Saskatchewan Gypsies

We arrived in Mérida early in the afternoon on Thursday in plenty of time to check into our lodgings for the next three nights and to get things sorted away so that we would be free to watch the first parade of the 2009 Carnaval, ‘el desfile de ninos’.  Before the parade which was to take place at 4:00 PM, we walked around the main city square and got a few photos of the crews setting up seating for the crowds.  Seats were for sale in this area.  Once away from the main square, it was basically standing room only along the barricades.

It wasn’t too long before the clowns were out in order to keep the waiting crowds which were filled with kids, their parents and other interested people, occupied while waiting for the parade to start.  The streets were closed to traffic two hours before the parade was to begin.

Security in the square and all along the parade route was in full force, a mixture of municipal cops sporting their D.A.R.E. badges and caps, police stationed in towers all along the route, all the way to riot cops and machine gun toting police wearing bullet-proof vests.

Of course, every good parade must start with the king and queen of the parade such as these two youngsters who had the honour for this year’s children’s parade.

There were twenty-four different groups, all from various preschools and kindergartens from around the city.  Each group came dressed in a theme to match movie themes such as High School, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Lion King.

In between each of the twenty-four groups, a truck, van or SUV was in place so that each group would have its music to move and dance to while making their way along the parade route.

After more than an hour, all twenty-four groups made their way past the town square, the starting point of the parade.  And like the opening of the parade, the police pulled up at the rear, a positive presence that spoke loudly about the national pride in its young people, its future.  So began our three days in Mérida.

At the entrance to the Uxmal Mayan ruins, the Magician's Pyramid rises towards the sky.

Late morning finds us, Kathy, her friend Pat, Maureen and I, standing in front of the Magician’s pyramid at Uxmal.  So far, this is the most impressive of Mayan ruins that we have yet seen.  Our guide, seen in this photo, led us on an  hour and a half tour that somehow stretched out to almost three hours.  I guess it helps when your small party of tourists are avid to know as much as you can pass on.

The Magician’s Pyramid was built in three different time periods from about 500 to 1000 AD.  The first part was a simple temple, almost at ground level. You can see an opening doorway to that temple in the bottom left hand side of the pyramid on the western side of the pyramid.  The first pyramid was built in a traditional stepped style up to the top of the first level.  On the second level of the pyramid, three additional temples were built.  It was necessary to expand the base of the pyramid in order to accomplish the building of the fifth and final temple which sits at the top of the pyramid.  Did they have live sacrifices here?  Most say no, but there are stories of live human sacrifices taking place in the top fifth temple with the body then cast down the steps towards a courtyard on the north side of the pyramid.  As explained to us, the temple was dedicated to Chaac, the rain god.  Why is it then called the Magician’s Pyramid?  It was explained that in fulfilment of a prophecy, a human male that wasn’t born of a woman would become the greatest spiritual and temporal leader of the Mayans of Uxmal.  A dwarf claimed to be this human.  His task as set by the leader of that time was to construct the pyramid overnight.  With the task accomplished, the dwarf became the leader of the Uxmal city and temple.  Stories are interesting.

Of course, it wasn’t all about listening to stories and myths of the past.  Our guide showed us a number of trees that have had a significant impact on the lives of Mayan people, trees such as this one.  He had us feel the texture of the leaves.  We noted their roughness.  He then told us that these leaves were the scouring pads used by Mayan women to clean their pots, pans and dishes.

A series of four buildings surround an open area to the north of the Magician’s pyramid.  The buildings were used for the work of city administrators, scientists and the priesthood.  It got the name of Nun’s Square from the Spanish who arrived at the site in the 17th Century.

At the base of the steps of the building pictured above, the newest of the four buildings was a throne for the Governor of the city, a man who was also the head priest.  You’ll notice that the current queen sitting on the throne looks suspiciously like Maureen.

A second pyramid, the Grand Pyramid was closed to access as the chief archeologist working the site had just discovered a new temple within the pyramid.

