Santo Tomas, Guatemala

 

Guatemala                                                                                                                        Friday, March 18

               Our first peek at this country revealed mountains and lush greenery: the mainland looked like most of the islands we’ve visited for the past…well, couple of months!  Luckily, we had scheduled a tour through the ship that would take us to our first Mayan ruins and thus, away from the water and into the culture of a new place for us.

Looking over largest known plaza in Mayan world from top of restored steps

               We boarded a nice airconditioned coach at half capacity due to Covid, so we followed two other coaches that held the other guests who had chosen this tour.  It was a 90-minute drive along the main highway going south-west from the pier. Although it was evident that Guatemala is still developing, we were each presented with a colorful and informative folded map which allowed us to orient ourselves while enjoying a written tutorial of sights we won’t be seeing on this trip.  Our tour director had a booming voice on the microphone and used the entire 90 minutes to teach, to tell stories, and to get us ready to see the Mayan statues (stelaes and zoomorphs) and to “read” some of the hieroglyphs.  It felt like being back in Egypt, preparing to gaze at the ancient symbols and pictures of the Pharaohs.

               Some quick facts:  the population is 8.5 million composed of 60% who are Mayan, 39% who are Mestizo, and about 1% are white, with 24 languages spoken.  Many NGOs have stepped in to offer a hand up, to preserve the biodiversity, and to keep the jungle alive.  Our tour guide’s house was built by Habitat For Humanity.  Positioned on more than one tectonic plate, Guatemala has three mountain ranges, about 27 volcanoes with three still active, many rubber tree plantations, seven coffee-producing areas, and extracts jade from the basalt.

               We were looking forward to our first visit to a Mayan ruins, the artistry dating from around 750 BC and documented to about 900 AD, and we were not disappointed.  Our guide had tweaked our curiosity by starting stories then stopping himself with, “Oh I need to wait with this until we are there.”  The heat and humidity hit us as we got off the bus—it was 89 degrees and humidity index had to equal it.  Felt like Iowa in August!    After the obligatory bus groups at a restroom (two other buses from our ship due to Covid), our guide kept our group together and started us through this info extravaganza.  There are many, many Mayan ruins in Mexico and connecting countries, and each has unique features; this was a city named Quirigua’ (keer eh WAH) and boasts one of the largest plazas in the Mayan World.  A plaza is a flattened area within the living areas where perhaps town festivities happened.

               First feasts for the eyes:  lots of tall, cylindrical sandstone formations pointing to the sky or squat sandstone mounds with cuneiform or hieroglyphs on all sides of their surface.  Not gathered together in a central area, these were spread out over a couple acres of mown grass and each was covered with its own open hut with wooden poles holding a protective grass roof overhead, guarding against further erosion from the rain but open to wind and at-arms-length viewing.  Our guide had a long bamboo pole with a long feather attached at the end which could gently sweep over parts of the stelae as he spoke.  A visiting archeologist presented a major “ah HA” moment recently when he proposed that the stelae on this site not only pointed toward the heavens, but actually formed the map of Orion’s Belt!!!  Tall formations are called stelae (STEL uh) and round, squat formations are called zoomorphs (ZOO oh morfs) because they are in the shape of—and have carved artistry showing—an animal of import.

Look for thatched roofs which cover stellas in stellar pattern

               Large mounds popped up in areas around the site, reminding me of supersized Effigy Mounds.  These are yet-to-be-excavated areas but have to be uncovered in stages so as to keep intact the stelae or zoomorphs underneath: the overgrown trees must first be taken away, the land needs to rest, the next layer is stripped, the land must rest, etc. etc. until the long ago sandstone can be safely revealed.

Largest Mayan Stella

               Hastening from meager shade to meager shade (and grateful beyond words for shade!), we listened to what scholars believe to be the stories of this long ago city.  Dating to the Early Classical Period, it is thought to have been established by Copan’  (ancient Honduras) to control the Motagua River trade route.  Huh.  Some things never change.  Images carved into the historical stone have been revealed as an exact calendar, once jade-bejeweled faces and costumes, blood-red embellishments and symbols that are not about violence but about blessings.  The tallest stelae depicts the God of the Corn (our guide mentioned the movie “Children of the Corn” and “we have a family from Iowa on this trip” as he pointed out the corn in husk, the dangling silks, and then he referred to the fable of the Great Fox Story which explains the origin of the white corn used for their tortillas.

               One of the zoomorphs initially looks like a tortoise, but upon close examination is a jaguar with spots.  Some of us climbed the tall steps up to the city and its large plaza, marveling at the surviving structure, picturing the inside of their homes, and getting a big picture overview of this UNESCO World Heritage Site that is carefully saved in the middle of a HUGE banana plantation.

               Our enthusiastic guide kept us entertained for most of the 90 minute ride back and even bribed us to ask questions by handing out woven bracelets and tiny woven packets as souvenirs of the colorful artistry from the island.

               Before re-boarding our ship, we wandered over to the harbor building which had lots of woven handicrafts, wooden articles and jade jewelry.  We were encouraged to bargain but it challenged our hearts to see these people who could really benefit from a small boost in their economy. 

               Back to air conditioning and our every-afternoon libation of a diet Coke.  Ahhhh.

Left side of picture is what it looks like before uncovering and restoration.  Right side is restored