Day 1: 04-06-2002
 

We left the Indy airport at 3:30 P.M. The flight took about 3 hours. We didn't have any problems with the increased security. There were armed guards walking around the terminal, but it didn't seem like a big deal. Security didn't seem any tighter than it did before 9/11.

We arrived at the Cancun Airport at 5:30 P.M. We gained an hour on the trip, but we'll loose it tomorrow with daylight savings time. It's kind of nice that we won't have a time change on the way back.

The Cancun Airport was a lot dirtier that I expected. You would think that for a huge tourist epicenter, their airport would be clean and efficient. It was exactly the opposite for both cases. Customs was a joke. Only one of our group of fourteen students was searched. When we got off of the plane onto the runway, we had to take a bus to the terminal. Inside, there were no ceiling tiles. It was just open conduit. It looked like the airport hadn't been finished. There were no staff helping with where to go, so everyone just piled into the lines, which made going through customs take forever.

Once we made it through customs we had to walk across the street to get the van rental place. It was easy to tell that everyone needed money because there were dozens of guys standing outside of the airport ready to take your luggage and/or get you a taxi. It was to the point of being annoying. I actually saw a younger child grab an old man's luggage out of his hands and just take it to his van. The old man had to chase after him. When we got to the van rental place we had to wait about 1-1/2 hours for the vans. There was only one person working at the front desk, so it wasn't like they were busy. It seemed like it was taking a lot longer than it needed to, but Tony warned us in class that in Mexico people take their time. When Tony came out with the keys, he said he was surprised that we got the vans as fast as we did!?!

To check the two vans out, a little Mexican guy went over every inch of them to make sure that when we brought them back there was no new damage. After that he helped us load them up. We quickly grabbed our own luggage because the worker was definitely not concerned with breaking anything. He was jamming bags under seats that definitely weren't big enough to have bags under them. Tony called his attention to that. Once we got everyone in the vans with all of the luggage, we started towards a gas station because there was NO gas in either of the vans. That would never fly in America. I was surprised because I was expecting them to cater to the tourists.

The traffic was pretty hectic. There were no clear rules or procedure. It looked like all of the major roads were under construction. In fact, while we were leaving the airport we saw a concrete crew doing work (About 7:30 at night and dark out). Tony later explained that because of the lack of funds they start one project and then have to quit until they get more money so nothing ever gets finished.

The Solymar is pretty nice for $30 a night. Just like everything so far, checking in took for ever. We went up to our rooms (looked pretty much like an American hotel), dropped off our bags, and went to grab some dinner at the hotel. The food was really good. There wasn't a lot of meat; I had a lot of salad type foods. I really liked this salsa-like stuff that had seafood and olives in it. The service was excellent. The staff was always there filling up water glasses or taking away plates. We checked out the beach after dinner. The sand was very clean, but no shells. We went to bed around 10 p.m. Tomorrow we're waking up at 6:30 and driving to the Maya ruins at Tulum and Coba.
 

Day 2: 04-07-02; Tulum and Coba

First of all, there is nobody here in Cancun except for us. I'd say that we at least doubled the amount of tourists in the hotel when we showed up. Tony got mixed up with the time change and woke everyone up at 7:30 a.m. Isbell, Travis and I were up and ready to go around 6 a.m. A trend is starting to develop already. Breakfast was supposed to start at 6:00 a.m., but they didn't open it until 8:00 a.m. Apparently they forgot about the time change too. Breakfast consisted of fruit and cereal for me. They also had eggs and omelets for anyone that wanted them. Cooked to order. We didn't leave until about 8:30 a.m. The road to Coba went from six lanes, to four lanes, to two lanes, really quick, but we never had to slow down because there weren't many people or cops on the road. There were numerous signs on the road that addressed obeying traffic laws (Obey the signs, respect the signs, respect the speed limit, etc…) it took about two hours to get to Coba. On the way we passed Tulum, along with many other small villages that looked very poor. Since it was Sunday, there were church services going on in the small countryside chapels. It's apparent that religion, like Tony said in class, is very important to these people.

