair. Here their INAH permits were examined with care.

 

As the group passed through small settlements along the route, residents called out to the municipal delegate that they had heard he was coming on the radio. When they reached the summit of the Cabeza de Perro (Dog’s Head) they stopped to look back at the Pacific Ocean many miles below, but soon they were deep in wooded, secluded mountains. In several small settlements they saw remains of prehispanic structures on the roadside.

 

After five hours they reached La Gloria, a ranchería (roughly, hamlet) of about 50 people whose livelihood is coffee growing. The residents live far from the services provided by the Mexican state: schools, clinics etc. Although huge pylons and thick cables carry power overhead to the cities of the coast, La Gloria has no electricity. The people of La Gloria grow their coffee under the ever present threat that a drug gang or a guerrilla group may pass by, perhaps even worse the army.

 

One’s first impression from the archaeologists’ description is “What a remote place”. But here the archaeologists recorded 27 petroglyphs carved on large rocks among the coffee trees. They depict jaguars, human figures and assorted non-figurative designs. The arrangement of the petroglyphs may indicate that they functioned as some kind of astronomical aids to mark significant events such as an equinox. Also scattered among the coffee trees and carved rocks are remains of at least 21 small prehispanic settlements.

 

The jaguars petroglyph at La Gloria

It stuck me that this place, which in the 21^st century we see as remote from society, was buzzing with life, ceremony and ritual, several hundred years ago, in an age of no roads and no wheeled vehicles. It also reminded me of another story, the journey in 1970 of a Mexican expert on Indigenous manuscripts, Joaquín Galarza, from his office in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France to Chiepétlan, also high up in the mountains of Guerrero, further inland and to the East. News had reached Paris of previously unknown manuscripts in the village. Paris to Mexico was the easy part of the journey.

 

One of the Lienzos de Chiepetlán, combining Indigenous and Spanish iconography: two jaguars with crowns

Once he had reached Guerrero, Galarza had two choices of transport: a long and arduous journey on horseback, or a small plane that plied a route through the mountains and touched down on request. The landing area at Chiepetlán was a cattle pasture. The locals, alerted that a visitor wished to land, could clear the cattle, or, if the visitor was judged unwelcome, could leave them to munch the grass and prevent the plane from landing. Galarza was allowed to land and escorted to the plaza of the village, where he was asked to wait – for several hours while the village leaders debated whether they should show this unusual visitor their precious documents. Eventually Galarza was asked to the  community hall to face the leaders and the population of Chiepetlán. After answering many questions he was allowed to see the documents.

 

Chiepetlán, Guerrero. Where would you choose to land your plane?

Like La Gloria, Chiepetlán is now “remote”, but in the 15^th and 16^th centuries it was certainly not. It guarded trade routes for precious goods from the coast to the cities of the Valleys of Mexico and Toluca, and Morelos, in central Mesoamerica. Aztec warriors passed through the town on their way to conquests further south and Aztec Tribute (i.e. tax) collectors were familiar figures.

 

A festival in the plaza of Chiepetlán

Places like La Gloria and Chiepetlán are by no means unusual in modern Mexico. A country with a modern economy, and a number of the richest men in the world, has left anciently vibrant and thriving communities to languish far from the benefits of a modern state society. Nevertheless, resilience, advisable caution (to let the plane land or not; to allow this vehicle into a community or not) enable the people of these places to live lives every bit as important and fulfilling as those of modern urban dwellers. Their resilience and determination are extraordinary.

 

Celebrations in Chiepetlán. The structure to the left is the Castillo, a framework for a firework display

This will be my last item before Christmas. A Merry Christmas and happy 2021 to all who read this. Please stay in touch and safe.