Visited Merida recently on account of a very good friend's wedding. The affair was splendid, with wonderful new acquantainces made. Thereafter decided to drive from Merida to Chiapas to visit my parents in lieu of taking a plane (which would have connected me via Mexico city - quite circuituous) or a bus; none of which would have allowed me to actually see a part of the country of which i was completely ignorant. Hence decided to rent a car and drive and in particular headed to the Ruta Puuc to abate my ignorance.
Ruta Puuc is a series of Mayan Archeological sites that commence with Uxmal, the largest of all, if coming from Merida. Puuc is the Mayan word for hill, and there are quite a few of them, despite the area being largely flat. The flatness of the terrain, allows for great views from some of the higher vantage points.
Tis easy or difficult to explain the sentiment that I felt upon visiting these monuments. They looked to me almost Asian, Angkor Wat comes to mind, the overgrown roots, the decay. Was it possible that Mexico after such long time, still had places like this? Where there is little to no care as to the past? as to the heritage of one of the truly original aspects of the country?
I travelled thru Uxmal, Kabah, Sayil, Xlapak, Labina, Loltun and Chacmultun. Gathering images, giving people lifts so that I could get some conversation, stopping by the side of the road to take long notes on ideas, observations. What is going on in my country? Why the state of the "now"?
Maybe it was summarized when a an older gentleman I met in Chacmultun. When I asked what he felt, when he passed by the archeological site on a daily basis (dislike the "ruins" nomenclature typically used), he mentioned that he did not think his ancestors, the Maya did them.
He did not know someone that smart to do such ruins. He mentioned the legends about giants building the temples in less than a week by just "willing" the stones to move. "How so?" I pressed further, "don't you feel any direct connection to this wonderful architecture? Don't you feel any of the people that build them, that spoke your language, that looked like you, could have anything to do with the the building of these magnificent structures? Could they not be you?". I got an absent look, "maybe", he said.
I leave you with some photographs of my trip. The "maybe" still resonates in my mind, the inconclusive "maybe" that I need to resolve internally.
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