Home is Where the Heart Is
Coming home was maybe the longest day ever. Things I looked forward to were seeing my family, flushing toilet paper instead of throwing it in a trashcan, being able to raid my own fridge and cook something for myself, and being able to play soccer again. The day was bittersweet, however, because I really enjoyed the trip to Mexico and all the new people I met and did not want the study abroad experience to be over as we could never get the time back. At the same time, I was so ready to see my family. Being stuck in airports and airplanes all day long was no help to the unsettled feelings I was having. And on top of that, I must have had an allergic reaction to something, such that my eye was extremely irritated the entire trip home and I had a cold making the situation pretty unbearable and making me anxious to get home. Once we arrived to Ursinus and I saw my mom, and later that night when I woke up my little sister to tell her I was home and she hugged me so tightly, I realized just how lucky I am to have had this opportunity, but even more so to have people who care about me waiting at home. The trip was a great opportunity to get to know some people from Ursinus that I otherwise would never have known and I would not trade it for anything. I found it exciting to be able to experience a combination of Spanish and Biology, as I am a Biology major and Spanish minor, and hopefully I will be able to apply what I have learned to future studies.
Semana Santa en Mexico
Being a Catholic, there was no better place to spend Holy Week in Mexico than San Cristobal de las Casas. Starting with Domingo de Ramos, or Palm Sunday, the week was jamb-packed with religious ceremonies and festivities for the preparation of the Resurrection of Christ. I went to the Cathedral on Palm Sunday expecting the mass to be very similar to the Palm Sunday service at home (as weekly masses have thus far been the same except that they are in Spanish). To my surprise, there were Maya selling palms for a peso outside of the church. The palms were beautifully woven into crosses and other holy designs. I did not know if I was supposed to buy one or if they would be given out during the mass, as is done in the United States. Being unsure, I decided to wait. I went to the mass which was pretty average, except that I noticed everyone had already bought a palm outside. As the mass came to a close, I heard the priest saying that the parade of the palms, in celebration of Jesus coming to Jerusalem would be starting momentarily. At this point, I left since I did not have a palm. On my way out I purchased a palm and began to walk home. I had felt so clueless and unsure about what I was supposed to do and whether or not I was allowed to be in the parade that I decided to leave and go to a coffee shop to work on my Evolution study guide. It felt very awkward for me as church is always a place where I feel at home. On this particular day I felt somewhat lost and confused.
After my experience on Palm Sunday, I decided that the rest of this week was bound to be quite an experience as well. Church services were offered through the week but I did not go again until Jueves Santo, or Holy Thursday. On this day, I went to church with my host family. The Grandmother of the House was concerned about getting a seat in the church so we left our house an hour before mass. Needless to say, we were extremely early, and to our luck we didn’t even have a crowd to compete with until maybe twenty minutes before the mass so leaving that early was pointless. We went to the Church of Guadalupe which is a beautiful church located up on top of a hill. There is a huge staircase to enter the church, making it quite an exercise to attend mass. The mass was beautiful. I looked around and noticed some Mayan people in the surrounding pews. This made me think back to some of the things Rebecca had taught us, especially about the Auto de Fe and about the conversion of Maya to Christianity. I wondered how exactly these families had been converted, whether they had been some of the peaceful converters or if they too experienced the hardships of the Auto de Fes. The mass was much like the Holy Thursday masses at home, recounting the story of the last supper followed by the washing of feet. In the mass the priest will wash the feet of some selected individuals, representative of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, more specifically the apostles. I felt very connected with this mass and felt good that I could understand exactly what was going on and what was expected of me during the service.
After this mass, I met up with some friends in front of the cathedral to go to a small concert. To our surprise, we caught the tail end of the Procession de Silence. I could not get over what we saw. There were young boys dressed in clothing meant to appear from Biblical times. Behind them were men, I assume clergical, that were dressed in black robes with a hood which covered there entire face and came up into a point or cone. The only thing exposed were there eyes. I immediately connected this with something we had learned about in Spanish class in high school regarding Holy Week in Spain. I could not remember the significance f the costumes which were rather “KKK” in appearance. The following morning I asked my host mom about it. She told me that she thought it was representative of those people who had betrayed Jesus. The coverings represented the sin and how these men were ashamed of their betrayal of the messiah. It corresponds today to the fact that we all sin sometimes and so this is representative of shame. Seeing these costumes and first knowing the costumes of the KKK, I found it difficult to not think about the KKK. As weird as this sound, I connected this to biology and the idea of the same trait evolving independently in different parts of the evolutionary lineage as I cannot imagine the KKK designed their costumes after Holy Week event attire.
I did not take part in the last tradition of Holy Thursday which is a visitation to seven churches throughout the city. There are many ideas about why this tradition exist including representing the stations of the cross (although there are fourteen), representing the seven deadly sins, or, most plausible in my opinion, representing the seven sacraments as the greatest sacrament Eucharist was born from the events of Holy Thursday in which bread and wine, the body and blood of Jesus Christ were shared at dinner. I found this tradition neat and had I had more time I would have loved to take part in it. The city was full of people walking around on this night and from my Christian perspective it was great to see so many people with the same beliefs as me. I have no idea if this tradition exists anywhere in the United States; perhaps it does in a city where many churches are within walking distance. I had never heard of it before this trip, yet it seems like a nice custom. For Viernes Santo, or Good Friday, there was apparently a passion of Christ, in which a theatrical performance depicting the Stations of the Cross took place. Unfortunately I missed this as we had class during the time it was being performed. I would have loved to have seen it as I’ve never seen a live depiction although I do know that these performances exist in the United States. I still have Holy Saturday to talk about (see next blog entry), but would like to quickly mention how neat this experience has been. Being in San Cristobal for Semana Santa was an experience which I will never forget. I got to experience so much and attend many religious events, which have been both awkward and comforting at times.
Fireworks!
