Friday, March 30

In class this morning we began a look at Maya ceramics, starting with forms including relations between cooking and serving wares and chronological development. We then discussed the texts including the primary standard sequence, and moved on to a discussion of the imagery that will take us through next week. For today, we mainly discussed the processions or dances of supernatural counterparts known as wayob, and looked at two different strands of interpretation, both of which are supported by images and texts.

In the afternoon Sara came over to go over the trip expenses with me and then we went to dinner at her apartment, prepared by Peggy, Alica, James, Rhett and Maria Luisa. Afterwords we joined many other Lasom students at the restaurant called La Pera to watch Valerie, Julie and others perform salsa dancing. Valerie was brilliant in her group work (four couples). Julie also did quite a bit of solo dancing with two partners, one of whom, her instructor, was dancing with a broken leg! Julie raised the standard up several levels. To call her dancing spectacular would be an understatement!

The dance performance ended late (for me) so I had to give up on attending Rivkah's birthday party. Apologies to Rivkah.

Thursday, March 29

This morning’s class concluded our discussions of non-public Maya architecture. We looked at the temple-pyramids of Tikal as ancestral shrines that combined lineage or factional characteristics including burials with records of public events of war and victory celebrations. This helped us to understand the institution of rulership as combining the position as head of the ruling faction and the more public embodiment of the polity by which the ruler re-creates the cosmos and organizes warfare. We then went on to discuss the architecture of Copán and the disputes over the function of buildings on the acropolis as temples or residences.

This afternoon was my first really free time since even before coming to Chiapas, as I am caught up on both class preparation and marking. It is a temporary respite, since more assignments are due tomorrow, but I decided to have fun this afternoon.

I set out to climb the small hill to the shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe from which I expected to get a good view of the city. On the way, I heard wonderful music coming from Tierra Adentro, a café surrounded by shops run by Indigenous cooperatives. I went in, thinking I could listen to the music while looking in the store that sells paintings by Zapatista artists and their supporters. I did buy one, pictured above, choosing it for the familiar motifs and the representation of both men and women (which is surprisingly rare among the paintings in this shop, most of which show only women). Several students were in the café working on their assignment, so I dragged them in to see my proud purchase. The artist’s name is Tomás, he is Tzeltal from Ocosingo, and it was painted in November, 2006.

On I went to the Guadalupe shrine but by the time I got there is was too overcast and gloomy for nice views. I then continued on to Santo Domingo to stroll through the artesanías market and the two weaving cooperatives. I was happy to be able to watch two Chamula women weaving the ubiquitous belts.

The adjoining historical museum devoted to this area was open so I bought a ticket and went in. I looked at the exhibits of the history of San Cristobal and nearby areas, being especially interested in the displays on two Indigenous Maya rebellions: the Cancuc rebellion of 1712 and the War of the Castes of 1869. From there it was possible to stroll through the old monastery on both levels. I would like to go back to this exhibit again with Rita.

Wednesday, March 28

These updates are going to seem pretty ho-hum for a while. Nothing as fantastic as our recently-concluded fieldtrip. Instead, back to the grind, so to speak.

Classes resumed today. In the morning, I discussed the architecture of Tikal in the Maya art class, discussing problems of relating form and function, and arguing for a method that takes longer spans of time and potential continuities of residential arrangement into consideration.

In the afternoon, Rita's class involved animated discussions of certain aspects of the Castellanos book on periodically violent relations between Maya and non-Maya in the highlands of Chiapas. The issues of gender and Castellanos' rejection of magic realism as her aesthetic framework were intensely considered.

Just an hour after she finished her class, Rita left on the first leg of her journey to Argentina, where she will launch her first book. Congratulations to Rita de Grandis!

Tuesday, March 27

Today was to be a day of rest and recuperation. I spent it trying to send money again to Guatemala and updating this blog.
I hope many people enjoyed the accounts of our trip, though it was intensively academic in many ways.

Monday, March 26: Home to San Cristobal

The drive back to San Cristobal from Palenque is long, so we livened it up by visits to two favourite waterfall and swimming spots, Misol Ha and Aguas Azules. Mizol Ha features a 30 meter but narrow waterfall. Aguas Azules features more shallow waterfalls and smaller pools, but they extend for kilometers. A good time was had by all, and we were back in San Cristobal at 5:30.

Sunday, March 25: Campeche Museum and Edzna

We headed out early to the Fuerte San Miguel, arriving 5 minutes before it opened. But I had just barely begun my introduction when they opened the gates and we crossed the drawbridge over the dry moat into the fort-as-museum.

The museum visit game me a chance to show students not only the style of stela covered in the previous course, but also two of the important subjects for the next art history course: clay figurines and painted ceramic vessels. We looked at the differences between hand-modelled figurines, usually representing males, and mould-made figurines, usually representing women, couples, and animals, and frequently modified to be played as a two-stop ocarina.

The most extravagant of the painted ceramics is a large deep and lidded plate, probably used for tamales, dating from the early classic period and found in Structure IX, the steep pyramid at Becán. We discussed possible cosmogenesis imagery on this plate, as related to the miniature stela in the Hauberg collection.

We also were able to see sculptures from Edzna, Xcalumkin, and other sites in northern Campeche. In some of these, the dance posture was clearly evident, even when the feet were shown flat on the ground.

