Return to Edinboro

After a long afternoon of grading in a freezing-cold room (our preparation for the return to ice country), the professors celebrated with dinner at a great Italian restaurant (oh, what can we say?).

We left Merida just in time, as major rainstorms started coming in on Tuesday night, and continued on into the next morning.  Amazingly, the flight from Merida to Houston left on time, as did the flight from Houston to Cleveland.  It's been a very long time since I have had that particular experience!  No matter, our luck in flight times was counterbalanced by two students losing their visas, several people (including me) being "pulled over" by the airport dogs to have their bags specially inspected in Houston, and one person whose not-quite-in-order paperwork only got him onto the plane with seconds to spare . . .

It was a real shock to our systems when, as we leapt out of the bus into the Hendricks parking lot, we landed in several inches of fluffy snow, covering our sneakers,  and were simultaneously bombarded with sharp winds making the mere 13 deg.  feel like at least 20 below!  

Ah, for those 93 deg. in the shade days at Chichen Itza . . .

I don't know about the rest of the group, but I am spending the rest of our break huddled in a corner of my house, heat up and blinds closed, pretending that all the white stuff out there is just a mirage created by the glare of the tropical sun!

Many thanks to all the readers, especially my wonderful niece and faithful reader Analise Winterberger, whose 5th grade class is studying Mexico next month.

Until next time . . . 2014??

Celestun

Celestun is a town located in the biosphere region of the Yucatan peninsula, along the Gulf coast.  It is home to tens of thousands of Flamingos, as well as many other species of birds, flora, and fauna.  Our first activity in Celestun was to take a boat ride out into the very shallow bay (the water, even at high tide, is not much over five feet).  A line of pink in the distance turned into thousands of flamingos feeding, close up:

We went to a freshwater spring inside the mangrove forest (on the edge of the bay), to swim and see three juvenile Bare-throated Tiger Herons in a tree:

Some of the other great birds we saw were thousands of Magnificent Frigatebirds, hundreds of Brown and White Pelicans, plus numerous Cormorants (2 species), Egrets, and Herons, including great looks at the charming Boat-billed Heron.  We also had a good look at another personable bird, the tiny Pygmy Kingfisher.  

Later, after lunch, the students took another swim in the Gulf, and buried international student Hae Son Lee, in the sand:

One of the hotel Toucans poses for a shot:

El Caribe, our lovely hotel

Our hotel, El Caribe, was originally a Catholic seminary, built in the 1600s.  The rooms are quite basic, but comfortable and functional, and the location is fantastic - only one block from the main plaza in historic central Merida.   This photo looks down from the third floor (where we all stayed) into the courtyard of the hotel.  The red tables at the top (under the tree) are part of the very pleasant restaurant.  Also under the tree is a large cage housing two charming Toucans who seem to quite enjoy the action, especially the quiet singing and guitar playing by a group of restaurant regulars in the afternoons.

Click on the title of this post to go to the Hotel Caribe's website.

Chichen Itza and a Cenote

Our last archaeological site was the magnificent Chichen Itza.   It is another UNESCO World Heritage Site, known chiefly for the large pyramid, El Castillo, or the Temple of Kulkulkan.  On the spring and fall equinoxes, a large snake shadow (Kulkulkan) appears along the length of the Temple's staircase, and brings approximately 45,000 visitors to the spectacle.  (Kulkulcan is the Mayan name for Quetzacoatl).  This temple was also named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007.

Here we are in front of the Temple of Kulkulkan:

Other interesting aspects at Chichen Itza include a ballcourt (see students below), one of 13 on the site, and El Sagra Cenote, or the Sacred Cenote, where sacrificial offerings (including humans) were tossed.

Temperature in the shade at the site was 92 deg!  We were afraid to check the temperature in full sun!

Later, we went to a nearby cenote for a swim before heading back to Chichen Itza for a light and sound show that evening.

This cenote (Ik Kil) is 196' wide at the top, and 130' deep.  A staircase carved into the stone leads down to the water, which is 85' down from the surface.  Here are students waving to the professors.  They didn't stay in the water too long, because, as one said, "We didn't have anything to hold on to, so all we could do was tread water.  It was exhausting!"  

In another life we . . .

Mayapan and the Hacienda Ochil

Black vulture on top of our hotel roof (overlooking the pool).

 Mayapan is a "small" site located relatively near Merida.  Although it only covers an area of about 4 square kilometers, it contains more than 8,000 structures.  Below: general view of Mayapan.

 Students going up the pyramid; student going down the pyramid.  This pyramid is in the same style as the one in Chichen Itza (Temple of Kulkulkan).

 Unexcavated area at Mayapan.

 Our lunch was at the Hacienda Ochil, one of many henequen plantations in the area.  Many of the plantations were owned in abstentia by wealthy Spaniards who never visited the New World; others kept the plantations for country homes and lived in Merida.  Mayans worked on the plantations, usually in a "serf" role.  Eventually, the Mayans rebelled against the system by leaving the plantations and refusing to work at them anymore.