South of the Grand Pyramid, high on an artificial hill, was the Governor’s palace.  As our guide explained to us how the building was constructed using all the knowledge of the time based on science, astronomy and religion, we saw all of the beliefs of a society embedded in the panorama found on the face of the wall.  We saw all the aspects of the Mayan calendar, the magical beliefs of the sacred numbers nine (levels of the underworld) and thirteen (levels of heaven) and how they combined to create a place of perfect symmetry and harmony.  It’s beyond belief that such ancients as the Mayans were able to accomplish this while we of modern times can hardly make our structures last one lifetime.

 A bit of colour with not much to say.  This is what we see during a typical day strolling around our beach area.

Of course, I am leaving the work of naming these birds with you as I don’t have a book to deal with that here with me.

 That said, it is easy to figure out that this first bird is a sandpiper of some sort.  As for the bird on the right sitting on top of a plam stump, it is a beautiful little thing with a faint blush of pink on its belly.

This bird is from the heron or ibis family.  It was a rare visitor that took quite a few shots and about 1o minutes worth of stalking in order to get a decent photo.

I know that I have a gazillion photos of Brown Pelicans but these two were sitting so patiently for me, almost begging to have their photo taken.  Most brown pelicans are actually brown.  These ones are the dressed up versions which have a beautiful yellow crest on their heads.

And of course, it is hard to go very long on our walks either along the beach or along the beach road, without seeing yet another iguana. 

On the west side of the village on the road south that heads to Mérida.

On a recent walk to the village we decided to walk through and carry on to start walking on the road to Mérida so that we could see the western edge of the laguna.  Of course, the actual end of the laguna has a small culvert that connects to another small laguna that leads to the ‘Abrigo de Chuburna’, the sheltered port where villagers park their various fishing boats.

On the return walk, we decided to follow a trail along the laguna back into the village.  Like many trails, this one had garbage scattered along the fringes. 

On this particular trail we noticed a cross that marked a death of one of the community members.  This idea of having a memorial on a roadside is not limited to Canada or the States, it is often seen here.  And like at home, there are frequent memorial flowers and such placed before the memorial.

Further down the lane, we came across a number of people discussing various plots of land which appeared to be recently cleared of garbage and some weeds.  The plots of land were to be the location of new home sites.

At the edges of the village, this home had a beautiful eagle drawing on it, celebrating some soccer/football team.

For a small village, there are a fair number of schools.  At the southwestern edge of the village is a nursery/kindergarten school.  As we went passed the school, parents were gathering up their children to take them home for lunch.  The village schools run two sets of classes with half the students attending morning classes and the other half taking afternoon classes. 

There just isn’t the money for building more schools as many of the villagers live in temporary homes.  There aren’t enough homes or enough money to build homes for all families that need them. 

Watching this older man, we realised that there isn’t enough wealth even for tools.  This curved knife is probably the most used tool in the village, a cross between a machete and an axe.

Next, we arrived at our local zocalo, the town plaza where children were excitedly looking at a few second-hand toys on the tables which were filled with second-hand clothes. Each time we pass by the zocalo we see similar scenes.

Having passed down a few different lanes as we try to learn more about our local village, it was time to head back to our villa for lunch and an afternoon of studying Spanish and relaxing with good books with the sound of the surf as a gentle background music.

Mexican flag above the town administration centre in Chelem.

Last week, we walked down the sandy dirt beach road to the town of Chelem Puerto, a distance of about eight kilometres from our villa. Nothing unusual for us, this business of long walks. We were just curious about seeing what was along the way. The destination was not important, it was the journey. That said, we finally ended up in the pueblo of Chelem, one of the major towns along the beach coast before one arrives at Progreso.

The town is a bit threadbare like the Mexican flag that flies above the town’s administration centre. The winds of fall and winter have muted the colours. Flying sand and salt spray have added to the erosion and weary aspect of the town. It would be hard to guess that this is one of the prefered locations for foreigners to buy and build and rent their Mexican winter homes.

