January 10, 2012 - Day 3, Costa Maya

Today was our first day in port, Costa Maya.  On today’s agenda:  an excursion to Kohunalich Mayan ruins, scheduled to leave at 10:30 a.m.  There were other excursions to other ruins, but we chose the Kohunalich ruins thinking that the 2-hour drive into the interior might allow us to really see what the area was like. 

Our tour guide, Alejandro, was funny and knowledgeable about both the Costa Maya area and the Mayan culture.  I was amazed by some of the housing structures we passed along the road.  Many, many of the houses had thatched roofs made of palm fronds.  Some of the houses even had exterior walls  made of palm fronds.  With doors and windows open to catch the breezes, we could see straight into some of the houses.  I was surprised at the sparse furnishings.  Many of the houses had hammocks instead of beds, which Alejandro said the Mayans considered more comfortable and safer against “predators,” like snakes and lizards and such.  There were animals in the yards – goats, chickens, turkeys, cows.  We saw poinsettias, datura, bouganvilla, sunflowers, and other flowers I did not recognize.  We saw sugar cane, and coconut palms, and banana trees. 

We spent about 2 hours wandering around the ancient ruins (400-600 A.D.), which were disentangled from jungle growth in the 1960s.  Clearly, the structures had been burned by the Conquistadors, but traces of their former splendor remained in fragments of colorful paint on the walls and smooth-as-tile stucco on the floors.  Alejandro said that Mayan civilization had been divided into distinct classes, and that the ruling class – the king, the priests, and the architects, astronomers, mathematicians, and shamans - had lived in the stone structures, while the lower classes (tradesmen, hunters, farmers) had lived in palm-frond huts similar to those we had seen along the roadside.  Alejandro said that the only difference between today’s palm frond houses and those of 600 A.D. are the satellite dishes on the modern ones.

The stone structures were situated in squares around courtyards and plazas, grassy areas (now) which were once paved with stones.  From the top of one building, at sunset on April 12 of every year, a shaft of light would make its way across a courtyard and climb some stellae at a building on the opposite side of the courtyard.  The light would continue up the face of the building and shine through a small square window and hit an interior wall.  Alejandro was not sure why this was designed to occur on April 12 – that is, he was not sure of the significance of the date – but noted that at other ruins, similar phenomena occur on other dates (such as equinoxes and solstices), proving that the Mayans were masters of astronomy at a time when Europe was in the Dark Ages.

Near the end of the tour, we climbed a tall hill to a ceremonial temple, decorated with ancient carved masks made of terra cotta over stone.

From atop the temple steps, the view was amazing. We heard a strange call from among the trees. Alejandro said it was a toucan. When I asked him to call it over so I could take its picture, he looked a little surprised, then yelled,“Heeeeeere, tou-key, tou-key, tou-key.” It didn’t work. :-\

According to Alejandro, we should not believe the rumor that the Mayans simply “disappeared.” He said that the Mayans had simply assimilated into other cultures, but continued to exist. Various dialects of the Mayan language are still spoken here.

The bus delivered us back to the pier a little after 5 p.m.; since the ship sailed at 5:30, we were encouraged to “hoof it” to get back on board on time. But this morning, as we passed the tourist shops, Pennie had seen a tote bag that she wanted, and she wanted a shot glass from Costa Maya to add to her collection, and hadn’t had time to get them before we boarded the bus to begin the excursion. Thus, as the bus neared the drop-off point, Pennie eased her way to the front of the bus so that she could be among the first to get off. We figured that she should easily be able to run ahead and finish her shopping by the time our elderly, cane-wielding bus companions made it to the pier, and we were right; she fell into step alongside us, shopping bags in hand, as we passed by the shops.

Back on the ship, we were tired, hot, smelly, and hungry, so after a quick freshening-up, we went in search of food. We could not agree on what we wanted, and wound up sampling the buffet and then ordering a pizza delivered up to the top deck.

It’s been a great day.