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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

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Charting Unknown Territory in Villahermosa

We had breakfast at a restaurant on the city square in Campeche a gorgeous Colonial town on the Gulf of Mexico unknown to many tourists. Because I’m making a Yucatan travel movie, I put the camcorder on its little 12 inch tripod on the breakfast table and pointed it toward the city center square through the open windows of the restaurant. Then, I sat in front of camcorder and started to talk with the camera recording the view looking over my shoulder at the cathedral and the cars cruising on the cobblestone streets.

Unbeknownst to me, a street vendor hat salesman sauntered up and peeked into the restaurant from behind me through the open window. All this was going on without me knowing he was there. He started holding up hats for John to consider buying. Eventually, I noticed him. It made an entertaining tableau.

As it turned out, John had lost the hatband from the hat he bought in Campeche´s square in January. This guy had a bandanna for only 10 pesos for a replacement, a satisfying encounter for all. The guy got his money, John got his bandanna, and I got an entertaining video clip.

We´re charting new territory in Villahermosa. This is our first time in Tabasco. In contrast to the Yucatan, which is almost totally devoid of surface water – they get their water from underground rivers and sinkholes – in Villahermosa, we are surrounded by lakes and swamps. We drove on a causeway that felt reminiscent of the Florida Keys, a natural habitat of saw palmetto and palmtrees. There was water, water everywhere. The land is barely two feet above sea level on the causeway.

Tomorrow we go to see Olmec heads, those six-foot tall stone sculptures of Mexico’s first civilization, the Omecs. They have facial features similar to Egyptians or Polynesians. What are they doing in Central America! Very interesting. The Egyptian influence in the Yucatan according to Edgar Cayce? Or descendants from the lost continent of Lemuria Mu?

Tonight we´re going to make a spiritual pilgrimmage. In this land of supermercados, roadside stands and street vendors, it is a delight to find a place to shop that is similar to home. There´s a Wal-Mart across a busy road from our hotel. John needs safety pins to hold his new hatband on his straw hat. I need insect repellent because the Olmec heads are in a jungle and tropical plant setting with possibly howler monkeys and likely many mosquitoes.

Also, our hotel is on a lagoon. Very picturesque but we had to come in from the outdoor patio during dinner because of mosquitoes. I´m glad I´m taking chloroquinine.

Carol Chapman

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Great Blog Recovery from My Small Biz U

I’ve got to tell you how happy I am to have this blog hosted by My Small Biz University at http://www.mysmallbizu.com.

A couple of days ago, while uploading my new web site, Inspirational Quotes Wallpaper, I somehow loaded the web site into the blog spot. Basically, I totally deleted this blog and all the postings I’d made since February 2007 – almost two years of blog posts.

Thank God this blog is hosted by My Small Biz U. Even though I believed I’d lost the blog forever, on the off chance that it could somehow be retrieved, I sent an emergency support ticket to My Small Biz U.

I’ve been a member of My Small Biz U for about two years. In fact, it was James Maduk, at My Small Biz U, who helped me to start this blog and has continued to advise me on how to grow my online business for these past two years.

Amazingly, he was able to retrieve the blog.

I really appreciate his help.

Carol Chapman

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Mayan Prophecies: November 11, 2008 Day of Emergence

Anybody heard of this? That November 11, 2008 – basically, just around the corner – is an important day in the Mayan Prophecies?  

The Mayan Prophecies speak of November 11th, 2008 as a time of great emergence, of moving into the “Sixth Day”. This new day will be a very fruitful time in preparation for the great galactic alignment of 2012. We are currently in the very darkest hour of the night before the breaking of the dawn.

A Time for Inner Stillness, Healing and Connection « wild resiliency blog!

Alberto Villoldo, author of the blog post above, goes on to say that “The year 2008 is the “shakedown year”. We must bring our power and attention to examine what no longer serves us.”

All I can say is that this part of year 2008 has sure been a shakedown period!

I like the conclusion of the post which says:

As the world spins with confusion and fear, it is important to spend time each day connecting in stillness and silence. In this place, we touch infinity, where we are no longer bound to the painful stories from our past, and our future is no longer scripted by our history.

Beautiful!

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Corroboration of Cairo Rioting Found

As I said yesterday, about my latest book Arrival of the Gods in Egypt:

While writing this book, I looked online for documentation of the rioting in Cairo and found none. I also could not find documentation supporting a declaration of war by Israel.

Carol Chapman —

By chance, I met a young man who happened to be in Egypt almost at the same time I was there in October 2000. I flew out of Cairo the morning of October 1st. He arrived four days later on October 5th. And, he definitely corroborated my memories of the reports of rioting in Cairo. He said that he had been closely following the BBC reports on the rioting in Cairo before he left for his Egyptian tour because there was a good chance his tour would be canceled.

In fact, when I returned to North American from Egypt, I discovered that some Egyptian tours had been canceled because of the rioting.

However, when I wrote Arrival of the Gods in Egypt, I could not find documentation of the rioting on the Internet. I began to wonder if my memories that there had been rioting were incorrect or perhaps exaggerated. Therefore, I felt happy to meet another person who had been in Cairo in October 2000. It felt good to know that his memories coincided with mine. I now feel secure to say that it truly was a time of strained relationships between countries in the Middle East.

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October 2000 Rioting in Cairo

In my latest book, Arrival of the Gods in Egypt, I wrote:

While writing this book, I looked online for documentation of the rioting in Cairo and found none. I also could not find documentation supporting a declaration of war by Israel. However, I did find information saying that peace talks had been in progress at the time. Perhaps declarations of war had been threatened during the peace talks.

I did find archived articles by the London Times. One article, dated Monday, October 2, 2000, said that Israeli troops had killed a ten-year-old boy the day before, which was the day I flew out of Cairo. Evidently, his death was the 28th Muslim fatality in only four days. He was also the third child killed in that short time. I can see why people in Egypt would be outraged.

Carol Chapman —

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NYC with Arthur Joseph for Vocal Awareness

I’m in New York City today. Six of us have joined Arthur Joseph for follow up Vocal Awareness sessions. I have been so happy with the improvement of my voice and the strengthening of my vocal chords that wanted to follow up the wonderful sessions I attended in San Diego California a couple of weeks ago. It was worth it.

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