Ruined by the Ruins
We´ve been in Yucatan for only a week and have already visited the three most important ancient ceremonial centers for the Maya´s creator god, Izamna. That was one of my goals for this trip. The ceremonial centers are 1. Chichen Itza, which almost everyone knows, 2. Isla Cozumel, which, if anyone has heard of it, knows it most likely as a diving and snorkelling location and 3. a place most people have never heard of, Izamal.
Izamal is a little place fairly sizzling with spiritual energy since Bishop Frey Diego of Landa, who was infamous for burning the Mayan codices with Inquisition zeal, also tore down a huge pyramid in Izamal. Bishop de Landa used the pyramid’s stones to make a gorgeous convent where, not surprisingly since it was a sacred Mayan site, an apparition of the Virgin Mary occurred. Pope John Paul II (Juan Pablo II in Spanish) made a pilgrimmage to the site.
We were there last weekend when Mexico celebrates the Izamal Virgin of the Yucatan. There were carnival rides, trinket stands, and tons and tons of people pouring in – 300,000 by some estimates. Unfortunately, the downtown streets happened to be torn up this year to update the infrastructure.
What chaos! While driving through town trying to find a certain pyramid to photograph and videotape, John asked a local fellow how to get to the pyramid. Either the man did not understand John´s Spanglish or John did not understand the man´s Spanish or most likely both. In any case, we made a wrong turn and ended up on a dusty street full of mounds of dirt with a huge ditch for drainage and sewer pipes two feet away from my car door. Then we got hemmed in by the hordes of people in town for the celebration looking for places to park on the narrow streets now that the construction crews had gone home for the day. John somehow managed to get us out of that situation without driving into the ditch. This is the kind of excitement you don’t want!
This morning we planned to spend about two hours photographing the huge Olmec heads displayed in a downtown tropical park in Villahermosa. However, it was so gorgeous that we stayed five whole hours. I had to video tape each head from many angles but what took the most time was surprise encounters with little long-tailed raccoon-like creatures called coatimundis.
Families of them swarmed around us. Cute little baby coatis snuffled in the leaves on the jungle floor looking for, I assume, ants and grubs. While videotaping one family group, another adult came up behind me. I squealed when I felt a soft little hand on my thigh. He had stood on his hind legs and reached up at me, I assume, hoping for a handout. I felt bad because my squeal frightened him. He jumped and ran away. The next time a little paw touched me, I got him on tape. I wore the dusty paw print on my pants all day!
After five hours with Olmec heads and a week of ruins, John and I felt totally ruined by the ruins. There is an interesting ruin near Villahermosa called Colacmalco where the ancient Maya made kiln-fired bricks to construct their pyramids since, in this swampy land, there were no stones to be found.
However, instead of going to see yet another ruin, John and I elected instead to visit a chocolate hacienda. Our main goal was to taste test all the cacao products, which we did. Yum, yum! Do you know that chocolate comes from a light-colored fruit about the size of a squash which sticks out from the sides of a low-growing tree´s trunk? The cacao bean is purple in color. After it is roasted, it is pure strong bitter chocolate.
A delightful young man of Castilian Spanish blood whose grandparents came to the area in 1914 gave us a tour of his family´s organic cacao plantation. It is right next to the archeological site and was originally farmed by the ancient Maya, then Franciscan monks. Howler monkeys roared and leapt in the tree canopy above us stopping only to munch on leaves.
Again, translation problems arose because the young man tried to explain to us that even though the monkeys also eat some of the cacao fruit they are important because of Chip and Dales. Not sure what male exotic dancers had to do with a chocolate plantation, I tried to clarify the young man´s meaning. He made pawing motions in the air which further baffled me.
Everytime I tried some English translation such as that the monkeys somehow aid in the reproduction of the cacoa fruit, the young man shook his head. When the young man made a shaking motion as if it was important that the monkeys shake the tree tops, John volunteered that perhaps it had something to do the monkeys digesting the seeds so they could germinate more easily. We were getting no forwarder.
Our young guide had a solution. He called a friend who spoke English better than he did on the cell phone. With the phone on speaker, the friend explained to us that the howler monkeys were good for the cacao plantation because they helped to keep squirrels at bay. I would have rather liked it to be about male exotic dancers.
Tomorrow we go to the magical mysterious ruins at Palenque. Because I don´t know if I will find another computer and internet connection, it may be a while before I write again but as soon as I can, I will.
Love, Light and blessings,
Carol Chapman
