Reading Popol Vuh while exploring the world of the Mayas

Visiting the ruins of once great cities and sacred sites of ancient civilizations was one of the main reasons why I visited Mexico. For the first few weeks I was traveling through places where the Mayas built their sites in Yucatan, Guatemala, Tabasco, and Chiapas, and because of that I decided to buy a book that will help immerse me more deeply in this ancient world of the Mayas, that will perhaps help perceive me something more when I’m there, looking at the ruins. That it may stimulate my higher senses so to feel the remnants of ancient energy built up at those sites. What better book would that be than the text which is actually written by the Mayas themselves. The book is called Popol Vuh, also known as the Mayan Bible.

The story behind this text is that when the conquistadors came to Central America they were conquering inhabited areas, and in some the descendants of the Mayan race still lived. This text was written in Quinche, Guatemala, during those times of hardships (in 16th or 17th century), when invaders were suppressing the indigenous culture and religion, burning their ancient texts. Under these conditions, when descendants of the Mayas saw how their ancient way of life is about to be permanently lost and forgotten, they decided to write down the sacred narration that is today known as Popol Vuh. The story includes the creation of living beings, the adventure of twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque, the creation of humans, and the journey of races to attain to the First Dawn. What I find really neat is that the text is written in latin letters, because by then the descendants already learned that language (the main language of Europe at that time).

A day at the majestic Mayan site of Calakmul

At the entrance of the Calakmul biosphere reserve.

The night was cold. It was still dark when I woke up and headed out towards the bus station. The plan was to go to the entrance of Calakmul biosphere reserve by bus, and then from there to catch a colectivo van to Calakmul, or hitchhike. So I took an early morning second class bus to Palenque, which picked up passengers in Xpujil at around 6am (this was the only option, because the first class bus does not stop at such places, and the next second class bus went at 1pm). I asked the driver to tell me when we will be there so I can get off. By the way, it’s always good to mention to drivers where to drop you off twice – once at the start and second time remind them when close by, because if you only tell them at the start they may forget about it (happened to me in Puebla).

I arrived to the entrance of the Calakmul bioreserve at 6:50 am. There is a ramp gates that are lifted when each visitor buys a ticket to biosphere reserve. So it’s mandatory to buy both the ticket to that and to the archeological site (each costs around 60 pesos). From the entrance of Calakmul biosphere reserve to Calakmul archeological site one needs to drive for some 60 kilometers. There was already a car there buying tickets to biosphere reserve when I came.

Trip continues in Xpujil and preparation for Calakmul

The Mayan temple towers in Xpujil.

It was sunny morning of the late April this year when I took a bus from Campeche to Xpujil. The second class bus station is on Avenida Gobernadores – only some 15 minute walk from the hostel where I was staying. It took about five hours to get to Xpujil, but partly driving trough the villages along the Gulf of Mexico was quite nice. I listened to a very appropriate music – it was a compilation of songs of Keola Beamer, a Hawaiian musician. It was a very relaxing and comfortable trip.

I arrived to Xpujil in the early afternoon. I knew roughly where I was about to stay, although nothing was arranged. On my paper I had written down “Don Jorge Cabanas”. I heard it is a cheap and decent place, so decided to check it out. The taxi driver knew where that is, and didn’t even charge me anything, because, as he said, it’s only one kilometer from the bus station. But probably the real reason was because he hoped I will hire him the next day to drive me to Calakmul. The latter is the ruin of an ancient Mayan city, which in its golden days was one of the most important Mayan center, together with Tikal and Palenque.

Great surprise at the Mayan site of Edzna

Main plaza in the ancient city of Edzna.

The Mayan ruins of Edzna was the primary reason why I’ve came to Campeche. The plan was to catch an early colectivo van and spend the day in Edzna. The colectivo vans were located in the street that goes parallel to Avenida Gobernadores, close to the Mercado. It took me a while to find it, but after asking a few people I managed to catch a colectivo van that dropped me off at the very entrance to the site of Edzna. It took about an hour to reach it.

It was still very hot in Mexico, so I’ve spend a while in the shade, preparing for the exploration. Only people that I’ve seen during my entire stay was a bus of school kids and a dozen or so more people later on. I was pretty much there by myself. First group of objects that I’ve seen consisted of several ruined temples and an acropolis. As I was approaching one of those ruins I’ve seen lots of iguanas starting to run away. There were so many of them that I felt a little uncomfortable – I’ve never seen them in such number before. As I climbed up the acropolis I was greatly surprised by the amazing view of what’s behind it – the main plaza with the pyramid temple, and behind it on the higher platform was an amazingly intricate complex of a palace with temples.

Two days in Campeche, Yucatan

Colorfull houses with high sidewalks in the city center of Campeche.

