Carol Chapman | Carol Chapman

Guatemalan Yucatan Difficulties

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, Miriam Balsley, narrator of the Yucatan Travel Movie, is presently in Guatemala undertaking a Spanish Language Intensive. It turns out that she’s experiencing more than she expected because the country has recently had a volcanic eruption of a volcano she climbed last month, a 30-story deep sinkhole at an intersection in the middle of Guatemala City, and the tail end of the first hurricane of the season, Tropical Storm Agatha that led to landslides.

Miriam tells me that the land that slid is not so much mud as volcanic. It is more loosely packed than the earth I’m used to.

Her photographs of the devastation caused by the landslides are quite amazing. Right in the middle of the town of Jaibalito there is nothing left but dirt. Same with a field of banana trees. A swath of devastation right down the middle with trees standing on either side of the landslide as if nothing happened. Amazing!

And, garbage – tons of it!

Click here to take a look at Miriam’s amazing on-site photos.

Wizardry takes over Lost Continent at Orlando

Is this a trend? Harry Potter is getting more interest than the Lost Continent . . . meaning, I supposed, Atlantis, at Orlando theme parks. Is this a trend for the world? Greater interest in Harry Potter than in Atlantis? Oh my!

According to the Orlando Sentinel:

Scott Smith, a professor in the University of Central Florida’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management, predicts that Universal will eventually opt to convert the rest of the Lost Continent section of Islands of Adventure into an expansion of Wizarding World.

Universal has already turned two Lost Continent rides into Potter-themed rides — the renamed Dragon Challenge and Flight of the Hippogriff roller coasters. That leaves only two significant attractions — Poseidon’s Fury and the Eight Voyages of Sinbad Stunt Show — to anchor Lost Continent.

One of a Kind? Harry Potter’s Success in Orlando Could Lead to More Parks

I guess ya gotta keep moving and changing those attractions to keep them customers comin’ back!

Yucatan Travel Movie’s Mexican Music

I videotaped Carmen’s Mariachi Band at El Ranchito Mexican Restaurant’s Cinco de Mayo celebration for part of the music track of the Yucatan Travel Movie. One of the traditional Mexican songs the band played was called, El Herradero. I’d like to know what the words mean in English. Here are the Spanish words:

EL HERRADERO

Ay, que linda!
Que rechula es la fiesta de mi rancho
con sus chinas, mariachis y canciones
y esos charros que traen sombrero ancho.

Que bonita!
ésa yegua alazana y pajarera
pa’ ensillarla y ponerle una mangana
y montarla y quitarle lo matrera.

Que rechula es la fiesta del Bajío!
Ay, que lindas sus hembras y su sol!
Rinconcito que guarda el amor mío
Ay, mi vida, tuyo es mi corazón!

Ahora es cuando
valedores a darse un buen quemón
que ésa yegua que viene del potrero
sólo es buena pa’l diablo del patron.

Las mujeres
han de ser como todas la potrancas
que se crían y se amansan con su dueño
y no saben llevar jinete en ancas.

Que rechula es la fiesta del Bajío!…

El Herradero Lyrics

OK, here is the Google Translation:

Oh, how beautiful!
That is the party rechula my ranch
with their Chinese, mariachis and songs
and those cowboys who bring wide-brimmed hat.

How beautiful!
that mare and aviary
pa ‘saddle and put a MANGANA
and mount and remove it matrera.

That rechula Bajio is the party!
Oh, how beautiful their females and sun!
Rinconcito that keeps my love
Oh, my life, yours is my heart!

Now is the time
supporters to take a good quemón
that this mare that comes from pasture
only good pa’l devil pattern.

Women
have to be like all the fillies
reared and tame with its owner
and they can not take a rider on his haunches.

That is the party rechula Bajio! …

Obviously, all the words did not quite translate correctly, but, hey, what the heck, that’s way better than all the unsuccessful searching on the internet I was doing trying to find an English translation. This will have to do.

From the words I can put together, I suspect El Herradero is about some powerful dude who owns horses and thinks women should be tamed like horses . . . anyway my best guess. Manuel, who plays for Carmen’s Mariachi Band, the group who played this song for the Yucatan Travel Movie, says El Herradero is about a Ranch Owner. Sounds right.

Nibiru Sightings

I’m interested in discoveries of the planet Nibiru because I recently heard from a friend that information that came up in my past life regressions of Atlantean memories agreed with Zechariah Sitchin‘s translations of ancient Sumarian, Egyptian and Hebrew texts.

According to an article by Delphine, excerpted below, Nibiru has been discovered and photographs taken of it.

Nibiru is a planet that orbits our sun every 3600 years. It got its name from being an elusive planet. It is suggested that current astronomy points to the possibility that Nibiru is a brown dwarf or dark star rather than a planet. This has the implication that our solar system, like the majority in the known universe, is a binary star system; in other words, Earth has two suns with Nibiru being the second and less bright. The first real pictures of Nibiru were photographed shortly after January 26, 1983. The astronomers calculated at that time that Nibiru was over 50 million miles away from us. In 2004 Nibiru was determined to be only 7 million miles away. Confirmation of the twelfth planet Nibiru was photographed in Japan on February 28, 2008. It exists, and it will be on Earth by the end of 2012. Nibiru will appear as two suns in the sky no later than 2011.

