Posts

sorry it has been so long since ive posted..especially mom and aunt edye. Internet has been scarce so i posted some of my more interesting blogs from the past few weeks. i will try and write more so you can see and even update pictures but we have a bunch of tests coming up and projects so im pretty busy. Ill be home in 30 days with many pictures (i think ive taken about 1000 at least)! Hope you enjoy what i have written although it is pretty scattered and not exactly in order. Alright well gotta go. Miss and love everyone.
danielle.

                                      Above is my favorite picture of this site. It is absolutely breathtaking.

Tulum is an East Coast city and therefore had much different architecture than we are used to seeing. East coast style is a very plain style possibly because much of the construction was done during the post classic when much of Mayan Civilization was declining. However, Tulum was FAR from being unimpressive. On the bus there Hugo (our tour guide) informed us that the archeologist who led the excavations of Tulum is also known as the gardener (or something along those lines). We had no idea what he meant until we entered the site. Tulum is a walled city so we entered through a vault in one of the walls and when we were immediately surrounded by waves crashing on the cliff edge and a beautiful landscape with structures which seemed to be strategically placed as to be the most aesthetically pleasing. I honestly could not believe this was an ancient Mayan site; it honestly just seemed too beautiful and too perfect. And while obviously most of the sites we have seen did not look like this, or anything near this actually it was still nice to see. I considered Tulum a very fake pretty site. Many of the sites I have considered in the past such as Uxmal have a much more natural looking beautifulness to them. Tulum was perfect, there was nothing wrong at all with it, but for some reason this made me dislike it. Tulum is event the home of one of those light shows which I think are absolutely ridiculous, although I understand as a very good way to make money.

below is an example of the top of a building usedto catch light, and also our entire group at Tulum.

           

Many of the buildings of Tulum seemed lopsided, that is there were no 90 degree angles. All of the buildings seemed to go out or in, but were never completely straight. Hugo said that this was to help prevent erosion from the high winds and water. In accordance with many Mayan sites Tulum also had structures set up to catch the light during solstices and other specific parts of the year. While I do understand that Tulum was a valid post-classic city, it is hard to imagine people living there. It has truly turned into a tourist site, not only aesthetically pleasing but also a small drive from Cancun. The crowds at Tulum were massive, much larger than we are used to but nowhere near Chichen. I suppose, the more attention a site gets, the less I like it.

Loltun Cave and Mani (above picture is of me banging on a part of the cave that then makes an echo)

After my disappointment with the last cave we went to at Oxkintok I was not excited to go to Loltun Cave even though I knew of much of its legitimacy from the lectures which have included findings found in the cave. However, the hokeyness of the cave obviously attempting to attract Tourists made me uncomfortable. I feel like now we know enough information to be able to discern much of the time when we are being lied to (or exaggerated to I suppose) in order to be impressed as many tourists are. For example, the guide explained that the Mayans used the cave as protection (likely) but that they defeated the Spanish in the Caste war stationed out of this cave or something along those lines. Now, a normal tourist may have been impressed with that statement however immediately I saw everyone in the group start fidgeting and looking at each other because we knew the Spanish won the Caste war, not the Mayans. Sure, the only difference in that sentence to make it believable would be to add the word at this site (as in the Mayans defeated the Spanish here, but not overall), however we still caught onto it and it still made me uncomfortable. An interesting part of the cave for me was seeing the holtuns which formed from the constant drip of water through the caves leaky limestone. These holtuns caught the water and supplied Mayans (or earlier peoples) with water to drink.  This cave did have one remarkable resemblance to the hokey cave at Oxkintok; both had hands “drawn” on the surface high up on the cave. These hands were supposedly offers to Xibalba and were made by blowing resin from a plant through a straw. Even though my Spanish isn’t great, I am pretty sure that immediately before going to see the hands I heard our guide talking to Hugo and asking him which place he should take us to the hands or somewhere else. Hugo replied the hands because there is more evidence it is real, and they know what they are talking about (speaking of our class). Although it is possible I misunderstood, I am almost positive I did not and after hearing that statement my trust in caves completely went away. I just do not like them as much as I like the archeological sites. They hold more value to me and show me a much more obvious connection between the lives of people over 1,000 years ago and the things that were important on them. Things in caves could have been planted, looted etc, however no one can build a Mayan temple pyramid in their backyard and pretend it has been there since 1,000 A.D.

