The Mayan World

Hacienda Cuch-Balam

2010-08-01T19:43:00.000-07:00

Near Merida in Cuzama, Yucatan, I plan to photograph soon. They are raising organic vegetables, serving meals and the property is for sale. Check out the site at HACIENDA CUCH-BALAM

Blue Palapa

2008-06-15T17:29:00.000-07:00

Photo © Howard Dratch 2007.
I was playing with Gimp, a freeware image editor much like Photoshop and re-edited this shot of a palapa-like building I have always liked in the middle of Bacalar.

It was made when I was still using film cameras and was made with Nikon F3HP or FM3A.

Photography
Mexico
Travel
Bacalar

Jungle Nursery

2008-02-17T19:43:00.000-08:00

The tropical garden:

Photo © Howard Dratch, 2008.

Flowers
Gardens
Mexico
Photography
Laguna Bacalar

Mayan Boy

2008-02-17T15:47:00.000-08:00

Photo of Mayan boy at a local vivero/plant nursery in the jungle near Bacalar, Mexico.

Photo © Howard Dratch, 2008

Flowers
Gardens
Mayans
Mexico

Palenque Palace Steps

2007-06-23T21:02:00.000-07:00

Photo ©Beringer-Dratch

Photography
Mexico
Maya

The Mayan Arch

2007-05-03T20:27:00.000-07:00

The arch of the Mayan -- this one at Labna on the Ruta Puuc south of Uxmal which is south of the city of Mèrida.

They had one with which to build. Did they develop it in total isolation from Europe? It worked. The arch in architecture means so much.

Photography
Mexico
Maya

Ra, The Sun God

2007-04-10T18:05:00.000-07:00

Ra. One of 6 massive masks at Kohunlich, the ruins of a once beautiful Mayan city about 40 minutes from Chetumal or Bacalar, 3 hours south of Tulum.

Photo ©Beringer-Dratch.

Travel
Mayan Ruins
Mexico

Mexican Primary School

2007-03-19T23:59:00.000-07:00

Primary school graduation. The children practice far harder for this than for anything educational -- the goose-step march honoring the tri-colored flag with a Mexican eagle holding a writing serpent in his beak.

Culture

Evangelical Cults Make Inroads But Mexico Stays Catholic

2007-01-16T13:04:00.000-08:00

Bacalar, Mexico

Google Earth View of the Southern Frontier

2007-01-14T12:52:00.000-08:00

Bacalar, Quintana Roo, Mexico. This is the village and the 35 mile long fresh-water lagoon. It is a paradise albeit fraught with danger, violence and crime. Overall Google Earth picture is of the Yucatan Peninsula starting from the northern border of Belize and Ambergris Caye and going as far north as Merida and Cancun.

Eco-Tourism in Xpujil, Mexico

2007-01-06T12:11:00.000-08:00

The Ramada some time ago before the area had electric lines. They used black water tanks on the roof for hot water (great when the sun was out) but were not always as clean as possible which the prices did not reflect.

Travel
Eco-tourism

Shrine to the Virgin of Guadelupe

2006-12-18T18:37:00.000-08:00

It is nearly navidad which I might ignore anyway. Now I am in deep mourning and only the beauty of the folk art and the devotion of people who can be so fine and so violent intrigues me.

This shrine is, mind you, at the front of the CFE building in Bacalar. CFE is the Commision Federal de Electricidad, the state-owned, electric company with a worse relationship with the people than had the telephone company back before they had ever heard the word "monopoly". But the shrine is excellent!

Travel
Mexico
Folk Art

Tropical garden strikes on edge of jungle, by pool

2006-12-17T22:24:00.000-08:00

A Mayan Chile

2006-11-24T16:54:00.000-08:00

I used to call this chile, which is bought fresh and used in many dishes here in the Yucatan, a "banana chile" because it looked so and I didn't know the Spanish name. I still don't but I did learn the Mayan name in the local dialect of this still living language: Tak Ik.. Chiles generically are ik. Tak ik is often rather mild but can fool you. It goes in a rice dish tonight.

Uxmal: The House Of The Witch

2006-10-22T22:53:00.000-07:00

La Casa de la Bruja. The House of the Witch which is also called the house of the mother of the dwarf. The House of the Dwarf is the grandest pyramid now uncovered at Uxmal and there is a great, cosmological myth of the dwarf, laughed at by all, vanquishing the king to become king of Uxmal.

The shot was on Ilford's near-infrared with a dark red (not infrared) filter developed in FG7, toned and printed on Ilford paper in the ancient, chemical craft I once loved doing so much.

Photography
Travel

Dancing Cheek to Mayan Cheek

2006-09-24T12:59:00.000-07:00

It was the town square in Muna, a small, Mayan town just north of Uxmal and about an hour south of Merida.

The band played what it wanted to play, the people danced as they wanted to dance, depending on age and outlook. There were no tensions, just music and dancing on the basketball court of the square.

Photography
Mexico
Travel

Che

2006-08-30T11:40:00.000-07:00

Chetumal marketplace.

We watched The Lost City by Andy Garcia last night. Che and Fidel were on my mind -- even though not positively. The cult of Che, however, continues.

"Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who have found it."
Andre Gide

Politics

Bacalar Street

2006-08-05T11:56:00.000-07:00

Photography
Travel

Chicanna

2006-07-31T23:30:00.000-07:00

Art and Photography
Travel

"Folkloric" Dance at the Cenote Azul

2006-05-28T21:45:00.000-07:00

A traveling group of young people stopped for a time at the restaurant at the Cenote Azul here in Bacalar. This is one of the rather silly dances the Mayans have kept from their colonial days or embellished to entertain the tourists. It is entertaining and the young dancers were cute.