Nibiru in 2012

Very interesting is all I can say.

Whew! What a Relief! Guatemala Sinkhole is NOT a Sinkhole!

Two days ago, on June 1st, 2010, I wrote about the sinkhole that formed in Guatemala City, saying that in the Yucatan Travel Movie we had said that sinkholes or cenotes formed in limestone millions of years ago. However, the Guatemala sinkhole, which collapsed four days ago, refuted that opinion.

Therefore, I am so happy to see that Sam Bonis, a geologist at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, who is currently living in Guatemala City, says that the Guatemala sinkhole is not really a sinkhole. And, that the land through which the sinkhole collapsed is not limestone.

It is pumice fill, which is the consistency of gravel when it is spewed from a volcano, and which, over time, compresses into rock.

In fact, Bonis thinks calling the Guatemala City chasm a sinkhole is a misnomer—a true sinkhole is an entirely natural phenomenon. There is no scientific term for what happened in Guatemala, he said, adding that he recommends the pit be dubbed a piping feature.

Guatemala Sinkhole Created by Humans, Not Nature

Bonis calls it a “piping feature” because he used to work for the Guatemalan government’s national geology institute and that in investigating a similar sinkhole that occurred nearby in 2007, it was found that leaking sewer pipes had caused erosion of the loosely packed pumice fill and had led to the collapse of the 2007 sinkhole.

As part of a volunteer team that investigated the 2007 sinkhole, Bonis co-authored a report warning the Guatemalan government that similar holes will very likely keep appearing unless action is taken to inspect the city’s sewer system for weaknesses.

Guatemala Sinkhole Created by Humans, Not Nature

So that’s a relief to me to know that our information in the Yucatan Travel Movie on naturally formed limestone sinkholes called cenotes still stands.

Another Possible Atlantis Location: Santorini, Greece

And yet, another possible location for the lost city of Atlantis. This time, in the Mediterranean Sea in Greece. Here’s an excerpt from a blog post by John Salta:

“. . . your view from those villages looks down into the cauldron of an ancient volcano. Never mind that the volcano is still active. Around 4,000 years ago, the Thera eruption was forceful enough to make it the largest such explosion ever recorded, vaporizing most of what was once a decent-size island. On the south of the island, you can explore the ruins of the city of Akrotiri, which was evacuated just prior to the eruption. Some scholars believe Santorini is where the lost city of Atlantis once thrived. Could be.”

John Saltas’ Summer Vacation
Join the City Weekly founder on a trip to Greece.

Funny, I though Plato said Atlantis was beyond the Straits of Gibraltar, which means in the Atlantic Ocean rather than in the Mediterranean Sea where Greece is. How did Santorini become a possible location for Atlantis?

I guess anything in the general area of the Atlantic Ocean is fair game for the experts . . . especially anything that disappeared because of a volcanic eruption. Makes sense in a way.

Sinkhole Forms in Guatemala City

Can you believe it? In the Yucatan Travel Movie, we visit a cenote or sinkhole in the lovely colonial town of Valladolid, Mexico.

In the movie, narrator Miriam Balsley says, “Not to worry,” because cenotes formed millions of years ago. . . . or anyway, the sinkhole or cenote in Valladolid formed millions of years ago. It is a huge cave in solid limestone with an open ceiling.

It turns out that one formed two days ago obliterating an intersection in Guatemala City. The hole is 60 feet in diameter and 30 stories deep. It swallowed a three-story apartment building.

According to an online National Geographic article by Ker Than:

Sinkholes are natural depressions that can form when water-saturated soil and other particles become too heavy and cause the roofs of existing voids in the soil to collapse.

Another way sinkholes can form is if water enlarges a natural fracture in a limestone bedrock layer. As the crack gets bigger, the topsoil gently slumps, eventually leaving behind a sinkhole.

Sinkhole in Guatemala: Giant Could Get Even Bigger

Coincidentally, Miriam is in Guatemala at this time taking a Spanish language intensive. Fortunately, she is far from Guatemala City right now. Yesterday, she and other students in her school, helped to clean up a mudslide cause by Tropical Storm Agatha. Flooding water from the tropical storm is considered to be a cause of the sinkhole collapse in Guatemala City.

Is an Upcoming Megavolcano Eruption the Fulfillment of the Garabandal Prophecy?

As I said in my May 28, 2010 post, Miriam Balsley, the host and narrator of the Yucatan Travel Movie is presently in Guatemala. Last month, she climbed Pacaya, the Guatemala City volcano that recently erupted killing three people.

Because of Miriam’s experience with the volcano, I have been noticing reports of unusual volcanic activity such as recent eruptions in Equador and the troublesome volcano in Iceland that is wreaking havoc with European air travel.