Holy Saturday, March 22, 2008, was the Quema de Judas, or the burning of Judas. For this celebration, papier-mâché dummies or dolls of hated political figures or concepts that were wrong with the world were displayed and then burned. Each effigy is referred to as a Judas dolls representative of burning Judas Iscariot since he was a traitor to Jesus Christ. Each doll represents things that are wrong with the world and things that the community wants to purge or cleanse themselves of. This year’s Judas dolls were things such as Felipe Calderon (president of Mexico), a matador, a famous soccer player (not sure who he was or what he did), human destruction of the world via pollution, deforestation, etc., something called TLC (I tried to translate the signs but could not understand all the words; what I got, however, is that it has to do with the United States having more resources to sell items cheaper when Mexico makes them of better quality but cannot compete with the low turnover rate; what was interesting, however, was seeing the American flag painting getting burnt), and others. Interestingly, the past two years there have been dolls of George Bush, but this was the first year that he was not included. So each of the dolls was filled with fireworks and they were set off one by one. The dolls were created in a contest and the winner is the doll which gets set off last. Before going to the burning, my host mother warned me to stay back. I did not know what she meant until I realized that there were actual fireworks and people were allowed to stand really close. I don’t think this would be permitted in the United States and I wondered what if any regulations there were regarding the fireworks. Luckily we were standing back because some pieces of the dolls flew off into the crowds, almost hitting a baby one time. The burnings were very exciting and I imagine it is a great way to relieve stresses about the world and the problems in it, especially those caused by humans. This experience made me think about how lucky I am to live in the United States where we can say we don’t like the president without worrying about our safety. In some other countries I can imagine that would not be allowed. I was even surprised that that was permitted in Mexico. It did feel weird to be around the ceremony when the doll with the US flag was being burnt. I felt kind of out of place when this was going on. Overall, though it was a really neat and exciting experience and I’m glad I went. It kind of helped tie together for me some of the Mexican attitudes towards things, such as with the matador and with the human destruction of the world, both dealing with life, something which I as a biology student am very concerned with. If I am ever in San Cristobal again during Semana Santa, I would love to see this event again. I would be curious to see what the themes of the dolls will be in future years as well!
Homesick
Domingo de Pascua, or Easter Sunday, was possibly the day of this trip when I missed my family most. I called my family just as they were all sitting down to a nice feast of baked ham, homemade mashed potatoes, and pie. My immediate family and my grandmother with whom I am very close were all gathered together around the table together, while I was all alone. It made me really sad to not be with them on the holiday, as this is the first real holiday I have spent away from my family. Being that I was lonely, I tried to get out and experience as much as I could from the day in San Cristobal de las Casas. I walked to the Zocolo, which is basically in the city center, and watched as people lined the streets in preparation for a parade. After that, I went to the Easter service by myself in the Cathedral. It was a beautiful mass, yet it was weird to be at a mass alone when everyone else was with their families for the holiday. One thing I took notice of during the mass was the dress code of the younger kids. Growing up, I had always worn an Easter dress and an Easter hat or bonnet. At this mass, however, and at no point throughout the day did I see a single Easter hat. I suppose that tradition does not exist here. Other traditions which do not exist in Mexico are Easter baskets (supposedly from the Easter Bunny) filled with chocolate, eggs, and peeps or the tradition of flower giving representative of the gift of life. I imagine the Easter bunny and associated traditions may not be seen in Mexico because perhaps the holiday is much more religious and has not yet been smothered by commercialism. Also, people in Mexico, in general, do not have as much money to spend pointless material things like Easter baskets. I purchased some flowers for my host family for Easter, but was surprised to find that there were not people selling Easter flowers on every street corner as there are at home. Instead I had to seek out a floreria to make my purchase. When I bought the flowers for my host family, I felt a pang of homesickness. Every year, my sister and I go out and buy flowers for my mom and my grandmother. This year, however, that was not possible. Perhaps when I get home I can get them some flowers and I look forward to getting an Easter basket with candy from my mom. Although it was a lonely Easter, it is another experience on the trip and I believe it will help me to appreciate what I have at home more upon returning.
An Experience I Never Want to Experience Again
Before coming on this trip, I had thought bull fighting was only done in Spain and that it was a tradition that had not made it’s way to the new world. Unfortunately I was wrong. I found out about the bullfight through Phil and since the majority of the group was going to the fight I did not want to miss out on the experience. We purchased tickets at the pharmacy and found out that the fight was on Easter. Talking to my soccer coach from Spain, I learned that traditionally Easter Sunday is the opening day of the season.
When the day finally came, I piled into a taxi with some of my classmates and we headed to El Plaza de los Toros. We got there early and were able to see the matadors warming up on their horses. The stands filled in quickly after we arrived, and it was of no surprise to me that there were a lot of tourists, probably there as to not miss out on the experience (exactly my reason for going). As the fight began with music and the first matador riding around doing tricks with his horse, I imagined that the fight might actually be fun. Little did I know that the music and horse tricks were to be the only part of the twp hour fight which I would enjoy.
On Easter Sunday, four bulls were killed. The penis of each bull was tied with string beforehand as to agitate the bull and get him revved up to fight. The bull was let out and people cheered as he made his way around the arena. What seemed so unfair to me was that it was not just the bull and one matador, the man who kills the bulls. Instead there were many sidemen with capes and small swords and prongs for agitating the bull and weakening him. It seemed so unjust. The bull had no chance of winning this fight. Yes I know that conditions in a slaughterhouse are brutal and that the meat which we eat can be considered as unjustly obtained, however seeing these animals suffering was almost too much to bear. It was not just the animal being tortured, but people were making a spectacle out of it. It seemed so wrong.
In the fourth bull fight one of the sidemen must have struck the bull right in a nerve such that the bull was extremely weak from the start. It fell down and we all thought it was dead. Then it stood up, seeming to have recovered somewhat. What sickened me was that people were screaming “Otro, otro!” as this bull was apparently not good enough. They felt as though he was already dead. It pulled at my heart to see that people were not even concerned with how awful this bull must be hurting. Instead of yelling for this bull to be put out of its misery, the crowds were more concerned with the entertainment value.
