Life as James knows it

The Maya name "Chichen Itza" means "At the mouth of the well of the Itza." This derives from chi', meaning "mouth" or "edge", and ch'en or ch'e'en, meaning "well." Itzá is the name of an ethnic-lineage group that gained political and economic dominance of the northern peninsula. Built by the Maya people of the Post Classic. The archaeological site is located in the municipality of Tinum, in the Mexican state of Yucatán. I cannot begin to attempt to convey my feelings in writing of the awe I feel while walking around inside the city.  It's a large city, and easy to see how this would have been a thriving metropolis during the classic/post-classic Mayan period.  Their understanding of mathematics and astrology was amazing, every structure manipulates the alignment of planets and stars to serve a purpose of calendar alignments .... perfectly!  Most likely the manipulation of astrology in this manner would have creat

A cenote (from Yucatec Maya dzonot or ts'onot) is a natural pit, or sinkhole resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater underneath. Especially associated with the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, cenotes were sometimes used by the ancient Maya for sacrificial offerings. Cuzama is located to the south of the State of Yucatan to 42 km from the city of Merida.  To access the cenotes of Cuzama, a small “truck” is boarded, which was once used to transport the plant of henequen to the machine house for processing.  The truck is like a small train carriage, which is pulled by a horse on rails. Chanusil (small insect) The access to water level is via a rustic wooden stair that descends about 20 meters among plants and trees, the water is blue turquoise and very clear.  The size of the initial entrance is quite small, and I initially thought how am I going to move around once inside. Once inside, the vault of the cenote is like a tunnel, and at the en

Mérida is the capital of the Mexican state of Yucatán, and largest city of the Yucatán Peninsula. The city, like much of the state, has heavy Mayan, French, British and to a lesser extent Dutch influences. Mérida has the highest percentage of indigenous persons of any large city in Mexico with approximately 60% of all inhabitants being of the Maya ethnicity. It was built on the site of the Maya city of T'hó, which was also called Ichkanzihóo or Ichcaanzihó ("City of Five Hills") in reference to its pyramids. T'ho had been a center of Mayan culture and activity for centuries: because of this, some consider Mérida the oldest continually-occupied city in the Americas. Carved Maya stones from ancient T'ho pyramids were widely used to build Spanish colonial buildings of downtown Mérida, for example, in the walls of the main cathedral. Traditional Cantinas can be found all around the city, accompanied with the old style swinging doors along with popular tra

A visit to a Zapatista Army of National Liberation village, a physical base is made up of mostly rural indigenous people ... bit of an eye opener.  Referred to as Zapatistas (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, EZLN), they're a revolutionary leftist group based in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico. The Zapatistas have been in a declared war "against the Mexican state", although this war has been primarily defensive, against military, paramilitary and corporate incursions into Chiapas. In recent years, it has been focused on a strategy of civil resistance. The ideology of the EZLN is reflective of libertarian socialism, paralleling both anarchist and libertarian Marxist thought in many respects, the EZLN has rejected and defied political classification, as that would be just becoming part of the greater issue.  They retainin distinctiveness due in part to the importance of indigenous Mayan beliefs. The EZLN aligns itself with the wider alter-globali

Located near the Usumacinta River in the Mexican state of Chiapas, Palenque was a Maya city state in southern Mexico that flourished in the 7th century. The Palenque ruins date back to 226 BC to around 799 AD. After its decline, it was absorbed into the jungle, the discovered city area covers up to 2.5 km², however only about 2% of the city has been excavated and restored and is now a famous archaeological site. Palenque is a medium-sized site, much smaller than such huge sites as Tikal, Chichen Itza, or Copán, but it contains some of the finest architecture, sculpture, roof comb and bas-relief carvings that the Mayas produced. Much of the history of Palenque has been reconstructed from reading the hieroglyphic inscriptions on the many monuments; historians now have a long sequence of the ruling dynasty of Palenque in the 5th century and extensive knowledge of the city-state's rivalry with other states such as Calakmul and Toniná. The most famous ruler of Palenque was Pacal the Gre

Misol-Ha (meaning "waterfall or tense") is a waterfall is located in the Ejido San Miguel, Municipality of Salto de Agua.  The waterfall is about 30 metres high, and is a typical example of the high tropical jungle of the Chiapas highlands. If it looks familiar, then you've probably (like me) seen it previously.  Hint: Remember the movie Predator?  This is the waterfall Arnie (or actually his stunt double) fall down.  The movie was made in the jungle in this area. The sound is  thundering, an astounding force of nature. Looking up, from under the waterfall ... Swimming in and under the waterfall is refreshing, and incredibly invigorating.  The falling force of the water is quite high, very intense.  The below pic may give some perspective of the size of the waterfall, as I'm in the lower cave area, which looks small in the full view (first picture above).

The Cataratas de Agua Azul (Spanish for "Blue-water Falls") are found in the Mexican state of Chipas. They are located in the Municipality of Tumbalá. This waterfall consists of many cataracts following one after another, the larger cataracts may be as high as 6 metres.  The water is as blue as it looks in the pictures, and has a high mineral content. Where it falls on rocks or fallen trees it encases them in a thick shell-like coating of limestone. Great place for a little swim and something to eat.  I had some of the local fish from the river, grill Mexican style by one of the eateries on the river edge.