I wondered if this recent volcanic activity was greater than normal. My mind was beginning to conjure fantasies about increased volcanic activity as an indication of the beginning of prophesied earth upheavals.

Well, I received my answer in a public television network program on megavolcanoes. It turns out that the earth, on average, has about 50 volcanic eruptions every year. That puts things in perspective as far as the Guatemala, Equador, and Iceland volcanoes go. Whew, sigh of relief!

But, these yearly volcanic eruptions, according to the Megavolcano program, are tiny compared to infrequent but devastating megavolcano eruptions. The megavolcanoes build up for thousands, maybe even millions, of years, before they unleash their fury, destroying all in their path.

To my surprise, one of the biggest megavolcanoes is under Yellowstone National Park.

The caldera that underlies Yellowstone National Park—”caldera” essentially means humongous crater—is over 50 miles long and nearly 30 miles wide. You could fit four Manhattans placed end to end inside. The amount of magma, or molten rock, thrown out by its most recent supereruption 640,000 years ago was a staggering 240 cubic miles, with an ash volume two to three times that.

THE NEXT BIG ONE BY PETER TYSON
What could we expect if a supereruption were to occur today?

This is the scary part. Evidently scientists have determined that the Yellowstone megavolcanoe erupts every 600,000 years. It has been 640,000 years since the last eruption. Oops! That means that Yellowstone could explode any time now.

Would this be a fulfillment of the Virgin Mary’s prediction in Garabandal Spain of a devastation of the earth next time by fire?

Is It the Lost “City” or the Lost “Continent” of Atlantis

In reference to my post yesterday in which I quoted in entirety a blog post by Edziomek, posted on May 27th, 2010 at http://community.history.com.

It appears that the author of the article differentiates between the lost city of Atlantis and the lost continent of Atlantis. In other words, the lost continent of Atlantis would have been at the location of the present-day Atlantic Ocean, whereas he proposes that the lost city of Atlantis was off the coast of Spain.

Lost City of Atlantis ‘Could be in Buried in Southern Spain’

Lost city of Atlantis off the Coast of Spain

There is so much information in this blog post on the Lost City of Atlantis that I decided just to copy and paste the whole article.

Some of it I have read about elsewhere, such as that the submerged land of the Atlantic Ocean was once above sea level and was Atlantis.

Some of it is new to me such as that 12,000 years ago our present North was South and our present South was North. Intriguing. Does this mean there was a pole shift?

Here’s the article. It’s by Edziomek, posted on May 27th, 2010 at http://community.history.com.

The Spanish researchers, and several of the posters have correctly explained that there are so many underwater former human habitats, that it will be difficult, but not impossible, to isolate just one location as the “real Atlantis”. I certainly encourage the Spanish researchers to try, and they may be right!

I am in the same boat as the speculators. As 10,000 persons before me, I am suggesting that the “Atlantic” is “Atlantis”, the continent. To find the explicit 20 by 40 mile habitat section called Atlantis, the city, under the mud is very difficult. As mentioned before, all ocean floors, the floor of the Med, the floor of the Gulf of Mexico, the Bay of Bengal, they are all showing organized, probably advanced, human habitat formations of the most extreme antiquity, probably 60 to 100,000 years ago.

As many before me have probably done, I took the time to overlay the most common ancient Atlantean map, with titles “upside down”, and overlaid the Atlantic ocean topography. Azores is the highlight still above water, and it stands for “O-siris”. The map depicts the mid-Atlantic world in the epoch of time when “North” was today’s “South”, and that would be 12,000 years ago.
http://img524.imageshack.us/i/fullpurp2z99.jpg/
http://img694.imageshack.us/i/fullpurp1z99.jpg/

In addition, remember what the ancient Egyptian priests told Solon, that “You Greeks are like children, you don’t even know your own history”. The Egyptian priests were explaining…”You too were Atlanteans, and you don’t even know it!”

I am convinced that the ancient Greeks had maps of those lost lands, and they hid these facts in their mythologies: The helmet of Athena was the area west of Ireland. The discus thrower encompassed Azores, and Northwest to Greenland. The disc itself is the “Aten”, an area south of Greenland.

There were two oceans, Atlanticos towards Spain, and Oceanos in the Bermuda area, with the Mid-Atlantic ridge area above water and showing massive habitats of extreme antiquity all the way down to Antarctica. Somewhere in the transition between Atlanticos and Oceanos, where the straits were narrow, was the city of Atlantis.

In my opinion, this was the ancient homeland area of some of the Greek tribes, Athenians for instance. The “sparkling white mountain” was Bermuda.
http://img17.imageshack.us/i/fullpurp3z99.jpg/
http://img706.imageshack.us/i/fullpurp4z99.jpg/

There are laser beam roads all across these ocean floors, indicating the entire world topography seems to have reversed, what is ocean floor was above sea level, and vice verse.

Lost City of Atlantis ‘Could be in Buried in Southern Spain’