Canción de amor y aventura en el puerto de Progreso, Mérida

Ayer llegamos muy cansados a Mérida, así que decidimos tomarnos el primer día en la ciudad con calma y descansar un poco.Después del desayuno, tuvimos la suerte de conocer a un grupo de amigos que se reúnen todos los días, con la excepción del domingo, para cantar y tomar café con licor en un rinconcito del restaurante del hotel. Nos contaron que el grupo, llamado "Peña Trovera del Hotel Caribe", fue creado hace unos 20 años por un grupo de compadres con ganas de compartir y alegrar el corazón con la música de la troba. Nuestros nuevos amigos nos deleitaron con canciones románticas tales como "La española cuando besa" y "la Llorona".

Aquí tenéis la letra de una canción preciosa y romántica, que cantó Manuel Jesús, trobador entrañable de 95 años de edad, que estaba sentado a mi lado y me dictó la letra para que la escribiera en el bloc. Su dulzura me llegó al alma.

Miénteme más
que al mentirme me das la ilusión
que me amas con el corazón
aunque no sea verdad

Hazme feliz
aunque sea un momento no más
que después de esta noche de amor
sé que voy a llorar

mientras exista el amor
habrá mentira
mientras haya placer
habrá dolor

Aquí tenéis también un enlace con más información detallada de la troba yucateca.

http://thematrix.sureste.com/cityview/merida1/articulos/trova.htm

Después de deleitarnos con la música, Mario, uno de los trobadores, nos llevó a visitar Progreso, que es el principal puerto del estado de Yucatán, localizado en el Golfo de México y a 36 kilómetros al norte de Mérida. La playa de Progreso es la más concurrida ya que es la más cercana a la ciudad de Mérida. Allí almorzamos comida típica yucateca en un restaurante con vistas al mar y Diego y Mario se tomaron un tequila con sus respectivas limas y sal. Después de la visita al puerto, Mario nos invitó a su casa y allí estuvimos un ratito charlando.
Por la noche, Lynda se quedó en el hotel descansando y Diego y yo salimos a dar un paseo por el centro, el cual tenía un ambiente buenísimo con tiendas de artesanías, música en la calle y mucha gente local en las plazas disfrutando del buen clima nocturno. Bueno, son casi las dos de la noche,estoy agotada y mañana tenemos que salir para Uxmal a las nueve, buenas noches a todos....

Visita a Cobá

De camino a Mérida, visitamos las ruinas mayas de Cobá, las cuales están rodeadas por la selva y junto a una zona pantanosa. Esta antigua ciudad maya fue la más importante metrópolis de la península de Yucatán entre los siglos V y X. El recinto arqueológico está rodeado de muchísima vegetación y de ceibas, el árbol sagrado de los mayas.

Para llegar a la impresionate pirámide de Nohoch Mul, la más alta de la península de Yucatán, Lynda y yo tomamos un taxi-bici y Diego fue hasta allí en bicicleta. A pesar del calor insoportable y del cansancio acumulado, Diego tuvo el valor de subir hasta arriba de la pirámide (42 metros de altura y 120 escalones!) Lynda y yo no fuimos tan valientes así que nos quedamos abajo, sacando las fotos pertinente de Diego en medio de su gran hazaña. El taxista del taxi-bici nos contó que hoy en día el poblado sólo tiene unos 1000 habitantes, pero durante el Imperio Maya llegó a tener unos 80.000 habitantes. Increíble!

Creo que lo que más nos impresionó a los tres fue las dos canchas de juego de pelotas, que están muy bien conservadas y poseen figuras de cautivos, inscripciones jerogríficas y una reproducción del craneo humano.

Después de ver las ruinas, nos tomamos unos zumos riquísimos con fruta recien exprimidas en un local en frente del lago Cobá. Estuvimos hablando con el dueño que era argentino y simpatiquísimo y nos dio algunas recomendaciones para nuestro viaje. Después de refrescarnos, seguimos rumbo a Merida....

A very brief overview, of the history of the Maya

Today is Saturday, the 12th. We have visited two sites and will go on to see tree more in the course of our stay here. I thought that giving everyone a brief overview of the development and peak of Mayan culture in the Yucatan would be helpful. So, here goes...

The Mayas occupied a very large territory that includes the present states of Quintana Roo (Tolum and Coba), Yucatan (Uxmal and Chichen Itza), Campeche (Palenque), parts of Tabasco and Chiapas, and the countries of Belize, parts of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. The area is quite varied geographically: the Highlands in the south, the Central Maya Area, and the adjacent valleys of the North. The names of the archeological sites that we are visiting are named in the parentheses.