Below, two views of the Hacienda's arches, showing Moorish influences on the architecture.

Later, we visited the Merida Cemetery (Cemetario Generale) - a city in itself!  There was another Korean grave (below), a concrete Mayan thatched hut (below), a mini-cemetery of workers from a rope factory (coils of ropes under their crosses), and enough to keep a visitor busy for at least a whole day!

Uxmal and Izamal

Uxmal is in the Puuc region (see also Kabah, below), and is a very large, ceremonial site.  It's one of the main places John Lloyd Stephens (Incidents of Travel in Yucatan) and Frederick Catherwood visited and documented in 1841-43.  It's also the site that American architect Frank Lloyd Wright felt was the "finest example of ancient American architecture" (specifically, the "House of the Governors" complex).

Below is the group in front of the Pyramid of the Magician.  The architect designed the small building at the top to be seen as a rectangle, even though, in actuality, it bows out, one of many tricks of perspective the ancient architects used to create perfectly symmetrical-looking structures.

Here's the group (with the addition of professors) on the other side of the Pyramid of the Magician, where you can see that top structure a little better.  This temple (largest in Uxmal), is also unusual for its elliptical shape.

This rock face is on the back side of the Pyramid of the Magician.  The door represents the mouth with the eyes above; the stairs that run down below the mouth (to the ground; about 50') represent the tongue!

Below are students climbing (sliding) down a pyramid near the House of the Governors.

Our visit to the city of Izamal ("The Yellow City," so named because ALL the buildings are painted a bright yellow, somehow reminiscent of the Emerald City of Oz) included a trip to the convent (Franciscan monastery, San Antonio de Padua) where Bishop Diego de Landa once lived.  The Bishop was the person responsible for burning all the sacred Mayan codices . . . at the same time, he also carefully recorded, in his own book, the rites, rituals, habits, etc. of the Mayan people, creating the only "history" of their civilization.  The convent is also known for its being built on top of Mayan ruins, and for incorporating both Mayan design and Moorish arches in its design.  The Virgin of Izamal (Nuestra Senora de Izamal) was brought from Guatemala is 1652 (by order of Diego de Landa).  

After lunch at a traditional Yucatecan restaurant, the group also visited the unrestored Mayan pyramid of Kinich Kah Mo.

Later, we went to visit a small Mayan cemetery.  The first photo below is the mausoleum of a Korean family (the writing is in Chinese).  Many Koreans came to Mexico to work in the henequen plantations.

Kabah and the caves of Loltun

Kabah is a new site added for this trip.  It's very small, and in the region of the Yucatan called "Puuc," which is a rocky, hilly area (in an otherwise flat peninsula).  There are hundreds of Mayan sites in this area,  with most not totally excavated or open to the public.

Above: students with one of the ruins at Kabah in the background.  Below: Kabah

Above: Professor Wolynec instructing the guides, Edwin and Josue.   Mayan arches showing the narrowness of the rooms created by this style of architecture.

Above, top:  A figure at Kabah, about 10' tall, facing east (back of the site).  Above, below: a Mayan face.  These faces, called Chaac, covered an entire face of a building, numbering in the hundreds.  The face displays a hooked nose (middle), which the original explorers thought were elephant trunks.  Two eyes are on either side of the nose, with earplugs and earrings on the sides of the eyes.  At the bottom is the mouth.  Below: students sketching the Chaac faces.

We are bid farewell by one of the guardians of Kabah:

  

Dzibilchaltun!

Dzibilchaltun was our first ruin of the trip -- the word is fun to pronounce, once you figure out how to do it!  It is pronounced zee-BEEL-chahl-toon.  Dzibilchaltun is home to The Temple of the Seven Dolls (we don't know the original Mayan name for any of the temples, or any of the cities we will visit, for that matter).  The main door to the temple is notable for its position relative to the sun -- at the Spring Equinox the sun rises directly through the doors.  The site is notable for its "sacbe," or sacred white road (covered with limestone), which reflects at night so walkers can see where they are going.  It also has large unexcavated areas, as well as a gorgeous cenote (like a sinkhole) connected to a cave and then to an underground river.  The cenote, which is a popular swimming area, is filled with water lilies in bloom, as well as tiny red (endemic) fish.

To the delight of Professor Winterberger, Edwin, our tour guide (far left, pointing) is a serious bird watcher!  Winterberger promises not to hog Edwin TOO much!!

We arrive in Merida!

Our group arrived in Merida after a grueling travel day which included white knuckle air turbulence, a long delay at the Houston airport, and finally, a massive customs line and two people with lost luggage.  By the time we got to our rooms at the Hotel Caribe, we had been traveling for 21 hours!

Our first day started a bit late, so we could recover from the trip.  Here are all the students standing in the Central Square of the city of Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, with the Cathedral of San Idelfonso, the second-oldest cathedral in the hemisphere.

It is VERY hot here - about 90!  What a change from the frigid streets of Edinboro!!  Below is a photo of Professor Renata Wolynec and her husband Bernie Werner, sitting in a Christmas display in one of Merida's government buildings.