Yucatan travel movie | Carol Chapman

Only three Maya “books” or codices survived the Spanish conquest of Yucatan

A page from the Dresden Codex showing images from Maya civilization. ~ from Wikipedia commons–this image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired.

The Maya, an indigenous people of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico plus Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras, made folding books written on the inside bark of certain types of fig trees.

Called “codices” (codex in the singular), many were destroyed by the Spanish conquistadors and priests.

For example, in July of 1562, Bishop Diego de Landa ordered the destruction of all of the codices in the state of Yucatan.

De Landa also destroyed a Maya temple in Izamal, using the stones from the temple to make an elegant convent, which we visit in the Yucatan Travel Movie. Izamal is a gorgeous colonial city only about an hour and a half drive from Chichen Itza and well worth the visit.

The three codices that survived the Spanish conquest are named by the location of the museum where they presently reside.

The Dresden Codex, is housed in Germany, is made of 74 pages (39 leaves written on both sides), contains descriptions of rituals and astrological information on eclipses of the sun and moon as well as the cycles of Venus.
To my way of thinking, the Paris Codex, in France, is the most interesting since it deals with the Maya calendar and includes prophecies for various tuns and Katuns.
The Madrid Codex is the longest at 112 pages and is housed in Spain. Researchers believe it was put together quickly after the Spanish conquest.

Occasionally, hopelessly decayed codices are found in Maya ruins:

Given the rarity and importance of these books, rumors of finding new ones often develop interest. Archaeological excavations of Maya sites have turned up a number of rectangular lumps of plaster and paint flakes, most commonly in elite tombs. These lumps are the remains of codices where all the organic material has rotted away. A few of the more coherent of these lumps have been preserved, with the slim hope that some technique to be developed by future generations of archaeologists may be able to recover some information from these remains of ancient pages.

Maya Codices

Yucatan Travel links added to this blog site

Today I added a couple of links to this blog site. They will take you to websites dealing with Yucatan Travel:

a new blog site called, Yucatan Peninsula Travel
a website for a new travelogue DVD, Yucatan Travel: Cancun to Chichen Itza

I love to travel in Yucatan and have been there six times. My outstanding interest is always the quest for evidence that inhabitants of the lost city of Atlantis visited Yucatan in millennia past. I have written about my experiences in my books When We Were Gods and Arrival of the Gods in Egypt.

While in Yucatan, I also began videotaping the many places we visited. These became the DVD travelogue Yucatan Travel: Cancun to Chichen Itza.

Those of us who made the Yucatan Travel DVD listed above decided to also start a blog about some of our favorite places in Yucatan. If you’ve been to that tropical paradise, we invite your comments, especially those that would be helpful to other travelers.

Videotaping Cenote Zaci in Valladolid Yucatan

: Carol Chapman videotaping Cenote Zaci in Valladolid, Yucatan

Here I’m filming footage to be used in a future movie on Yucatan. I’m perched at the rim of Cenote Zaci in Valladolid. A cenote is a sink hole down to underground water through the limestone shelf that makes the surface of northern Yucatan. Valladolid is one of my favorite places to visit in Yucatan.

Some artifacts in Mayan ruins discovered by using intuition

In yesterday’s post, I referred to August and Alice LePlongeon, explorers of the Mayan ruins in Yucatan. While we were in Yucatan filming the Yucatan Travel Movie, we visited Hacienda Chichen, the place where many of the original explorers of Chichen Itza stayed. There we learned of Alice Le Plongeon’s psychic talents and how she had found a Chac Moll buried deep in the ground purely by intuition.

Atlantis and the Yucatan Travel Movie

You may have noticed that I have written books on finding evidence of Atlanteans in Egypt and Yucatan. I’ve also made a movie, which is almost ready to be distributed, on Yucatan Travel. Atlantis and Yucatan Travel seem to be separate subjects. Here’s how it came about: It turned out that while I was doing research in Yucatan for the books, I couldn’t find DVDs to show me what to expect while traveling in Yucatan. As a result, I decided to videotape my experiences in Yucatan in the hopes of being helpful to other people who want to know what to expect. That’s how the Yucatan Travel Movie came about.

Our favorite breakfast restaurant in Cancun

Carol and John Chapman enjoying breakfast at our favorite Cancun breakfast restaurant

First, I took a photo of John sitting at the table. Then John took a photo of me sitting at the table. Then, I kinda, sorta put the two photos together in PhotoShop so it kinda, sorta looks like we’re both sitting at the table together at the same time. We actually were sitting at the table at the same time except when we took the photos of each other. This is where we had breakfast every morning outside at Natura Restaurant on Boulevard Kukulcan while in Cancun. They had marvelous omelets and fantastic service. Our corn tortillas are keeping warm in the woven basket with the colorful lid in the foreground. John’s favorite omelet was a Chihuahua omelet. Before you think that means a little dog rolled up in cooked eggs, let me assure you that the Chihuahua is actually Chihuahua cheese, which is similar to Monterey Jack cheese, and comes from the Mexican state of Chihuahua, just like the little dog. John also liked slices of nopal cactus (prickly pear cactus) accompanying his Chihuahua in his omelet. Not surprisingly, since it’s the city most people fly into when visiting Yucatan, Cancun is in the Yucatan Travel Movie.

My Favorite Restaurant in the World

Tea and a Purse Rack at El Meson del Marques, Valladolid, Yucatan, Mexico

Not only is the food magnificent and the service supreme, but imagine that when you sit down, the waiter/waitress not only pulls out the seat for you to sit on, but also brings out the purse rack so you don’t have to put your pocketbook on the floor. My favorite meal? Guacamole made at the table and sopa de lima–a traditional Mayan chicken soup with strips of tortillas soaking in the broth and a slice of lime adding that certain special flavor. El Meson del Marques is in Valladolid, Yucatan, Mexico. It is a little-frequented gem that many tourists miss. But it is heavenly. It too is in the Yucatan Travel Movie.

Videotaping Zaci Cenote in Valladolid, Yucatan, Mexico

Carol Chapman videotaping Zaci Cenote in Valladolid, Yucatan, Mexico Photo by John Chapman

Here I am videotaping the cenote, or sinkhole, in Valladolid, Yucatan, Mexico. This Valladolid cenote, called Zaci, is featured in the Yucatan Travel Movie. There are many of these sinkholes throughout the state of Yucatan and its nearby state of Quintana Roo. The fresh water within the cenotes provided water for the indigenous Mayan people, because the northern Yucatan Peninsula does not have rivers, streams, or lakes–no surface water. Rainwater trickles down through the limestone earth of the northern Yucatan Peninsula to form underwater rivers. The cenotes provide openings to the underwater rivers. I love the deep turquoise color of the water.

Cenote Swimmer in Yucatan

A swimmer enjoys Cenote Zaci in Valladolid, Yucatan.

Zaci Cenote appears in the Yucatan Travel Movie. Here, I am looking at a woman below me who is looking at a swimmer below her in the beautiful turquoise-green water of the cenote. Cenotes formed millions of years ago when sinkholes formed in the thick limestone surface exposing underground rivers below. This cenote, called “Zaci,” the original name of the city in which it is found, is in Valladolid, an inland city west of Cancun.

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.

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