The ancient Mayas were members of different ethnic groups sharing similar cultural and physical characteristics with some local variations which arose from a single, "proto-Maya" group that had settled in Guatemala. Over time, this group broke up, migrated, and developed different languages from the common mother language. Later migrations resulted in the formation of the very large Mayan territory. These migrations also established contacts with other civilizations who shared cultural information, some of which the Maya adopted. Mayan history is divided into periods or phases of which there are three major ones each with subdivisions that encapsulate particular events, contacts, and cultural/artistic developments. The earliest of these is the Pre-Classic which begins around 2500 BCE and is characterized by the division into ethnic groups and the appearance of the first ceramics. This is the time when these peoples were becoming agriculturalists and settling in small villages. With the beginning of settled agriculture, the population increased and the first cities appeared. The development of cities is key to what historians define as "civilization." This also developed in other areas of the world with settled agriculture enabling the development of the earliest civilizations in the Nile, Tigris Euphrates, Indus, and Yellow River Valleys.

As I said, there were contacts with other peoples, so that this civilization did not develop in isolation. It is thought by many that contacts with the Olmecs were very close and that the Olmec culture is a kind of "Mother culture" to the Maya. The Olmecs created many religious ideas, symbols, and cultural and artistic elements that other MesoAmerican cultures, including the Maya adopted and built upon. The mathematical and calendar systems, for example, are two of these.

By the end of the Pre-Classic phase, the Maya had developed complex ceremonial/religious centers and a hierarchical social structure with clear social divisions. This period lasts until about 200 CE. The Classic phase or period is the time that the Mayan civilization reaches its peak. During the early part of the Classic Period, the influence of the Teotihuacan culture from central Mexico was considerable. Numerous cities arose and complex social, economic, and political systems developed. Cultural and scientific developments reached a pinnacle and most of the cities flourished. During the later part of the Classic period, the "Maya collapse" occurred. Why it happened is probably due to a combination of factors that have been theorized such as a prolonged drought, invasions by outside groups, depletion of the soil, internecine conflicts, etc. Cultural collapses in other parts of the world occurred for a similar confluence of social, political, and natural causes. For the Maya this meant that most of their cities were abandoned. It is only in the North of the Yucatan that we see that contact with groups from central Mexico enabled a revitalization of culture to some extent and enabled centers in that area to continue to survive for one hundred more years. One of these cities was Tulum, which we visited on Wednesday. Another is Chichen Itza, which we will visit on Monday.

To be continued... Lynda

Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico - Iguanas in Paradise

Visited Tulum today. Struck by the idea that although a small site when compared to places like Chichen Itza and Uxmal(?), there are some interesting tidbits that are highlighted. Tulum was a trading center and participated with other coastal communities in the establishment of the ocean trading routes that went from Honduras, up and around the Yucatan Peninsula, and to what is now the state of Tabasco, which added, alongside over-population, warfare, and environmental over-exploitation, to the downfall of the large city-states established in the interior of the rain forest by 900AD. The Maya did not venture far off the coasts but instead hugged the coastline in their large canoes.

When one enters Tulum through a tunnel in the outer wall that surrounds the site, one immediately notices that it is a fairly small site, especially when compared to Chichen Itza and similarly expansive sites. But this is because only the political and religious center was considered worthy of permanent stone structures. It was here that the elite lived. The rest of the population lived on the periphery in impermanent structures. Also of note is the fact that within the center are the remains of stone platforms upon which were built structures of organic materials.

These facts are striking to me because when one looks inland from a highpoint all one sees is an unending expanse of incredibly lush green. It must have taken considerable effort to stave off the ever-encroaching jungle and keep the land and roads open for agriculture, housing, and communication. This immediately implies a thriving civilization, dispelling any notion, of which there are many, that the indigenous peoples of the Americas were less knowledgeable and that, without the arrival of the Europeans, would have remained in a primeval state, unevolved. The indigenous peoples of the Americas landscaped their surroundings with alacrity, built cities with large populations, practiced complex irrigation techniques, and had highly complex social structures. Seems to me they were doing just fine.

It is extraordinarily beautiful here. The people of Tulum must have realized the sheer beauty of the beaches. They must have had leisure time, at least the elite.

There are lots of iguanas just crawling around - and lots of tourists, including myself, taking close-up photos of these creatures. At one point I was sitting on the ground in a shaded spot and happened to turn slightly and realized a large iguana was not three feet away from me. While sitting in the same spot opposite one of the buildings, I noticed a medium-sized iguana poised high up on a corner ledge of the building like a living gargoyle.

