All is well down in the pennisula. I have been quite busy as I have arrived at a particularly eventful time at the village. Here is a brief list of what I have been up to.
- Birthday party (speaking of which Happy Birthday Mom)
- Elections for the village "mayor" (which actually took place twice as there was a discrepency in the first count which resulted in someone getting thown into the village jail for hitting someone in the head with a rock, and this is with a law banning the selling of alcohol on election days)
- A ritual involving rain
- A trip though the jungle to an unexcavated Mayan site and its accompanying cenote
- A 3 day ritual involving rain that included participating in the slaughtering, butchering, cooking, and eating of several pigs and chickens (pics to come)
- A mutitude of small gatherings of friends just drinking, eating, and conversing
I will try to capture one of the rituals in writing to share with you but I must admit that the descriptive narrative of these events does little to capture what I am actually interested in. It is hard to capture relationships in words and pictures (of which I have not taken many during my time in the village).
In addition to the descriptive piece I am preparing a more theoretical piece that will hopefully explain why I feel a purly decriptive, this is what happened and this is who did it, chronicle of my experiences, and those who participated in them with me, is inadequate for my interests anthopologically. And beyond that just as a human being.
When I get back to traveling the descriptions with resume as they had but as for my time spent with other human beings it is far from adequate...
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Update
Sorry for the lack of posts this last week. I am currently staying in a small village just southeast of Tihosuco, México, and had a bit of an adventure finding my way there. I had to make a 50 mile drive today to come to Valladolid to use a computer. I am searching around for some alternatives but until then the posts may be few and far between. I am also planning some ventures into Belize and Guatamala which may put me in a situation where I do not have internet access.
Since I will have time off from my regular posting methods, I will be in this location for about a month, I will try to write up a few story /comment posts back at the village, trying out some different styles, so I can have them prepared to type later this week or early next week.
Additionally, right now it is hard to leave as the village, not just do to the distances involved, but there are a number of events that I have been invited to recently and want to attend with my new friends. Of which, it is good I can laugh at myself as it was difficult enough tyring to work around the country without very good Spanish but my Mayan is nil. This situation offers many opportunities for me to misunderstand or mispronounce words, much to the amusement of others. I am having such a wonderful time though and the everyone has been amazingly generous and kind.
I hope you all are doing well and enjoying your summer so far.
Since I will have time off from my regular posting methods, I will be in this location for about a month, I will try to write up a few story /comment posts back at the village, trying out some different styles, so I can have them prepared to type later this week or early next week.
Additionally, right now it is hard to leave as the village, not just do to the distances involved, but there are a number of events that I have been invited to recently and want to attend with my new friends. Of which, it is good I can laugh at myself as it was difficult enough tyring to work around the country without very good Spanish but my Mayan is nil. This situation offers many opportunities for me to misunderstand or mispronounce words, much to the amusement of others. I am having such a wonderful time though and the everyone has been amazingly generous and kind.
I hope you all are doing well and enjoying your summer so far.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Day 15 Day trip to Chichén-Itza and Izamal (263 kilometers)
After vistiting some of the more interesting places within the city I looked for a place outside to visit. The most obvious was Chichén-Itza. While I was hanging around the hostel I met several people who had been to Chichén-Itza already, it is the biggest and most well know site in the area. They spoke of how disappointed they were because there were so many vendors and tourists in at the site. I put a bit of a sour taste on going but if you are down here this is the place to go so I decided to go anyways.
The hostel I am staying at offered tours but I did some calculations and determined it would be cheaper to drive over. Additionally, I had planned on seeing Izamal so if I drove over I could pop up to see Izamal on the way back and not lose too much time waiting for buses and see two locations in one day. A benefit considering I have a limited amount of time in Mérida.
I had originally planned on doing this loop on Saturday but I figured if this place is already going to be flooded with people I might as well go on a weekday so it would be a little less crowded.
They were not laying about the vendors, they were out in full force and they were EVERYWHERE. The path that takes you around the entire site was lined with vendors for about 80% of its length.
The hostel I am staying at offered tours but I did some calculations and determined it would be cheaper to drive over. Additionally, I had planned on seeing Izamal so if I drove over I could pop up to see Izamal on the way back and not lose too much time waiting for buses and see two locations in one day. A benefit considering I have a limited amount of time in Mérida.
