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 6th, 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.
This past Saturday we had another field trip to the archeological site and Cenote of Dzibilchaltun. Dzibilchaltun is (was?) a small Mayan city of which many of the ruins have been restored. The reason that the ruins needed to be restored, and many are only foundations is because the stone from this city was used to build larger cities when they were colonized. Dzibilchaltun is approximated to date back to 300 B.C. making it an extremely old city. I have never seen ruins before and walking around them is a very strange feeling. Thinking about the fact that many years ago there was an entire civilization living here with completely different rituals than us is a little amazing to me. I know that wherever you are in the world that statement is true, however since the city is now abandoned and their civilization is on display it seems much more interesting. The fact that buildings have been able to withstand hundreds of years is amazing to me. Before we entered the site our tour guide gave us a brief history of Dzibilchaltun, and within it he mentioned something that really struck me. He said to keep in mind as we learn about the Mayan culture, and read things and see things that history is always written by winners. It is commonly taught that Mayan people sacrificed women and children, however he does not believe this is the case. Apparently, (in Chichen Itza I believe) there was a well found with women and children seemingly sacrificed. However, it is more likely that these people were not actually sacrificed and instead had died and were put there after death not as a sacrifice. While I did always know to be weary of things taught in history classes, I never actually thought about it in a way such as that. Rather than looking at Mayans as savages, it is important to keep in mind the people we learned about their culture from are the people who colonized them.
Before
entering the ruins we went through a small museum which contained many pieces of
Mayan sculpture. Depicted below is the sculpture of a Jugador (ball player)
which we saw here as well as in the museo de antropologia in Merida. Also below
are 2 more things I found to be interesting. The one called “La Raza” is
depicts an indigenous woman with idealized Mayan features. In all different
cultures beauty is different and that has always been something that is
interesting to me, so the ability to see what was considered beautiful to the
Mayans is very interesting. It is also interesting because Friday at the Museo
do Antropologia we saw various head shapes that the Mayans had. The reason they
had different head shapes is because they believed it to be beautiful to have a
distorted skull and went through great measures to change the shape of their
skull. Similar to when people wear rings on their necks to make their necks
longer as the idealized version of beauty. While it seems inhumane to me now to
go through painful measures in order to change the shape of your skull, to the
Mayans, it was beautiful. The other thing I found particularly interesting is
that they had a wall of classic cultural clothing, and since it was in a museum
I expected it to be something extraordinary which I had never seen before.
However, it was actually quite to the contrary. The costumes were created with
clothing I have seen every day that I have been in Mexico. On the bus women
wear the clothing; in El Centro people wear them. For men it is a white button
down shirt and a sombrero and for women it is called a Treno. The treno
consists of a white shirt with a flower design along the collar and the bottom
of the shirt/dress. These outfits seem like commonplace to me here, however
they are in a museum!
The last thing in the museum that caught my eye is the crosses which are pictured below:
The reason these crosses were so interesting to me is because as I mentioned in my previous post about the Jardin the Ceiba is the sacred tree of the Maya. This tree was depicted as “a cross long before the conquistadores brought the cross of Christ as the symbol of the religion they imposed on the Maya” (Dawley Taxonomy). The Ceiba Crosses are green or blue, as are the ones below and are sometimes adorned with flowers (as the one on the right). As soon as I saw these crosses the Ceiba cross immediately came to mind. If you look closely you can see Jesus on the cross on the right; however that was likely just to abide to the conquistadors. The cross in reality seems to have represented the Ceiba, rather than be of religious meaning. Also, right outside of the museum was a sapling Ceiba tree, which showed the spines it has on its trunk. Pictured below: insert picture
After
leaving the museum we walked into the part of Dzibilchaltun containing the
ruins. We walked down long dirt like path and eventually, over a group of trees
a magnificent building could be seen in the distance. I was in the front of the
group which was nice because no one was in my pictures (haha).
The first building we saw had been restored since many of the stones I suppose were used to build cities such as Merida. The buildings name is Las Siete Munecas (the seven dolls) due to the fact that 7 dolls were found inside of the building. It is one of the only buildings, or at least the first that contains actual windows. One faces east and one faces west which gives it a characteristic look of an astrological observatory. This building was huge and beautiful and officially the first ruin I have ever seen. While it may not have been as vast as many of the ones we will see, or as famous it was still great to see one. After we were finished with the seven dolls we walked to the center of the town (hypothesized by Robert Dawley due to its set up of 4 buildings around a center point). This part of the city contained a church which was a catholic one, showing the influence of the conquistadors on this Mayan city. The chapel was named the Capilla Abierta and is pictured below.