Two tombs from Calakmul structure II are recreated in this museum, both dating to the early part of the late classic. The male in tomb 4 of this structure is thought to have been the ruler Yich’ak K’ak’, Great Fiery Jaguar Paw, who was laid to rest on a carved wood bier, draped in jade jewelry and with a large headdress of cloth pieces. I was more impressed by the adjoining tomb 6, which contains a woman and an older child. The woman is buried with a series of pottery stamps that would have been used to decorate textiles and are thus appropriate to a woman’s burial.

After the museum we stopped at a supermarket and then headed to Edzna for a tour of the site and picnic lunch. The lunch came first, and then I took students through the ball court to the small acropolis, then through the Great Acropolis to the Group of the Knives and Ambassador group. On the Great Acropolis, students immediately began identifying typical layouts and styles. They recognized the quadrangular form of the Acropolis, as well as the open public space below with a ball court at its edge. Rhett recognized the Puuc style features of the buildings forming the main acropolis quadrangle. When we went to the smaller, adjoining and private quadrangle, Jennifer recognized that one of the buildings is in Rio Bec style.

In the Group of the Knives, we talked about different models for explaining the difference between the main quadrangle on the Great Acropolis and the smaller, more private adjoining crocodile. These models define the difference on the basis of function (ritual versus residential), class (elite versus commoner), or gender (male versus Female). The Ambassador Group was given this name because the labour of reconstruction was accomplished by refugees of the Guatemalan genocide (early 1980s). But while this may sound comforting, a Maya couple in Vancouver has talked about how they were taken from the Chiapas refugee camps to Campeche against their will. She talks about the difficulty of adapting to the hot climate, and the prison-like conditions of the camp.

Then came the long drive to Palenque, where we arrived at 8 pm.

Saturday, March 24: Campeche

Saturday was designed to be a fairly free day to give students time for sight-seeing, swimming, and shopping as well as preparing for the Spanish class in the evening. We left Ticul at 10 and arrived at our hotel in Campeche at noon.

Bill and I walked along the Malecon or sea wall and another road for about an hour to reach the archaeology museum, located in the Fuerte de San Miguel, one of the forts that help protect the city from 200 years of pirate ravages. I wanted to show Bill some of the pieces there from places we had seen, like Calakmul and Becán, and also to plan when and how to take the students through it on the next day.

Spanish class was at 6 and was quite lively and interesting, uncovering so many new layers in the parallel structures of the Castellanos book. At 8 the class finished and we all said goodbye to Bill, who was leaving on a night bus for Tuxtla Gutierrez to catch a plane home in the morning.

Friday, March 23: Kabah and Uxmal

This was our day for the Puuc style, as represented in the nearby sites of Kabah and Uxmal, only about a half hour (each) from Ticul.

We arrived at Kabah early, before other tourists, and while there was still a soft coolness in the air. We started immediately in the second quadrangle with an assignment on residential architecture of the Puuc, by comparing quadrangles at Kabah and Uxmal. The students had clearly become more confident in looking at the remains and finding out the answers for themselves.

After some time in the second quadrangle I took the students over to the Codz Poop, the dominant structure of its own quadrangle, and then across the road to the archway that culminates the Kabah-Uxmal sacbe. We looked briefly at two more groups and then headed to Uxmal.

I planned 4 ½ hours at Uxmal, broken into four segments. In the first, took students through the Quadrangle of the Birds where the dominant structure was turned into the Pyramid of the Magician, and then into the Monjas quadrangle, ending with the eastern annex of the Monjas with what may be the largest room spaces in Uxmal.

The second segment was lunch for an hour, after which I resumed the tour with the Governors’ Palace, House of the Turtles, and Great Pyramid. At the Governors’ Palace, I quizzed the students on the façade imagery. Several seated figures on the façade sit on inverted, open-mouthed serpent heads as if rising out of them. I asked the students to turn around, bend over, and look through their knees so they could see the image right-side-up, and then tell me what it was. Ellen was the first to identify it as a serpent head. Then I asked them to identify the sign under the eye on the masks, but no-one figured out it was Venus. This gave me an opportunity, however, to discuss the probable Venus alignment of the building.

The final segment at Uxmal was 1 ½ hours of free time to work on their assignments and explore on their own. While Bill and I went to see the Pyramid called La Vieja, others went to the Monjas quadrangle to work on their comparisons with Kabah. When they finished this, they did many different things. I saw Marella reading the Castellanos book for Spanish class. Rivkah had found the Cemetery Group and drew the skull, crossbone, and eyes design of the platform in its plaza.

The evening involved a celebration of Bill, who had to return the next day to Vancouver for teaching.

Thursday, March 22: Chichen Itza, Balancanche, Mayapan, Oxkutzcab

As instructed, we arrived at the Campamento gate at 7 and started calling. Just the phone answering message, to which we responded. We waited and phoned. There wasn’t even anyone at the gate to talk to us, so we decided to walk around it as coming staff were doing. As we passed the Campamento, Eduardo came out to greet us, sleepy-eyed. Off we went with an archaeologist and a guide to climb the Castillo, not really too long after sunrise. This was a thrill for the students, and we spent time looking at sculptures as well as the view. On the west door, the wood carving on the lintel is fairly well preserved, so we took turns lying on the threshold and looking up at it.