After each bull was killed, an ear was cut off as a souvenir and thrown out into the crowd. I had a hard time respecting the matador, feeling as though it really did not take much courage to kill an animal who was basically helpless. I also had a very hard time watching as the bull came to the last bit of its will to survive. The bull was obviously suffering very much, yet the matador could not just put it out of its misery. I want to just scream, “Kill it already!”. In one case, after striking the bull in the spinal cord, you could see the bull wanting to show the matador what he was made of and started to charge. Just as he approached though, his hind legs gave out and he fell to the ground. It was so awful to watch this. I hated seeing the bull so vulnerable and without any chance of victory as he was out numbered. My Spanish soccer coach had told me of how in Spain there were actually cemeteries of matadors who had been killed by the bull, making me wonder if perhaps the fights were more one on one (matador and bull only) than they are here in Mexico. I would hope so because this was just awful.
For me, the music was the fun part of the fight and it was very exciting to see the matadors and sidemen with the capes which they would pull aside at the last second. I personally believe that would have been enough to preserve the tradition and entertainment value of bull fighting. I do not see a need for the bull to die simply for entertainment. Interestingly, many of the Mexicans I talked with were not a fan of the fights. I feel like the only way I could tolerate watching the fight is if I had seen it since I was a child and so I would have been numb to the violence. It was interesting that there were many people who were trying to change the bull fights so the bulls would not be killed. While sitting outside the cathedral one night, I was given a pamphlet going against the bullfights and telling everyone to boycott them. There was also an effigy of a matador at the Judas Burnings, showing the dislike and disapproval of the bullfights by many people.
One thing that really intrigued me was that there was a female matador. I never would have expected a female to fill that position of animal cruelty. I was surprised though, as she actually had a lot more style than the other matadors, turning her back to the bull and getting really up close and personal with the bull and killed it finally with a perfect shot to the spinal cord putting the bull out of its misery a little quicker. Still, it was so difficult to watch the torture.
Going to the bullfight was definitely an experience. I knew going into it that I would not enjoy it. Somehow, however, I had not expected it to be so gruesome or to upset me so much. I realize that the bulls we eat are not treated much better in slaughter houses, yet at least they are being bred to sustain our lives and not just to be a sick form of entertainment. Although it is an experience I will never forget, it is not something I will ever attend again. It is a tradition which I cannot sympathize with or even want to try to understand.
Children
All over the city, Mayan people would walk around trying to sell belts or cheap bracelets. I was able to say no to the adults without feeling too guilty. What got to me, however, were their children. It’s very difficult to look at the little children selling stuff and to be indifferent towards their needs. Even worse were the children who would beg asking over and over again for “Un peso, un peso por favor.” I would give the children pesos every once in a while but it felt strange as I never agreed with people begging. I feel that people should work for money. Yet these were children. I wanted to help but I never really knew if the children or their parents or who would end up with the money I gave them. I kept thinking how it would be better to provide the children with food, water, or education, yet I knew that this would not be possible at the time. Something that surprised me was that the children would come into established restaurants and stores selling stuff. I was surprised that the owners put up with this. I had never experienced this before even in the cities in the United States. My first weekend back in the United States, my mom and I went to a soup kitchen to help out. Seeing the poverty in my own city, reminded me of the poor children in Mexico. I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of programs, if any are available for feeding the poorest of families in Mexico. Hopefully there are some programs. I cannot imagine begging. I am blessed that I never was put in a position like the children in Mexico live with every day. I only pray that they may get enough aid and support to survive and that they will hopefully receive some education so they will not be destined to live their entire lives selling stuff on the street or end up like some of the old Maya women I encountered on the street unwilling to work and begging for money. As I returned to the United States, I must say how much I appreciated the living conditions which I have and the education I am able to receive.
Music
In my home stay in San Cristobal, I had a twenty-two year old girl named Annette. She was living in the house but is not related to the family. She is actually from Quintana Roo and is doing work in the city for four months. I considered her my “host-sister” and she was really fun to hang out with. We would go out for coffee and listen to her boyfriend, Darinel, who plays guitar and sings, covering traditional Mexican songs such as “Santa Lucia”. I found it interesting how he and his friend Eric found troubadour gigs almost every night that we were in San Cristobal de las Casas. I listened to them play on four occasions at three different coffee shops four nights in a row. They told me that a lot of it had to do with the influx of tourists in the city for Semana Santa. None the less, I couldn’t help but think about how this differed from musical opportunities at home. In Mexico, almost every restaurant had some live music every night. I thought it was a great way to make the dining atmosphere more appealing. I enjoy live music so much more than just hearing a song over the loudspeaker. Knowing how much good musicians practice makes me appreciate any live performers. There was even a lot of live music just walking down the pedestrian street in San Cristobal. There was a range of music from guitars, bongos, didgeridoo, cellos, basses, to some people just singing their hearts out. Although there are some places with live music in the United States with live music all the time (probably the really big cities) I feel that it is much less common. My brother is in a band called the Difference. Their band is very musically talented and they even write their own songs, yet it is still very difficult to find places to play. They are working on a cd and continue to pursue their musical dreams, but I cannot help but think how they might do playing in another location and thinking about how they would love a city such as San Cristobal to play in. Culturally, I leaned that music is just as important, if not more important to the Mexican people. In my homestay, there was almost always music playing. I’m really excited because Annette gave me twelve hours worth of Mexican music of various styles so I can have a taste of Mexico whenever I feel like it.