After Loltun cave we went to a town called Mani. Mani was similar to many of the towns we have visited because in the middle of the main plaza there was a huge church which was constructed when the Friars came to Mexico.

This church was different however because it was the site of an auto de fe where they burned all of the Mayan codices (besides the 4 we still have). The friars ended up in Mani after they attempted to set up a convent in Oxkutzcob (we were just there, it is right outside of Kiuic) and the Mayans revolted. The friars assumed that everyone (all the Mayans) who were subjugated were happy about it and wanted to be Catholic. However, of course this was not true and when the Friars found out of the Mayans discontent all of the fighting began again. In 1562 Bishop Landa (one of the Friars) brought all the Mayan idols, pottery, wood, masks and books in front of this church at Mani and burned them all. While Landa did get in some trouble, it was nothing compared to the devastation he brought to the Mayan people. As someone learning about the Mayan civilization it makes me very mad to know that an entire civilizations history written in their codices has been destroyed and we will never know what they say. The unjust treatment of the Mayans was not surprising at all to me because we have done it ourselves in the United States; it is just much less talked about. Before going to Maní I did not make the connections between Mayans and the Native Americans of the United States, and now that I have it makes me feel even worse. The Native Americans just happen to not have temple pyramids which can withstand 1,000 years; therefore I suppose they are more easily forgotten.

Leaving Merida a city of over 1 million people for the middle of nowhere jungle was a very strange bus ride. I was excited to see something new, but scared to see something so drastically different than what I have been used to for the past 5 weeks. However, to Kiuic we went and I wasn’t aware of the fact that it had an archeological site on it as

well as the biological things we would be doing. The interesting thing is that we for 2 weeks are living on the site of an ancient Mayan city, not only did people inhabit this thousands of years ago, but by this point we know about the people inhabiting which is even more exciting. All of the buildings at Kiuic were built on top of little hilly areas and all of the architecture was very reminiscent of the Puuc style. Kiuic was a terminal classic site and very different than the other sites we have seen. There were no HUGE temples and the site was obviously still being excavated because there were rocks and stone outside the buildings. It was cool to hear about the excavation of this site from Rebecca (my Mayan teacher) because she was involved in the process of excavating the site. Consistent with a topic I have discussed before it is very obvious that Kiuic gets little to no money from INAH for excavation because it is not a well known tourist stop. It was defiantly not one of my favorite sites, but still very interesting because I was living there within the vicinity of an ancient Mayan site. We were living so close that one day, we took a walk to visit a Mayan family living the same way that they lived when the Spanish conquistadors came in the late 1500s. This visit was one of my favorite days so far, it was an experience that I can truly say I will never forget.

    We arrived by walking on a trail that had been used in the past, obvious by the holtun (natural water hole) right along side of it. The walk was far, but not terrible and when we did finally arrive I didn’t even realize someone could live there. Through the brush there were about 5 thatched houses each with one room and a family consisting of a wife and husband, two of her relatives and two small children. The family seemed very excited to see us even though I was assured that them showing us the way they live was not something that happens often. My favorite part of the visit was when Dr. Dawley showed them the photo albums he made for them from their last visit in March. When they received the gift they were so excited and happy for such a small bit of something. And then I realized that they probably have no pictures of themselves, let alone pictures of their entire family enjoying themselves. Being given an entire book I can only imagine will be something that they will treasure for a very long time. I cannot imagine living the way that they do, gathering water when it rains, constantly upkeeping a milpa that is used to grow the food you need, in addition to being completely cut off from most of civilization all the time. I truly don’t think that I can live like that, living with a limited power supply for 2 weeks was hard enough, living with no power…EVER seems impossible. However, I have a lot of respect for the family because it seems everything in the world is telling them to just pack up and accept civilization; however they choose not to which is something I can imagine most people would not choose. When the Spanish conquistadors came the Mayans they met lived as this family does over 400 years later, and for me that is mind boggling.

