Heading down the ultramodern autopista we had to find a quick place to stop for the night, because the sun was about to go down.

Nancy's infallible instincts took us off at a little unmarked dirt road that seemed to lead to a village. We followed it and were uncertain whether to go into the village or just plop down our tent nearer to the autopiista. We kept going toward the village because she was hoping for a beer :-)

What we found was amazing. Before we'd been there for five minutes the entire village had joined us and was studying us. There were at least a dozen young children, and there we were chatting with the whole community as the sun went down.

We thought we'd wandered into a hidden village in Guatemala or something, with the one dirt road leading from the autopista to the village. It turned out that this village was founded maybe 40 years ago by people from the mountains of the southern state of Oaxaca who came looking for land. When they founded it (and until 12 years ago, when the autopista was put in) it was three long hours' walk to get there from Tierra Colorada.

The amazing thing is that they're a seemingly isolated people group - "refugees" from Oaxaca, a little disconnected island of people in the middle of Guerrero state. The older people still speak the mountain language, and all speak with an uncharacteristic accent for the region, setting them off further from their neighbors.

They set us up in front of the meeting hall and warned us about the burros that would come wandering through in the night. They did. And a confused rooster was crowing all night. We were so pleased to have met such cool and friendly people, though, that we loved it. And Nancy got her beer.