Oxkintok
Today we visited Oxkintok, located in Western Yucatan. In Maya, the name breaks down to three (ox), sun (kin), flint (tok). Something unique about Oxkintok is that it is the site with the earliest records of Southern Classic Maya found on a lentil dating to 475AD. I found it interesting to hear this as I realize that one day an earlier date may be uncovered at a later point upon further excavations in the Maya area. Many of the sites have groups and structures which have not been uncovered yet. It is neat to think that one day these structures, currently resting beneath mounds of dirt and vegetation, may be excavated and provide new insight into Ancient Maya civilization. I think this would be great because there is a lot of speculation about the culture. From the bit and pieces that are excavated already, archeologists are attempting to understand the traditions, rituals, and way of life of the Maya. More material could help put together the missing pieces. Southern Classic Maya is the language in which hieroglyphs were inscribed and it is thought also to be the language used by the elite Maya for communication. Therefore it was very important to Mayan culture. Oxkintok has many caves and even some buildings constructed over top of these caves. I enjoyed visiting Oxkintok more than Dzibilchaltun because our Maya professor, Rebecca Hill, was able to enlighten us on what we were seeing and help us distinguish architectural styles from just piles of rocks. For instance, on one of the buildings Rebecca pointed out a corbel arch. I learned that a corbel arch distributes weight outward and not have a keystone, which is essentially a rock/block needed to keep the arch up. Instead, capstones were seen. Oxkintok differed from Dzibilchaltun because Dzibilchaltun was a Late Classic Puuc site while Oxkintok was an Early Classic Peten Style site. Differences between Puuc and Peten are that Puuc, according to Coe, has characteristic boot-shaped vaulting, round doorway columns, criss-crossed elements, etc., while Peten is characterized by apron molding.
Chichen Itza
Before this trip I was already familiar with the name Chichen Itza. I had recently heard that it was named one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. Based on all the hype, I was pretty excited to visit it. Compared to the other sites we had seen so far, this was found to look enormous. When we arrived at the site I was truly amazed at the amount of people that were there. Rows of buses were already pulling in and we had even arrived really early. The massive number of people should have been my first clue that I would not be able to appreciate the site as much as some of the other quainter sites. I’m not a big fan of crowds and felt that looking at and examining the many architectural groups surrounded by so many people took away from the experience. It also made it a lot more difficult to focus on the architecture. On top of that, there were so many vendors trying to sell cheap wooden masks, blankets, and other crafts. It would not have been that bad except for the fact that the sellers were really pushy trying to get us to come to their stands by screaming “one dollar” and attempting to draw us closer by speaking in English. I felt like this extremely touristy aspect of Chichen Itza took away from the cultural experience and was quite frankly annoying. Another reason why Chichen was not one of my favorite sites was because it was not as hands-on as the other sites. Many of the buildings were inaccessible to climbing and in many cases they were even roped off so you could not get close at all to try to look at the interior structure. I understand why we were not allowed to climb (especially with the magnitude of people who visit the site each day), yet I still enjoy it more when we are allowed to, as it gives us more opportunity to investigate the architecture. At Chichen, there is a large ball court. One thing which I could not understand was how the Maya could possibly have played the great ball game on this court. It seems entirely too large for them as Maya are usually of small stature and the court and rings already appeared way too big for us. While we were standing at the court, I thought back to the Museum in Merida. There we had seen a stone representation of a yoke, a piece of equipment the ball players are thought to have worn. There was a sacred cenote onsite at Chichen which was especially neat to see as it was an especially important one to the Maya. It is believed that sacrifices were thrown into the cenote and human and animal bones as well as jade jewelry and other sacrificial items were removed using the dredge, a large crude crane type machine which was displayed at the entrance to the site. Chichen Itza is a Terminal Classic site and interestingly there are two parts to the site, known as Old Chichen and New Chichen. Both areas date to approximately the same time but show different styles. Originally people thought the two styles corresponded to Pre-Toltec and Post-Toltec Invasion. 909AD is the last date seen as evidence of occupation. It was neat to be able to compare and contrast the groups.
Ek Balam
Ek Balam is the Terminal Classic site which we visited today. It was just 54KM NE of Chichen yet was not nearly as crowded, making it a more enjoyable site to visit in my opinion. It has defensive walls and a large acropolis. The name means black jaguar, which is kind of cool as we are going to see a black jaguar when we visit the Tuxtla Zoo at the end of the semester. Ek Balam also has the largest hieroglyphic corpus of the Northern Mayan Lowland with hieroglyphs on various structures. The home and tomb of Ukit Kanletok, one of Ek Balam’s famous kings, was the acropolis which was fashioned in Peten style. After visiting Chichen, this smaller and more modest site was very welcome. Ek Balam was an exciting site to see as it provided a glimpse of multiple architectural styles. Puuc, Peten, an even Eastern Chenez style were observed in various structures throughout the site. Eastern Chenez style is observed in the Chenez masks with teeth. I enjoyed being able to climb up the acropolis as we were not able to climb some of the buildings when we visited Chichen. I was surprised to see how tiny the steps were. They are rather small for my feet, making it a little difficult climb up and even more so down. I also could not get over how steep the acropolis steps were. I was breathing ridiculously heavy by the end of my trip up. Because of this, however, it felt great to lie down and the top and simply look around. We also had a great view of the observatory where we were. At first I was thinking how hard the climb was and how much it would suck to have to climb up and down those stairs everyday. Then I thought about the fact that some of the structures were not residential and instead used for other purposes such as ceremonial events. Also, probably only the elite could enter.