Men waiting their turn for a chance for a job.

As we wandered into the town we got to say “buenas tardes” to quite a few local people.  There is a real sense of Chelem being a friendly place.  It didn’t take long to reach the ‘zócalo’, the central plaza found in almost every town in Mexico.

 In front of one of the administration offices, a small gathering of local men had gathered in search of jobs.  We listened for a while as the loudspeakers would inform all of a job and then watched as one man would enter into the building following the announcement.  The process was repeated again and again, each man taking his turn.

 As usual, the town’s zócalo was ringed by the town’s administration centre, a church and a number of business enterprises.  One thing different for Chelem was that at the centre, the street that goes north and south off the zócalo were festive in appearance with small strips of banners strung across the street for the full length of the street.  At the end of both the north end and the south end water could be seen from the town’s zócalo.

Of course, we decided that it would be a good idea to walk down the boulevard in both directions.  Strange how we never noticed the boulevard each time we have travelled through Chelem en route to Progreso or Mérida.  As we walked along, we were able to see into most of the homes as they had their doors open.  Most of these homes were also small businesses selling fish, junk food, advertising painting services or like this lady, selling fresh fruit and vegetables.

Since we walked down the south branch of the boulevard, we arrived at the laguna where there was a small port of sorts for the smaller boats that were used for shallow fishing using nets. 

The main catch on the laguna side was shell fish and shrimp which are the main ingredients for many of the seafood dishes that make up the daily diet of both Mexicans and foreigners who live along the coast.

At the end of the northern boulevard was the Caribbean Sea which is lined with beach homes from Chuburna to Progreso and beyond going east.  

When we returned to the zócalo, we checked out the local mercado, a market selling fruits, vegetables, meats as well as a number of small shops and restaurants.  As usual we saw a number of gaming machines which were busy with young men.  Life in a Mexican town along the coast is a curious mixture of modern and traditional.  Why traditional?  Economics.  Unfortunately we toss out the traditional when we have the money to embrace the modern.  It is no different in Canada or anywhere else we have ever travelled so far.

An early morning stroll at the hacienda while waiting for breakfast.

With only hours to go until it was time to leave the hacienda, we wandered the grounds taking in as much of it as we could, the sights, the sounds and the smells.  Chalanté was gifting us with beautiful memories.

With our meal finished and our bags packed into the car, we drove off en route to Mérida.  Naturally, we took only side roads avoiding the busier highways as we knew that this was the way to see the real Yucatan, the real Mexico.  We passed fields of sisal, a strange looking plant that produces fibres using in cloth and in rope.

In each village that we passed, we stopped for a moment to check our map and to get a feel for the villages. 

In the village of Homun, we took an extended stop so that all could take advantage of the facilities located in the village’s municipal building.

The local village police made for a few interesting photos.  In all honesty, I don’t think that they would be a major threat to any serious criminal elements.  That said, I am certain that they were perfectly suited for keeping the peace and order of the small village of Homun.

The next leg of our journey took us through a number of back roads through tiny pueblo settlements.  Finally we came to the village of Tecoh where we were to check out a set of caves calle “las Grutas de Tzabnah”. 

It was with some difficulty that we made it to the caves site.  A small sign on the side of a narrow road indicated that we had come to the right place.  But all that we saw was this scene.  There was no one there to collect money or to hire as a guide into the hole in the ground.

Not wanting to just drive away, we decided to go into the opening to see how far we could get.  We did manage to go quite a ways in.  At one point, we were using the infared beam from my camera to light up the way ahead in little flashes just so that we wouldn’t find ourselves bumping into overhead rocks or tripping over stones underfoot.

Having gone as far as we dared, it was time for a few photos using the flash.  We all wished that we could have gone further with lights and a guide.  But, it was not to be.  We found out as we headed back into the village that it was a fair day with rides and entertainments planned.  Maybe another year we will be able to discover the treasures of “las grutas de Tzabnah”. 

