Yucatan & Mexico | Carol Chapman

Back Cover of the Yucatan Travel Movie DVD Case

And here’s the back cover of the DVD case for the Yucatan Travel Movie . . . the back cover and the spine:

Back Cover and Spine of the Yucatan Travel Movie DVD case

Back Cover and Spine of the Yucatan Travel Movie's DVD case

The Yucatan Travel Movie explores Mayan ruins, Mexican pyramids, colonial cities, the Mayan Riviera, Caribbean beaches and more . . .

Yucatan Travel Movie DVD Case Front Cover is Here!

Here’s the latest design for the cover of the Yucatan Travel Movie:

Front Cover of the Yucatan Travel Movie

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Yucatan Travel Movie Article Opportunity

Today, Miriam Balsley, narrator of the Yucatan Travel Movie, is in town. I am delighted that there will be an article about Miriam and the movie in our local newspaper, the Gazette-Journal. We’ve had a request from Gazette-Journal correspondent Sherry Hamilton for photographs.

Yucatan Travel will be screened at Gloucester Library on July 11th at 2:00 p.m. Free admission. There will also be complimentary chips and salsa provided by El Ranchito Mexican Restaurant in Gloucester, Virginia.

Tropical Storm Alex Headed Toward Yucatan

According to the National Hurricane Center, as reported by Eric Ehlir on the Men’s Lifestyle and News Spot site, a tropical storm which could possibly increase speed to a hurricane is headed to the Yucatan Peninsula.

The models forecasting possible tracks of Tropical Storm Alex mostly show the storm heading for the Yucatan Peninsula. The storm could travel to the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico possibly as soon as this weekend says Jack Bevens, a hurricane forecaster.

Tropical Storm Alex Heading Directly Toward Yucatan Peninsula

However, I thought the first of the hurricanes in 2010 was Tropical Storm Agatha, as I reported on this blog on June 8th. Either the hurricane forecasters from different countries need to start communicating with each other or, more likely, I don’t know how the hurricane naming system works because I thought that the first tropical storm/potential hurricane’s name started with the first letter of the alphabet, i.e. “A,” the second with “B,” and so forth.

While in Cancun filming footage for the Yucatan Travel Movie, we saw the ravages of previous hurricanes with metal staircases twisted like a pretzel. Pretty darn scary!

Narrator Visits Semuc Champey Waterfalls

When Miriam Balsley, the narrator of the Yucatan Travel Movie, told me that she was going to Semuc Champey during her travels in Guatemala, I naturally assumed she was going to one of that Central American country’s many magnificent Mayan ruins.

Oh, how wrong could I be! Semuc Champey is a natural wonder of waterfalls and stair steps of turquoise green cascading waters. Her nature photographs are gorgeous. Check them out!

Miriam Balsley at Semuc Champey

Yucatan Travel Movie Screening Today

Today was a great day because I showed the Yucatan Travel Movie to two of the wonderful people who provided background music for the movie. One is the composer, Deborah L. Carr, and the other is the musician, Melinda McKenzie. Both play the composition for the movie.

The piece is called Prayer, Duet and Dance. – a great piece with different kinds of moods so I was able to use different parts of the piece in three places in the movie. Loved it! The dance part of the composition is a fl

OK, I admit that I felt apprehension. What if they did not like the movie? What if they might not like the way I used their music in the movie?

But, not to worry! They were genuinely delighted. I loved that they laughed in the funny parts. Very, very encouraging for me.

Yucatan Travel Movie Preview

I am happy because I am putting together the preview of the Yucatan Travel Movie. I will be able to upload it for your viewing soon.

Carol Chapman

Unexcavated Mayan Ruins in Izamal Yucatan

In yesterday’s blog post I said that University of New Mexico anthropologists are using laser technology and remote sensing from aircraft to search in Belize for unexcavated Mayan ruins that they may choose to explore in the future.

In the Yucatan Travel Movie, we videotaped vegetation-covered mounds that appeared to be unexcavated Mayan ruins in the lovely colonial town of Izamal. We could see the mounds from the summit of Kinich Kak Moo, the tallest pyramid in the state of Yucatan, which is in the town of Izamal.

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Mayan Ruin in Belize Excavated by UNM Students

An article by Karen Wentworth says that Keith Prufer, assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico will be taking students to study a relatively small but active Mayan ruin in the lowlands of Belize. This ruin, called Uxbenka, like Tulum in the Yucatan Travel Movie, traded with other Mayan centers.

This year, thanks to a grant from the Alphawood Foundation, they will have electronic equipment to analyze the com position of artifacts they find in the Mayan ruin. “It should tell us where materials like the obsidian we are finding came from, because it was traded a long way. Some came from Mexico, some from Guatemala,” Prufer said. “We can work out trade routes and sources of materials with it.”

Professor Uses High Tech to Uncover Mayan Ruins

Gone are the days when anthropologists relied on the knowledge of modern-day Maya and chicklet harvesters to direct them to unexcavated Mayan ruins. Today, they can also use airplanes equipped with LIDAR or laser technology that allows them to comb the Yucatan jungle from above using remote sensing.

Guatemala Landslide Result from Tropical Storm Agatha

Miriam Balsley, the narrator of the Yucatan Travel Movie is presently in Guatemala doing a Spanish Language Intensive. Tropical Storm Agatha, the first of the season’s possible hurricanes, has just swept through Guatemala. In her blog, Miriam writes:

Walking up through the main center path from the boat dock, it is shocking to see where the center of town got swept into the lake.

Jaibalita, Guatemala, landslide devastation.

People and dogs use a boardwalk over the hole where the city center of Jaibalita once was.

Jaibalito . . . the aftermath

For more photographs, click on the link above.

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