Below are some biology pictures. They are of Cindy and Allison decked out in their biology field clothes. the next two are pictures of me holding a box turtle and a white eyed vireo which we caught in our mist net one day.

            Below are some more pictures. The first of our hut which Five other people and I lived in for 2 weeks. Those our our hammocks, mine was the purple one in the back left. The next is of some friends swinging on hammocks which i must admit is very very fun! The last picture is my cabin and I ready to play a game of sardines in a can where a group of 2 people hide and the rest of the group has to find them quietly until just one person is left looking. We wore all black in order to be able to blend in with the dark forest around us. Remember Kiuic was solar powered so at night there were essentially NO LIGHTS.

Chichen Itza

            Chichen Itza is the first site we have been to that dates to the Terminal Classic time period of 800 AD to 1100 AD. However, Chichen isn’t one of our normal sites; it has recently been named as a “new wonder of the world” which of course gave it a lot of prestige and tourists. I was extremely disappointed in this site, we have been to quite a few sites before this one, and all of them we able to climb the temple pyramids and see the entire city. Chichen was much different. Not only were we unable to climb almost anything, but towards the middle/end of the day the crowds got so large it was hard to walk let alone take pictures of anything. I think the popularity of this site took away its beauty for me; however it is a catch-22 since I know that the tourism Chichen brings into the area is one which the community direly needs.

            However, another thing that really took away from the site was the fact that there were vendors all around the pathways within the site. INAH (the national institute for anthropology and history) owns all of the ruins in Mexico. However, the land the ruins are on is not owned by INAH, and in this case is owned privately. The private owner of this land has stated he will allow vendors on his site because the vendors pay him a small fee to sell their things there. Lots of people go through Chichen Itza every day, and this number has increased greatly with its new title therefore this is a very profitable deal for the owner of the land. However, I don’t think the owner understands how much it really takes away from the site. Constantly being asked to buy things while you are trying to look at the landscape around you, or constantly being hassled by people saying “everything is basically free” is a very frustrating thing and made me excited to leave Chichen Itza. Regardless of all of the annoyances I felt while I was in the site, looking back some of the things were actually pretty miraculous.

            When you first enter the site (after you pass the many annoying vendors) you look up to see the HUGE Castillo in front of you. The Castillo is about 35 meters high and a really cool event happens at the equinox. If you look at the picture attached at the bottom of the pyramid you can see a feathered serpents head at the bottom of the stairs. At the equinox the light shines just so that it looks like there is a snake (feathered serpent) slithering down the side of the staircase. Although we weren’t there on the equinox the pictures I have seen of it are pretty amazing. Another interesting thing was that while we were standing on what I thought was grass looking at the Castillo, we were actually standing on a platform. In fact, much of Mayan cities were raised on platforms.

The pictures to the side are me and some people on the trip waiting to go into Chichen Itza. Allison and I in front of the CASTILLO, the largest building at chichen, Cindy and I in front of the building behind the skull rack (whose name I cannot remember).  Cindy, Allison and I in front of the Sacred Cenote at Chichen Itza talked about Below. Also the Caracol, named so for the winding stairs inside that lead to the top. It was probably used as an observatory at Chichen.

            There are many ball courts at Chichen Itza; however the really big one was by far the largest ball court we have ever seen. It is likely that this ball court was not actually played on since it was so big and was more of a ceremonial center. I definitely agree with that because as you can see in my picture the rings (where you “shoot” the ball) are so high up it seems absolutely impossible to be able to get the ball in there without using hands or feet (those were the rules).  Around the side of the ceremonial ball court at Chichen Itza was a wall called a Tzampanti (or a skull rack) on which it seems the skulls of people (captives?  Wall was intended to frighten enemies) were placed in victory. This skull rack also had depictions of skulls all along as you can see in the picture below.