We left before 8, headed to the buses, and drove down to the Balancanche turnoff. The first tour was to start at 9 so we wanted to get there in time to make sure all of us could be included. But the gate at the turnoff was closed. There seemed to be time, so one van went back to Piste for breakfast while the other stayed so that I could get tickets as soon as it opened. Some students spent the time playing Frisbee. At 8:40 the staff came and opened the gate and we went in. We all enjoyed the hike through the cave, which is made completely safe and comfortable by concrete and lighting, though one has to put up with the sound track piped in. Arggh. The two offering chambers were thrilling. The first has a stone column that must have served as a world axis, with offerings of incense burners, large open vessels, and miniature manos and metates (grinding implements) arranged around it. The second chamber has arrangements of incense burners and the miniatures, but it also has access to an underground river that continues on through a low cave tunnel.

We drove on to Mayapan, generally thought to have been a capital of Yucatán, through alliance of the Itzá, Cocom, and Xiuh groups, from around 1240 to 1440. Smaller versions of Chichén Itzá’s Castillo and Caracol are constructed here within a downtown core that consists of a knot of residential groups with shrines, colonnades, and altars. The corbel arch is still used here, in the Caracol and in Structure 80. I pointed out many of the features from the top of the Castillo, where we started, noting that the central shrine of structure 81, the residential building in front of Structure 80, was the location from which the four super-fine incensarios had been taken that we saw earlier in class.

We had hoped to stop in Maní, the late capital of the Xiuh and also notorious as the place where Diego de Landa carried on his inquisition, torturing Maya leaders and destroying books and “idols” (likely incense burners) in the auto-da-fe of 1862. However, it was very late and students were ravenous, so we headed on to Oxkutzkab. After lunch, we looked at the mural paintings by Leonardo Paz and Bill led discussions of both. He spent most time with the market mural, fitting it into the 20th century tradition of mural painting as public art in Mexico, and asking students what kind of image of Oxkutzkab was being presented (Oxkutzcab as Yucatán’s orchard city). We noted the inclusion of many ideas from international popular culture, including the central group of 5 Maya women in traje, the largest figures in the composition and the only ones not engaged in any activity. We went on to the Zocalo and looked at the gazebo mural by Paz of Landa’s auto-da-fe, discussing its romanticist aspects and possible construction as a foundation of post-conquest Maya society. I also noted that this event has become increasingly prevalent in television documentaries because it is also considered foundational to the study of Maya hieroglyphic writing, understood as recovering the information that de Landa destroyed.

There was more at Oxkutzcab. By the time we finished discussing the second painting, the doors of the church were opened, and we went in to look at what is considered the most beautiful retablo in Yucatán. Some sat and looked from the pews but Rita and I, with some students, went up to the altar and worked on the interpretation of each panel.

Then we piled back into our vans and headed for our night’s stay in Ticul. I knew of Ticul from its famous pottery, which includes large public monuments based on Jaina figurines. But we found out that Ticul is also famous for the shoes that it manufactures, and that the Shoe Festival was about to begin. More to the taste of students and their shopping, the maker of the local Yucatec guayabera shirts was found, and he made 21 sales of shirts to our group, including at least one custom made.

Wednesday, March 21: Vernal Equinox at Chichen Itza

We met Carlos the guide at 8 am this morning as arranged, for a special entrance into the Caracol (also known as the Observatory) and the second storey of the Monjas complex. Any later and it would have been impossible, since this is the day with the highest attendance all year. This time we walked ourselves while Carlos scooted down on his motorcycle.

Students were very impressed by the 10 meter vaults in the Caracol and had lots of questions about the astronomical relationships. I also stressed relationships with the Castillo, with which I believe it was meant to be paired. Then we went up the Monjas stairs and looked at the mosaic façade, the carved lintels, and I set the students out to find the mural painting. I couldn’t show it to all the students as visitors were arriving and Carlos was calling them down.

I took the students back to the Castillo and finished the lecture on ritual and astronomical relationships with the Caracol and the Sacred Cenote. So naturally the next place we headed was the Cenote itself.

This was considered a free day, so many students melted away after the Cenote. But I took others on a tour of the 1000 columns complex to emphasize the residential facilities. We looked at the West Colonnade, the North Colonnade, the House of the Sculpted Columns, the great Sweat Bath, the Southeast Colonnade, and the Mercado. The latter, of course, impressed them most. Then we went to the three late platforms on the North Terrace and discussed their carvings and Landa’s statement that they were used for plays.

It was only noon by this time and still 4 hours before the “proceedings” around the equinox were due to start. We wandered, sat and chatted, and wandered some more. Erin looked for her dad, who had come to Mexico and told her he would be among the other jugglers, but to no avail (he showed up later). By 3 pm it was getting cloudy. The proceedings started without sun at 4, with two short statements translated into several languages. The crowd was not very large. The peak in the late 80s had been 40,000 equinox visitors, 10,000 were expected, but only about 5000 came. As 5 pm neared, the expected climax of the light serpent on the balustrade, people began chanting and clapping to bring out the sun. Indeed, right around 5 the sun came out, the serpent of light was brilliant and cheered. And by the way, it is not as good the day before. The effect is precise specifically on the equinox. As the effected died off, students formed a circle and began a game of hacky-sack. What could be more perfect?

Earlier in the day, Eduardo had asked what else we would like, and we said, to climb the Castillo. He suggested 7am the next morning and that we should call him on his cellphone. As we left, we greeted him on the podium and firmed up the arrangements before heading back to Piste.

