Muyil On a Summer's Day

There isn't A LOT going on in Muyil on any given summer's day. On our Tuesday visit we found the main street quietly laying in wait for any kind of two- or four-legged pedistrian. or perhaps a small white car. The corner school was busily receiving last minute, end-of-the-summer repairs as its doors would soon be opening for the business of uniformed students. And Michelada's was bustling with activity as captiviated soccer spectators hooped and hollared with each play made by Team Mexico viewed on the 19"-screen TV in the 90+ degree heat. I'm pretty sure we were never noticed as we loitered for but a few mintues looking to see if there might be a morsal for lunch. Three vehicles stopped on this hot summer day (did I mention is was hot?)to lend a hand to a family van (each seat filled) which had found itself inoperable. The boys gathered around, talked and looked and talked and looked for quite some time and I'll never know what came of it. Maybe this was rush hour Quitana Roo-style. The quiet life of the Mexicans in this part of the country is as slow and deliberate as it can be and truly, it seems there's not A LOT to be rushed about...a road to walk, a roof to patch, a game to watch, a car to fix. The simplicity of this life is a settling thing to me.

I bought a dress

Coba is the place to go if you're in the market for a hand-sewn Mayan dress. I went there and this woman sold me a dress. I labored over my decision - I so wanted the one with the salmon and pinkish-orange flowers. Try as I might to make it fit - she was sure it would never and had me enter her home to try it on to prove it to me. She knew her sizes all right and in the end sold a dress with multicolored flowers that I like very much - but haven't developed the love affair I had quickly formed with the one that had the salmon/pinkish-orange flowers.I would have to say that her mother was a very happy lady who spent countless hours on her machine. She laughed out loud at the antics of her grandchildren as they gathered around my camera. There is such beauty in simplicity.This little tart was the feisty sister - she giggled and grabbed and held on tight to me in an effort to have another picture taken - especially one of her doing something silly - like putting a piece of candy in her mouth and having it caught on camera. She was very pleased with herself and may have a future in pictures - but most probably will sit at the same sewing machine as her mother and grandmother to sew beautiful dresses, blouses and bags for her Mayan sisters and customers.

dama de lavandería

Chanchen, Mexico

Sometimes I think about what I may have done had I lived anywhere but here and ended up being anyone other than who I am. I rather doubt this Mayan woman ever shared that thought.

The day was Tuesday, David, Marci and I had traveled south down highway 307 to the Mayan town and ruin of Muyil. At the ruin we inspected the ancient work of proud men, met a collection of disinterested dogs, walked on a well constructed board walk through the jungle, climbed a rather precarious, termite nibbled lookout tower five stories high giving us a panoramic view of the jungle and lagoon around us, found ourselves at the lagoon and chatting with a group of optimistic Mayans hoping to take us on a boat trip across that lagoon - which didn't work outso well for them - and eating a curious piece of fruit that had fallen from a fruit tree. Having satisfied ourselves with that adventure we took up our next - which was to drive down an unknown road (without a map to guide us) to an obscure little town known as Chanchen.
While we had been entertaining ourselves with our eco-friendly tour of the jungle and countryside, the lovely woman in this picture busied herself with her day's work. Being the laundramat, as it were, in the town of Chanchen, she had her work piled high around her - along with her (from what I could count) were 10 family members, assorted dogs and numerous chickens.
The children in the yard couldn't have been more pleased as I asked to take pictures - they giggled and danced about, opening the gate for me and running to get their baby brother for his photo-op.
The house, surrounded by a stone wall, was made of sticks with a tin roof, the floor dirt, the door and windows wide open. A TV was keeping the attention of numerous adults inside as the dama de lavanderia concentrated on making the whites white and the colored tee-shirts as brilliant as possible. She was shy, but tried to smile as she showed me how she performed her skill in the shade of the tree.
She may have never pondered her fate - let alone question it - but I know she knows what tomorrow will bring for her. Her future is secure in this small town of adobe houses, small shops filled with the essentials of water, pop and chips, her Mayan Church in the center of 'town', and the most occasional tourist asking to take a photo of what she does best.