Acanceh, Tecoh, and Mayapan
Acanceh was the first site we visited today. It is an Early Classic site. I found it really cool that the ruins were incorporated into the present town. I will admit it was weird at first when they said we were at the site and it appeared like any of the small present day Maya towns that we’ve passed through. That was until I saw the pyramid. Then the idea seemed less strange. I do wonder though if the town’s people think about the pyramid a lot or if they just kind of ignore it as you would any other building. It was also interesting the town retained its original name. Acanceh was a very small site in comparison to those we’ve seen as it is only 3 Km2. We observed apron molding on the temple pyramid which is characteristic of the Early Classic Peten style. This differs from the style observed in the Puuc region. On top of the first pyramid we saw, there were eight large masks which were all very similar with only slight differences between them. As Acanceh is an Early Classic site, it is important to note the lack of individuality. As time goes on and the periods progress, there becomes more stress on the individual. Interestingly, all of the masks that had been uncovered had been defaced with destruction of the nose. On another part of the site, there was evidence of possible Teotihuacan influence in El Palacio de los Estucos. Talud tablero style was observed as well as warrior-like things, goggle eyes, and animals such as vultures, monkeys, etc. I really enjoyed that the Maya city was integrated into the present-day town. To go between the various groups allowed us to look at Mexican culture. I enjoyed walking past the marketplace and seeing how people in this town live today. I found it interesting that the locals could walk by the ruins without even glancing at them. This initially surprised me until I realized that they see this everyday. To the people of Acanceh it is perhaps just another building. There was a church right next to the temple. I once again thought about the irony if this.
Tecoh was the second place we visited today. The name means “place of the cougars”. In this town we visited la Iglesia de la Asunción. It was fascinating because the church was built on a Mayan site with Mayan stones. The same stones used to compose the Mayan architecture were used by the Spanish in building churches. To me this seemed representative of Spain’s attempt to completely take over the Mayan land and convert their culture, yet the enduring aspect of Mayan culture throughout time. Although the Maya have in many ways integrated into Spanish/ present day Mexican ways of life, there is still a lot of tradition and culture which exists.
Mayapan was much larger that Acanceh. Mayapan is a Post-classic site. It had 9Km wall around it (possibly for defensive purposes or for distinguishing elite from other classes of society) and also had a Castillo and observatory like Chichen. Murals painted in International style are found there. It is possible that a twenty-four year period was used for the katun instead of the usual twenty year period. The Temple of K’uk’ulkan which seems to resemble in some ways the Castillo of Chichen Itza appears in the center portion of the city. This Castillo of Mayapan shows some Serpent imagery which suggests Toltec influence. Here at Mayapan during the Winter Solstice, snake imagery down the stairs can be seen. This is similar to Chichen Itza, except that at Chichen, this stair serpent imagery appears during the Equinox. At Mayapan cenotes are observed, probably important in water availability and perhaps in some religious ceremonies.
There are murals that are painted in International style and depict sun discs and other things. The murals can be seen in La Sala de las Frescos, and evidence of bright coloration (Red, Orange, Blue, etc.) can still be seen today. One thing I really liked about Mayapan was that the majority of structures are somewhat condensed within an area. I liked this as I felt it was easier to picture the city as being actually inhabited by the Ancient Maya. The connections between Mayapan and Chichen Itza are observed in the architecture and can probably be attributed to some Itza leaving Chichen and founding the city of Mayapan.
Kiuic
Kiuic is a Late Terminal Classic Puuc site. The first time I had seen a picture of Kiuic was when we visited the Stephens and Catherwood museum in Merida. On the topic of the Catherwood museum, I want to mention that the museum was really neat. We were able to see many sites depicted pretty accurately, but with special artistic elements. The pictures were really neat as we were able to see some of the sites surrounded by lush vegetation which was very pretty. I can only imagine how neat it would have been to come upon the Mayan sites as early on as they did when they were much better preserved than they are today. Something interesting that I learned from James Callahan, the man who gave us the tour of the site, was that the residential houses were built up on hills, leaving the flatter land for farming and crops. This seems to make sense as the moisture and nutrients would sink down the hills and be more concentrated in the flatter land’s soil. As we walked around the various groups in Kiuic, I couldn’t help but think about how it must have been to be an Ancient Maya. Not as much at this site, but at many of the other sites we visited there are immense structures which were probably only accessible to the elite. There were so many people who never were allowed to climb the Temples, yet here we are, all able to access the ruins independent of our class or family. Something else interesting that James explained to us was how mortar was made from water and lime. I had not been aware of this before. On our hike of the site, we also saw a matate, a tool used in the grinding up of corn. This made me think about just how important corn was/is to the Maya (maize gods, tortillas, elote ice cream, etc.). The domestication of corn was one of the most important factors in permitting the Maya to settle in a specific area opposed to being completely nomadic. Other crops such as beans, squash, chili peppers, etc. were also important. With the combination of corn and beans, the Maya were able to be healthy and thrive. That combination permits Niacin, an essential amino acid to be present in the body.
Campeche Museums
We left the state of Yucatan and ventured south to the state of Campeche. In the city of Campeche we visited two archeological museums. Both museums displayed Mayan artifacts. The first one we visited was called Museo Arqueologico de Campeche. The first museum had a lot more variety of artifacts, ranging from pottery vessels, to masks, to even a skeleton. The skeleton was that of…. It was really neat to see the skeleton surrounded by burial goods. One thing which intrigued me was a simple cross-eyed mask that I saw. I would have thought nothing of this until Hugo informed me that Mayan tradition sometimes entailed parents making their babies this way. By putting something between the baby’s eyes, the curious babies would focus in on it and after much time the eyes would be stuck in the cross-eyed position. This made me think back to something I had seen in the museum in Merida. There, various skulls could be observed. These skulls were of strange shapes, such as a flattened out forehead. Again, these were deliberately formed, perhaps to distinguish social class. I cannot help but be glad that this tradition is not present in American society today, as it appears very painful. Also, I cannot help but think how discriminatory and closed off the social levels were. By simply looking at someone, it may have been possible to determine their social status. The deliberately imposed physical conditions could not be denied and remained with a person all his or her life. I assume there was no moving between classes, although this is purely speculative. I enjoyed this museum more than the one we saw in Merida. I believe it had to do with the setting. I really enjoyed going up and being able to see the Gulf of Mexico from the rooftop. The second museum was neat because it allowed us to see many stelae. In fact, virtually the entire museum was stelae. It was a lot smaller than the first museum visited that day. I enjoyed that there was a room which had educational movie clips. It was nice because they helped clarify some things about Maya culture and also provided some information about biological aspects such as habitat and ecosystems.