Coba was the site where one of one of the largest Maya pyramids is located (around 420 feet tall). The total walk was around 2 ½ miles. The walk took us past small ruins and stelas depicting the ancient rulers that we saw depicted in class and in the textbooks books. The "Big Pyramid" was very impressive. Very sheer climb, but not what Tony had me ready for. I was expecting something more vertical. Some people struggled to get to the top, but everybody got there in the end. I got some very cool pictures from the apex of the temple. I ended up taking about 4 rolls of film today. I'm going to have to start conserving it to make sure I have enough for the rest of the trip. We also got to see a traditional Maya ceremony dance. This is the one where there are five guys up on a pole. One of the guys plays a drum and blows on a flute and the other four guys swing around upside down. Pretty cool to watch, we got our pictures taken with them after they were done.

Tulum was on the road back the way we came. This is where the beach is located. We walked around the ruins, that looked like an old castle (built by the Toltecs). The ancient ceremonial city is surrounded by a large wall. According to our textbook, this was after the downfall of the Maya empire in 904 A.D. After visiting the various temples at the ruins, our group headed to the beach. The water was bright blue and clean.

After returning to the hotel, we had dinner down by the pool. So far I haven't eaten anything that wasn't good. Talked with the bartender (Ossaymany - age 23) at the hotel about the economic and political status of Mexico. He was very upset with the way that President Vicente Fox was running things and said that if he had the chance to vote again, he wouldn't vote for Fox. He was a really cool guy. It seems that Fox raised all of the taxes, making everything cost more, including food. Looking for "perro nariz" salsa, supposed to be a Mayan specialty. In just over a day I'm starting to pick up a lot of the language.

Day 3: 04-08-02; Ek-balam, Chichen-Itza

I'm getting really frustrated with some in the group. My room and Lex's room are up and ready to go by the time Tony set for us, but the rest of the rooms take forever to get ready.

Ek-Balam: This is a really cool site that was recently excavated in 1994. Tony has never stopped here before, so it's new to everyone. None of the ruins had been named as of yet, so they all just carried a number designation. The larger temple has been reconstructed and is a fairly good size compared to the other sites we've been to (except Coba) so far. Lex, Isbell and I took off while the rest of the group was looking at the main sites. We took a trail that led behind the temple and were able to see what the site looked like pre-reconstruction. We found a sunken chultun cistern that wasn't marked. We also did a little exploring into the woods. It was great fun not being on any type of path. The woods were really dry and cool because of the foliage. We met back up with the group about 30 minutes after we left them and climbed the main temple. The temple had a very nice collection of freezes (images carved in stone). They were being preserved by a thatched roof. It looked like some of them had been restored, but overall they were in excellent condition. Definitely the most detailed carving that we've seen so far. All of the carvings were depictions of Mayan gods. After the temple, we went on another path and saw a really cool chultun. This chultun had a huge raised circular base, like a funnel, with carvings on the four corners. I took a couple of good pics of it. This was also the first time that we saw artistic decorations on the side of a temple.

Chichen-Itza : This site was very crowed when we first arrived. Because the staircase to the inner temple closed earlier than the rest of the site, we stood in line to go up the inner temple as soon as we got there. Like we learned in class, the main temple at Chichen was built upon a series of other smaller temples. As we climbed up through the inside, the temperature raised considerably. Probably because there was no air circulation. There was also a ton of moisture on all of the walls, which made them slimy. The passage was as narrow as Tony had said in class that it was going to be (just a little wider than shoulder width). At the top we saw the jaguar throne used by the king and the sacrificial chac mol. Both objects were preserved very well because they were protected by the outer temple.

We grabbed lunch after leaving the inner temple, when the tourists began clearing out. Tony was able to talk the waiter in to letting us go into the only air-conditioned room in the restaurant, that was closed before we got there. I got the chicken fajitas meal and ate way too much. The food is just awesome here. I might get fat if I was here for too long. After lunch we went to the older part of Chichen, to wait for the last of the crowd to head back to Cancun. The observatory was very large and impressive. There were two other buildings, but they were not very impressive. After an hour or so, we headed back to the main pyramid to climb it. It was very high with great views of the entire city. Very cool. When we got down we walked about 100 yards to look at the amazing architecture that the Mayans used when constructing Chichen. There is a snake head on one side of the temple

and on the summer equinox the sun hits the temple just right to cause the body of the snake to appear in the shadows of the staircase. The ball court was also really big. Three or four times bigger than all of the previous ones that we've seen before. In the class lecture and the textbook it was pointed out that the ball game was more than just a sport. It combined a religious ceremony with sport and was practiced by all the early Mesoamerican civilizations. The "Skull Building" was pretty interesting, with great carvings of skulls. Good pics here also. I wasn't impressed with the Temple of Warriors, but it did provide a good example of Toltec influence on Mayan architecture. Circular Columns. We stayed at Chichen until about 6:00 p.m. and by that time everyone was ready to go. The drive to Merida was very, very long.