            The sacred Cenote at Chichen Itza is something I have learned A LOT about in my Mayan class; however in reality I really was not all that impressed. It is a dead cenote which means that it hasn’t had a constant mixing of water with the rest of the underground city therefore as you can see in my pictures it is green. Hugo informed us that the cenote was dead when the Mayans inhabited Chichen as well, so it was never used for drinking water or bathing, rather as the ceremonial place I have learned about. Offerings and people were thrown into the sacred cenote by the Mayans at Chichen.

            So all of these grand buildings were erected at a time called the Terminal classic which was plagued by drought in Mexico. Although, since Chichen is in the north, the effects of the drought hit the people there much alter than the south. While Chichen was flourishing, other places such as in the Petén (Guatemalan) area were disintegrating. I still don’t quite understand why Chichen is so much better than any of the other sites we have seen, or will see. I suppose it may have something to do with the fact that everything is big, the ball court is larger than normal, and the Castillo is huge. It seems to me that the people living in Chichen were trying to prove a point. However, I guess we will never know.

We went to a restuarant and Cenote after Chichen and below is a picture of the cenote. It was beautiful but like most of chichen very crowded and fake looking.

            Tomorrow we go to Ek Balham, a city with a double wall who in some paintings may be linked to fighting with the people of Chichen Itza. Ek Balam has much less tourism, and therefore should be much more enjoyable than Chichen was today.   

Leaving Merida

            Merida itself however, was a LOVELY city. I enjoyed everything about it from the central square to the nightlife to the buses. I adored living in a city and feeling independent and it was something I will probably not experience again. While 5 weeks in a city was great I missed some things about suburbia too much. For one, the quietness. My house was on a main road and all throughout the day we heard beeping and cars screeching. Noise while I’m sleeping is something that I suppose I got used to in 5 weeks but can certainly live without. However, there were other aspects of Merida I enjoyed so much it makes me want to come back. The people (locals) I have met have been wonderful. Everyone is so nice and so helpful and surprisingly most speak English. It was a little annoying sometimes when I would go in a store and speak in Spanish and they would answer me back in English, it always made me feel dumb. Watching a friend of mine get a rose almost everynight from a Mexican boy really allowed me to see the differences in our cultures. No boys I have met or heard of in the United States have acted quite up to the way the boys in mexico act. Whenever my host brother would introduce us to his friends doors would be opened for us and kisses on the cheek would be given. I enjoyed the little taste of chivalry we got while living in Merida. The places I got to experience with the entire group in the city of Merida have been some of the most fun places. The Mambo Café is this “discoteca” with a live band every Wednesday named De Ran. Usually our entire group would go there just to dance salsa on Wednesdays and we always had a blast. However, that place was easy to feel comfortable in and getting out to new places we were uncomfortable with was the difficult part.

Below is a picture of Cindy, Will (english guy who lived in my house as well), Caitlin my roomate and I

            We also got to experience CARNAVAL 2008. This was a huge celebration within the city and I absolutely loved going. Although I can honestly say we didn’t go to as many events as I had expected or wanted to, the few that we saw were really cool. The parade was unlike most parades in the United States. All the performers were scantily dressed (more so than I am used to) and very provocative dancers. One of the funniest parts of the parade was when for about 5 minutes everyone was chanting, “Coca, coca, coca” all for coca-cola. I cannot imagine that happening in the states although I haven’t been to a parade in quite some time. Carnaval is something I am really glad I got to experience while I was here.

            Going from a huge (population over 1 million) Americanized city to the rest of our trip is a little intimidating. I got used to Merida, to the culture there and the people. Now I am sitting on a hammock with sunlight pouring into my eyes and no lights on with very little running water. A complete opposite to the modernized and americanized lives we lived for the first 5 weeks of our trip. I think all Mérida did was acclimate me to Mexico, I am now very excited to actually explore and live in Mexico. San Cristobal at the end will be a nice relief to our travels, but for the next almost 4 weeks I am excited to live out of my suitcase.

