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Category Archives for "Yucatan & Mexico"Carol Chapman conceived and is directing and editing the Yucatan Travel movie, an entertaining documentary with information about traveling in Yucatan, Mexico.
Carol Chapman conceived and is directing and editing the Yucatan Travel movie, an entertaining documentary with information about traveling in Yucatan, Mexico.
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.
Copyright (c) 2010 Carol Chapman
All Rights Reserved
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!…
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.
copyright (c) 2010 Carol Chapman
All Rights Reserved
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.
Copyright (c) 2010 Carol Chapman
All Rights Reserved
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.
Copyright (c) 2010 Carol Chapman
All Rights Reserved
Miriam Balsley, narrator of the Yucatan Travel Movie is in Guatemala taking intensive Spanish Language classes.
I knew she had climbed a Guatemala volcano or two or three with a guide. However, I assumed she was no where near the rock and ash-spewing Volcano Pacaya. Still, I felt relieved when I received an email from her saying that she was safe and far from Pacaya.
However, she did climb Pacaya a couple of months ago. Her guided roasted a marshmallow over a scorching crack in the surface of the peak. She writes of her experience on the Guatemala Volcano:
It didn’t matter that there was no actual lava flowing today. Perhaps another time. The 2 foot hole blasting heat was proof of the intensity that lay brewing below us. And the marshmallows were pretty good too. But talk about being a pro cooker. If you left them longer than a second, they instantaniously went up in flames.
For Miriam’s photos of the Guatemala Volcano, follow the link: http://miriamtravel.blogspot.com/2010/04/volcano-pacaya.html”>Volcano Pacaya
Copyright (c) 2010 Carol Chapman
All Rights Reserved
Well, I guess I’m up late again . . . working on the “Music in Yucatan Travel” Bonus Feature for the Yucatan Travel Movie. I’m loving it, of course. But, it is taking longer than I expected. So what else is new?
In this feature, I’m showing the musicians playing selections of music from Yucatan Travel in a small part of the screen while the regular images in the movie play.
My editing software, Sony Vegas Movie Studio, calls it a “cookie cutter.” It’s complicated because I have to have two images lined up with the audio track instead of only one.
Oh well, it’s worth it. I really want to honor the wonderful musicians who gave me permission to use their fantastic music.
Copyright (c) 2010 Carol Chapman
All Rights Reserved
We visited Cozumel Island while filming the Yucatan Travel Movie. The snorkeling was fantastic. However, we did not know that the underwater visibility is so fine since we do not scuba dive.
According to Travel Yucatan, Cozumel enjoys 200 feet of underwater visibility and 80-degree-plus seawater temperature in the summer–two elements perfect for snorkeling.
Snorkeling in Cancun and Cozumel
According to the article, most visitors to Cozumel prefer to snorkel at Chankanaab and Dzul Ha. For us, we simply donned our snorkeling gear at a seaside restaurant and joined the other folk in fins and masks.
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The Yucatan Travel Movie will have its first official public screen on Sunday, July 11th at 2:00 p.m. at the Gloucester Library. It is at 6920 Main Street, in Gloucester, Virginia. Click here for more information.
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On May 15th, I received something from Burson-Marsteller Watch having to do with my May 14th post. It was not quite a comment and it did not have an email address or a name. Is this a ping? Not sure.
In any case, my blog post is now on the Burson-Marsteller Watch website, which is OK with me. In fact, I am delighted.
However, not being totally blog savvy, when I first saw, “read the whole article,” with a link to my May 14th blog post, I went back to the original article at TwitTravel/Best Travel Deals and read that original whole article to the end. The first time through, I had only read the first half. It is a long article.
When I reread the article, I learned that Mel Gibson had merely considered Edzna as the setting for Apocalypto but had chosen a location in Veracruz instead.
Even though I got to the information in a round about way, I am happy I have it because I will be sure in the Yucatan Travel Movie, not to say that Mel Gibson chose to shoot parts of Apocalypto in Edzna.
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I am in the middle of editing the special feature of the Yucatan Travel Movie called, “Music in the Yucatan Travel Movie.”
So far, I have acknowledged Tom Petrachenko for his lovely songs, “A Moment,” and “All These Ghosts.” Tom not only composed and played these songs on the guitar, but he also wrote and sings the lyrics in “All These Ghosts.” Lovely. I have received many compliments for these tunes.
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