Tuesday, March 20: Chichen Itza

The authorities at Chichén Itzá asked us to be at the gate at 7 am for a special admittance to the Group of the Initial Series, which has been under reconstruction for several years and is still off limits to regular visitors. We arrived first at the main gate and were then directed to the gate of the archaeological camp. There policemen stopped us and told us to return to the main gate and it would be opened for us. It wasn’t. So we went back to the encampment gate and were given two contradictory stories. One, that without written permission we couldn’t get in, and the other that the people in charge were still sleeping. I think the latter is true.

So we went into Piste for students to eat breakfast while I looked for an internet facility that would be open early, where I could print out the email with our visiting arrangement. Meanwhile Bill went with the drivers to leave our luggage at the Posada Olalde, where we would stay for two nights thanks to the help of
anthropologist Quetzil Castañeda who has researched in Piste and Chichén Itzá for many years. We came back to Chichén Itzá and Bill went to the INAH office to explain what had happened. They were very gracious and arranged for a guide, Carlos, to take us to the Group of the Initial Series, as well as forgiving us their half of the entrance fee (the other half goes to Yucatán state). We met Carlos near the Castillo Pyramid, and with him was the director of Chichén Itzá, Eduardo Perez, to greet us. We would be seeing both gentlemen several times over the next few days.

The kilometer walk to the Initial Series group was beautiful, and the restoration of the group was stunning. We entered through the remains of a small portal arch that culminates a sacbe or paved causeway leading into the group. Another, much larger portal arch was visited west of the first, also ending a sacbe.The students were thrilled with the ability to go through reconstructed chambers, columned halls, climbing to a second story structure. We enjoyed seeing the distinctive personalities of the structures, marked with representations of a specific animal to become the House of the Snails, Temple of the Owls, and Colonnade of the Monkeys. Also impressive was the House of the Phalli, with the huge stone phalluses sticking out of the wall over the bench-type beds. All of these structures also featured upper facades entirely covered with low relief narrative designs. We then went on to view the large round masonry altar designed as the effigy of a turtle. The balustrades of the front and back stairs are decorated with the four legs of the turtle. The head is a separate stone projecting from the top of the front stair, and the tail from the back stairs. From class lectures in San Cristobal, were all primed to think of the turtle not just as an image of the earth but also as the earth from which the Maize emerges at creation and annually thereafter. The archaeologist working on this restoration, Peter Schmidt, did not want any photographs taken of this group.

Carlos was generous with his time in this group, and even offered to take us to the nearby Southwest Group, even though none of this group has been cleared. I remembered it as being easier to get around and climb over when I was doing my dissertation research in 1973.

But it wasn’t over yet. Carlos asked what else we might like to see that is off limits. We asked for the Akab Dzib, the Caracol, and the Monjas second storey. Carlos took us to the Akab Dzib right away and then made arrangements for us to see the other two buildings at 8 the next morning. Would there be anything else? Yes, indeed, How about the Temple of the Warriors and the Temple of the Big Tables (none of these are likely temples; these are just names). This was arranged with Eduardo Perez for 5pm, when visitors have to leave the site.

I took the students by a few more buildings, and then we went back to Piste to check into our rooms. Students were told to meet us by the Castillo at 4 for a lecture on the Castillo, and any who wanted to could come with me earlier for a tour of some out-of-the-way buildings. I showed these to the Osario, the Xtoloc Cenote and its nearby residence, and the 1000 Columns group. By that time the students had arrived and we discussed the Castillo, then watched the events developing around it. This was the day before the official equinox but it was being celebrated by new agers dancing and drawing energy from the stone. We had been told that the Light Serpent effect on the Castillo stair that happens on the equinox is also visible the day before, so we did watch it before meeting Don Carlos for our next special admittance.

We waited for Don Carlos at the usual place, as the regular visitors left, we went on to climb the Temple of the Warriors, where Eduardo Perez came to greet us again. The sun was setting as we looked around the building, discussing the plan of columns and arches, of benches and atlantean table. I also noticed that even the serpent heads of the doorway columns had curtain tie-offs in back. The sun then was nearly setting behind the Castillo which left the students enchanted. But there was more. We went with the archaeologist Gabriel Evan Canul into the closed-off chamber of the structure underneath the Big Tables and viewed two columns with colours beautifully preserved, showing standing male figures with the image of cosmogenesis (Maize deity emerging from the earth turtle) flanking them above and below. In the last bit of light, we ascended the later structure covering it, looking at the atlantean table and the columns, with students increasingly mesmerized by the atmosphere.

As we descended and headed back towards the entrance, Eduardo Perez again greeted us and invited us to stay for the sound-and-light show which was due to start in less than an hour, inviting us to take the front row seats. I really have to thank Eduardo for making me look good: the students spent some of the waiting time chanting cheers to me. The mood did decline somewhat during the sound and light show, which was not only hokey (ball players projected on the Upper Temple of the Jaguars to the sound of grunting athletes) but drew on all the possible stereotypes, drawing out descriptions of sacrifice with what were presented as speeches delivered by the victims before their death.

Monday, March 19: Tulum and Ek Balam

We stopped in Tulum Pueblo for breakfast and then went on to the site for a look at the buildings and a quick swim. Most of the buildings are roped off at Tulum, due to the Cancun traffic, and the whole enclosure around the “Castillo” is off limits. But it did give me an opportunity to talk about the style of residence at Tulum and its continuities with classic period residences in the northern Maya lowlands. We also talked more about a general problem of differentiating residence from “temple,” which is much more complicated than most texts on archaeology would admit.