Me saying goodbye to my host mom!! (compare to first day when i met here wearing sweatpants and a fleece jacket!)

Today a group of us went to the Museum of Contemporary art in Merida. I am not much of a museum person, and so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The only museums I have been to are those for Science, the Salvador Dali exhibit in Philadelphia and the ones I have seen here. I have never been to a contemporary art museum before however Ash explained to me that this museum was NO different than the contemporary art museums in the United States. As I have written about before everything in Merida is reminiscent of the US; yesterday I even went to STARBUCKS! While Ash did say that the museum was just like every other contemporary art museum she had been to there were definitely some things that struck me as a little different. The first thing that was interesting to see was the fact that there were paintings in there by Francisco Castro Pacheco who also painted the murals for the Palacio de Gobernador. It was interesting to think that we are living in the same time period as a man who painted the large murals for that state building that will likely be there for a very long time. He has not only shown his work in the Contemporary Art museum but has made an impression in part of the history of the Yucatan.

A piece of artwork which I am used to seeing was the artwork done by Gina Novendstom called “White Headline”. This was literally some white heads behind a wall, therefore making a white (head) line. This struck me particularly because of the struggle I have been having with being white in a country where I am clearly an outsider. The interpretation of this artwork can be taken many ways; however I believe she is trying to say that whites dominate the headlines. It was an extremely literal way of saying it, but to me that stood out more than many of the other artworks which may have been more subtle.

Another exhibit within the museum which was interesting to me was the artwork of Benjamin Dominguez. His painting titled “El hombre que mira el infierno del otro” really struck me. It was a painting of a priest looking at a man with a snake tattoo. It again represented the duality which all human’s posess (look at previous post on the palacio). This duality seems to be something many artists play on including Dominguez and Pacheco. The reason I believe so many artists represent duality in their works is because the struggle between two sides of an individual is something that people including myself deal with everyday. I believe that this painting is a man looking at the other side of him, the side that cannot come out as long as he is a priest due to social regulations. However, the balance between both sides of a human is necessary and without both sides I don’t believe you can truly flourish as an individual. From here, Dominguez’s exhibit got quite interesting, in one painting there was a bondaged woman “riding” a priest. In my opinion this still represents the struggle that Dominguez may have as a person between 2 sides of himself. Not that he is a priest, nor a person interested in bondage but these two polar opposite beings represent a struggle within himself.

So maybe the fact that this contemporary art museum was no different than any contemporary art museum is actually not all that important. The fact that these works are in THIS museum is the more important theme. If Dominguez’s exhibit was in a museum in the United States I do not think I would ever make the connection to a duality that I have learned to associate with Latin American cultures. However, duality exists within all humans, not just one group of people and that is an important thing to remember. My duality here in Mexico is complex. I am clearly an outsider, someone who does not fit made obvious by my hair, and skin tone and accent however I don’t want to be seen as one. I want to be able to survive and live in Mexico as people who actually live in Mexico do. However, this is an impossibility so each day I have attempted to not be seen as such a tourist, and be seen more as an individual interested in a different culture.