I had originally planned on doing this loop on Saturday but I figured if this place is already going to be flooded with people I might as well go on a weekday so it would be a little less crowded.
They were not laying about the vendors, they were out in full force and they were EVERYWHERE. The path that takes you around the entire site was lined with vendors for about 80% of its length.
Funny thing is, that though most of the stuff is distinctly "Mayan" I could swear some of the things that were being sold I had seen in a few locations in Ecuador a couple of years ago. Regardless, you actually feel bad for the vendors, they are the locals from around the area. They have to pay for a permit to be allowed to sell stuff in there while the government takes a little off the top in addition to all the money they get from admissions fees and the like (which were far more than any other site I had been to). It is all around not a very positive economic situation. It is something I have noticed with the government here and back in the states when it comes to "national or world heritage sites". The people most closely tied to this heritage seem to be the ones who are last in line to reap any benefits or have any input into the interpretation of the sites. With that in mind, here is why I came:
I was down on going but the spectacular nature of the architecture really made of for any of the issues that you could complain about. It really is a "must-see".
Not paying the ridiculous amount for a guide, who from what I overheard are spouting some very questionable "information", allowed me to get though the site fairly efficiently. I was very thirsty, as I was walking around in full gear, but I refused to pay the outrageous prices for water, like at any tourist attraction, and hit the convenience store in the town of Piste on my way to Izamal.
While it is apparent in all the cities in this area, Izamal captures the reality of Spanish conquest better than any other location I have seen yet. The town is designated by the Mexican governement as "magical". According to the requirements to be considered magical by the Mexican government, the town or city must be small with rich historical tradition, but also must be near other "touristically interesting" sites or large cities, be accessible with good highways and roads, and there must be willingness by the locals to develop the project.
The thing that makes Izamal so "magical" is found in its nickname "The Yellow City". The majority of the buildings in the town are painted yellow. They were done so to match the Monastery Basilica of San Antonio de Padua at the center of the city.
The history of the construction of the town is what brings out the colonial references which I referred to earlier. In the 1500's the Spanish conquered and enslaved the Mayans in the area that is now the city of Izamal. There was already a large Mayan city there and the Spanish were especially ferverent in their conversion efforts in this location. The slaves were forced to tear down the city, which included many pyramids, and then to build churches, monasteries, or other official buildings on top on the location of the more extravagant architectural sites (about a dozen estimated temple sites). The monastery was painted yellow and the rest of the town to match it as a message.
So everywhere you look you are just reminded of a sequence of quite horrible events and you see people who their very houses force them to remember what happened to them everyday. I took one picture but just had an odd feeling about the town and did not enjoy it too much.
You may ask why I even went then. Well, I read about this history when I arrived in Izamal. This is not an indictment of the city. As I live in Phoenix, Arizona and a large portion of the greater Phoenix metro area is on top of many different Native American sites. I just had a particularly odd feeling about this location.
Sorry to leave on such a somber note but it was an interesting day navigating the negotiations between history and its contemporary ramifications.
Day 14 Mérida (10 kilometers?)
I was going to give myself a day off to settle in but I was so close to several great beaches (Progreso, Celestun) a bunch of amazing Archeological sites (Chichén-Itza, Dzibilchaltun, Mayapan, Oxkintok, Xlapak, etc.). So what did I decide to do with so much to choose from?
Hit the museums in Mérida naturally.
I mapped out a nice path that took me throughout the city, so I could get accustom to it, and would take me to Museo de Contemporaneo Ateneo de Yucatan (Yucatan Museum of Contemporary Art), Museo de Arte Popular de Yucatan (Yucatan Museum of Popular Art), and Museo de Antropología e Historia de Mérida (Anthropology and History Museum of Mérida). I was very excited and was waiting at the entrance of my first destination before it opened.
I first went to the MACAY, arrived around 9:30 but it opened at 10m. It gave me some time to sit and enjoy the grand plaza in the city center and do some writing. When it opened up I was the first one in and had the place all too myself, on top of that admission was free. It is a beautiful location for a museum and it was interesting seeing how the building, which was originally built as part of the Chapel next to it and later became a seminary, was reappropriated as a museum. The large courtyard space and room construction/dispersement were unique for a museum and probably would not have existed as such in a purposeful design of a museum.