We then went on to Valladolid and checked into our hotel, which fortunately has a small pool. After a few hours to relax with lunch and a dip, we went on to the site of Ek Balam, famous for a well-preserved façade of lime plaster sculptures. The façade is of the so-called Chenes format, a three part structure in which the central door is surrounded by sculpture on both lower and upper facades, while the two flanking rooms have sculpture only on the upper façade. As usual, the central façade involves a large reptile face whose mouth encloses the door. The imagery of flowers, ancestors, and Maize deities emerging from the eyes supported my growing view that these so-called mouth-doors are not only representations of the entrance into the underworld-as-cave, but are also representations of the original birth of the Maize at the origin of the cosmos.

On the way back from Ek Balam we stopped at an underground, water-filled cavern that is open for swimming, called Cenote Samula (Sacmulha). This was quite an experience. The cave was beautiful, with one source of light above through which a tree had extended its roots to the water level 10 or 15 meters below. Attached temporarily is a photo from the web.

In the evening, Rita held her Spanish class at a restaurant. I attended as well, since the subject is one I love: The Book of Lamentations (Oficio de Tinieblas) by Rosario Castellanos.

Sunday March 18: Felipe Carrillo Puerto

Today was to be largely a rest and beach day. We let the students decide what time they would like to leave for the long drive. Not surprisingly, they chose a time more than 3 hours earlier than when they want to go to an archaeological site. But it was fine with me.

We stopped for a meal and a short talk at the city of Felipe Carrillo Puerto, formerly Noh Can Santa Cruz. Bill and I shared duties in talking about the caste war that led the independent refugees to recede to what is now Quintana Roo and found their new capital, called Noh Can Santa Cruz or Chan Santa Cruz. We talked about the cult of the talking cross centered in this city until invaded by General Ignacio Bravo, under orders from Porfirio Diaz, in 1901. The talking cross of Noh Can Santa Cruz is maintained nearby at Tixcacal Guardia. As we talked, we stood in the shadow of the church, seen above, that was built by slaves captured by the Cruzob Maya from their seizure of the fort at Bacalar in 1858. They called this church the Balam Na, House of the Jaguar. Originally the plaza was also surrounded by a council house (Popol Na), a residence for the high priest, and a residence for the rotating guard provided by surrounding communities.

We arrived at the beach near Tulum before noon and many of the students made a mad dash for the surf. I spent much of the afternoon reading while Rita worked on the beach with a group of students to translate a complex reading for her Spanish class. I enjoyed watching five pelicans fishing just offshore and often flying over our heads. Karyn was anxious to snorkel in the coral reef just a few meters offshore but the wind was strong and the reef, apparently, unimpressive.

Saturday, March 17: Calakmul

We left at 9 am for a drive to Calakmul, which entails about an hour back along the highway and then another hour and a half along a dirt road which has been much improved since Bill and I traversed it this summary. Along the road we saw several of the gorgeous native turkeys.

I began the tour with the public ceremonial complex of the Group E type at the heart of the central plaza, since this type of configuration had been an important topic in the Maya Public Ritual art course over the past three weeks. Then we went on to climb structure II, the tallest at the site. The photo shows us gathering at the base for an explanation of the building's long history (perhaps 800 years). On the level 2/3 of the way up, I asked students to investigate the 9-room late classic building and tell me what they found. Most correctly identified a probable sweat bath by the crawling entrance. We talked about the evidence for residential functions despite the great height, and we looked at the flanking structures with metates for grinding maize in place. Finally, we climbed the last third to the remains of the late-preclassic structure, once part of a triad.

We went on to investigate the complex early classic residence known as structure III, identifying a probable kitchen by the metates, sooty walls, and conspicuous accomodations for air flow and possibly water drainage. Some students called me over to see the "toilet" they had found, but I had to disappoint them by showing that it was simply a removed capstone over the vault of a buried room. It wouldn't have made a very good latrine!

On the to the Great Acropolis, a huge platform that involves a large public space with a ball court, with several cleared buildings surrounding it, and a far greater expanse of quadrangular residential groupings that have not been cleared for viewing. Behind these and lower down we went through two residential quadrangles. The first and more complex of these is called La Muralla because it is built next to a large city wall. Students were then given their assignment dismissed for lunch, after which they would have more free time to complete the assignment.

While they went to lunch, I carried on climbing structures and jotting down floorplans. I climbed structures VII, IV and VI in the main plaza and then went on to Structure I, as high as Structure II but late classic, where some students had already ascended, having skipped lunch. I went on to draw a floorplan of Structure III, even though it is well-published, in order to remember it better. By then it was time to make sure students were heading back to the busses. I climbed the Great Acropolis and watched a troop of spider monkeys pass over head. In the shot of treetops posted above, two of the monkeys can be seen. I didn't find any straggling students as it seems that Bill had already herded them out to the residential quadrangles and herded them back while I was on my own.

Om the drive back through the forest along the axis road, we saw not only turkeys but also two snakes that our driver identified as pythons, one right in the road!

