Bacalar. Fort and Chetumal. Part IV.

While in Bacalar, we ate several meals at a loncheria named El Socio. The population of Bacalar is maybe 2,000 so there are quite a few taquerias but very few sit down restaurants. This restaurant was crowded the first day.  No wonder, the food was good, plentiful and very inexpensive.

Bacalar built a fort to protect itself from pirates who kept coming down into the lagoon and sacking the town. Here's a photo of a gun port looking out over the school (can you imagine going  to a school built on the shore?) and the lagoon.

The fort even had a moat with a drawbridge. It did curtail the pirates, but failed to protect itself from the Indians during the Caste War who attacked from land, not sea.

Peggy looking out for pirates! Actually enjoying the view of the lagoon and the "seven shades of blue" that it's supposed to have. We only counted 5 shades. We want our money back!

Ed trying to ignite a cannon to celebrate our visit. Didn't work.

Here's the real operator of the cannon!

We spent 2 nights in Chetumal, the Quintana Roo state capitol and border city to Belice. Could have reduced it to one, as there is very little for tourists, other than the Mayan Museum below. On a walk around the central market we found this young man selling a strange looking fruit called rambutan. It's hairy looking fruit that you slice around the middle and you then can pop out the gelatinous middle. It's very sweet and good tasting. He gave us one to try and said they came from Chiapas. We bought 1/4 kilo. It has a nut/seed in the middle and it can be eaten or not. Ed saved a couple and he'll try to grow a tree.

The Mayan Museum was a treat. Although almost every display was a reproduction, it did have great explanations (in Spanish and English) for the exhibits.The best display was an interactive one about the Mayan numerical system.  We spent several  hours there.

The museum had great models of all the Yucatan's famous pyramids. We think this one is of Chitzen Itza.

A fresh rambutan!

The fruit inside.

Bacalar. Carolinas, the lagoon and cenote. Part III

Here's a view of the long pier that extends from Casita's shore into the lagoon. The lagoon is fed by many fresh water cenotes and extends for something like 50 miles. Huge! Much of the bottom is white sand making

it a brilliant blue

  

Peggy loved how calm the water was before sunrise.  Ed is taking her word on that!

Outside of Bacalar is Cenote Azul. A huge cenote that is 300 feet deep and several hundred yards across. Fresh water. Not terribly clear- you couldn't see more than 30 feet. But, refreshing to swim, as Peggy is here swimming toward the other side. She decided to stop short of the shore thinking about fresh water crocodiles! There was a platform a portion of the edge and a large restaurant. A cab driver took us and then came back later to pick us up.

This one's for Alex. Here's Gaga using a tree limb that has grown down to and in the water as a monkey bar! Much easier than the ones on the playground!

Peggy and a guide (Gonzalo Gonzalos- yep, his real name!) from the new Green Monkey Hostel next door to Casitas took a pre-dawn paddleboard trip along the lagoon to watch the sunrise. They also visited Black Cenote, which suddenly drops off  hundreds of feet.  Peggy sat down at the enormity of it.

Bacalar. Dzibanche. Part II

Ww visited another amazing Mayan site named Dzibanche. Both Dzibanche and Kohunlich, were very large cities. This is one of the main structures and the palapas cover the areas of excavation/reconstruction. Lots of work going on here as well. This city is complete with a temple, government buildings, upper class housing and even a convention center. We're talking a big site! The lower corner of this temple has been excavated to expose a tunnel that went to a burial chamber. You can also see three previous pyramida underneath. Mayans build over exisiting pyramids. One underneath had rounded corners and the one on top had angled corners; different designs at different times.

Here are workers cleaning a fresco. Some paint still visible. They use several different methods, including brushing with toothbrushes and a cleaning paste.

A security guard at the ruins took us back to where current excavation was taking place. Here you can see a fresco with the original plaster and red paint. Dzibanche, like Kohunlich, was painted entirely in red. The fresco is a continuation from the previous pyramid.

Original fresco with figures and original red paint. Intricate glyphs.