My favorite exhibits were those by José Luis Bustamante "Signo y Espíritu", Ulises Castro "Perseverancias", and Colectivo Kool Aid "Comprevise Appropriation". Here are a few excerpts, two of each respectively. See the rest here.
Next I was off to the Yucatan Museum of Popular Art. I ended up falling in love with the building more so than any of the art it housed. The house was built in 1900 for Carmela Molina, and is called Casa Molina, as a wedding gift from her father, Olegario Molina Solis. The house was designed by Italian architect Enrico Deserti and its construction was under the care of engineer Manuel Cantón Ramos.
The thing I love the most about the construction is the doors. They can be used in so many configurations and they are beautiful. They have four panels which can fold away into the jamb to create an open walk-through. The panels can be locked, two to each side, to work as a traditional door would. Each of the interior panels has fixed venetian wood blinds which are backed by a hinged wood panel which can be moved to allow for air to pass though easily. The exterior panels are etched glass and also backed by a hinged wood panel which can be moved to allow for more light to come into the room. Quite beautiful, and I took many pictures for future reference. I want these doors if I ever own a house.
Aside from the doors the tile work and crown was very interesting. There was also some interesting ceramic, textile, and instrument exhibits. See the pictures, along with more pictures of the doors, here.
Last but not least was the Anthropology and History Museum of Mérida. Again the building itself stole a bit of the show for me. The building combines Classic, Neo-Classic, and French Baroque details. It is known as known as the Palacio del General Cantón as it was was built in the early 1900s by, then governor of Yucatan, Francisco Cantón, . He lived there until his death, and in 1959 it was renovated as the museum. The location houses many of the artifacts excavated at the archeological sites throughout the Yucatan.
The bottom floor is dedicated to anthropology while the top floor, reached by climbing a magnificently carved marble staircase, houses the historical aspect of the museum which had an exhibit on the Mexican revolution when I visited. Here are a few teasers, see the rest here:
Hit the museums in Mérida naturally.
I mapped out a nice path that took me throughout the city, so I could get accustom to it, and would take me to Museo de Contemporaneo Ateneo de Yucatan (Yucatan Museum of Contemporary Art), Museo de Arte Popular de Yucatan (Yucatan Museum of Popular Art), and Museo de Antropología e Historia de Mérida (Anthropology and History Museum of Mérida). I was very excited and was waiting at the entrance of my first destination before it opened.
I first went to the MACAY, arrived around 9:30 but it opened at 10m. It gave me some time to sit and enjoy the grand plaza in the city center and do some writing. When it opened up I was the first one in and had the place all too myself, on top of that admission was free. It is a beautiful location for a museum and it was interesting seeing how the building, which was originally built as part of the Chapel next to it and later became a seminary, was reappropriated as a museum. The large courtyard space and room construction/dispersement were unique for a museum and probably would not have existed as such in a purposeful design of a museum.
Next I was off to the Yucatan Museum of Popular Art. I ended up falling in love with the building more so than any of the art it housed. The house was built in 1900 for Carmela Molina, and is called Casa Molina, as a wedding gift from her father, Olegario Molina Solis. The house was designed by Italian architect Enrico Deserti and its construction was under the care of engineer Manuel Cantón Ramos.
The thing I love the most about the construction is the doors. They can be used in so many configurations and they are beautiful. They have four panels which can fold away into the jamb to create an open walk-through. The panels can be locked, two to each side, to work as a traditional door would. Each of the interior panels has fixed venetian wood blinds which are backed by a hinged wood panel which can be moved to allow for air to pass though easily. The exterior panels are etched glass and also backed by a hinged wood panel which can be moved to allow for more light to come into the room. Quite beautiful, and I took many pictures for future reference. I want these doors if I ever own a house.
Aside from the doors the tile work and crown was very interesting. There was also some interesting ceramic, textile, and instrument exhibits. See the pictures, along with more pictures of the doors, here.