Friday, March 16: Becan

We left Palenque in early morning and headed for breakfast at the crossroads in Escarcega. Afterwords we headed for the Rio Bec style site of Becan. As there had been very little free time at Palenque, I cut my tour short, mainly showing students the upper and back sections of structure 4. I then gave out the assignment concerning residential facilities in structures 8 and 10, and invited students to join me if they wished as I climbed these (and structure 9) or to go on their own if they preferred.

All were impressed by the monumentality of structure 8. Structure 9, a modified early classic pyramid 30 meters high, also impressed, and many students stopped to take pictures of each other on the high spot. After that there was only time for a quick view of the complex around structure 10, deciding that the attached ball court was of sufficient size for a sporting game, before it was time to leave. We were on a schedule so that students would have time to prepare for their Spanish literature class.

We arrived at Hotel Calakmul in Xpuhil around 3:30 and dispersed. I rented a room in the restaurant for Rita's Spanish class and went off to find a laundry and long distance phone. I didn't attend this Spanish class, but there was apparently a lively discussion of the book I a Chamula/ Juan Perez Jolote.

Thursday, March 15: Yaxchilan

After we left Bonampak it was another 45 minute ride to Frontera Corozal, on the Usumacinta River (largest in the Maya area) for a ride in launches up to Yaxchilan. The forest became taller as we moved from milpa to selva, and took on an emerald green colour. Often in the cultivated fields, where we could see Maize fields (milpas) and banana trees, there would be a lone ceiba tree left in the field perhaps to shade animals. The ceibas are the tallest trees in the rain forest and have long been considered the pillars of the world by the Maya. Along the way we also saw blue herons flying across the river.

As we reached Yaxchilan, Jennifer noticed the domical stone mound in the river known popularly as the Yaxchilan pier. She told me she could see the Yaxchilan mound but I though she meant an overgrown pyramid and searched the bank for what I thought she saw. It was a tense misunderstanding for a while.

At Yaxchilan, the staff wanted to cut our time to two hours, which would be unbelievable for a site that size, and this meant subtracting mealtime as well since food couldn't be taken into the site. So we compromised at 2 1/2 hours and the students wolfed down their lunch so we could get started, leaving us two hours in the site.

We went first into the so-called labyrinth, a late eighth century multi-room palatial residence on two levels, connected by interior stairways. It is the largest known residence at Yaxchilan and its full extent is unknown as there has been quite a bit of destruction. Still there was much to see, or would have been if we had had more flashlights: the rooms and corridors are pitch black. Next to this structure (19) is a sweat bath, the only one yet known for Yaxchilan.

We then went to the ball court where students were finally able to confirm what had been said in class, that it was too small for any kind of real game and thus likely used for ritual performance.

We then looked at stela sculptures in two adjoining plazas and climbed to the second tier to look at the row of temples associated with Yaxchilan's royal women. We looked at the lintels of structure 20 that show the birth of a ruler and of a woman who may have been his wife. We saw the miniature stela in structure 21 that shows a ruler's mother performing bloodletting through her tongue.

We then climbed to Structure 33, the best preserved and most imposing structure at Yaxchilan. It features a stalactite stela at the top of the stairway that climbs the hillside. Also, 13 reliefs on the top of the staircase, 11 of which show leaders of Yaxchilan playing the ball game in the guise of various deities, including the ruler, his father and his grandfather. The other two show the ruler's mother and grandmother. We also discussed the lintels that show the ruler with his wife, son, and a subordinate ally, and looked at the facade decorations, as well as the over life-sized statue now placed in the central alcove of the building. This sculpture used to sit outside the building where it was venerated by Lacandon people from the settlement of Lacanja. The head has broken off this sculpture, and one report says that the Lacandon believed that if ¨Hachakyum¨put his head back on it would end the world.

We then climbed to the tallest acropolis at Yaxchilan (though not the steepest) which supports a trio of structures. The central structure of this trio, 40, had a trio of stelae in front honouring a ruler´s inauguration. This stela, number 11, was the only stela found standing at Yaxchilan and thus the only stela with carving preserved on both sides. But the stela was removed from its position in order to be taken to the national museum in Mexico City for its opening in 1965. The stela never made it to Mexico City. It was returned to Yaxchilan in that year and left lying in the plaza, so that now only one side can be seen.

We then went to what is called the small acropolis, coming in the back way rather than climbing from the plaza, which is the steepest climb at the site. The small acropolis is in the arrangement of an enclosed plazuela with the entrance structure facing the dominant residence. There is also a lower court with more perishable structures. Next to the entrance structure is structure 44 which originally had 3 carved lintels and 6 carved steps, but the steps have been removed.

We returned to the launch site exactly on the dot of when we were expected, piled into the launches, and set off again down the river. I was in the first boat, which was treated to the sight of several crocodiles coming down the banks and jumping into the water. We also saw anhingas (snake bird) drying their wings, perched on trees growing from an island in the river. Another boat instead ended up watching an iguana hunt.

The rest of the day was uneventful, except that one of our drivers, Gabriel, took some students for dinner, music and dancing at Pan Chan. Apparently he declined to dance.

Thursday, March 15: Bonampak

We all got up for a 6 am departure this morning for an all-day excursion into the Selva Lacandona to see Bonampak and Yaxchilan. After a breakfast buffet stop 2 hours into the route, we transfered to Lacandon-operated vans for the dirt road ride into Bonampak site, which they now control as eco-guardians of the forest.