Once we arrived in Merida, there were a lot more people around. More like a functioning city than Cancun was. The Holiday Inn isn't anything spectacular because it's under repairs right now. Our floor was in complete shambles, but the rooms were still nice. Still nicer than the Solymar. I'm exhausted, so I'm going to go to bed.

Day 4: 04-09-02; Uxmal, Muna City, Oxkintok

While driving through Merida, I see the Spanish colonial influence in the public buildings and the homes. I noticed that they have old men cleaning the streets. It looks like there is one guy for each street. There are also no yards on the front of homes. If a person wants a yard, they build a patio inside of their house for it. Also lining the exterior walls of the homes there are broken bottles cemented into the concrete to prevent robbers and looters from entering the courtyard of the house. We left the hotel and headed out to Oxkintok. There wasn't one tourist at this site except for us. This site was fairly new, had just been excavated in 1996. When we got there, the guide gave us some history of the site. There are over a 100 chultuns in the area, meaning that it was extremely dry here during the Mayan era. The volume of the chultuns ranged from 1200 liters to 25000 liters. That seems pretty amazing to me because to get a 25000 liter chultun you have to do a lot of digging and without heavy machinery that took a long time. Talud-Tablero architecture, originated by the Teotihuacanos, was very apparent at this site. Reminded me of an upside down Christmas tree. The coolest thing at this site was the building designed like a labyrinth. This was just one more amazing feat of the Mayan architects. It shared something in common with Chichen. On the summer equinox the sun shines just right on all of the holes in the side of the labyrinth and light up all of the dark passages. The guide said that this building was probably an observatory, because of the way it lined up with all of the cardinal directions. There was also signs of Toltec influence on the temples because of the presence of the rounded columns in the walls. The so-called Temple of the Devil was also pretty cool because it had some great stelas. One was a depiction of what looked like a pregnant figure that had a skull for a head and slots for the insertion of horns (making it look like a devil). The guide said that there were two hypotheses about it. One was that it was a fertility goddess and the

other was that it was a message to aliens because the figure also had its hands pointing to the sky. The guide was very good and didn't speak any English. Tony have him a good tip because it was obvious that the poverty level was high.
 

Uxmal: The Temple of the Magician pyramid was very large and definitely different looking. The sides were rounded which was something new to us. They were still excavating parts of it so we weren't able to climb it. Tony explained to us that they are taking sections out of the core to see if there are any hidden tunnels or burials. It was very cool to see how the excavations are actually performed. All of the workers spoke Mayan. Most of this site was un-excavated. There is a chultum near the entrance. We also saw the ball-court and the Governor's Palace, where there is a platform in front with the doble-headed jaguar throne. Before departing, our group visited the cemetery section of Uxmal, which contains skull and crossbones etched into the platforms.
 

Day 5: 04-10-02; Day at the Merida Market, Museum, and Cathedral
 

The Mexican world takes its sweet time about everything, just like Tony said in class about polychronic time schedules. Although it's annoying, it's also kind of nice because you can never be late. It's definitely more of a relaxed lifestyle. Not as structured as America, maybe I could learn to like this. It grows on you.

