I’ve just enjoyed a YouTube movie called, “The Real Lost Continent of Mu, Lemuria.” It refers to ruins found off the coast of Yonaguni Island. This movie also mentions August Le Plongeon (I mentioned him in yesterday’s post), saying that he is the first person to have connected the Yucatan Maya with Lemuria.
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Last night, we visited our friend Victor Olalde. He had been our guide in Chichen Itza a year ago. He always knows a lot and shares with us.
I’m looking for an image of Izamna, the Maya equivalent of Christ – son of the creator god, Hunab K’u. Victor said we would find the image carved on the east wall of the Nunnery building beyond the Observatory at the Chichen Itza ruins.
We woke early, checked out of the hotel and headed to the ruins. it was strange to walk along the entrance path and NOT see any craft vendors. Some were setting their stalls up but none approached us to buy their wares. It felt good.
We knew, from our Moon handbook, that the Nunnery Building would be a long walk on this huge site, which is traditionally known as Itzamna’s ceremonial center.
We finally got to the building and saw the carving over the doorway just as Victor had said. Only a couple of German tourists shared the space with us. I set up my video camera on its tripod so I would be sure to get the image without any camera movement.
After a couple of minutes, an ancient Mayan guard turned up and told me I could not use a tripod. So, I took the camera off the tripod, telescoped the tripod legs and took the rest of my footage. The old guard also said the image was not Itzamna. I don’t know who to believe – Victor or the old guard.
We also quickly took footage to illustrate information I’d learned in the archives of Hacienda Chichen yesterday – that August Le Plongeon had excavated the Platforma de Venus. We also photographed and videotaped the chac mool that I believe Alice Le Plongeon, his wife, found with her psychic powers. Did I tell you that Alice also had memories of Atlantis and that was one of the reasons the Le Plongeons were in Chichen Itza . . . because they thought the site had an association with the lost continent.
At 10, we had an appointment with Jose at Hacienda Chichen. Miriam is considering being a volunteer with local Maya people for a month or so, which the Hacienda arranges. Jose is not only an elder-in-training, but also the head of their volunteer program.
He told us that he is presently too young to be consider as an elder. You can only be an elder after the age of 52.
Jose took us to his village where we saw children in the local school, the room where they ate and the infirmary associated with the school. The school meal area has been improved by Belisa Barancache, the “keeper” of Hacienda Chichen.
I loved the beautiful children’s inquisitive eyes. The little ones crowded around the back of the video camera to see the moving image being recorded.
My favorite part of the tour with Jose was a visit to a very traditionally Maya village in which women, in a business cooperative, were making the beautifully embroidered traditional white dresses called huiptil on sewing machines outside under the protection of a roof of a building in the village center. They spoke in Mayan. I asked to take their “photographia . . . OK?” They nodded.
I got some great pictures of some lovely women. I feel so happy to have seen the women – about a dozen of them – drawing the patterns on the cloth and then embroidering the design in bright colors on their sewing machines.
Carol Chapman
Copyright (c) 2009 Carol Chapman
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I sit tapping on the keyboard beide the beautifully lighted pool at Dolores Alba Chichen Itza hotel after a very fulfilling day.
Today, I met and interviewed on videotape the owner of the Hacienda Chichen. Belisa Barancanche, who calls herself the “keeper” of the 300 hectare ecologically preserved area, described her respect of the Maya and all they have to offer us.
Her family have owned the Hacienda Chichen for three generations. The Hacienda was originally built with stones from Mayan temples by the Spanish in the 1500s. During the 1800s, it housed such impressive Chichen Itza explorers as the Le Plongeons. In the 1920s, the Carnegie Institute made the Hacienda their home.
I had read that Alice Le Plongeon had told workers where to dig in the dirt to find a certain chac moll statue. I did not know, but learned today from Belisa, that Alice Le Plongeon was a talented psychic. She remembered having been in Chichen Itza during its heyday, which is why she could tell workers exactly where to dig for certain artifacts.
One of my personal heroines, Tatiana Proskouriakoff, a wonderful artist who drew sketches of what the ruins looked like while the ancient Maya lived in them, also lived at the Hacienda. Tatiana also made important breakthroughs in deciphering the meaning of the mysterious Mayan glyphs.
Belisa had many wonderful stories to tell. Her husband, Bruce, who is an American, is devoted to making the lands ecologically sustainable, for example, purifying the waste water of the hotel to be used on fields growing animal feed.
Hacienda Chichen is adjacent to the official ruinas Chichen Itza. A private entrance leads from the hotel grounds, which used to be used by archeologists staying there. Although the Hacienda grounds are separated from the official ruins, there are also many ruins on the hotel property.
Belisa has made part of the grounds available to Mayan elders to perform their sacred ceremony. This is where I attended the Equinox ceremony yesterday. She said that the government will not also the Elders at the actual official ruin site.
I felt very happy to have the opportunity to meet and talk with Belisa and Bruce. Here is a link to the a site with information about the Hacienda, the Mayan Elders, archeologist, ecologicaly sustainability and much, much more . . . http://www.yucatanadventure.com.mx.
Carol Chapman
Copyright (c) 2009 Carol Chapman
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