Tulum is not known for its facades and art and there is really only one building with any art left on it. It is the Temple of the Descending god, named for the image of a primary figure that seems to be crawling down the face of the building due to its legs and feet extended above its head, arms outstretched to the side like a Mesoamerican Spiderman, its face looking directly out. The mysterious and beautiful quality of the depiction excites the imagination. Why is it going down? Why not just depict the face? Two questions that will remain unanswered.

The town of Tulum is like any other beach town really. Shops filled with tacky merchandise and locals enjoying life in shorts and sandals in the many restaurants lining the main drag. It’s a bustling little town with lots of people from all over the world visiting, intermingling with friendly locals. I hope to come back. Ciao!

Diego

Llegada a Cancún y visita a la bellísima Tulum

Nuestra aventura yucateca está siendo increíble! Ayer llegamos a Cancún después de un largo viaje y de haber madrugado muchísimo (partimos de Winston-Salem a las cuatro de la mañana!!!!!!). Nuestro avión salió de Greensboro a las seis, tuvimos una conección en el aeropuerto de Chicago y finalmente llegamos a Cancún a las 12:35 de la tarde. Nos dirigimos en coche a Tulum, ciudad prehistórica portuaria ubicada al sur de la Riviera Maya y a 128 kilómetros de Cancún. Cuando llegamos al hotel, estábamos hambrientos y súper cansados, así que nos relajamos un poco y cenamos muy temprano. A pesar de nuestro cansancio, no nos pudimos resistir a las aguas azul turqueza del mar Caribe, así que fuimos a la playa por un rato. Después de la playa, fuimos a visitar el centro de la ciudad por la noche y a hacer algunas compras en el supermercado más cercano al hotel.

Hoy hemos visitado las impresionantes ruinas arqueológicas de la ciudad, las cuales están ubicadas sobre un acantilado a pie del mar Caribe (la vista es realmente impresionante!!). Tulum significa “muro” y cuando los españoles la divisaron por primera vez en 1518, era conocida por Zama, que significa “amanecer”. El navegante Juan de Grijalva la comparó con la ciudad andaluza de Sevilla. Esta comparación me resultó muy curiosa, ya que me hizo imaginar mi ciudad natal, Sevilla, en el siglo XIV. Y yo me pregunto, ¿cuáles son las similitudes que Grijalba encontró entre esta ciudad portuaria maya y Sevilla?

Bueno, me despido de todos por ahora, sólo deciros que lo estamos pasando muy bien y aprendiendo muchísimo de nuestra aventura. Mañana queremos visitar la ciudad maya de Cobá, la cual está rodeada por la selva y ubicada a 42 kilómetros de Tulum.

Bienvenidos a nuestra aventura maya

Bienvenidos a nuestro bloc! Soy Raquel Maqueda, la profesora de español de secundaria de la escuela de arte. Esta parte del bloc va dedicada a nuestros seguidores hispanohablantes, a todas aquellas personas que estén aprendiendo español, y, por supuesto, a mis queridos alumnos de la escuela de arte. Mis otros dos compañeros del proyecto “Respira”, Diego Schoch (profesor de danza moderna) y Lynda Moss (profesora de historia), contarán sobre nuestra aventura mexicana en la lengua inglesa. Yo por mi parte, lo haré en español. Espero que sigáis con entusiasmo nuestra aventura maya!!!!

Un saludo cordial,

Raquel

On the eve of our departure...

8/10/10
I have spent the day madly getting things together to be able to leave tomorrow morning at 4:15 am! We three are wonderfully excited about going and being there together. I know we will have lots to share.
As Diego said in his post, going to the Yucatan to visit these ancient sacred sites has been a dream of mine for a very long time. I was an Anthropology major as an undergraduate and studied Mesoamerica. One of my texts was Michael Coe's wonderful book, The Maya. It was the first edition of that text. Dr. Coe is a renowned expert on Mayan history. This book is probably the best source to gain a basic understanding of pre-Columbian Mayan history, culture, art and architecture. I read it in its entirety in 1967. It was then that I promised myself that I would get to the Yucatan to visit these magnificent sites. The book is now in the seventh edition. I bought it and read all of it, recalling my love for it the first time and being facinated by all of the new discoveries and new theories that now offer either different theories or deeper and more fully realized explanations of these amazing people and their culture. So, my dream is coming true. I an looking forward to sharing that experience with my students, colleagues, and friends. More soon! Lynda