Migrants in U.S. fueling tech boom in Maya city

[Judi Lynn]

Migrants in U.S. fueling tech boom in Maya city
Maya migrants to Florida and elsewhere are sending millions home, spurring growth and the discovery of cyberspace.
Posted on Fri, Jul. 11, 2008

BY SUSANA HAYWARD
Special to The Miami Herald

SAN JUAN CHAMULA, Chiapas -- It's an hour later in the rest of Mexico, but according to the Maya calendar it's the holy time of noon in this traditional township. When the church bell peals thunderously 12 times, everyone stops what they are doing and makes the sign of the cross.

Once the ringing ends, the thud of hammers again echoes across the sprawling farmlands around this autonomous city, home to 100,000 Tzotzil-speaking Mayas.

San Juan Chamula, a mostly ceremonial center that long resisted outsiders, is undergoing a construction boom, thanks mostly to young people who recently departed in droves to work in the United States and are sending millions of dollars home.

Along with the building explosion, Chamula and other remote indigenous communities where Mayan is spoken are experiencing a technological awakening.

Cybercafes sprout in villages with primitive plumbing and unpaved roads. Mayas in traditional attire chat on cellphones and send text messages to kinfolk in the United States. Here, many now photograph and videotape their festivals and religious ceremonies, a syncretism of ancient beliefs with Catholicism. Until recently, recording such images could land one in jail.

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