We spent the majority of the day in the Municipal Market. The smell reminded me of New Orleans during Fat Tuesday. Kind of a rotten food crap smell. Tony wanted to make sure everybody stuck together because this market was really big and really busy. It would have been a pain if we got separated. At first we walked through the actual market. There were definite sections dedicated to different products. There was a food section consisting of a fruit department, a corn meal section, and the nasty meat market (smelled horrible). Then there was a leather section (belts, sandals, shoes, purses). There were also a section of toys for children that looked like they came from the U.S. We pretty much just walked through all of this and went to the opposite side of the market. We went out on the street and walked down to the group of handicraft shops that Tony goes back to every year. Tony went in to each of them trying to get the best prices for us. These shops were definitely more for tourists than for natives of Merida. Tony found a guy to give us good deals, so we all shopped in his store. I ended up buying a couple of blankets and a traditional Mexican camisa called a Guayabera (100 % white silk or "seda"). I also went to another store while I was waiting on everybody to finish shopping and haggled on my own for a silver ring. Haggling is a way of life for all of these people, it's part of their culture. No one every puts the real price on their merchandise. Isbell and I also got ripped off on our hats (Panama style). Some of our group wanted more time to shop at different stores, but now I realize that it was probably for the best. If Tony would have let us go off on our own, we would have never been able to get back together in time to see the rest of

the stuff we planned on for the day.

After the market we walked to the town square where the Cathedral was. Like the market, poverty was obvious at the cathedral also. There were beggars on the steps waiting for people to come out of the cathedral. We all gave them some money. When we went into the cathedral it was very clean. I was also surprised that they let you wear shorts and take flash pictures inside. The churches that I visited in Greece were completely different. The Virgin of Guadalupe is definitely a major part of their worship. She was dressed in traditional Mayan garments, which portrayed the blending of Catholicism and Mayan religion. I liked the cathedral a lot. When we came out of the church there were vendors trying to sell us hammocks and hats. They are pretty persistent people who don't take no for an answer.

Observations on Americans: We are definitely the minority here, but I don't feel too different. Everyone stares at us like we are oddities, because we are. I'm surprised that some people in our group who felt uncomfortable still carry around the stereotypes of Mexicans with them. I don't mind if people feel that way, but I'd rather not hear it out loud. We are in their country and should show them respect.

The Anthropology Museum was not exactly what I was expecting. American museums are more structured and have better explanations on their displays. A lot of the display cases here had cool stuff in them but they weren't all labeled so you couldn't tell what things were. Tony made a big effort to explain everything, but our group scattered inside the museum. I also thought it was pretty small for being THE Mayan Museum.

Day 6: 04-11-02; Santa Rosa Xtampac, Edzna

Happy Birthday to Me.

We bought some things at Wal-Mart before leaving because we're having a late lunch today. The people that shop at Wal-Mart and the mall across the street from our hotel are definitely upper-class citizens in Merida. Merchandise at Wal-Mart is definitely cheaper in Merida that in the U.S. I got some really cheap food. They also have an open bread market where you get a metal tray and pick out all the fresh bread that you want. Isbell and I bought almost 10 loaves of bread for less than 10 pesos! Under a dollar. Very, very cheap.

It was about a three-hour drive to the first site in Santa Rosa Xtampac. The last twenty miles of the road to get there was horrible. It looked like they threw a thin layer of blacktop on top of loose stones. I'm surprised that the vans were able to take it. The site was pretty cool. We went up into a four-story temple that was un-excavated. The site has only been open to the public for the last two years. When I got out of the pyramid, my stomach started getting queezy. I didn't think I was going to be able to finish the site. I broke out in a cold sweat and my stomach started churning. I didn't want to make anyone miss anything so I sucked it up and kept walking. I had to avoid any climbing other temples, so I missed out on most of the other sites at Santa Rosa. I did get a chance to converse with our guide in Spanish.

The second site we stopped at alongside the road isn't really worth mentioning. There was an extremely large stone ball that the guide said was an eye of a large stone god mask. It was at least 1-½ feet in diameter. I started feeling a little better at this time. The third site, Edzna, was by far the coolest of the three. The views were amazing. Too bad we spent so much time at the other two sites. By the time we got to Edzna we only had 1 ½ hours to look around. I took about 30 pics of the large temple because I want to put together a photo collage. It should look really cool. We did a lot of climbing on our own, so we got some better pics than the rest of the group. Our group was the only tourists at all three sites today. All of the small villages that we drive through look the same. Dirty and poor.

Day 7: 04-12-02; Ake and Izamal

Both of these sites contained catholic churches. Both churches were built atop Mayan temples.

