AKUMAL, Q. ROO, MEXICO – 2005

On some of my trips to Q. Roo and Yucatan, I have sought out Mayan experts who have a different kind of knowledge than my archaeologist friends.  “Bush” was a scholar on the subject.  His book case was stuffed with all manner of Mayan literature.  He was friends with Ed. Barnhart and some of the guys down in Palenque.  I learned of the Panchan Camp Ground in Palenque from Busy.  Bush had a substantial beard to go along with his substantial frame.  He was gracious with his time when I would visit his home to discuss this or that about things Mayan.

Bush gave me the name of another Mayan expert in Akumal whose name is Helario.  That is his Mexican name.  He is actually an American.  Helario married a Mayan girl and lived in their village for 13 years about an hour and a half west of Akumal and the Caribbean Ocean.  He speaks perfect Yucatec Mayan – one of 28 languages – not dialects – in the Mayan world of today.

He is one of the most unusual people I have ever met.  He has an almost stern, no bullshit nature.  I’m not sure I’ve seen him smile in the two times I hired him to be my guide to the interior.  And, he is the Olympic gold winner of those with ADD.  That is not meant to be a criticism.  It is just a fact.  It is impossible to keep him on any one subject for more than 5 minutes.  Maybe he just gets bored.  Or, maybe he feels there is something else to discuss of consequence.  He is a font of information.  One just has to put the pieces of the mosaic together when it sinks in the next day.

Hilario is a master diver.  He dives “cenotes” (alone) to a depth of 100’-150’, turns off the light and does sensory deprivation.  He says it brings him great clarity.  What’s interesting about this is that the Mayan king would go up to the top of the pyramid.  There is a very small space – maybe 5’ x 5’ – with an opening.  The king would then close the opening, take hallucinogens and commune with the gods (Chac – the rain god; Quetzalcoatl – the “feathered serpent”.  He would also fast.  After about 3 days, he would come out to pronounce his visions to his people.  He may have expressed some ethereal vision or it might have been about declaring war on another Mayan city or the need for another building

On one of our trips, we stopped at a local roadside shop owned by his friend, Senior Alfredo.  His specialty is re-creating almost perfect replicas of Mayan antiquities – plates, vases, bowls and jewelry.  I fell in love with a strand of jadeite “balls” and a Mayan king’s face.  He would not sell me any of them.  I guess he was attached to them, emotionally.  That’s the first time I’ve ever met a Mexican merchant who wouldn’t sell you their wares.  I got lucky, though.  His son – who had a bad leg from birth – had only one of these necklaces.  I bought it for around $125.  It’s heavy so I don’t ever were it so much the pity.

The Maya are extremely peaceful, quiet and non-demonstrative people.  I have always felt that their “look” seems to have a pinch of Mongolians which is a common concept among scientists.  I listened to Helario speak to a Mayan friend of his in Yucatec.  I have never heard a language that sounds anything close to it.  Nor can I divine pieces of Spanish laced in with this speech.  It almost has a melodic tone but not musical.

We went to visit the village where Helario lived with his then Mayan wife to meet some of his friends.  They lived in an extremely modest Mayan home.  The man was an expert hammock maker.  Yucatan hammocks are famously regarded, extremely colorful and very, very comfortable unlike those big ropes like hammocks.  He was making one while we were standing there.  The man’s wife was washing her mother’s hair in a stone bowl.  (Don’t see much of that in Westlake!)  Later, the two women started washing corn shells.  Large garlic “wreaths” hung high up in their conical roof home.  Their cooking area was on the floor, inside.  Hammocks hung in the “hut”.  Mayans sleep in hammocks not beds, which gives their homes a very airy feel.  I can’t help but wonder what I look like to these Maya.  Gringo!

Then, we took a side trip to see the “Cross of the Milky Way” also known as the “Cross to the Center of the Earth”.  It is situated in a church was made of stucco and very clean architectural lines i.e. not ancient.  When the Jesuits came with the Conquistadors to conquer the Maya, steal their gold and impose their religion on this foreign culture, a blend of Catholicism and Mayan traditions was born. This church seemed to possibly be a place for this “religion”.  I’ve never seen a service so I am guessing on some of this.

In the church, Helario lead me to the front, near the altar.  To my right was this extremely, stubby, stone cross that couldn’t have been more than 4’ high.  A typical Mayan “huipil blouse for the women adorned the cross which looked like a mannequin of sorts with two arms.  These dresses are beautifully woven with many colors of thread.  This is the choice of attire for Mayan women.

http://www.mayanculture.com/clothing.html

Helario explained why this cross is called “Cross to the Center of the Earth”.  It seems in their zeal and haste to insinuate the Spanish culture and religion on the Mayans, they took to tearing down all churches or places of religious practice.  (To be honest, I am fuzzy on this.  I don’t know why the Spaniards would tear down churches even if the Maya were blending the two worlds.  This story may have been in a different era in what is called the “Caste Wars” which was visited upon the Maya by Mexicans and not Spaniards.  The Mexicans regarded the Maya as something similar to how Americans of the South regarded Africans).

 In any case, when “they” got to this particular church, they could not break, move or tear down this cross no matter what they used to accomplish that end.  And so it stands today.  This may be the reason this church has a more contemporary style which could be found anywhere in Texas.

We said goodbye and made to return to Akumal.  Helario and I were talking about a mish mash of Mayan subjects.  I was “twenty questions” and he was “fifty answers” to questions from the Mayan gods. Out of the blue, he said this: 

“The Mayans painted their music and played their paintings”.

There are very few, existing pictures of Mayan life in existence today.  The vast majority were painted on plaster which fades and deteriorates over time even if located on the interior of a building.  I have seen one example that was in pretty good condition.

There are also four invaluable “codexes” (also known as “codices”) that survived the Jesuits version of the German “Kristallnacht” resulted in the burning of Mayans books to erase their history.  Father Landau was part of that heinous act.  These codexes are the only Mayan “books”, colorfully painted, that contain a good deal more information on Mayan life than all the glyphs and stellae that are part of the various ancients sites – most in Mexico, Copan in Honduras, Tikal in Guatemala and some less significant sites in Costa Rica and El Salvador.  One of the codexes is in Mexico City.  Another is in Paris.  A third is in Dresden, Germany.  And the fourth is in Madrid.  There is an exact replica in Guatemala City.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_codices

I have never been able to study these paintings to make any intelligent comment on what they depict other than war, beheadings and more interestingly, celestial symbols sometimes on the perimeter or a “sky band”.  Thus, I have never seen enough to have any idea what Helario meant by that quote above.

It is one of the most profound statements I have ever heard uttered or written or sung or sculptured or painted in the way we think of paintings.  At the time of this writing, I am not going to yield to the rhapsodic with my interpretation or guesses as to what it means.  It stands on its own.  Let your imagination run wild with possibilities of its meaning – a part of the towering Mayan culture.