Today on the bus, I was sitting with Will (a guy from England) when an older Mexican man wearing a sombrero and striped button down shirt moved from the front of the bus to where we were sitting and said, “can I practice my English with you”. Immediately we both responded of course! People have told stories of others being friendly on the buses, but I have personally never experienced it until today. It was nice to know that while being in his country, he wanted to speak to us in OUR language. I am pretty sure if I heard someone speaking Spanish on a bus in the US I would not have the courage to ask them I could practice with them. Now this man (whose name we never got) was a GREAT speaker. He was fluid, used eye and hand movements and told great stories. He did not act at all as I imagine I act when I speak Spanish. I want Spanish to become more of a hobby of mine as it seemed English was to this man. It amazes me still that I am able to understand as much as I can, but am still paralyzed when it comes to speaking. In a way this man gave me a little bit more courage to speak Spanish and practice because I want to become better at it and gain the confidence to use it more often. I have to start speaking more here in Mexico because or else when I get back to the United States when I have even less opportunity to speak I will be even more scared. The man asked where I was from and I responded with Pennsylvania, (I wonder I he had asked me in Spanish if I would have responded with the United States?), and immediately he started speaking of the weather there, and how he spent time there only in-between NYC and DC. One of the interesting things about our conversation was when he attempted to say a word in English that he wasn’t quite sure of  he would attempt to turn the Spanish word into an English one. This is something that I do in Spanish all the time, and sometimes it gets me by and sometimes it doesn’t. Well today, he did this many times and each time I was able to fully understand what he was saying even if the word was not an English cognate. For example, asked I lived in the countryside outside of the city. Since he did not know the word for countryside, he said the campo which is Spanish for country. I immediately knew what he was taking about and Will did not and so responded by saying, “no I do not like camping”. Anyway, it was nice knowing that the two languages are becoming fluid for me and it is something that I have noticed many times while in Merida. For example, on the tour of historical Merida the tour was given in both Spanish and English, and to me it sounded like they were just repeating each fact twice. My brain did not discern between the two languages it merely understood what was being said. It is nice to know that I can understand that much in Spanish, the next step is speaking and maybe I will learn from this nice older man and talk to someone on the bus sometime soon.

Something that I have been thinking about lately is the fact that for as long as I have known about Mayan People, I am pretty sure that I have always thought they were from Mexico. Now however I realize that I am very much mistaken and in fact the span of ancient Mayan civilizations includes Guatemala and Belize. The Mexico part of the ancient Mayan civilization only comprises a very small amount of ancient sites, the more magnificent and astounding sites (in my opinion) are in Guatemala. The Petén region of Guatemala has some of the largest pyramids in the new world, yet due to the dangerous nature of Guatemala, I will never get to see them on this trip. For me, Chichen Itza is exciting and it is great we are seeing a “wonder of the world” but I think I would rather go to the sites that we keep reading about and seeing pictures of. The sites in Guatemala that I have heard about so far are incomparable to the sites we have seen in Mexico. It is all beautiful and I am lucky to see any of it, I just wish that silly country boundaries didn’t have to stop me.

            This actually got me thinking again of how they took these people who are all connected speak the same language (originally) and share the same traditions and religion and put up country lines between them essentially removing all unity that once may have been. It is weird to think that there is a whole nation of people who share the same ancestors and culture/customs who in the current world considered very different due to the fact that some are in Mexico, and some are in Guatemala. It makes it obvious how silly the lines we draw on maps to separate ourselves really are, and allows me to see that really the only things stopping us from considering everyone together are some lines man conjured up.

            These lines however are a way of identifying yourself, and without them we would have to find different ways to identify ourselves. If someone asks me where I am from, depending on who I am talking to there are many different levels of identification. I can say my street, town, city, state or even country. With each identifying statement, judgments are made because the way that we define ourselves says a lot about who we are, or at least who other people assume we are. If someone said they were from Mexico and someone else said they were from Guatemala, to me they would be different. However, if they both said that they were Mayan, they would be grouped together. Therefore I suppose, depending on the level of identification you choose for yourself, people will respond to you differently and place you in  a section of their mind accordingly.

            In the United States we have a subculture that many times slips our minds because they are on the west coast and we are on the east. However, identifying as a person from the United States is MUCH different than identifying as a Native American even though we live on the same soil. So I guess, it is all relative and how you introduce yourself depends entirely on how you would like others to identify and group you. For me, I always mention that I am 100% Italian, however I can’t identify with anyone in Italy because my families traditions are much altered than they were 2 generations ago. My ethnic identity and my cultural identity are different, and I guess I never realized that that exists in other countries as well. We are learning about the Yucatecan culture while we are here in Merida. Everywhere I hear yucatecan food, music etc. however in the same country, just on the other side there is a much different culture and even within this yucatecan culture is a culture infused with the traditions of the ancient Mayans. I think this is why archeologists have been having such a hard time figuring out who the Mayans came from, and what their language was and all of that. Because truthfully, maybe we can never be sure. I guess, I just am still unsure of how to define myself, as a student, American, Italian, teenager, adult etc. Depending on the circumstances, a different definition would arise, and that is a little strange.

