Today I am writing from Puebla, Mexico. It is our 14th day in the country with the last day being on August 5th. I hope to upload posts more frequently when we arrive in Mexico City, but for now here's what we’ve been doing! During these past two weeks I have been full of wonder, amazement, and chilies.
There is no down time here in Mexico, we have been working very hard to document and enjoy the rich culture that surrounds us! Mexican history, cuisine and people are both complex and intriguing. From the possible encounter with a pure blooded Mayan in one state to practically only seeing Mestizos in the next, there are bags of chips toting hot sauce packets inside them, and funeral processions are seemingly celebrations – playing songs like La Vida es un Carnaval.
We have a full day ahead of us so I will try to make this short;
When we first arrived in the country we stayed in Mexico City for a couple days, resting and orienting ourselves. When we left Mexico City we flew to Campeche.
Campeche is a beautiful walled colonial town on the coast in the Yucatan Peninsula. Visiting the Fuerte de San Jose and the collection of Mayan artifacts there first we then headed to the ruins of Edzna containing a remarkably reconstructed ceremonial center. The feeling of being in such a place that was not connected to the European civilizations is wild and very eye opening. To finish off our stay in Campeche we spent a day in the town and plazas recording significant and normative corners around the city. Leaving Campeche we drove on to the jungle surrounded town on Palenque.
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| Campeche |
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| Edzna ruins |
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| Pit-stop on the way to Palenque |
Palenque, located in the state of Chiapas is a place where you check your room when you visit for snakes when you arrive and in the morning you make up to the sound of howling monkeys. Here we spent our time at the archeological site of Palenque. A Mayan necropolis with the ruling house was seen as semi-divine this site had several features not seen at other cities. Spending our days in the blazing sun on the site made for rewarding nights at Don Muchos with aerial dancers and salsa dancing. On the last day in Palenque we drove 3 hours and took a 40 minute boat ride to the remote site of Yaxchilan (which is on the Guatemalan border) becomes of its remoteness, it has miraculously been untouched compared to others, the Mayan of this region built an incredible series of pyramids and a winding tunnel complex at the entry to the site – very Indiana Jonesish. After saying our goodbyes in Palenque the road lead on to Tlacotalpan.
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| Ruins of Palenque |
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| Ruins of Palenque |
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| Boarding the boats |
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| Ruins of Yaxchilan |
Tlacotalpan is a charming town in the state of Veracruz on banks of the Papaloapan River, aside from being a UNESCO world heritage site since 1998 it has also been the subject of many Mexican music videos (unintentionally discovered, although quite enjoyed). Here we spent our time roaming the city, noting the historical fabric that achieved its UNESCO status, speaking with locals (who knew a surprising amount of English) and being serenaded by our La Bamaban Maestro, Carlos Setina. Veracruz is the state in which the La Bamba was first written. As the bus was being loaded, our ears were filled with music, Senor Setina wished us safe travels and we were on our way through the mountains on Highway 175 to Oaxaca.
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| Tlacotalpan at dusk |
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| Boat ride on our last night |
Oaxaca is the Capital of the state of Oaxaca, it is one of the largest towns we have stayed in. The indigenous people of this region literally removed the top of a mountain at Monte Alban, this created breathtaking views that many of us documented during our visit. The area is home to many Dominican Convents and the city is home to one of the largest of these convents, Santa Domingo. During our last night in town we had dinner at Los Danzantes, an exceptionally designed restaurant. On the way to Puebla we stopped by the anomalous San Pedro Y San Pablo Convento in Teposcolula.
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| Monte Alban |
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| San Pedro Y San Pablo Convento |
Today was our first day in Puebla, this city, like Oaxaca is the capital of the state it is in – Puebla. We spent the day at Cantona, a marvelously preserved example of an Olmec city which may have contained a population of 80,000 people (the size of Fayetteville)! With our site visit being done for the day, we’re off for a Saturday night in Puebla!
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| Ruins of Cantona |
-Bryan Murren
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Bryan is spending the 2018 summer term in Mexico with our U of A Faculty-Led: Latin America Urban Studio program.
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