Last but not least was the Anthropology and History Museum of Mérida. Again the building itself stole a bit of the show for me. The building combines Classic, Neo-Classic, and French Baroque details. It is known as known as the Palacio del General Cantón as it was was built in the early 1900s by, then governor of Yucatan, Francisco Cantón, . He lived there until his death, and in 1959 it was renovated as the museum. The location houses many of the artifacts excavated at the archeological sites throughout the Yucatan.
The bottom floor is dedicated to anthropology while the top floor, reached by climbing a magnificently carved marble staircase, houses the historical aspect of the museum which had an exhibit on the Mexican revolution when I visited. Here are a few teasers, see the rest here:
After all that, I was very happy with my first full day in Mérida. And with the museums visited I could start planning some day trips to some locations outside of the city.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Update
I found a solution to my picture uploading problem. I decided to use Picasa web albums. It turns out an account was automatically created though Google for me as that is where the pictures for the blog are stored, so it was easy to access. Additionally, Picasa grants you 1gb of free space so I will be able to post a lot more pictures.
So while it was incredibly time consuming with the speed of the computers I am using, I was able to get pretty much all of the pictures I have taken online today. Here is a link to the public gallery, even though you should be able to link to it though the photostream at the top of the page.
So while it was incredibly time consuming with the speed of the computers I am using, I was able to get pretty much all of the pictures I have taken online today. Here is a link to the public gallery, even though you should be able to link to it though the photostream at the top of the page.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Day 12 Campeche - Mérida (305 kilometers)
Even though I had gotten quite comfortable there it was time to leave Campeche. I had told myself that I would stay as long as it took to catch up on the blog so I stuck with the plan.
I decided to take a more inland route to Mérida as it passed though an area called Ruta Puuc (The Puuc Route, just 80 km south of Mérida. Along this route there are Mayan archaeological sites, the caves of Loltún, haciendas , cenotes, Mayan villages, and larger Mayan city/towns).
I left Campeche around 7 am. I was blocked in by a truck that had parked in the exit but the guy behind the desk (Miguel) tracked down the owner to move it. Turns out the owner just gave him the keys to move the truck but Miguel didn't know how to drive it so I ended up having to move it. Had not driven a 4-wheeled vehicle in a little while but there were no issues.
With that small problem out of the way I was off. Along my proposed route I saw the exit for Edzna. I was not planning on going there but I was not expected at my hostel in Mérida until 4 pm. I actually had a reservation this time, Nomadas Hostel, as I decided to do some research ahead in Campeche as I was growing tired of riding into cities and wandering around at night trying to find a place to stay, I had gotten lucky twice in Cardenas and Campeche and did not want to push my luck. Additionally, when I was layed up in the hotel the day before making sure Fricka and all my gear were in order I saw a tourist ad, directed at Mexican nationals, for Campeche that featured Edzna as a can't miss spot.
So, since it was early and I had heard about the place I decided to make a small detour, and I am very glad I did. It was only 32 pesos to get in and since I was there so early there were only 3 other people in the whole site. It was pretty amazing. It is one thing to see a Discovery or National Geographic special but these Mayan sites, in person, are astounding. The size, scale, and proportion are..... well just look at the pictures:
With one site down I was looking forward to seeing more. On top of that the road I decided to take was fantastic. There was a lot of cloud cover so it was cool, there were very few people on the road, and their was lots of twists and turns. Not to mention the beautiful surroundings of tropical flora and fauna. I say fauna because during this whole ride (until just before Uxmal) I was bombarded by butterflies, there were swarms of them. Unfortunately, I was not able to take a pick were they showed up at speed.
Shortly after leaving Edzna and getting back on my planned route I crossed into the Yucatan state. And not after more than a few kilometers into the state I saw a turn off for another site. Why not? off to Sayil I went.
Luckily, Sayil was extremely underpopulated as well. I entered in with just one other couple and was able to lose them quickly, as the site is pretty spaced out and I do not think they planned on as much walking as there was. So for the second time in a row I had a Mayan site pretty much all to myself!
It was now around 11-11:30 and I still had a little ways to Mérida so I was thinking that I had better get to Uxmal and then get to my Mérida, giving myself the time to get to the Hostel and change money if necessary.