As we walked past the chapel, all of a sudden a BEAUTIFUL cenote popped out of nowhere. It was like stumbling along a gem in the middle of a forest. It was a completely open cenote which was very different than the ones at Chelentun we saw last week. This one had lily-pads all in the center with shallow and clear water along the sides. The water was so clear and that surprised me a lot because of the amount of tourists I can imagine come through here each day. Each time I see a new cenote my breath is still taken away, they are the most beautiful things I have ever been able to see. This one was exceptionally clear and impressive because of the amount of life in it. There were lots of fish and lily-pads and flowers. I have never been a person impressed by nature, but now I can officially say I am.
Another thing that I liked about this cenote was that when we got there I saw that one of my host brothers was there. It made me feel a little less like a tourist than I usually feel. He was there relaxing with some of his friends after his exam he had that morning. Everything about Dzibilchaltun made me extremely excited to start the Maya course next Monday. I keep finding more and more things I am excited to learn about and the fact that I get to experience the sites I am learning about is the most amazing thing of all. Every day that I am here I get a little scared to leave. Caitlin and I were just talking about how incredible it is to be able to write three pages on something that took only 2 hours to experience. Our experiences here are in a certain way indescribable, and something that can never fully be understood without living it. From going to salsa clubs such as the Mambo Café and dancing with locals who are nice to you even though you are clearly extremely white and can’t dance, to swimming in cenotes which exist only in the Yucatan with people who are just relaxing after a test. The fact that Merida is just the first of many different places we are able to experience is even more exciting. We have just 3 weeks left and already I have fallen in love with this city, the culture and the experiences I am having. I only wish everyone reading this also has the same opportunity to one day experience something like this.
Yesterday we went to el Jardín Botánico Regional in Xíitbal neek’. We went to this botanical garden in order to prepare for our quiz on plant taxonomy on Thursday. Much of the local plants are contained within this compound in addition to sections aimed to reproduce parts of la selva. The garden contained 24 collections with over 600 species. The garden contained Family Arecaceae (palms), family Orchidaceae (orchids), Family Cactaceae (Cactus) & Family Bromeliaceae (Bromeliads including pineapple) all of which (except for cacti) we know from our Taxonomy. Below is an example of each.
Family Arecaceae: Palm trees can be easily distinguished by
the tree barks (which is not actually a woody bark). Below is a picture of a
palm tree with highly distinguishable leaf stems. When palm trees have
seemingly smooth bases it is due to the fusion of old leaf stems. Palm tree leafs are also noticeable because they are pleated.
Family Orchidaceae: orchids. Orchids are easily distinguishable by their flower which looks like landing strip for pollinators. Orchids are generally epiphytic (grow on top of other things such as other trees) and therefore were at eyesight level. However, since we are in the dry season it was easier to tell an orchid by looking at its leaves. Since they are epiphytes they must have some way of containing water, if you look carefully at the picture below you can see that the leaves are thick and somewhat puffy and have a base that looks swollen. This is used to retain water during the dry season and is called a psuedobulb. So even without the flower we were able to identify the orchid! (although it is much easier to do with the flower)
Family Cactaceae: Even though cacti were not on our taxonomy, I decided to put in a picture because before Tuesday I had not known that cacti could be epiphytic, although as someone pointed out (Ellen I think) does make sense that they would be preadapted to an epiphytic lifestyle because they have the ability to retain water so well.
Family Bromeliaceae: Bromeliads are usually epiphytes however one very well known “ground-dwelling bromeliad” is the pineapple which I happened to have for breakfast this morning! Bromeliads are distinguishable to me by their leaf patterns, generally the leaves look like the top of a pineapple (wonder why) and the fact that they also have a long inflorescence. Below is a picture of a ground dwelling bromeliad.
(i thought i took a picture of a bromeliad, but later realized it was a palm...woops.