Everyone was thrilled with Bonampak, especially for the mural paintings to which they had earlier been introduced. Being in those three room spaces, surrounded by mural paintings on all sides, including above, is an experience that can´t be described. They were also able to see the three lintels in situ. Only three people were allowed in each room at one time, so I could only share the experience with a few students, including pointing out the imagery on the lintels. We also looked at the stelae, and Rita's photo of Stela 2 is included above.

Afterwards we climbed higher up the acropolis to see the small structures which may be shrines. One of these has a well-preserved early classic lintel of a ruler holding the¨serpent bar¨which appears to represent him as the Maize raising the sky. Coming back down to the plaza. several students noted the oropendula nests hanging from a large tree: the birds and nests we had discussed from the preclassic period mural at San Bartolo.

Wednesday, March 14: Palenque

Bill French arrived fairly late (after 10) from Canada. James took him out to eat at Kinoki, which is close and good food, then Bill, Rita and I sat up talking till 1am, recognizing that we had to get up at 5.

Despite the early departure time, almost everyone was on time or earlier for meeting the buses. Bill´s hotel forgot to give him the wakeup call but he woke up in the nick of time anyway, running out without his passport. There was time for him to recover it (naturally) because two students who live alone had malfunctioning alarms. So we left a half hour late but it was still fine.

We had a nice breakfast stop at Los Tulipanes in Ocosingo and continued on to Palenque, arriving by noon. We stopped to check into Los Leones, relax, and get lunch, then left at 1:30 for the site.

Unfortunately, the site closed much earlier than previous, so we did not have as much time as planned. I whisked the class through the museum, showing especially the huge clay incensario stands (finding an element that had not yet been published but makes sense of the posts) and the limestone reliefs. I had spent the bus ride reading the new book by David Stuart on the reliefs of Str. 19 so I could explain them in detail in the museum.

We headed up to the site through the area of the cascades so that we could look at the residential complexes known as the Murcielagos Group and Group B, in the latter of which we saw where the tomb had been uncovered that contained the figurines displayed in the museum, and also the sweatbath. This sweatbath is particularly elaborate with its three vaulted niches. (See the group photo from the entrance to the Murcielagos).

Up at the site I skipped the North Group due to lack of time, and instead took the class through the Palace, beginning at the earlier level known as the Subterraneos and continuing up through the stairs to the upper level, ending on the north and west sides. As usual, there was a beautiful breeze blowing through House C. We also looked at the so-called toilet and Tina gave us a demonstration!

We couldn´t climb the Inscriptions Pyramid so instead contented ourselves with an entry into Structure XIII and the so-called Tomb of the Red Queen. It appears that a residential room, one in a large residential block, had been used for the tomb and then the whole residence buried by an outer structure. One end of the buried residential block is shown in the phot.

Next we went to the Cross Group, climbing only the Sun and Cross pyramids, and reviewed some of the basic ideas covered on the group in lecture. The class was then left with 40 minutes to wander on their own. Bill and I explored the area of Structures 17-21, and then the residential complexes adjoining the Cross Group on the west and north, known as Structures XV and XVI. The Structure XV group is where excavators found the Incensario stands with human faces. Structure XVI is particularly interesting for its three levels, all connected by multiple interior stairways. At this complex, we heard howler monkeys not far away.

We had some time left so we climbed structure XII to look at the plaster motif of a rabbit skull, then sat and enjoyed the view as we watched students gathering to leave the site.

The ride back to the hotel was uneventful, and after a rest the drivers took us into town for dinner, internet, and shopping. I needed to get rubber bands to keep all of our entrance stubs organized, and a bunch of our group eating together suggested that when I go to the stationary, I should ask for "ligas." They knew it had become slang for pick-ups. I didn't know that. So I asked for ligas, but luckily the attendant didn't flinch and just brought out the rubber band package. Last laugh is on them.

Tuesday, March 13

In class today we discussed the Zapatista mural painting movement, including some of its sources, its leading innovators, and the core repertoire of motifs. We looked at the ideology they express both for themselves and the outside world, the support of which is necessary for their continued existence. For once I saved time for discussion, and organized it according to questions that Tina supplied.

The afternoon was spent once again trying to send money to a Guatemalan bank, once I had made another hotel reservation. I ended up calling the central office of the bank, and they sent me an instruction sheet which the tellers here could not understand. They were perfectly happy to take my money, mind you, but without really having confidence that it would get to its proper destination. So once again I am resorting to having my son try to do it from Vancouver. A ver si sale.

Meanwhile, Rita was having her final exam in the Spanish 302 class. I guess they enjoyed it because they all smiled for the final photo. But tonight the blog won't load any photos so I'll try when we return.

This evening was spent packing and waiting for bill, who finally arrived at 10pm. James has taken him to eat and shortly we will finish our trip planning, finish packing, and then lie awake looking at our alarm clocks in case we should fail to get up on time!

Monday, March 12

In class this morning we discussed the Maya stela cult and I managed to drown students in a flood of iconography. Hey, it's what they pay me for!

The rest of the day was spent in preparation for the two trips, calling hotels in Mexico to confirm our fieldtrip reservations, and calling Guatemala to work on hotel reservations for that trip. The latter issue will likely take up all tomorrow afternoon as well. Sigh.

So naturally I didn't take any pictures today. Instead, here's an earlier one from Zinacantan. Enjoy!

