This huge, ostentatious military base being built just outside of San Cristobal was not a subtle hint that significant money is being pumped into operations in and around Chiapas. We hit military and police checkpoints a few times during our long drives around Chiapas. Although we had nothing to hide, it's definitely a bit scary to be asked to pull over in a foreign country by heavily armed military personnel, especially when another car nearby is having it's contents dumped and combed as helpless passengers stand by nervously. We pulled up and a couple of armed guards immediately stuck their heads in the windows and peered around the inside of the car looking for signs of contraband of one kind or another. We were asked to get out and open the trunk and I started wondering if all of our camera gear would raise any suspicions. Fortunately, my two Mexican compañeros vouched for their token gringo. The talk was friendly, but firm. It looked like we would be let through without turning the car inside out. But then there was something that they didn't like about Raul's pants of all things, which were surplus US military issue camouflage: "There's another checkpoint down the road and those guys are real fuckers. If I were you, I'd change those before you get there." A mile down the road we pulled over for a road-side pants change. The next checkpoint finally appeared maybe an hour later and all apprehension was quickly erased when it was pretty clear that the guards were thinking more about tacos and cervezas and hardly gave us a glance as we drove by.
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