We did see a few other things of interest at el jardín. The Ceiba tree is in the Family Bombacaceae. This tree was of GREAT importance to the Mayans and is their sacred tree. In drawings and artwork it is depicted as a cross and this led the Mayans to have an easier time acclimating to the Christian culture (when they were invaded) because a cross was a sacred symbol to them, it just did not represent the ideals of the Christian cross. Anyway, the easiest way to recognize a Ceiba tree is by looking at its trunk which is generally swollen in the middle. Below is a picture of the swollen trunk.
Henequen: I talked briefly about henequen and its role in mayan life in my last post and on Tuesday we were able to see henequen in person, and I was even lucky enough to be cut by henequen (as you can see in the picture the ends are very sharp) Henequen is hard to distinguish from ground dwelling bromeliads, since they both look similar except Robert Dawley mentioned bromeliads do not generally look like they could cut you if you touched them, and from experience I will now always remember that. So touch bromeliads..not henequen. Below is a picture of henequen which brought the mayans wealth.
Another tree which I found very interesting is in the family Burseraceae and is the Bursera tree. To the Mayans the Bursera tree is also known as the “tourist tree” because as you can tell from the picture its bark is red and peels much like a tourists skin. (I think its funny) Anyway, Bursera is interesting to me not only for its funny name, but also because the bark of a Bursera tree is thought o heal many ailments including Acne and eczema. If I ever get hurt in the jungle, my first thought will be to find some Bursera bark, although it may not work as magically as it is thought to. Below is a picture of the Bursera Bark.
Finally, the last tree I am going to talk about is one of extreme importance to me, the Acacia Tree. For my research project for bio 220 I am researching the tree Acacia in the Family Fabaceae. It is in the legume family. The legume family is easily distinguishable by its leaves, see below. However, the bull-thorn acacia also had large hollowed out thorns for which the ant symbiot (psuedomyrmex spp.) live in. The mutualism between Acacia trees and ants of the species psuedomyrmex is a very important mutualism to study because it is such an apparent connection. Acacia ants provide protection for the Acacia tree, while the acacia tree provides a food source and shelter for the tiny ants. The acacia-ants are FEROCIOUS, however on the Acacia that we touched no one got bit or anything so I am not as terrified of them as many of the scientific papers I have read made them seem. Below are some pictures of the tree I am studying for Bio 220, the Ant-Acacia Tree.
That just about wraps up my visit to el Jardín Botánico. We did see some plants from the Order Zingiberaceae (bananas, gingers) but I didn’t take any pictures of them. And I think that’s enough plants for now! (haha). Ultimately, we say all the plants from the Class Monocot that we have to know for tomorrows Quiz and I should ACE that section. Adios. Una siesta para mi.
Saturday we woke got on the bus from CIS central for cenotes at 8 am! I wasn’t very excited to wake up that early, but after hearing about Cenotes for months and months from the Dawleys I was beyond excited to actually experience them. On the van ride there we passed through many places in Mexico which were much poorer than the life we had been experiencing in Merida. I mean, Merida has blockbuster and a wal-mart which is bigger than the ones at home (and nicer too). These towns we were passing were very poor, with government housing being built which looked about the size of the living room of the house I live in Merida. It is weird to think that before arriving to Mexico this is what I expected it to be like, but now after being here for just 1 week I cant imagine this part of Mexico. Living in Merida is a blessing I know before the rest of the trip. There will be times when we will be sleeping in hammocks (for 2 weeks) and living out of suitcases, but for now I am just going to enjoy the splendors I have in this city.
Anyway, the Cenotes. So while approaching the village we passed the old henequen factory which is why the village exists in the first place.
Henequen is an agave plant which mayans used to make rope and twine. Its leave produce the strong substance. Anyway, the centoes we went to visit in Chelentun were around old henequen farms and therefore the horse-pulled railroad we traveled on to get to the cenotes was once used to bring henequen back from the farms.
After our very bumpy horse-pulled railroad ride we finally
arrived at our destination, the first CENOTE! I always imagined that they would
be absolutely beautiful but my breath was taken away. I know that cenotes are a
sight I will only ever be able to see in the Yucatan, and I am extremely
grateful for this experience because of them. We entered down a set of stairs (although
some only have ladders as entrances) into a hole in the ground barely noticeable
(if not for the warning signs) and when we entered it was a cave filled with bright blue water. I have never seen
water so clear, and so blue in my entire life. I knew they would be pretty, but
I really wasn’t expecting them to be THAT pretty. The two centotes we visited
were completely enclosed (I think) because there are 4 different kinds, and the
one we go to next week is completely open (I think). Centoes are formed when the limestone which the Yucatan is built on caves in, and the underground water system is exposed. There are over 3,000 in the yucatan, 1,400 of which have been evaluated scientifically (Yucatan Today).