Uxmal
We visited Uxmal today, which was a Terminal Classic flourishing site. The last date found here was AD 909. It’s surrounded by a wall and there is a sacbe to Kabah. I found the sacbe important because it is representative of all the connections between sites. Sacbes make other sites more easily accessible and may have been important as far as if there was an overkingship at any point. Lord Chaak (Chan Chak K’ak’nal ajaw) was responsible for the commissioning of the Nunnery Quadrangle, palace, and ball court. I found the Nunnery Quadrangle to be an especially interesting building. The South side and East side of the Nunnery are representative of creation. The South side displayed flowers of the façade, columnettes, a zoomorphic monster mask, a large center door with four smaller doors on each side, symbolism of the nine levels of the Underworld. The East side had more flowers, owls, and serpent imagery, etc. The South side is the lowest side structurally while the North side is the highest platform. For many of the sites which we have seen, there is some speculation regarding whether the walls were purely defensive or if, perhaps, they were a means of isolating the various social levels. For example, perhaps commoners had to live outside of the walls, separating themselves from the elite and the temples and pyramids which in some ways were means for legitimizing a divine king’s rule. Uxmal is the largest Puuc site, showing round columns, boot-shaped vaulting, mosaics, criss-cross patterning which are all characteristic of Puuc.
Kabah, Sayil, Labna
Kabah is Terminal Classic Puuc site, which was connected to Uxmal by a sacbe. The name means Lord of Strong and Powerful Hand. It is a Puuc site with hundreds of flower mountain masks. In fact the Western side of Cotz Poop (Mask Palace) contains 250 masks. The site is divided into two by a highway. This seems kind of sad to me. I wonder why they had to put the road directly through the site instead of going around it. Lots of Puuc characteristic columnettes were observed on the buildings.
Sayil was much like the other Puuc sites we have visited except for the giant phallic symbol. Also, there is no long count or glyphs. The name Sayil means Place of the Ants. An 8th to 10th century fluorescence was seen at this site. We learned a little bit about Puuc stages at this site by looking at the architecture. We learned the Early Puuc architecture was plain, while Middle Puuc showed lots of small columns called columnettes, and Late Puuc shows tons of mosaic structures. Some phallic symbolism is represented at the site. In fact, there was a carving of a nohoch keep (large penis). I wonder what exactly the significance of this structure was. One other thing which was interesting at Sayil is that the palace has two masks with diving gods. I suppose this symbolism may represent the important of the gods to the Maya. Perhaps this god is descending to the Middle World of earthly existence.
Labna also is a Terminal Classic site. Something which makes it unique is its elaborate free-standing arch. It is true that Kabah also has an arch, marking the way to Uxmal, however it is not nearly as complex and decorative as this one. This one was of Puuc Mosaic style. Labna was an extremely aesthetic city. I believe this can be attributed to the site displaying all three types of Puuc. I took a lot of pictures here as I enjoyed the architecture more than at Kabah and Sayil, although there were some similarities between the sites being that they were all Puuc sites.
Mani
As much as I am enjoying modern-day Mexico which has resulted from Spanish influence, I cannot help but wonder what things would be like had the Maya been able to keep their land and continue their way of life. This question especially came to mind when we visited Mani. In the city of Mani we visited the church/monastery. Here, the auto de fe events transpired. In 1544 in the Yucatan Franciscans began their attempt to convert Maya to Christianity. Everything seemed to be going well until in 1547 rumors of Maya revolt began. The friars held out. They saw themselves as protectors of the Maya and believe what they were doing was right. Bishop Landa joined the monastery at age 16 and at 25 he came to the Yucatan and petitioned to Venavente to travel to the interior. In 1561 Landa had a provincial in Mani. It appeared all was going well until 1562 two Mayan men reported that they found skulls and sacrifices when they were hunting. Men were jailed and admitted to the sacrifices. The angry friars interrogated everyone and hanging, stoning, and flogging occurred. In May of 1562 the 1st Auto de Fe occurred. Auto de fe is a judicial sentencing of offenders against the faith. Offenders were jailed, humiliated, and forced to work up to 10 years. For 3 months, Landa led an inquisition consisting of unselective torture (anyone) of 4500 Maya, death of 158, suicide of many as well. The second, more famous auto de fe occurred then on July 12, 1562 when Landa piled up books, ideas, pots, wood, masks, etc. and burned them. This continued until Landa was ordered by the church to stop. By next year people were released and Landa went back to Spain only to be exonerated and return as bishop. This story made me really sad to hear. I don’t agree with human sacrifice by any means but I definitely sympathize with the Maya. I cannot imagine having someone come in and take my land and then attack my religion and punish me for it. This story seems to connect to another solemn story: invasion and persecution of Jewish people in the Holocaust. Although it is not to the same degree and was not done for the same purpose, I feel that it connects in some aspects.
Tulum
Even before arriving at Tulum the Dawleys warned us that it was another popular tourist site. They were very right. There were a lot of people; not nearly as many as at Chichen but still very crowded. In virtually every picture that I took large tour groups appeared in the foreground with the architecture hiding in the background. Overall, besides the large number of people, I really enjoyed the site. The picturesque background of the Caribbean coast added to the ambience (despite the crowd) and provided a nice breeze, making the heat a lot more tolerable. It was also great to visit Tulum because it was my first time experiencing the Caribbean Sea. I was really impressed that Tulum was built right next to the cliff. This acted as a wall on its own, and the rest of the site was enclosed with a three-sided manmade wall. The building which was most interesting to me was called the Temple of the Frescos. It was really neat as it had tons of opposite imagery: color versus no color, male versus female, headdress versus no headdress, open eyes versus closed eyes, etc. I found this really interesting. I don’t think this opposite theme has appeared at any of the other sites we’ve visited. As it was quite unique, it kind of made me wonder about the creative mind who designed the building. One thing which I did not like about Tulum was that the landscape was similar to that of a golf course. As a result, the site seemed almost too beautiful to be true. I’m not saying that they should leave weeds grow or anything, but it almost seemed as though they had planned out all the landscaping. Overall, however, I enjoyed the site. We weren’t able to get much architectural insight, however, as Rebecca was not there with us.