Today in culture class we went on a tour of many buildings including the Palacio de Gobernador of the Yucatan. The building is less of an actual building and more of a courtyard with murals on the wall (over 20) representing the history of the Yucatan. I found these paintings to be beautiful and magnificent (they were huge). The artist of the paintings is Francisco Castro Pacheco who began the artwork in 1971 with the staircase murals shown below.

 

These three pictures are the three walls around the staircase that leads to the top floor of the palacio. In the sacred book of the Maya the “Popol Vuh” it claims a man appeared out of an ear of maize, which is depicted in the center picture. Maize (corn) symbolizes the creation of life to the Mayan people. The painting on the left is the representation of the West, and has a jaguar in it because for a long time people of the Yucatán were afraid of Jaguars and called them the animal of death (at night). The painting on the right represents the east and is much more uplifting due to the fact that the east is where the sun rises again. Also rain was thought to be brought from the east and was very important to the Mayan people, since their harvest depended on the fact that rain come.

Each painting in the Palacio has a description next to it which is where I have gathered the information written here. I will only talk about the most interesting ones to me.

This is a representation of the “good and evil” in the lives of Mexicans. Last year I took a class on Latino/Latina American Literature and my professor Dr. Shuru explained to us many times about the role of serpents in the history of Mexico. That class has helped me to understand that the serpent is actually the role of “evil” however why an eagle is playing the role of good I do not understand. I have not yet been able to find an explanation either. This painting was interesting to me mostly because of my previous knowledge of serpents in Mexican history.

The hands in the picture above represent the hands of a Mayan Peasant who is calloused from handling Henequen all day. If you read my previous posts you would remember that henequen is the crop which can be used to make strong material and brought the Mayan people great wealth. You would also remember that I cut my foot on henequen, thus proving its immense capability to cut the skin of a handler. Henequen was referred to as Sisal in the palacio.

The above picture is a representation of the father of the “Mestizaje” or mixed persons in Mexico. Today in class our teacher Roger told us that using that word is offensive to people today because to some people it suggests that you are ‘indigenous” and therefore poor. I asked if people from the cities denied their own indigenous roots for fears of being thought of like that and he said no, so I am still a little confused about why the word Mestizaje is offensive. The man depicted above was a mariner who was shipwrecked in the Yucatan and lived with the Mayans eventually marrying the daughter of a Mayan Chief. He fought with the Mayan against the Spanish conquistadors to his death in 1536.

The above painting is a representation of the Conquest by Francisco de Montejo over the Mayan people in Merida. This conquest took over 20 years and the Mayans were some of the last people in Mexico to be colonized. Merida was founded on January 6^th, 1542 (if you remember from my first post this is the day we arrived, and we got to see the city light up and some people even got to participate in the bread ceremony for the party in February).\\

This Saturday we are going to Oxkintok and there is a cenote there which is different than the two that we have seen already. I am very excited to see that, not to mention the fact that CARNAVAL starts next Friday!!! Carnaval is a huge city-wide event that happens every year where there is basically a festival in the street. Next Thursday I believe is the first ngiht and it lasts all week. We will be in Chichen Itza from Friday-Saturday night however there will still be plenty of time to experience Carnaval, so look forward to posts about that large cultural event. The culture here is so different than at home, however they are also in a time of celebration right now, and I do realize it is not always like this. I am very happy that we get to be in such a great city during their time of festivities, and it only makes me more nervous to sleep in hammocks for two weeks while in Kiuic.