The second cenote was quite different than the first. It was more open at the top with a giant strangler fig hanging down into the water.
I have taken entirely too long to write about these two events but i will do a little update. On wednesday night there was a Serenada at the plaza of Santa Lucia. In class we learned about the Trovadoreres, specifically Yucatan Trovadores. They are a group, generally a trio, usually hired by a man to go and sing to his love. It is the classic story of singing outside of a window to a beautiful girl. However, this was very common and almost expected to happen when you wanted to win a girl over. On wednesday there was an event including historic mayan dances and songs from this time period.
video will be updated soon!
Friday, in class for culture we learned how to SALSA! Im sure everyone reading this is well aware that I am an awful dancer, so not only was I not excited to be embarrassed in front of lots of people but I was nervous about my dancing skills. Anyway, it turned out to be a lot of fun and very tiring! We learned probably about 5 different dance steps and I think I got about 3 of them down, once we went to spinning I absolutely gave up! Below are some pictures of our dance lessons!
On Saturdays en el plaza central there is a tradition where the restaurants put tables in the streets and it is basically like a block party all night. Last night we went to this with our salsa lessons fresh in our minds. Turns out that not only is there eating in the streets, but live music and dancing as well. Below are some pictures of Cindy, Jessie and Megan dancing the salsa with locals in the streets of Merida. So not only did we learn something cultural in class but we were able to apply it to having fun on a normal Saturday night. Hopefully every Saturday we will be able to do something similar.
The events in the town have proved to be very excited for our group. It is nice to have a culture event/experience every night of the week that we are able to go to. Every night something different happens in a different plaza or a with a different theme. We have already experienced so much of the Yucatán culture without being here for even a week. When we go out to restaurants we always order in Spanish and ask the waiter to help us with certain phrases. Everyone is very welcome here to us learning Spanish, especially when we go out. I have yet to have a problem with people being frustrated at our lack of Spanish skills, rather they are always willing to help especially with pronunciation. Last night, we were at a free concert at the beginning of Paseo de Montejo and an older man came up to us and advised us to go to the plaza central to see the restaurants outside, he told us we would have a better time there. It was amazing and I cannot imagine anyone in NYC going up to a group of strangers telling them where they should also make sure that they go that night. It is refreshing being in a very welcoming place with welcoming people.
NEXT POST will be on the most breathtaking experience I have had yet, the cenotes we visited in Cheletun.
I feel like I’ve been experiencing more than one type of culture shock. The first one obviously is the fact that I am in a completely different country, with a foreign language, ideals and people. The other however is as difficult, the fact that I am in a city. I have not been in a city for more than a weekend, and living in one is a very different experience than living in the suburbs. First, taking the bus everyday, multiple times a day even to get to places other than school is a new and strange experience. I miss driving, and not having to depend on schedules of other people. However, in Mérida of course I have not been able to even find a printed bus schedule so catching a bus is always an event of chance. Along with catching buses comes getting lost in places you don’t know. On Wednesday 3 girls and I got off at 17th and 18th (which is our bus stop) but instead of getting off in Mexico Oriente, we got off in Itzmina. While we were aware of the fact that in the city of Merida there are multiple 17th and 18th intersections, it slipped our minds after a long day. Therefore, using the paper map that Dr. Dawley had provided us at the very beginning of the trip we found our way home (about 30 minutes later). I am very lucky and glad that I was with other people, and more than one even. As stressful as the situation was, we knew we were going to get lost at some point, and it was good it was in broad daylight rather than at night.
Everyday after I get home from school we eat a large lunch. At the end of that lunch my host mom asks me “are you going to go sleep” and me and Caitlin both respond that we are not. Everyday she scolds us and tells us that we need to take “ciestas” everyday because of the heat and if we don’t we will get sick and it is very important that we take ciestas. I never believed her and never wanted to take a nap for fear that I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. However, today all those days of not taking ciestas really caught up to me. I slept from 11:30 am to 5:45 pm! So I guess, they have this nap thing correct and they really are important. I intend now on taking a “ciesta” every day after lunch!
