Dzibilchaltun

June 15th, 2009

Blanca made a wonderful omelet this morning with Mexican cheese, onions, and bacon. After two weeks it is routine for her to re-fill my water bottle, wrap a fresh apple in a plastic bag, and place a banana next to my plate for breakfast. At least I have not had the unfortunate occurrence of choosing between fruit or juice these last few days.

Class was unusually routine, much of our time spent reading to improve our pronunciation. There is a running joke that I do not know the verb for, to read, since it seems as if every time Ismael goes on a long tangent in Spanish he returns to Maya by asking me to read the next portion of text, of which I usually have no idea what he is saying since I successfully zoned out after ten minutes of Spanish. At least the next time I get asked anything I will simply assume that I am supposed to read. “Tin xokik xJeder…earth to xJeder.” Oh well.

After class Allison and I went in search of the Indemaya organization to purchase some Maya materials that we have used in class, including a very cute Memory game in Maya. Upon our arrival they graciously presented us with the game for free, and showed us a selection of other materials, including a book of poems and a compilation of Maya songs, which we both purchased.
When I returned home to my host’s on Calle 19 I was pleasantly surprised with a clean set of blue floral sheets on the bed and a blue bath towel hanging over my hammock.

Lunch was a very interesting Mexican rice dish with thick slices of hot dog mixed. I must have been craving something familiar though since it was actually a nice change from the refried beans, black bean soup, tortillas, and rice. After lunch Blanca sat a dish of Napoleon ice cream before me, which was still a pleasant surprise even if I don’t enjoy strawberry ice cream. My nighttime routine has become a bit uncomfortable as I lay in bed each night until midnight before waking again at two or three o’clock for several hours. All in all I suppose that I get approximately four hours of sleep each night. Allison and Mark seem to be afflicted with the same strange sleeping habits and so we have decided to initiate an insomnia club.

June 16th, 2009

Once again Blanca prepared a wonderful plate of French toast with syrup in addition to my daily banana and cold glass of pineapple juice. As I was eating breakfast she was scurrying around the kitchen and seemed to be preparing quite a feast. Before long I realized the chicken and onion sandwich, slices of pineapple, wrapped apple, second banana, can of peach juice, and pack of chocolate chip cookies were my lunch for the day since I would not be returning after class. It was so cute and thoughtful the way she wrapped each item individually and presented it to me at the door in a plastic bag tied in a bow. I was so thrilled with the can of peach juice since it has become one of my favorites. To my misfortunate Connie discovered my bulging bag and packed lunch and so soon we were backtracking to her house for her to grab a lunch, bathing suit, and towel for Dzibilchaltun.

The only event of note during class was the return of our exams which were void of a marked grade and so I am content just to know what mistakes I made instead of stressing over a certain letter. Sadly, many of my errors were quite careless, missing a specific tense or pronoun. It was also strange to be missing both Christa and Mark during class, though Mark had sent me a message earlier that morning that he was feeling under the weather. After class Allison, Connie, Chris, and I ventured to Dzibilchaltun. Even though I received an excellent tour of Dzibilchaltun last year with Ruben, one of Dr. Miller’s friends and also the archaeologist at the site, I decided to keep each day as full as possible and to do that by integrating myself into the group as much as possible as opposed to completely alone.

Our drive to the site was wrought with Chris complaining incessantly about paying fifteen pesos for the direct bus versus five pesos for the bus that drops its passengers off seven kilometers from the site. Yikes!! As we walked up the path leading to the main sacbe Chris exclaimed, “That’s a really interesting stone cactus,” followed by Allison saying, “Chris, it’s not stone, it’s real.” Of course we all nearly laughed so hard that we were rolling on the ground. As we climbed the first temple, the sky suddenly darkened and as if in slow motion we could see the rain blanketing the site in the distance before it reached us as well at the very top of the platform. Since I was familiar with the site I led my companions into a lower chamber where we took refuge from the downpour while sharing amusing stories. Soon the cramped quarters accumulated several inches of water on the ground as it came pouring in from above and we were forced to move as high as we could in the semi-darkness. Connie pressed again the walls while clutching her found wooden walking stick, emerging to discover that her white blouse was covered in green and brown sludgy earth.

We walked around the now wet site, Connie asking for a picture of Allison, Chris and I standing in front of a large puddle. Again, Chris was there for comic relief as he stood feet away from Allison and I and loudly exclaimed, “I don’t do together.” I don’t think one attempt at that picture actually had all three of us not laughing.

Since we were already soaked we decided it was worth swimming in the cenote and so as we approached the small sinkhole Connie lectured us on swimming in water with bacteria and complaining that it appeared slimy and rancid. “We can’t really swim in that?” she asked, as Allison and I plunged right in. It was quite funny after several minutes when Allison let out a yelp, realizing that cenotes do indeed have fish. We were the last tourists to leave the site, and Connie walked so slowly taking pictures of cows, trees, clouds, and flowers, while the poor overseer stood at the gate to lock it behind us.

We waited ten minutes for the bus, only to have Connie complain that it seemed to be going in the wrong direction and was not the same bus we had arrived on. Of course not! I don’t think it occurred to her that there are multiple ways to return to Merida. All in all it was a very long day and I was pleased to return home, though the hour was late and after a quick shower I was ready for my nightly routine passing the hours before finally drifting off to sleep. I was very happy to routine to the site and learned that even though you have already done something the experience will always be different. Unfortunately, I am convinced that any time I go to a site it will definitely rain.