Izamal: We got a tour from a Tourist Police officer. He took us to the bigger church. He talked to us about the monks that presently live in the church and how the Virgin of Guadalupe is an essential figure in Mayan religion today. He also spoke to us of the Mayan god who helped bridge the gap between Catholic and Mayan cultures. This god supposedly came out of the jungle and said that he didn't know where he came from. The deity had Caucasian-like characteristics and had a crooked nose. He was called Zamna. Along with the Virgin, this god helped bring Catholicism to the hearts of the Mayas. Also, the Izamal Church was once visited by the pope. An interesting fact was that when they were preparing the church for the pope, the workers were scraping the paint off of the walls and found murals from 1658. The color and objects in these murals was still intact. Very cool looking and amazing that they were still there. They have never been touched up because the people wanted to maintain their originality.

Our guide also talked to us about Bishop Landa, who founded the church and convent in the sixteenth century. The guide definitely thought he was two-sided because he destroyed all of the knowledge of the Maya culture and then tried to make up for it by writing a detailed history of the Maya conquest. He felt that this history was more beneficial to Spain and it's conquerors than it was to relating the facts of Maya history.

I found both sites very interesting because they were great examples of Catholic/Maya integration. By constructing the churches on Mayan places of worship, the natives, out of habit, entered the new churches to pray to their ancient gods. Over time these gods became the Christian god and the Virgin of Guadalupe, but many of the Mayas still prayed to their old gods. The practice of building the churches on temples made religious conversion an inevitable process. This was the topic of one of our class lectures and in also covered in our textbook.

Ake: At this site we met a man who worked in a Maguey factory. He gave us a tour of his plant and then through the Maya ruins, church and hacienda. He asked for three dollars per person for the tour. When Tony confirmed that this was the fee established by the owner, he paid for all of us.

The Factory- The machinery that they were using dated back to around 1899. Although they were fixing it when we were there, they said that it was in working order and that they run it all day 7 days a week. They repair it whenever they need it, and have never had to do any major repairs. Our guide had been working at the factory for over 40 years (since he was a child). Although he didn't say it, we guessed that his children probably work there too. In the factory, there were no safety requirements in the factory. Men wore sandals or went barefoot around heavy equipment and machiery. No safety glasses or protective clothing and no breathing apparatuses to prevent breathing the rope fibers that were constantly in the air. It was pretty amazing that no one gets hurt. I don't think there are safety restrictions and regulations at all in Mexico.

The Ake was a lot smaller than the one at Izamal and not near as clean. Again the Virgin of Guadalupe was the center of worship in the church.

I didn't find the nineteenth century hacienda very interesting, but it was full of old furniture and it showed us how many of the richer Mexican people live. They have these big houses and they only come down to them once or twice a year, like they did during colonial times. The ceilings were very high and the rooms were very spacious. I wasn't fond of the design.

When we got back to Merida around 6:00 p.m., Isbell and I asked the doorman what would be something cool to do for a couple of hours. He said we could walk down the main street (Paseo de Montejo). We saw all of the colonial homes and also got to see how the people of Merida spent their evenings. It looked like most people like to sit on the benches on the street and talk with their friends or their family. I practiced my Spanish by trying to ask directions to the square. I had to ask

directions from a woman on the street and she was very helpful. We finally got to the square and shopped around for a little while. It seemed really busy around 7:30 p.m., but it started to die off an hour later. We met a student from Merida and he showed us around, because he was studying to be a tour guide and he wanted to practice his English. Later we found this spot called the Parque de Madre where there were people selling their own arts and crafts (looked like Mexican hippies). Very cool place.

Day 8: 04-13-02; Merida Municipal Market and home.

Today we got to go the Market again. We just split up into small groups and went shopping on our own. Isbell and I went to the leather shop to pick up some genuine leather Mexican sandals. I ended up buying two pairs. Nothing else exciting happened. We walked around and talked to different people, but that's about it.

After about three hours of shopping in the Market, Tony drove us back to the hotel and we packed up and got ready to leave. We ate lunch at McDs. We then hit the road back to Cancun. It took about three hours. The outgoing part of the airport was a lot cleaner and nicer looking than the incoming part. Customs was easy to get through and the flight was eventless. I fell asleep as soon as I got into the car and slept all the way back to Terre Haute. It certainly was not a vacation, like some other students joked that it would be.