Classes are good, learning Spanish in
class seems so easy and then once I apply (or try to apply) it to my homestay
it is increasingly difficult. Friday was my host mom’s birthday and so she has
her son and his family over for lunch on Saturday. Saturday we woke up at 8 am
to visit the centoes in Chelentun (see next post) and when we got home around 2
pm we were informed that lunch would be soon.
Caitlin and I were EXHAUSTED and attempting to listen to people talk during a big lunch was sure to be difficult. When the lunch came, I did not expect it to be as difficult as it was. Understanding isn’t the problem, but understanding a conversation when people keep interrupting each other or trying to understand jokes is a very difficult conquest. Jokes do not cross language barriers very well, because the Spanish I understand right now is very literal, and I also cant see the big picture. Another difficult part of the lunch was that they were eating a yucatecan meal with the burnt chili it was a stew type dish. Anyway, our host mom explained to us that we would get sick if we ate it and so we ate something different which made me feel like even more of an outsider. Not only could I not understand the language, or be a part of conversation but I couldn’t even eat the same food as them. Finally I got so frustrated that I just went outside to play with the 5 year old grandson Fernando. He is used to having different students around so he was actually very nice and we went around the pool (piscina) and he told me what the name of everything in Spanish was, and then we played “papa caliente” (hot potato). The homestay is definitely as hard as I imagined it to be, I find myself wanting to hide when I am just not in the mood to work hard to keep a conversation going. My vocabulary is much less than I thought it was. Although I can understand almost everything that people say, the hard part is speaking back and that is something I hope will really improve in this next month.
Today is the first day of classes at CIS central. It is a very weird feeling having class in a complete new place however the school is BEAUTIFUL. It is small, comfortable and the landscape is so pretty. Below is a picture of what it looks like when you walk right outside of my classroom.
okay well that actually doesnt look as beautiful as it really is, its a great little courtyard and the sun is directly over it during the day when we have a break at school!
The air is extremely
refreshing and the weather is beautiful, it is pretty amazing to walk around in
a skirt on January 7th. (p.s. happy birthday Mallory!!!). Anyway,
yesterdays travel was entirely too long. We woke up at 2:30 AM, and didn’t get
into Merida until about 8 PM.
We stopped at this GREAT restuarant before we left for our long bus ride at a mexican Buffet which was half outside and half inside. The food was intimidating, but delicious.
We took and extremely long (4 hour) bus ride to Merida from Cancun, i mostly slept the entire time. When we arrived at Merida we arrived in a little plaza (the beginning of el paseo Montejo which is a very long street right through Merida) with beautiful Christmas decorations. Turns out that Sunday, the day we arrived was a holiday, the day of the 3 kings. In Merida, they bake a circular bread that has 3 toys hidden in the bread. Then they cut it up and whoever gets the pieces with the toys has to throw a party on February 2nd, for all those involved in it. While we missed the festivities of that it was great to see the beautiful decorations which are below.
So when we finally arrived at our homestays I met Mrs. Gomez
and Felix, her 21 year old grandson. Mrs. Gomez and my roommate cailtlin and i are pictured above! We ate delicious pizza that had some type
of meat, they were unable to tell me what kind! And pineapple. The homestay was incredibly intimidating and
it took me about 1.5 hours before I even said anything. I was very nervous to
speak, however once I got over that me and my mom were able to communicate
fairly well. We talked about Christmas traditions and families and even
politics. It was a nice talk but me and Caitlin (my roommate) were exhausted
and so went to bed pretty early.
Anyway, classes were today and they were
pretty good. We learned A LOT about merida including 1 thing I find extremely
interesting.
1. The Naming of the Yucatan: When the Spanish conquered the Mayan land they asked the Mayan what they called the land. However, the Mayan did not speak spanish and so in Mayan "i do not know what you are saying" is "Mate-Mate-tacan" and hence, the Spanish called it the Yucatan!
Anyway, the conversion into speaking completely spanish is very difficult and i canot imagine how the people with almost no spanish backround are managing. I really enjoy this city and hope that while im here i can learn alot about something so new to me.
okay well, Felix (the grandson) is going to show me, Cindy and Dana some places around Merida becuase Cindy and Dana live only 2 streets over.
ps. the walking here is GREAT. we walk everywhere, except to school where we take the bus and its so refreshing!
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Ursinus in Mexico Updated: Dec 3, 2007
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