As I left Sayil and got back onto the road to Mérida I saw a sign for Kabah and it was really close but I had already decided that I wanted to hit Uxmal and go. Surprisingly, unlike the other sites, Kabah is right along side the main road. So all of a sudden I notice this huge site off to my right as I am riding. I quickly slowed down, made a U-turn and went back to the site.
Fricka was really feeling left out since she could not go into any of the archeological sites. And since I was planning on skipping Kabah anyways I decided not go in or take a pic of me there so this place could be all hers.
I was really happy that I was able to find something like that for her. We were quickly off to Uxmal. Uxmal is a bit more touristy and has a hotel and restaurants built all around it. The price for admission reflects the touristiness of it as well, 115 pesos. That being said, it was completely worth it. Again, because I was going to all these sites on a Wednesday, at this time it was around noon, there were very few people here as well. Again, the pictures say more than I can, I was just fascinated seeing these in person, there really is no substitute to truly understand the scope of this architecture.
As much as I was enjoying the sites, after Uxmal I was ready to get to Mérida. As I mentioned on of the astounding things about these sites are their size and the distances between the architecture. With this comes the fact that you have to do a lot of walking. Since I ride in full gear (helmet, gloves, jacket, pants, boots), and I don't have a lot of storage space on the motorcycle I usually could just lock up my helmet, and gloves. That means I had to walk though all these sites in boots and pants and carry/wear my jacket. I am not complaining (as I plan on doing this several more times, Chichén-Itza for example), I am just explaining why after walking around three sites in 32-38 degree weather why I was ready to get to the hotel. Being able to have the wind flowing by you afterwards while riding between locations really helps though. And as you can see from the images, it was more than worth it.
Uxmal is not that far from Mérida so I was their in an hour or so, I keep the speed down to save of gas, tires, and hopefully from dealing with police. Mérida is constructed on a grid, but all of the streets are one way. Thankfully, I had used google maps to plan my route though the city to the hostel ahead of time as I could see how quickly driving around here would have become very frustrating if I did not know which street went which direction.
When I was about a kilometer or so from the hostel I was stopped at a read light when the driver's side door of the taxi in front of me came swinging open and the driver came sprinting over towards me. I popped the clutch into 1st and was getting ready to twist the trottle when I noticed this big smile on his face. Turns out his name is José Antonio Garrido Romero and he is the president of the BMW Moto Club Yucatán. He gave me his card and from what I could tell from his very fast paced Spanish was that I should give him a call if I needed anything and that there would be a meeting tomorrow around 8:30.
With that, the light turned green, he was off somewhere in his taxi and I was at my hostel. I found this place though a guide someone had called Lonely Planet. This place has great facitlities, people, and is really cheap. Kind of made me wonder why I hadn't left Campeche sooner with a place like this available. None the less, I was here now. I will be here until the 9th when Miguel flies in and we head off to the village.
I am planning a few excursions in the meantime so there will be some action here unlike in Campeche. Even thought, there is nothing really to do in Campeche as it is a sleepy city and really good for if you are just looking to chill out and relax, not needing any night life or heavy tourist attractions.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Update
I made it to Merida today. I hit the archeological sites of Edzna, Sayil, Kabah, and Uxmal on the way. The computer at the hostel I am staying at is having some trouble handling the camera so hopefully I can have pics and a post up in a day or so. Hope all is well wherever you are reading this from.
***Update in the update***
Found a way to get the pics up. It is a bit tedious so I will be posting them on flickr one site at a time. First up Edzná. Sayil and Kabah up now. Uxmal up now. That is all of them, but it turns out you can only have 200 pics on a free Flickr account (had to cut a few repetitive ones out, but there are a lot more pics I would like to share than are available for you to see right now). I am debating whether to open a few other free accounts or spring for the upgrade.
***Update in the update***
Found a way to get the pics up. It is a bit tedious so I will be posting them on flickr one site at a time. First up Edzná. Sayil and Kabah up now. Uxmal up now. That is all of them, but it turns out you can only have 200 pics on a free Flickr account (had to cut a few repetitive ones out, but there are a lot more pics I would like to share than are available for you to see right now). I am debating whether to open a few other free accounts or spring for the upgrade.
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