Uxmal

            Today is my brother’s sixteenth birthday; I spent it at the gorgeous establishment of Uxmal. It was another stunningly enormous site full of tourists, but I loved it nonetheless. Upon entering you’re met with the Temple of the Magician. It is a huge pyramid rebuilt a ton of times with a huge excavation hole drilled right in the middle of it. Now obviously the pyramid was not named for this hole, but I found it oddly appropriate. It made me think of a Houdini stunt where he could magically appear after being dropped blindfolded from the summit or something to that affect. Or maybe I just watched too much television as a child. Either way, the back side of this pyramid was carved with lots of Chaaks and witz flowers. Behind that resides the Nunnery Quandrangle, an example of the Puuc Mosaic style. Each side of the quad faced a cardinal point: the west and east structures represented the common middle-world, the north represented the heavens and the south represented the depths of the underworld, of Xibalba. On the east structure we saw our first example of the drum major headdress, poorly named in my opinion because I have never seen a drum major wear a headdress resembling what we saw today. Our guide, Hugo, was very upset at the Nunnery Quadrangle; it has been installed with a laser-light and sound show for tourism purposes. A true nationalist, Hugo saw the show as a disgrace to the beauty and prestige of Uxmal. I cannot say I disagree, but I can also see the country’s need for income and tourism is most definitely a huge contributor to that.

            I enjoyed Uxmal, there were again a ton of structures that I won’t bore you with the details of save the fact that many of them, if not all, had astrological connections that Hugo enlightened us all with. It’s pretty incredible the impact that the smallest details of a building can contribute to a deeper understanding of a culture. Really makes you wonder what anthropologists will say about our culture in 1500 years when the unearth Manhattan Island and Las Vegas. “These were people who obviously worshipped the square: look at the gridlock layout and strictly rectangular buildings they resided in. Perhaps these [casinos] were palaces for the elites and these [football stadiums] where they performed ritualistic ceremonies.”

In jest,

Dana