Mexico IV

I believe this is the last of the Mexico pictures. If that makes you sad, don't worry: we have about 1500 more. The next time you have 5 hours free, just ask and we will show them to you. 

A beach at Mahahual. The beach seemed to be the perfect place to use the dramatic art setting on our Olympus.

Tulum, the ruins on the beach. As far as ruins go, these were kind of sloppy. You could tell the people building them either didn't have the expertise or the time to build up to the standards of some of the other ruins we visited. However, this ruin has one major thing going for it: it is on the beach. Also, to my knowledge it is pretty much the only Mayan site that was still functioning when the Spaniards came (as a port) and continued to do so for a number of years.

I love this picture.

These are some of the beautiful tile floors we found at Yaxcopoil, the henequen hacienda. I fell in love with the floors.

And finally, some comparisons.

Noses:

Chac the rain god

And creatures eating juicy things (a jaguar eating a juicy human heart and a fair maiden eating a juicy mango). Who looks more ferocious?

from a temple at Chichen

Alex said I reminded him of all the friezes of jaguars and eagles eating human hearts. I am not sure how to take that...

One final thing I feel like I should point out for your cultural sensitivity

Remember this picture?

You get how strange this skull is right? The elongated and flat forehead? Apparently the Mayab (not a typo - plural for Maya) thought it was attractive to have these flattened, lengthened foreheads and went to great lengths to attach devices to their babies to cause the skull to grow in such a way, or at least the upper class did. The women also chiseled their teeth to points. Can you imagine meeting these people for the first time as a Spanish explorer?

Key points I learned from my trip, some of which I have not yet mentioned but are worth saying for the somewhat completeness of my blogging summary:

1. Driving in Mexico lends flexibility to your trip but KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GETTING INTO. There. I have said enough about driving.
2. Mayan culture and ruins are fascinating.
3. Mexico is really, really hot.
4. Mexican food is good, and 10 days at a time are enough for me.
5. If you go on a trip, having a decent camera makes it nice for blogging. Oh and learn how to use it before you go.
6. Don't ask your relatives to watch your dogs while you go on a long trip unless they really love you, and even then once in a lifetime is probably enough.
7. A lot of people in the world work very hard and lead a very meager life style.

Mexico III

Ol' Benito Juarez and Alex. 

The first time we tried real street-side taco stand food. We never got sick.

If you are driving in Mexico and you see construction - beware! It will last at least 20 miles and there will be strange and sometimes dangerous detours. When there aren't detours, there will be no shoulders and 1.5 lanes for both lanes of traffic.

 

Balamku. I believe this is the largest frieze that we know of from the period that still has stucco and a little bit of paint. Imagine! It was amazing to see how well it has survived through the centuries. Now you can see there is a strange roof protecting it from the elements. This one site made me appreciate all the others even more to see how all of the temples/pyramids were probably decorated at one time. 

Toucan

Please don't urinate on the floor. Ah, Mexico...

Behold... Calakmul!!! This was one of the major Mayan sites during the Mayan Classical period along with Palenque and Tikal. It was a relatively recent discovery and only a very small part has been excavated/restored. Everywhere you go around here, there are mounds and hills covered with dirt and jungle and it doesn't take a lot of imagination to picture all of the ruins that have yet to be uncovered. It is located far off the beaten track in the middle of the jungle. 

These are all howler monkeys. We had a few sightings, but near one pyramid where we sat down in the shade to take a break, there was a whole family of 5 or 6 hanging out in a tree not 10 feet away. They looked at us but didn't pay too much more attention to us than that. 

Wildlife as Olympus sees it.

This round stone they think is where human sacrifices took place.

There is another pyramid behind Alex if you use your imagination.

A coati.

A cabana where we spent the night in Mahahual. No air conditioning but a nice place on the beach. (Finally, a week into our trip, we found the beach!)

This picture is to demonstrate the fact that due to the humidity, I pretty much always looked like someone had just Shop-vacked my head.