Today in class we looked at the scenes on late classic Maya ceramics on which humans are shown interacting. We began with activities associated specifically with men or women, and then talked about audience scenes. Several students had a chance to "read" ceramic rollout images (from the Kerr archive on www.famsi.org).
I spent much of the afternoon marking fieldtrip assignments. But when I went out to xerox Allen Christenson's advice for the Guatemala trip, I got to hear three musicians from Chamula playing near the Arco at the end of the touristic andador. As usual, the "combo" included violin, harp and guitar, with the harpist providing the vocals. The style involves multiple repetitions of a single melodic phrase. When I got home, I played the disk of sacred music from the Chiapas Highlands that I had bought from the Museum of Maya Medicine and found it was very much the same music.
The bad news at present is that Sophia's apartment was robbed last night, while she was in it and sleeping. Gone are her computer and credit cards. It was a wakeup call for me and perhaps others who have slid into thinking that San Cristobal is such a safe place. During the day, there are guards with guns stationed all over the historic centre, protecting the businesses. But at night when the businesses are closed, the streets seem unpatrolled.
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