Sunday, March 11

More of the same today. Lots of work. Rita went to her Buddhist lecture and meditation session, which she loves. Then we walked to Chedraui to buy two big coolers for the trip. One for each sprinter. This should please Bill.
Tonight we were invited to dinner by Alica's mom Sarah and her roommates, Alica, Peggy, and James. The young'uns did most of the cooking and it was great. Rita also brought some of her mussaka which was also great.

Then we watched the movie Chac, which I remembered from the 70s as being very beautiful except for the hoky rituals and over-romanticized ending. It's about a Maya community seeking the help of a priest with ancient knowledge to bring the rain. It was jarring to me to see highland Chiapas Maya talking of Yucatec deities and performing a Yucatec ceremony because it was recorded by anthropologists in the mid 20th century. But otherwise it was even more beautiful than I remembered it. The star, playing the priest, was the father of our landlord, from the community of Tenejapa just east of her. I think he was chosen partly because he has the ideal Maya profile famous from the ancient carvings. And the camera kept focusing on his profile. But all the actors appear to have been Tzeltal from Tenejapa and they spoke Tzeltal. That is, except for when they encountered the Lacandons (naturally) in order to get the sacred water for the rain ceremony. Then the main actor's voice was dubbed in by someone speaking Lacandon/Yucatec as the Lacandones did.

Saturday, March 10

Rita and I spent most of the day madly getting work off our plates to prepare for the trip.
And that's it.
There will be more to say when we are actually on our fieldtrip, but then I probably wont be able to upload any pictures.
So, here are some you haven't seen.
On top is a colonial period censer continuing pre-Hispanic motifs, photographed in the museum at Comitan.
In the middle is the gazebo at Chiapa de Corzo. Inside the dome lived a very friendly colony of bats.
On the bottom is the basketball court at San Andrés Larrainzar, the spot where the San Andrés accords were hashed out and finally signed on February 16, 1996.

Friday, March 9

In class today we looked at architectural backdrops for classic Maya ceremonies designed to renew time and the Maize. Then I spent a long time explaining some of the basic syntax of Maya hieroglyphic writing. Students found it interesting but overwhelming, even though I carefully colour-coded all the drawings of the text to show the different grammatical parts of the clauses!

After class, Peggy and I went to the human rights centre known best by its nickname of Fray Bart (freyba in Spanish) to ask them to send Bill a letter confirming that they are willing to receive any antibiotics he can bring and to distribute them to Indigenous communities. They seemed happy to do it.

Then it was shopping and work time, while Rita cooked for a pot luck supper at Marellas which I didn't plan to attend, so I could get some work done. The plan was also to show two movies, so James came over to pick up the data projector. It turns out that there was only time and energy for one movie, the Cuban film Fresas y Chocolate (Strawberries and Chocolate) which I had seen on TV several years ago, another reason to stay home and work. But when it was over, I took a break and joined some of the students for a drink at their apartment, which was great fun. I brought over the music sung by Susana Harp, Oaxacan, who sings in Spanish, Zapotec, and Mixtec. We had heard one of the same Zapotec songs sung at the Women's Day rally the night before.

Thursday, March 8: International Women's Day

Today started off with class, as usual. I had forgotten the extension cord, so I borrowed one from Instituto Jovel. There were no prongs on the thing, so they just stripped the two wires and stuck them into the wall socket. Seemed iffy to me, but it worked.

Much of the class was a continuation of an earlier presentation on Maya calendars and hieroglyphic writing. The material can be confusing but the class behaved like troopers. Then we went on to discusses some triads of ballplayer sculptures that include symbolic forms of calendric information to represent primordial transformation.

My afternoon was one of total frustration. I needed to send money to the hotel in Santiago Atitlan for our Semana Santa (Easter Week) trip to see the Maya celebrations there. After several calls I got the bank account number, the bank branch and its number and address. Everything seemed fine at my bank except that the bank branch at Santiago Atitlan didn't exist in their records. The fact that the branch is listed on the internet with its address and phone number, and that I had spoken to a bank official to get their international code or "swift," meant nothing. If its not in their data base they can't send the money. So I went to another bank, waiting an hour, paying over 80 dollars for the transfer, only to find that they dont have it in their database either. So I went to three more banks. It took four hours of waiting in line and getting steemed at tellers, but after trying every single bank company in San Cristobal, I gave up. I emailed my son hoping he could send it from Vancouver. He immediately went to the bank and gave them the information, but he wasn't very positive thatit was going to work. We'll have to wait and see.

Then after a quick trip to the market and wolfing down supper, it was also time to go to the women's day rally. I stopped by the tour office to make some final arrangements for the big fieldtrip that starts next Wednesday, and then to the rally. There were disturbingly few people there. LASOMers made up much of the crowd. Many other foreigners, and many Maya, especially Zinacantecos. We noticed some women wearing the Chenalho traje and suspected they were Abejas from Acteal. Some of the speeches were very effective, as well as scary, particularly the report on paramilitary violence against Zapatista comunities in the Selva Lacandona that have gone along with death threats to members of CIEPAC, a leftist NGO. A Zapotec woman also spoke about Appo and Zapotec activism in Oaxaca. She sang a Zapotec song which was familiar to me from a disk lent to me by graduate student Joshua Schwab. I wish I had the text on this computer to upload, but that material is only in Vancouver. Above are a photo of the ralley and a detail of a pinted cloth displayed next to the stage.