Since it was nearing noon, we drove the rest of the way to Mérida on the main road.  Taking care of a few tasks such as returning the car, checking Roger and Suzanne into their hotel and booking our room for “Carnaval”; we then stopped for our final meal together in Mexico.  Taking a trip like this with friends was something that will make for great memories when we are too old to do more than reminisce.

Izamal is also known as the yellow city and the city of hills.  Many of the buildings on the streets through the central part of this city are painted yellow like the convent church in this photo.  I used my wide angle lens for this photo and took advantage of capturing a bit of the lens to get this effect.  The convent and church are called San Antonio de Padua.  When they were built in 1553, this was probably the largest Spanish city in the Yucatan peninsula.

While we were in the church, there was a church service going on so I was unable to get closer for a better photograph of the main altar which has ten niches for depictions of holy figures.  In the centre, the largest and most prominant is a statue of the Virgin, the most revered saint of all in the Yucatan.  The altar is covered in gold as is obvious from the photo.  The statue of the Virgin in the photo was given a crown by a pope in the early 1990’s.

We toured a lot of the convent grounds and the buildings. 

The religious order that founded the church and convent was the Franciscans, a religious order that is still present today as seen in this picture of two Franciscan nuns. 

Also found in the church when we visited was a crucifiction statue with a Black Christ or ‘Cristo Negro’.   This statue is normally found in the village of Sitilpech which is about four kilometres from Izamal.  Fortunately for us, we were able to see the statue at the entrance to the church in the yellow city.

Having taken all the pictures that I wanted, it was time to visit the largest Mayan pyramid in Izamal, Kinich Kak Moo.  Sitting on a base covering two acres, the pyramid is really a two-level pyramid. 

Here you see Maureen climbing up the first level which leads to a large open area which serves as a base for a second pyramid. 

This is the second largest Mayan pyramid remaining in the Yucatan.  It was built to honour the sun god represented by the fire bird, the Macaw.

The pyramid rises to about 34 metres or 100 feet above the city streets.  In this photo, this was as high as I got because of the narrow stone steps that were unfinished.  Maureen and Roger made it to the top as was to be expected. 

By this time we were starving so it was time to head to a restaurant.  We decided to try the restaurant recommended by our neighbour, Kathy, ‘el restauante Kinich’.

While waiting for our lunch, we saw a little hut within the restaurant which was a restaurant that was mostly in a courtyard.  Two ladies were busy making tortillas by hand.  Of course, Maureen had to take her turn trying out this new skill. 

Lunch was enjoyed and then we decided to walk around a bit and enjoy some of the local life while Roger and Suzanne took a horse and buggy ride around the inner part of the city.  Then, it was time to return to the hacienda.  Tomorrow, another story for another day of our adventures.

Breakfast on the patio of the hacienda.

Today’s post is all about time spent around the hacienda with Roger and Suzanne.  Before breakfast both Roger and I were busy being “birders”, a new career for me anyway.  What does that mean?  Well, it is basically trying to track as many different birds as possible. 

The hacienda grounds are packed with a number of different speices.  Of course, blackbirds, grackles, flycatchers and kingbirds seemed to be the predominant birds found on the grounds.  That said, some interesting and beautiful birds such as the Green Jay pictured here added a lot of colour to the mix.

We saw and photographed vireos, orioles and other birds which I still haven’t found names for.  The orioles were incredible bright golden orange birds.  Needless to say, I got a lot of photos of these birds.  However, the Mot-mot was the most exotic bird that we found.  This photo doesn’t show it, but it has a long tail that has two feathers with the feathers being nothing but a spine for most of the part with bright blue feathery ends.

Another area of the grounds was set aside for growing fodder for the horses.  This photo shows the plant and one of the hacienda workers busy chopping down some fresh fodder for the horses.  Since labour is cheap and machinery is expensive, harvesting the fodder is done as it has been done for centuries. 

With breakfast finished and plans made for the day, we then set off for Izamal where we would discover more about the early Spanish presence in Mexico.