The Maya

The Village of Col. Santos

2006-05-24T22:02:00.001-07:00

A Huastecan village in the mountains southwest of Ciudad Valles in the state of San Luis Potosi. We loved this charming, out of the way mountain town, mostly indigenous near vertical orange groves and coffee plantations where the orange trees grew vertically from mountainsides almost as steep.

The ubiquitous marketplace shot is of serano chiles, onions and bananas -- Mexican staples. I am looking for the real name of the village -- a Huastecan name -- rather than the one the good general attached to it.

2006-05-18T15:09:00.000-07:00

Cultures mix. Here it is the Catholic and the Mayan. This is a saint in a local Catholic church.

An Image for a Day When I Forgot the Beauty of Here

2006-04-24T19:16:00.000-07:00

A traditional palapa in Bacalar except, perhaps for its frog guardians of cement perched on its barda, the wall around the property.

This traditional form of housing has changed little in centuries. Now the cement block houses come with windows and bathrooms and floors and TVs. Change comes. Some of it for the better; much not.

Oaxaca Craft

2006-03-23T20:14:00.000-08:00

This is a contemporary bowl from Oaxaca in black ceramic with incised markings in blue. We found it in Palenque, Chiapas.

Labna -- The Ruta Puuc

2006-03-17T22:34:00.000-08:00

The great, Mayan arch at Labnà -- a fascinating albeit small site just south of Uxmal which is, itself, an hour south of Merida, Yucatan.

These small site can be rich with sights and adventures.

El Palacio. Palenque, Chiapas

2006-01-28T13:22:00.000-08:00

This is the front entrance steps to El Palacio at Palenque, Chiapas.. The large bas-reliefs of Lord Pacal and his servant and others flank the openings into the façade.

Mayan Wall Paintings

2006-01-23T19:46:00.000-08:00

This time-faded painting remains on the ancient stucco on an interior wall of El Palacio at Palenque, Chiapas. It is faded enough not to have been conserved but somehow there is a flash of beauty in the mind' eye when seen in that timeless corridor in a room so long ago occupied.

Entrances Series from Chicannà

2006-01-20T19:07:00.000-08:00

This is part of a series of photos of entrances and exits: the interpenetration of space and movement in buildings. The temple structure with this ancient room is at Chicannà in the state of Campeche not far from us or from Kohunlich.

The Governor's Palace at Uxmal

2005-12-30T18:20:00.000-08:00

This great Mayan arch is in the Governor's Palace at Uxmal, the huge and fine site that was a great city-state about an hour south of Merida, Yucatan. It is the jewel of the Puuc Route (La Ruta Puuc).

Stevens and Catherwood camped in the Palace during their travels and made fine drawing of the pre-renovated site. The Uxmal area was then noted for bad water and diseases. Take some care even now. Take a look at the Stevens and Catherwood classic tale of their adventures in Incidents of Travel in the Yucatan.

The North Group

2005-12-26T17:30:00.000-08:00

The North Group at Palenque. Toward evening, heavy with humidity deep in the summer and the rainy season the jungle feels as if it is encroaching as it probably always has.

Further exporations and discoveries have been made in this group and in an area further out from the main plaza.

2005-12-24T19:56:00.000-08:00

Step design on the façade of the Templo de los Incripciònes (The Temple of the Inscriptions) at Palenque. Mayan reliance on stone which was originally covered with limestone based stucco and painted brightly.

Lord Pacal And His Slave

2005-12-24T19:45:00.000-08:00

This is an 8-10 foot high bas relief on the front façade of the Palacio at Palenque. There are a number of them and numerous craftsmen in and around Palenque making Tshirts and leather paintings of the tradional designs.

I most prefer buying from the indigenous people with stands in front of the site. It is cheaper and the money goes to those who need it most. Usually even a group of Lacandon Indians from the rainforest are there in their white shifts selling their arrows and miniature versions with a selection of different tips for different animals or fish.

Sayil: The Archaeologist's Puzzle

2005-12-23T22:41:00.000-08:00

An On-Going Blog

2005-12-23T21:21:00.001-08:00

This is the tower at the Palacio dominating the central area of the site. It still contains corridors (some with paintings), alcoves and courtyards to wander in and down. The experience is fascinating. There are areas with painted stucco remaining on the walls and ceilings. The tower is thought to be astronomical with a highly unique shape for this part of the world.

Since I do not have a webhost for large photo albums; I have used the photoblog to illustrate the Mayan sites we have visited. It is an on-going project so do bookmark the address.

Palenque: A World Heritage Site

2005-12-23T20:49:00.000-08:00

The Temple of the Cross in the North Group. The view astounding and one day I met an American archeologist examining (in great detail) the steps for a joint US/MX project that included ground mapping radar from overflying planes. The results were a number of important new discoveries that have caused the site's excellent museum to add to its exhibits.

Mayan Arch at Uxmal

2005-12-23T18:10:00.000-08:00

The Mayan arch was an architectural marvel for the New World. This one at Uxmal is a fine example. It was done when I still used my own chemical darkroom on Ilford's near infrared with a dark red filter probably on HP5 and FG7 and printed on Ilford paper.

The Mayan World Map

2005-12-23T17:54:00.000-08:00

Yucatan and mesoamerica in the great postclassic period.

Puuc Alligator God at Sayil

2005-12-23T17:49:00.000-08:00

This glimple of the gods appears on the cornice of the Palace at Sayil, a small, Mayan city just south of the great city of Uxmal in the state of Yucatan about an hour south of Merida. A man's head is seen in the god's great maw.

Ra The Sun God

2005-12-23T17:36:00.000-08:00

Ra, the Mayan sun god at Kohunlich's Templo de las Mascaras/ Temple of the Masks. Not far from us in Quintana Roo, Mexico. These are 8 foot tall, stone sculptures.