Becán
Arriving at Becan we came upon a ditch 15 m wide and 5 m deep. This ditch/moat (probably for drainage and maybe protection and probably not filled with water always), surrounds the city of Becan, located in the Rio Bec region. The ditch dates around 150-250 AD (Early Classic). The site flourished, however, in the Late and Terminal Classic. This differs from a site like Acanceh (flourished in Early Classic) or Mayapan (flourished in Post-Classic). The site showed a lot of Rio Bec style. False stairways and twin towers are characteristic of Rio Bec. Something that I feel is important about this site is that there were many Pre and Early Classic substructures. I found this interesting as I often forget that the Mayan cities were not static. Buildings were added on to and changed as time passed and power changed hands. Chenez monster masks were seen at this site.
Chicanna
Following Becan we visited another Late Classic site called Chicanna. I really enjoyed this site because of Structure 2 which was styled with a huge Chenez Monster Mask, similar to the ones at Becan but much larger. The mouth of the mask was the door to the building which was very cool. Other structures found on the site were not just Chenez, but displayed Rio Bec style which is kind of a mix between Chenez and Peten. There were round corners, twin towers, false stairways, etc. Chicanna, like Becan has many substructures from earlier time periods. I am curious about how excavation of such structures takes place. To find out what is underneath without completely destroying the upper layer seems very difficult and quite time-consuming.
Calakmul
We visited Calakmul over a series of two days. It was nice to split it up into two days as one day would not be enough to see all the architecture and biology. Something which I really liked about Calakmul was the fact that there were not a lot of people. Also, it was quite interesting that the various groups and sometimes various structures within the same group could not be seen clearly due to the vegetation. This sort of overgrown encompassing vegetation made the site unlike any of the other sites we have visited thus far. I also found it interesting that there were so many stelae at the site. In fact, 117 stelae have been uncovered at the site. This number is incredible in comparison to other sites we have seen. Regarding the stelae, although they were plentiful in number, the majority were not well preserved. It appears that the limestone of which the stelae were composed was not very good quality. Based on this fact, it is no wonder that the dynastic history and chronology which has been pieced together regarding the Kaan Kingdom comes mostly from stelae at other sites. In fact, stelae from 80 sites make mention to Calakmul. I find this influence incredulous.
Palenque
I would have to say that Palenque was the most aesthetically pleasing site. The architecture was beautiful and seemed to have its own distinct style. I believe that the fact it was surrounded by luscious green rainforest added to the beauty. In order to dodge some of the large tour groups, we began our investigation of Palenque in the rainforest. As we hiked we came upon Structure 14, a 100m long building which has not been excavated and was highly untouched. We also found Structure 12, a temple where a tomb of a decapitated man was found. There was Middle Preclassic occupation, yet major architecture was not observed until later, starting with the Forgotten Temple in the West part of the site. Pakal was one of the major divine ajaws of Palenque, and he is responsible for much of the architecture at the site. We visited the Temple of the Red Queen, a building probably built for Pakal’s wife. Her body was discovered covered in Cinnabar. From this site we were able to see a grave where the man who discovered Pakal’s tomb was buried. I found this interesting. I would not of thought that such a burial on the site would be permitted. Next we visited the Temple of Inscriptions, which is a 9-layer temple built around Pakal’s tomb. Its construction was started by Pakal but finished by his son Kan Balam. The inscriptions observed at the temple are especially interesting because they were an alternative means for recording history. Most other sites utilized stelae for recording, yet only one stela has been found on the site which was erected by Kan Balam. This is very different than the 117 stelae found at Calakmul. Also, the Temple of Inscriptions has 620 hieroglyphs, many of which are dated, making it the place with the most glyphs in one spot. We then visited El Palacio, a building with open doorways, vaults, and stucco captives. The East Court of the Palace was constructed under the reign of Pakal. Interestingly, yet another way of recording history and legitimizing ajaw rulers was observed in the form of stucco and a hieroglyphic stairway. The stuccos show Calakmul attacks dating to 654 AD and Pakal shows captive-taking (659 AD), thus reassuring or legitimizing his rule. The hieroglyphic stairway shows the birth and accession of Pakal. Houses A and C also show some scenes legitimizing Pakal’s power. Another interesting structure we saw was the Groups of the Cross, which were constructed under Kan Balam and has symbolism representative of a cross-celestial realm (connection between Earth, gods, etc).
Bonompak
Bonampak was a site that was important in the Early Classic but had its peak in the Late Classic. The oldest mention of the site is found on lentil 49 at Yaxchilan. Chan Muaan II who ruled 776-792 AD was the most famous ruler at Bonampak. He commissioned the famous murals as well as stelae 1, 2, and 3. Stela II depicts Chan Muaan II with his mother and his wife, Lady Yax-Rabbit, sister of Yaxchilan’s ruler Shield-Jaguar II. Such connections between cities were important because they may have assisted in keeping peace and preventing the warfare. Had it not been for the beautiful murals, whose color has been preserved remarkably well, I don’t think I would have liked the site very much. Besides the murals, there was nothing that really struck me as making the site unique. The murals were, however, quite impressive and located in three rooms side by side. The first and third rooms are ceremonial, ritualistic, and to some degree celebratory. The second room, however, is much more intense. It depicts captives and shows the torturing of these captives: finger nails being pulled out, ax through head, etc. It’s rather morbid but probably was a means for legitimizing Chan Muaan’s rule.