"Where the Sky is Born"

This week in Mexico has been filled with "firsts" for me, but the first of the firsts came on my...first ...day as I went to the place the Mayans call, "where the sky is born"; the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve. That is what this entry is about.

Pirates came by here occasionally looking for treasures of gold and wealth, their desire to become rich kept them from discovering the true treasure of this place and experiencing what makes the people of Quintana Roo proud. In a beautiful way this reminds me of a place our ancestors Adam and Eve were banished from- rich and lush and teeming with life. The good thing is there are no apples, but 528,000 hectors of jungle, 120 kilometers of coral reef, 82 types of coral,and native inhabitants which include 90 species of bees, 103 species of mammals to name just a few. In 1987, Sian Ka'an was awarded a Natural World Heritage award site status. Getting to it was a remarkable experience in itself as we traveled in a SUB-subcompact car passing along the hotel/cabana strip on the sugar-sand coastline, through the limestone archway which marks it's point of origin and down a decomposed limestone road - surely one of the bumpiest roads on the planet - for about a mile and a half.
Once there and with our Mexican guide Miguel in tow (actually I was the one in tow!) I boarded a boat which took me to a land unlike any I have ever seen. The guided tour took me racing through the lagoon and then gingerly into the mangroves where I was told live dolphins, crocodiles, pumas, and 339 kinds of birds such as pelicans, frigate birds, pink spoonbills and white herons - some which I was able to see. Into the mangrove river I traveled, the boat driver - a 70+ year old Mayan who looked strong and leathery and every bit of 70+ yet in confident control - carefully negotiated the tight turns of this original Mayan water trading route. Looking into the deep silent water I could only imagine what must lie beneath and of the ancients who had traveled this route thousands of years before. Reaching the 1/2-way point of our travels the group deboarded onto an old wooden dock, walked down a short trail to a small Mayan temple filled with bats and outfitted with very short (4 1/2 foot) passage ways and were then told to fit ourselves with a life preserver and to "float" down the river; the boats would pick us up---somewhere---down river! This is the first of the firsts for me. Being a non-swimming person and not a real fan of water surrounded by the mangrove world (beautiful as they are) this was asking a lot of me. But, along with the rest of our party of 12, I jumped in and float I did. I tried to be graceful about it. What was in fact graceful was the current that carried me gently down the river past the habitation of the natural residents I never saw but knew were there. Arriving at the boats I boarded with a sign of relief and feeling of accomplishment and off I went down the river into the lagoon past a huge centoe (fresh water underground cave) which found its exit in the middle of the lagoon, under two bridges and to the sea for a look at the entry point to this amazing world before heading back.
Once back at the interpretation center I was greeted with a meal of fresh, local fish, rice, salad, papaya juice topped off with Mexican rum as a prelude to my saying good-bye to the ancient beauty of this mystical place.
I left a piece of paradise behind but took with me a bit of the treasure the pirates of the Caribbean missed in their day. I understand why our passionate guide Miguel loves this place so much and seems to never tire of coming here and sharing his love, respect and volumes of acquired information and tantilizing facts with folks like me from far and near.

There's a First Time for Everything

I swam in a cave - a cenote really. A cave by definition is a hollow in the earth, esp. one more or less opening horizontally into a hill or mountain, etc. A cenote is the same - with a twist. The Yucatan is largely a limestone plateau with only a few hills and even fewer rivers. The fresh water moves underground though caves - these caves have been and are the only source of fresh water to life on land. I think I heard there are hundreds of miles of submerged caves and I swam in one - well I spent time in one. The water is refreshingly cool and the depths extreme. Birds and bats fly in and around and scores of people seeking relief from the sun drenched shores and land flock in and join those birds and bats many hoping to spy curious and unsuspecting sea life. On our day at the cenote my family donned snorkels, face masks and flippers -following my dip - I took a book and hugged the rock ledges. Next time - next time? - I'll take the plunge, stay close to someone who loves me and will go the course. But for now I'm happy to say I swam in a cave - a cenote really - and enjoyed every minute of it.