Of course, I do have to put in one more photo as my good wife feels that you should know that I was there as well. 

Our little casa on the hacienda grounds.

We finally arrived at the hacienda Chalanté in the late afternoon.  The main hacienda is a large Spanish building from the 1700’s.  Chalanté is older than that.  On the grounds are a few ruins that are from the 1600’s.  In the past, the hacienda grounds were part of a Mayan ceremonial centre.  The best part of being there was the fact that it was in the country and it was quiet.

The owner of the hacienda is an American lady who is now married to a Mexican.  The picture on the left is one view of a little chapel that her husbandhad just finished for her.  When we got to there, we went to check out this little chapel which Roger had seen last year when it was still under construction.  Since it was also her birthday, we got to join in a Mayan feast.  The chapel is called the bottle chapel as most of it is made from wine bottles.

Archway into the grounds of the older hacienda mansion which dates from the 1600s.

As we walked on the grounds of the hacienda, we came across a number of other buildings including old work buildings and a horse barn.  Horses are still being raised at the hacienda.   A second mansion, older than the one being used for bed and breakfast visitors, was found when we passed through this gate on the right.

In the early morning hours of the next day, our third of our road trip, I wandered around with the camera while waiting for others to wake up and for the staff to make coffee.  The morning mist made the scenes mysterious, hinting at stories from the past when the hacienda was filled with Spanish lords and ladies and their Mayan staff.

The camera didn’t get much rest.  Roger’s camera was busy as well as Roger is also a morning person.  Before long, the mist started to lift and we were able to take some interesting bird photos.  However, I won’t be showing any bird pictures for a while as there are a few other things to share here first.  After our breakfast, we would be heading out to Izamal, a Spanish colonial city.  But first, a final photo from the morning, enjoying a morning cup of coffee on our casa’s little porch.

In a park in Tizimin, our first stop en route to Sudzal and the hacienda.

We took the road south as we headed to spend the next two nights at the Chalanté Hacienda just outside of Sudzal, a small village near Izamal.  Our first stop was in Tizimin.  As we entered the town, we saw a small park with a cathedral in ruins just across from the park.  In the centre of the park was this huge tree which was filled with blossoms.

The old cathedral dated from the 16th century, one of many such cathedrals now dotting the Yucatan countryside missing there roofs.

Inside the skeleton of the church, nature had taken over.  Only ghosts and hints of a past filled with religious pagentry remained along with the cracked stone walls and openings for doors and windows.  Stranger still was the fact that this ruin remained rather than being taken apart so that the stones could be used for more modern, more mudane buildings.

We left Tizimin headed toward the town of Cenotillo.  Just on the outskirts of Tizimin we passed this man on horseback who was headed out on a hunting expedition.

He was only one of many who we would pass that were out for a hunt.  Some walked and some like this fellow on the right, were riding bikes. 

Eventually we passed through Cenotillo and headed south towards another town called Tukás.

Only moments after we reached Tukás and were walking around looking for a place to have a cerveza and something to eat, we saw a parade which was lead by some older men lighting firecracker rockets.  Heading the parade of flags was a young “queen”.  All were headed into the centre of the town, towards the town square which was busy with the setting up of rides and display booths.  Beside the town’s cathedral, a temporary bull ring was being set up for a bull fight that was to take place the next evening.  The pallisades that would contain the bull didn’t look at that strong. 

When the parade had passed, we went in search of lunch.  We tried to find a place for a cold cerveza trying several different places only to find out that they were actually old-fashioned men only saloons complete with playboy style pinup girls on posters, not the sort of place that our wives would be comfortable in for lunch.  Finally I was able to cobble together enough Spanish to get us in to yet another saloon, but in a courtyard of the saloon where we enjoyed our cold cerveza and botanas.

Roger heading into the first of three saloons in Tukás in search of lunch.

Having satisfied our thirst and hunger, we left for the hacienda, a story I will save for another day.