We didn't climb this although Ed really wanted to so that he could address his imaginary people!

A recently excavated area that contained living quarters. Probably for visiting athletes who played at the ball court or visiting dignitaries.

Here's Peggy taking a brief nap on one of the beds. People do seem to think that beds are too firm in Mexico.

This is the lower part of a fresco just excavated the week before we came. The bottom is perfect; original plaster and paint. The top was destroyed when there was a collapse of the higher part of the building. The rubble covered the bottom, protecting from weather and looters.

We were greeted by howler monkeys and spider monkeys. They were not happy when we arrived. The howlers let out huge roars; like a lion or tiger. Pretty scary. They scattered and went into the jungle. We were the last people to leave along with the workers. The monkeys returned and seemed glad to have us gone so that they could reclaim their city.

As we returned to Bacalar, Candalaria talked about his home and garden. He invited us for some fresh coconut milk. After arriving there and introducing us to his family, he put a homemade ladder to a coconut tree, climbed it, and whacked down fresh nuts with his machete. He washed them and then chopped off the tops, leaving a small hole for a straw. The milk was good and refreshing.

Here's Peggy drinking her drink and thinking about perhaps some vodka?

Among Candalaria's plants are pineapples. It's the season for them now. Many stands along the road selling them. Here are a couple of his plants. One is forming the fruit from the flowers. It takes 2 years before a plant produces fruit. We planted some at our house, but they never produced fruit. Could it be we don't know what we're doing?

Bacalar, the perfect antidote to Cozumel Carnaval! Kohunlich.Part 1

Each year we dread Carnaval time in Cozumel.  Bah Humbug we say to the noise, the imposed merriment, the noise, the competition for the loudest float, the recording that begins at 9:00 PM each night screaming about the circus that is in town, the noise, the loud music until dawn, and the noise. This year we were bent on getting out of Dodge and we did it.  

Bacalar is a sweet little town about 4 hours away.  We loved the quiet, the friendly people, the toned down family oriented festivities at the pretty town square, the quiet, the beautiful lagoon with its crystal clear water and the quiet.  We stayed at Casitas Carolina, a quiet place with 8 funky guest rooms and an eclectic group of fellow travellers.

After a restful night there, we asked long term employee Modesto, if he knew a guide to take us to Kohunlich and Dzibanche, a few lonely Mayan ruins. Peggy had tried to arrange a tour online with no success.  If she had only known about Modesto!  He recommended Reggie. After talking with him for a few short minutes, we knew he was our man and taxi #36, driven by Candalaria was our deluxe chariot!

 After a lively hour and a half ride to Kohunlich, we climbed to the top of the ruler's pyramid overlooking the main plaza and Ed "spoke" to his people. Then Reggie said that one of the king's duties was to be sacrificed. Ed offered magnanimously to substitute Reggie for him.

Here is the king and his stand-in addressing the multitude!  This platform is so tall that we couldn't get a picture of Candelaria who was bowing down in the grass.

A good deal of  painstaking excavation and restoration work was going on. These guys are making stucco: mixing various types of sandy soil and letting it dry in the sun.

A wonderful feature at Kohunlich is the masks on the great pyramid. The palapa is there to protect the masks as well as to shade the workers and visitors. Everything is this city was painted red. Some frescoes still had evidence of the paint. These boys do not. Extremely intricate carvings.And we're not sure why they are wearing scuba masks on their foreheads!

Peggy and Reggie are discussing something of great importance, which of course she has forgotten, in front of a la ceiba tree. These trees have special meaning to the Mayans as connections from the sky to the earth to the underworld.

Archaeologist Victor Segovia who "discovered" Kohunlich in the 1920's dug up this tree and planted it upside down to see if it would grow. Sure enough, the roots sprouted leaves and the trunk grew new roots.

This photo needs to be turned 90 degrees and we don't know how to do it. So turn your computer to the right see the horizontal line of thin rock chips. This line indicates that the structure below is all original and the rock work above it is reconstructed. These lines are all over the structures at Kohunlich.