Leaving the Yucatan Peninsula and getting into Chiapas was like entering another country, one that is more green, hilly and simply more Mexican. It felt so much better when I could see whole Mexican families, how they eat, have fun and even do touristy stuff. The thing is, there really arenīt that many white tourists here, which is strange and quite refreshing at the same time. It forces you to learn the language a bit more quickly. So, for instance, I can now order my weak latte without explaining the milk Vs. coffee proportions (cafe suave) - itīs very helpful ;o)
Palenque is a small town surrounded by this thick jungle and mainly known for its rather impressive Mayan ruins. We decided to stay in cabanas away from the town and in the middle of the before-mentioned jungle - it turned out to be a fantastic place albeit extremely humid and loud by night (the sound of the jungle, Mexican music and the somewhat annoying fan). In the evening, we ventured into town to the main square where they were having some sort of fiesta. Not sure whether it was some special occasion or simply a Sunday thing but they
had this traditional band filling the whole centro with Mexican rhythms and locals sitting around the square and chilling out with their whole families. I and my friend even got a kiss from this little boy who was more preoccupied with his turtle-like balloon but since his grandad ordered him to give us a kiss, the boy didnīt hang around and put his lips together to make these two white chicas happy ;o) Just wondering, what sane parent in England would order their kid to smooch two strangers. I guess that was the manifestation of the hot Mexican blood!
By the way, I think I can actually tell you a little bit more about Mexican people now. First of all, their food. Every time you order buritos, quesadillas, enchiladas or any other Mexican delicacies, itīs practically same ingredients but in a different arrangement (same same but different as theyīd say in SE Asia). So, be prepared for a lot of tortilla bread, cheese, beans and some sort of meat. And they love their cheese! I guess it comes as no surprise that with this diet, seeing a thin Mexican is a rarity. Iīm also probably totally wrong about this
food assumption due to either the regions Iīve been to or the inability understand the whole menu in Spanish. However, this is pretty much what weīve been exposed to most of the time, hence the statement.
Mexico, as you can imagine, is a bloody hot place, as hot as Asia but unlike Asians, Mexicans seem to embrace the sun with their whole bodies rather than hide from it. You hardly see people carrying sun umbrellas or even hats (apart from men)! As a result, everyone is quite dark, which makes us stand out even more...
Other than that, Mexicans are really lovely people. Iīve hardly experienced locals trying to take advantage of us gringos just like in Vietnam for instance. So, from that perspective itīs much more chilled out. You do get occasional kids trying to sell bananas or oranges near main tourist spots but they seem to understand "no, thank you" a bit better than in SE Asia. I guess things are a bit different in Mexico City or anywhere else in the north thatīs full of gangs and drug dealers. Needless to say, Iīm not going to be venturing there...
So, maybe I should tell
you more about the Palenque ruins then since they are the main reason why people actually go to that part of Mexico! Well, they were quite impressive as I said before (but nowhere near as impressive as Angkor Wat). Nestled right in the middle of the jungle with a palace being the main building surrounded by other households and ball courts. The place was deserted by the Mayas in 16th century when the Spanish turned up but before that it was one of the main cities in Mexico bustling with life, crafts, scholars and politicians. The Mayas who resided there believed in the so called underworld which apparently was placed to the south, hence burying the dead with their feet facing southwards to make their descend a bit easier. A lot of carvings found there portrait that special moment of a soul leaving a human body and beginning its journey south. If you were one of the noblemen, your body was buried underneath one of the temples and surrounded by precious gifts (usually crafts made of precious stones, etc). However, if you were a commoner (they had those too), I got an impression nobody actually cared where you were buried
as long as your feet were facing south.
When we think of the Mayas, we usually think of some sophisticated astronomical systems. Well, itīs true, they were quite mathematically minded folks, even their midwives (youīll see why I said that later on). One of the things the Mayas are known for are their calendar systems. They didnīt come up with the idea of a calendar itself but they definitely did a lot of work on it and as a result ended up with a few of them used for different purposes. So, for instance, there is one calendar consisting of 260 days. On top of that, they numbered each successive day from 1 till 13 and starting all over again from 1 till 13 until the end. And thatīs not the end... They also named each day in a sequence from 1 to 20 and gave each of those days their own glyphs (letīs call it a picture). Apart from their names and pictures, Mayan days also had spirit patrons who influenced those days in a particular way. All of the above was used by their shamans to answer questions, make predictions or tell a character of a newborn
baby. So, I guess the question is why 260 days? Well, apparently 13 and 20 were important numbers in the Mayan civilisation and when you multiply 13 by 20 you get exactly 260. Another version says that 260 days is a typical length of human pregnancy and that midwives came up with this calendar to make birth predictions a bit easier. So, if you were a Maya woman, youīd be pregnant for the whole year!
OK, letīs not get too bogged down into the Maya details here (Iīm actually running low on fun educational stories).
In the next entry youīll find out what Poland has in common with Mexico.
Adios!
Mexico's Flag
Map of Mexico