I woke up to a sunny morning in Merida, Mexico. Today I continue my trip across Yucatan, by taking a bus to Campeche, in the state of Campeche. It was a short two hour bus ride with the second class bus. From the bus station I took a taxi to a hostel where I was staying, Viatger Inn. It is located in a great location in the historical center of Campeche. The hostel itself is new and modern, and a bit too posh for my liking, but it is a good place to stay in Campeche. Soon after arriving I’ve met one of my dormitory mates – an English guy with a very unusual British name which sounded like a name from 17th or 18th century. He was in his late 20’s, with a fair bit of traveling experience. He narrated to me some of his travel stories in South America and New Zealand. We talked about some interesting subjects, but on this first day he just told me that he is here for several days now, and he keeps prolonging his stay, because he likes Campeche that much. He showed me a video he recorded the previous night on Zocalo (main square), where there is light and sound show every evening. The light is projected upon a rectangular hacienda-looking building that covers one entire side of the Zocalo, in combination with sounds and music. He said highly of it, and it did look intriguing on the video. Unfortunately he didn’t clearly specify where the event is happening, so I asked the receptionist, however he directed me to another event.

Arriving to Mérida (Mexico) and a daytrip to Dzibilchaltun

Downtown Merida (Mexico)

“Mérida, Mérida! Mérida, Mérida!” were the many shouts coming from a man on the streets of Valladolid, trying to gather enough people for a transfer from Valladolid to Merida. I would join them, but I thought it could be uncomfortable trip if minivan is full and I am having my backpack with me. I decided to go with a bus, which takes about two hours.

It was a very warm and sunny weather. As we entered Mérida from the Eastern side, I noticed we are passing through some very poor neighborhoods. I didn’t expect this, and was wondering if the entire Merida would be like this. It wasn’t.

I arrived to ADO bus station at around 5.30 PM, and waited for my host in Merida to arrive. His name was Enrique – a person I’ve contacted on Couchsurfing. He picked me up at the station soon after I arrived, and then drove me around downtown Merida to get the feeling of the place, telling me about some of its history.

Gaining momentum in Valladolid Part II: Chichen Itza and cenote Samula

Downtown Valladolid.

After finding out where the colectivos for Chichen Itza is located, I went to that place fairly early. I was told that the first colectivo to that most popular Mayan ruin in Mexico goes at 7am (which turned out to be inaccurate information because it goes at 8). I intended to catch that early one so to come there and explore before the crowds starts entering. When I came there at 8am I saw two couples talking and waiting for the ride. At 8:30 we finally hit the road and were on our way to Chichen Itza. On our way there I conversed with one of the couples that were waiting. They were an easygoing young people from Ontario and the purpose for their travel was to spend a month on the Caribbean cost, taking care of someone’s house.They were very much looking forward to that break, and told me many things about their overall travel in the area.

After some 45 minutes we arrived to Chichen Itza. The admission fee for the site was around 250 pesos, which was the most expensive ticket for archeological site in Mexico (most of other sites were 70 pesos). Yet, it is worth paying that much to see what this most popular Mayan site has to offer. It was almost 10am, yet the many buses that would come from Cancun were not yet there, which was good. However, there were lots of sellers already at the site.

Daytrip to the Mayan ruins of Coba, Mexico

Ancient Mayan site of Coba

I felt much better after a day of just resting in the hostel. The worst pain from the sunburns lessened, but I still felt it a lot. Well, this time I prepared much better, by buying a hat and putting on the sunscreen. I was ready to catch the bus to Coba.

The bus station of Tulum is at the very heart of downtown Tulum, on its main street (Chetumal-Cancun). If you walk in the direction from East to West, it will be on the right side of the street. Coming up before the bus station is a colectivo station. In Mexico, beside bus transit, there is also combi and taxi colectivo, which is a way of traveling where you share ride in a taxi or combi with other passengers, and thus share the cost. This is the cheapest way of travel in Mexico, and I would have definitely chose it were my Spanish skills better at the time I was in Tulum, not only because it is cheap but also because you really get a deeper insight about Mexicans when traveling with them in such a way. At that time I was still feeling unsecure so I went with the bus option (yet, already the next day I started using colectivos way of travel). To use Mexican transit system fully and smoothly you need to speak basic Spanish. This is actually a topic that deserves its own blog entry, so I will write more about it later on.

From Vancouver to Cancun, the Mexican Adventure Starts in Tulum

Outskirt of downtown Tulum

I barely got any sleep on the night flight from Vancouver to Toronto. It was early morning when we arrived, and I found myself a nice spot at the Toronto airport where I waited for the plane to Cancun. But before that I went outside to get some fresh air. It was nice and sunny April day, and I was surprised how warm it is. I expected it would be much cooler than in Vancouver. As I waited for the 10am flight to Cancun, I was learning Spanish from a notebook in which I wrote down all the necessary lectures needed for knowing how to get by in Mexico, and even more than that. A family from Venezuela sat next to me and I listened when they spoke Spanish to one another, to see if I will understand any. Well, at that point my Spanish was still not good, because I have only started properly learning it a week or so before that.

The flight went smoothly. I traveled with Air Canada Rouge airplane, which is the Air Canada branch that flies only to exotic destinations. The atmosphere was just like that – it felt like I’m traveling with a tour group to Hawai. As we were approaching Cancun, I look outside the window and saw the jungle of Yucatan as far as the eyes can see. Soon afterwards we landed and disembarked the plane, and as we did that the high temperature and humidity hit us strongly. There was a huge line at the customs, but I eventually got through it, grabbed my backpack and went to arrivals where I exchanged some money and bought a bus ticket to Playa del Carmen, which cost around 60 pesos.