Yucatan & Mexico | Carol Chapman

Izamal Horse &Buggy Taxis and Apparitions of the Virgin Mary

Horse and Buggy Taxi in the lovely Colonial Town of Izamal, Yucatan, Mexico

Horse and Buggy Taxis in the lovely Colonial Town of Izamal, Yucatan, Mexico

When traveling in Yucatan earlier this month, we visited one of my favorite Colonial cities, the lovely town of Izamal. Early December is the perfect time to be there, because the town celebrates a many-day-long festival in honor of “Concepcion,” a statue of the Virgin Mary who is the patron saint of the state of Yucatan. Supposedly, she has amazing healing powers. Hundreds of thousands of people come to Izamal in December to honor “Concepcion.” In fact, Izamal is the site of an apparition of the Virgin Mary involving this lovely statue. We were able to shoot some supplemental footage that will be useful in future movies. Izamal is already included in the Yucatan Travel Movie.

Atlanteans visited Yucatan

I am fascinated by the concept that Atlanteans traveled to lands that presently exist. This means that, even though the lost city of Atlantis was destroyed by natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis, there could still be evidence of the lost continent of Atlantis in the places Atlanteans visited. Here’s an Edgar Cayce reading saying that Atlanteans traveled to what now called Yucatan:

“. . . In that land known as the Atlantean . . . When there was the journeying of many . . . To that portion of the sphere now known as Yucatan.”
Edgar Cayce Reading 2126-1

I write about my experiences looking for evidence of Atlanteans in Yucatan in my book When We Were Gods.

Tom Cruise in the Riviera Maya Yucatan

Tom Cruise and his family visit the Riviera Maya in Yucatan so often, that the owners of the resort they frequent have build a special suite just for him, Katie Holmes, and their daughter Suri.

The online article titled Mexico’s Riviera Maya: What Celebrity Families Vacation There? says that Julia Roberts, Mark Wahlberg, Salma Hayek, Anjolina Jolie and Brad Pitt also enjoy the Riviera Maya.

The Yucatan Travel Movie shows vacation hot spots, such as Tulum where Mick Jagger visits.

The Geese are flying north!

I live in southeastern Virginia, and the last couple of days, poignant calls of Canada geese have periodically filled the sky as they fly in “V” formation overhead.

They are flying north. So, if you live north of here, know that the geese are on the way. Spring is coming!

I will miss them. Videotaped images of the geese floating at sunrise on a local river form part of my company, SunTopaz‘s, video logo at the beginning of the Yucatan Travel Movie.

Lunch with Melinda McKenzie, oboe-playing expert

Today I had lunch with Melinda McKenzie, who provided the wonderful oboe music in my video Yucatan Travel Movie. It was great to get caught up with her. She’s a great story-teller. I laughed and laughed.

Mayan village in Mexico impacted by climate change

Whenever I’ve been in Yucatan, the last three times, while filming the Yucatan Travel Movie, I assumed I could barely stand the mid-day heat because, well … because Yucatan is in the tropics and I’m not used to that kind of heat being from a temperate climate.

However, to my surprise, I recently found an online article at Yahoo News saying that the indigenous people of the area, the Maya, are also finding the climate hotter than normal. In the article, MAYAN VILLAGE IN MEXICO IMPACTED BY CLIMATE CHANGE, a woman says that farmers are no longer able to work in their fields in the heat of the noonday sun. Their main staple crop, corn, is stunted because of the continuing drought. Strangely, not only are the summers hotter, but also the winters are also colder.

Inspirational quote from oboe player

“You can’t save people from themselves.”
~ Melinda McKenzie

Melinda is a marvelous musician and music teacher who provided oboe playing for one of “Prayer, Duet, and Dance,” one of the musical numbers used as background music in the Yucatan Travel Movie.

Inspirational Quote on how to overcome perfectionism

“I have learned that there is not time in these days in life to make things perfect. Good enough almost always works just as well and no one knows the difference except you.”
~ Miriam Balsley

Miriam Balsley is the co-writer, narrator, and hostess of the Yucatan Travel Movie. She knows how to get things done.

Significant Mayan ruin in danger of being lost

El Mirador, a Mayan ruin located in the north of present-day Guatemala’s El Peten region, is in danger of being lost to modern development. A road bringing logging equipment in to harvest the surrounding forest is running roughshod over ruins. In addition, looters remove ancient Mayan artifacts for big profit. El Mirador is especially significant because it harbors evidence of settlement far into the past … as long ago as the 6th century BCE according to the Wikipedia article El Mirador.

For me, any especially ancient pre-Columbian Mayan ruin could be a site visited by Atlanteans in our far distant past.

Carol Chapman
When We Were Gods
Arrival of the Gods in Egypt

Sarah Albee at Book ‘Em Waynesboro 2010

Sarah Albee, New York Times Best Selling author of children’s books, her latest: Poop Happened!, also attended Book ‘Em at Waynesboro, Virginia last weekend. I enjoyed her delightful presentation called, “The Scoop on Poop” where I learned how knights in armor pooped and how astronauts poop – great stuff of great interest. If you read my October 13th post, you know that I videotaped many Yucatan bathrooms when filming Yucatan Travel because I have a fascination with beautiful tiled Mexican bathrooms. No, the bathrooms did not make it into the travel documentary. Sarah graciously posed with me for the following photo:

Carol Chapman (left) with New York Times Best Selling children's author Sarah Albee at Book 'Em in Waynesboro, Virginia, on October 16, 2010

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