One of the best experiences of my last stay in Chiapas has been the tour to the communities of Naha and Metzabok, both located in the Lacandon jungle, about 3 hours from Palenque.

Vittorio, one of the local guides I work with, told me about his intentions of including these 2 villages in a new itinerary focused on nature and community tourism, and I immediately expressed my enthusiasm about pioneering this route with him.

Both villages are on the shore of amazing lagoons, which you can explore by boat. As the route is definitely off the beaten tracks, we did not meet other tourists and our two canoes were the only ones in the lagoon. By listening to the splashing of the oar in the water, the only sound breaking an astonishing silence, and seeing our local guide wearing his traditional white tunic and long loose hair I really felt like I was transported back in time.

One of the tour highlights was the meeting with Don Antonio in his temple in Naha. He is the spiritual heir of Chan K’in Viejo, the last religious leader of the Lacandones who died in 1996. Although I had to sit a few meters away from the ‘men only area’ - where he keeps his clay gods - and stand the sarcastic smile of victory of the men in our group, I was really hanging off his lips while he was telling us about his ancestors’ believes and their visions of the world, so incredibly simple and at the same time so powerful. He also showed us how he prepares the Balche` - the traditional drink used during the religious rites – and the way he burns the copal while getting in touch with the gods with songs and prayers.

It is difficult to express Don Antonio’s incredible charisma and vitality with words… I still can not believe his age (84 or 86…he was not sure himself), since he is walking straight and fast, and does not have a single grey hair.

Longevity is not unusual amongst the Lacandones; Chan K’in Viejo lived for more than a century, and two of his wives are still up and about in the village of Naha. (Well, one of them is still quite young, as when they married she was in her 30ies and he was almost 80!)

The older wife is a small lady who at the age of 80-something welcomed us while running around the kitchen trying to kick the dog out. She also had a good laugh when she finally managed to ‘whip’ him with the kitchen towel. I felt quite weird at the idea that the woman who was cooking us breakfast was the same one I had seen the night before on a 1950s black and white video documentary. She was filmed together with her husband and other members of the community by the archaeologist Franz Blom and his wife, the photographer Gertrude Blom, at the time of their expeditions of the Lacandon jungle and of their first contacts with the local Mayan population.

While she was cooking our eggs on banana leaves on an old open fire stove, wearing toucan’s feathers in her braids her grandchildren were ready to drive off to the fields on their shiny SUVs, thanks to the many government subsidies… another controversial topic we will probably go on about soon…

Many of our Eco-tours in Chiapas take people to the Lacandon jungle, but few visitors know the story of the biggest rainforest in the country, and of its inhabitants, the Lacandon Mayas.

We always suggest travellers to visit the Na Bolom Museum in San Cristobal before heading to the jungle, to get some information about the region they are going to visit. However, if you do not have the chance to go to the museum, you can read a brief excerpt of the jungle’s history below.

Since the end of the 18th Century, the Lacandon Maya have lived in the Lacandon rain forest. Until the 1920’s the forest was virtually impenetrable, allowing their culture, whose very heart and spiritual life is based on the rain forest and everything that exists within it, to develop in near isolation.

But today the rain forest is changing and so are the Lacandones - at times because they have to, at times because they want to.

In the 1950’s the Mexican government realized that the Lacandon rain forest offered many valuable natural resources, and in order to establish better political and social control, they began building roads into the forest. For example, the road to the ruins of Bonampak was just completed in 1997.

Roads have made the rain forest more accessible to tourists, the military, anthropologists, journalists and missionaries, who bring with them new ideas and ideologies. These views affect the traditional social, economic, and religious structures of the Lacandones.

From the 1950’s the government opened the forest to colonization as a solution to land scarcity in the highlands of Chiapas and as a result other indigenous groups (Choles, Tzeltales and Tzotziles) have settled there with more and more arriving each day.

To support their families they farm using methods which are not suited to rain forest soil and some are working the land which by government decree belongs to the Lacandones. This has created tension between the various indigenous groups.

With intensive logging, slash and burn farming and cattle ranching, over 80% of the Lacandon forest has been destroyed. In efforts to preserve what remains, the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve - in which the community of Lacanja-Chansayab is located - was established in 1978.

Today also the people of Naha are exploring the possibility of developing an ecological reserve.

For the Lacandones the repercussions of deforestation are very serious, as the basis of their existence, culture and spirituality lies in the forest. Their spiritual leader - Chan Kin Viejo from Naha - died in 1996. He was the keeper of the Lacandon ancient traditions, a vital part of which was lost upon his death. Some of his sons remember the stories told by their father, and continue practicing some of the traditions.

All these changes have led the Lacandones to think of ways to balance their ancient traditions with the influences from outside. Change is within any culture and we ourselves are a product of change. We accept and reject change on a daily basis. The same is true for the Lacandones. Where the changes will lead them is uncertain, but the richness of their culture is not lost.

Barbara and I just had a coffee and a chat with an indigenous lady here in San Cristobal de las Casas. It was quite a conversation.

We were talking about where we come from, being Scotland for me, and it was quickly apparent she had no idea Scotland existed let alone where it was.

I could understand this, it’s a small country after all and I have had similar discussions with people even in Europe, so I continued to say it was a part of the United Kingdom, just north of England. Nothing.

Ok, it is near France. Nothing. It’s in Europe (kind of). And this is when the penny dropped. This lady had no idea, absolutely no idea where and what Europe was.

It transpired not only was she unaware of Europe, she pretty much had no idea of where other countries and continents were like China or Russia or Africa.

On top of this; she thought that all of the countries out there were effectively governed by the US and George Bush. Although she may not be completely off the mark on that one, she was quite surprised, and I think pleased, to hear that we all have our own governments.

I opened up a map of the world on my laptop; showing her where Mexico was then the US, South America, across the ocean to Europe, then Africa, Asia and Australia.

It was quite something seeing someone amazed by the world in which we live in. I never expected her to have a vast knowledge of the world, but to not be aware that a land exists across an ocean was one that caught me by surprise.

It’s one of those conversations that reinforces just how far we have to come in terms of education in the world. Maybe an organisation whose purpose is to install a world map in every town would be a good idea. The ideal of everyone getting an education is far off, so something small may be a good step.

Mind you; if you read the following, which many of you will already be aware of, I probably shouldn’t be so surprised by a lack of geographical knowledge in the world. Study: Geography Greek to young Americans

The best part of the above link is the following line: “On the positive side, the study noted, seven in 10 young Americans correctly located China on a map”. Now this would have been quite amusing if it was sarcasm. Well done to those two thirds.