Yaxchilan
Today we went to Yaxchilan. What made Yaxchilan especially interesting for me was the fact that we had to access it via boats. It was really neat to see el Rio Usumacinta and to think about the position of power Yaxchilan had by being on the river. I imagine they were able to control a lot of trade. By thinking about something as arbitrary as locale it is important to recognize its importance. I especially think about this in connection to the other sites. The location of some of the cities in the drier, hotter North may have aided to a faster downfall than in the South. It was neat to visit Yaxchilan because of the many lentils found there. Cindy and I interpreted lentil 2. This lentil was found on Temple 33, a structure found on top of a hill and which had an impressive roofcomb. By doing the glyph project I felt more connected to the site. As Cindy and I spent so much time trying to interpret our lentil it reminded me of how we learned about the progression of Maya society. To me these hieroglyphs are quite complex. Apparently Yaxchilan was a commonly warring city. This can be seen in some of the lentils. Such depiction, as mentioned for Bonompak, was probably a mean’s of legitimizing ajawship. The Gran Plaza was commissioned under Bird Jaguar IV. Structure 16 had 3 lentils each carved solely on the outside and not on the underside.
Guys in Merida
Throughout the four or so weeks we’ve spent in Merida, I have taken notice of many of the differences between ways men and women interact and the dating scene in Mexico opposed to the United States. Over my four weeks, I have interacted with men while passing ways on the street and have even gone on a few dates with a guy. I will start by describing my experiences on the street.
Walking down the city streets it is common to hear guys whistling and beeping their horns at girls multiple times every day. I was very uncomfortable with these calls initially, finding them disgusting and quite frustrating. They are something I do not appreciate about Mexican life. I am not saying that these cat calls or beeps do not occur in the United States, however they are much less common. On Main Street you’ll get an occasional beep, but it is nothing compared to walking down a Merida street. The worst for me was a night when I was in the city center walking (and wearing a dress) and must have gotten at least ten cat calls. I even got two guys pulling over and trying to talk to me and see if I wanted a ride. It was rather annoying. It seems as though men here do not contain their immediate thoughts and speak or whistle impulsively without regard to how it may make women feel. I suppose this could in part be related to Machismo in Mexico, and also realize that it is part of the culture (many people have tried to tell me this is a man’s way of complimenting or flattering you), yet I would probably say it is my least favorite thing about Mexico thus far. As the time has passed, however, I have learned to just ignore the cat calls. By not showing a reaction, the guys tend to not do anything further. None the less, it is still annoying.
One thing I’ve noticed about guys here is that they open doors more often than in the United States, especially car doors. I observed this not through just my dates last week, but also on other nights when we would go out with Danielle’s host brother and his friends. All of they guys opened car doors for us, would pull out chairs for us in restaurants and clubs and in general were very chivalrous. While nice guys do hold doors for girls in the United States, I feel like I have experienced it much more here.
Besides street interaction I was able to explore Mexican culture on a more personal level. This occurred with my friend Daniel, who I met through Danielle’s host brother. He is a very nice guy who showed immediate interest in me. For my first Mexican date we went out to a restaurant called La Parilla. It was a nice atmosphere with a band performing in the background. I decided to order tacos de aranchera (basically composed of steak). They were seasoned well and quite tasty. Of course, as in most dates in the United States, Daniel insisted on paying. I put down my appropriate amount of money on the table but he refused to let me pay.
This date made me start to think about differences in dating customs here opposed to the United States. According to my host parents and other sources, it is not uncommon for a girl to bring a group of girlfriends along on the first dates. I sort of experienced this when I went out to play pool with Daniel and he picked up Dana, Cindy, and I to go and drove us home as well. It was sad saying goodbye to Daniel last night, as I will probably never see him again. It has been fun though and an interesting integration into Mexican life. I can honestly say this is the most amount of flowers I have gotten from a boy ever, including my ex who I dated for a year. It seemed really cheesy when I was given the four roses, as they were always pulled out of nowhere. This experience was funny with my host parents as my host mom usually was at the door when Daniel would drop me off after a night out with our friends, and she was there when I got my first flower. Of course the next morning at breakfast, we were all sitting at the kitchen table and she proceeded to tell my host father about the flowers. It was funny and slightly awkward, but made for some good laughs as anytime I told my host mom I was going out for the evening she would ask, “Con Daniel?”, and the majority of the time I would respond, “No, solamente con mis amigas.” It was a neat experience to hang out with Daniel in Merida because I believe he helped me to experience more of the culture. He loves dancing and took my friends and I out dancing a few times. He also made me two cds with Mexican music, which will be a neat memory. In addition to this, he was a great person to practice my Spanish with as he knows some English but we only spoke in Spanish to one another.
How to eat a taco
A week or so ago, a Danielle, Cindy, Ash, and I went to a friend’s house for dinner and had tacos de puerco. Our friends, who are locals, chuckled upon watching us eat the soft shell tacos. When we asked why they told us that we were eating the food wrong. They did not go into much explanation and we were able to laugh it off and forget about it. Last night, however, I went out to dinner and was reminded again that I do not eat my tacos correctly, or at least not as the locals do. According to my Mexican friends, soft shell tacos or other dishes in tortillas are not meant to be folded at the edge and should only be eaten with one hand. Instead they are to be folded only once. I explained that I, as well as most people I know, fold the tortilla at the end (in the same manner as a wrap sandwich at home) and eat it with two hands so none or at least less of the filling falls out. To me, a usually messy eater, this technique made sense. My friend, however, then proceeded to show me how it is customary to hold the tortilla which has been folded once only at one end, serving the same function. I tried it and was amazed to find that I did not lose any meat. Although I was kind of self-conscious when he initially pointed out my eating style, it was neat to gain this insight in the culture. I have my doubts as to whether everyone here eats their filled tortillas in the same manner, yet I will definitely try to observe people eating. Today at lunch, I made a fish taco and attempted to master the technique, hopefully to help me blend in a little more.
Superbowl and Sports
Coming into the house of Sunday afternoon, the television in the kitchen was on and my host parents and two of their grown children were there with their wives. They had snacks