The village is becoming a darker, dirtier, lonelier place. The wooden shacks look smaller, more fragile beneath the torrents of rain that fall from above. "Lots of water" comments Abram, next door neighbour to the peace camp. The Tzeltal people have only one word to describe the liquid they drink, the rains that fall and the rivers that they flow into. Water. It's enough. They have a lot of words to describe the police and soldiers, but many of them are unprintable.
Aguascalientes IV is also at risk from the army. This meeting space, constructed in 1996 as a place for the Zapatistas to meet with civil society from around Mexico and the world, is only a few kilometres up the road from the town of Altamirano and its huge military garrison. The government is also working hard to try and destabilise the nearby community of Morelia, creating bitter division among the indigenous population in order to weaken the rebels. For the past few weeks people from the surrounding EZLN support villages - including Diez de Abril - have been taking turns to guard the Aguascalientes. The guerillas have warned that any such attack will meet a very determined response.
The people of Diez de Abril accept the stress, the fear and the gloom with smiles and hard work. Morale is high despite everything, and practical jokes are the order of the day. Building a wall near the old ranch house proves slow work because everybody stops by to make some wisecrack, and we always end up helpless with laughter. One of the peace campers is impressed by the Zapatistas' approach to communications... "You know, the string system. Don Ernesto told me all about it. Really ingenious."
There are blank stares all round. Nobody knows what he's talking about.
"It saves energy, you see. The radio is turned off until they need to send a message. Then they give a tug on the piece of string so the people at the other end know to turn their machine on too..."
We packed work in especially early that day, after half the community collapsed on the ground giggling.