8
Jul
2009
Chichen Itza Prints
It’s been a couple of years since I visited Chichen Itza. At the time, I spent a week in Mérida, the capital of the Yucatan taking day trips out to see the sights, including possibly the most well known of the Maya ruins. Many Americans visiting Cancun will take a tour to see these ruins and learn about the Maya.
The topography and soil of the Yucatan causes the formation of cenotes, typically open pits where underground water is accessible. It’s not surprising that the ancient Maya built their cities around these cenotes, which they considered magical and gateways to the afterlife. Chichen Itza or, Chich’en Itzá in Maya, translates basically as ‘at the mouth of the well of the Itza.’ The Itza were a particiular group of the Maya. This is apparently not the first name of Chichen Itza but there’s a lack of consensus on what the first name was.
These cities, like our cities today, are not built at once, they are built, torn down, and built again, inhabited by successions of people with different tastes and beliefs over the centuries. Chichen Itza was at its peak from roughly 600 AD to 1,000 AD. It was sacked and the focus moved to Mayapan sometime between 1,000 and 1,200, but even by the time the Spanish arrived, there were still people living there and making pilgrimages to the centotes. So, when we look at these ruins, we’re looking at around 1,000 years of human habitation but primarily with the buildings of the last of its prosperous times.
Lost - Pyramids of Chichen Itza
This view is of El Castillo, the main pyramid at Chichen Itza. This temple to Kukulcan was built on top of an earlier temple to Chac Mool, the rain god. The earlier temple has been excavated and was once open to the public but no longer is. The later temple shows Toltec influences. In fact, Kukulcan is the Maya version of the Toltec god, Quetzalcoatl. There are stories of the arrival of a Toltec king around 987 who set up a new court at Chichen Itza. If true, it’s possible this explains the cultural influence. It’s hard to look at these ruins without thinking of the culture that flourished and vanished here so long ago. The craftsmanship is amazing.
Kukulcan Temple
This is a close up of the top of the pyramid. It has been restored by the Mexican Government in the 1920’s and 30’s and restoration activities continue. Still, we have not restored these temples to their original appearance. The buildings were not bare stone originally but were plastered and were likely painted colorfully. Even in their muted forms, these buildings still speak to us of a talented and creative people.
El Castillo Steps
These are the northern steps to El Castillo. There are 4 stairs, one on each side, each with 91 steps. If you were to add these four sets of stairs, they total 364. The final step, the floor level of the temple at the top makes a total of 365, the number of days in a year. There are many such astronomical connections to these temples. On the north side, there are two plumed serpents (Kukulcan) carved into both sides. On the spring and autumn equinox, the sun casts shadows that make the snakes appear to slither down the pyramid. I’m told the nightly light show recreates this view. Even today, this is an imposing edfice!
Chichen Itza is UNESCO World Heritage site.
There are more prints available from Chichen Itza and Mexico in my Mexico Prints
13
Jun
2009
Rome Prints
As I’ve continued my trek through the archives (bless the down time), I’ve posted some more prints from Rome. If you want to see them all, check out my Italy Photo Prints.
Some Highlights:
The Pantheon - Rome, Italy
Before I went to Rome, it seemed like I had seen a dozen documentaries on ancient Rome that included information on the Pantheon, the ancient temple to all the Roman gods. This is actually the second Pantheon, built in AD 126. It’s amazing to stand before a building built nearly 2 millennia ago, a building which is still in use today no less! It was given to the Pope in AD 609 and has since then remained a Roman Catholic church, Santa Maria dei Martiri. It’s the fact it was converted into a church for the new religion that enabled it’s survival. Most of the other buildings of antiquity were abandoned and fell into ruin. The interior retains it’s original mammoth concrete dome roof and the niches for the pagan gods (minus the original statues). In addition it has become an honored burial place for noted Italians such as the painter, Raphael.
Piazza della Rotonda - Rome, Italy
This print is a view of the Piazza directly in front of the Pantehon (as viewed from the Pantheon portico). Rome is a collection of these piazza’s – outdoor plazas where the Italians and the tourists vacationing there eat, drink, shop, and socialize. This particular piazza is arguably the most central one in the Centro Storico (or historic district). This is where ancient Rome lay and although the buildings today are not 2,000 years old like the Pantheon, they clearly exude that old european feel complete with mediteranean colors. The recent rains also highlight the sampietrini, the traditional basalt cobbles that have been used in Rome since the 16th century. The sampietrini mimic the ancient cobbles of Rome but are smaller than their predecessors.
Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano - Rome, Italy
Finally, a street level view of the center of the Roman Catholic church, the Holy See, Saint Peter’s Basilica. Although often called a cathedral, this is technically incorrect since Cathedrals are the seat of a Bishop, as the church of the Pope, this is a papal basilica. There has been a church on this site since the 4th century AD, but the present day church was built in the 16th and 17th centuries. At the time of this visit, it was between Christmas and the Epiphany, a festive period in Italy. You’ll note in the photo that the piazza is decorated for the season. The moody skies in this photo make this a strong black and white photo.
27
Jan
2009
A Few Days In Central America
Things have been busy the last few weeks, but I’ve also found some time here and there (like on a plane back from Chicago one late night) to edit some of my photos. And thus I have the chance to share some of the warmth and beauty of Central America with you all.
My first full day in Costa Rica found our GAP adventures group bound for Liberia. After a long bus ride and checking into the hotel, we made for the beach! Even coming from Atlanta, it was like someone turned the clock back to summer suddenly. While it doesn’t equal the gulf beaches, Playa Hermosa, which means beautiful beach, was as advertised.
Stand By Me - Playa Hermosa
We Three - Pacific Sunset
The next day, we enjoyed a boat ride through Palo Verde, that although near Liberia was quite a bumpy ride. The highlight of the boat ride for me was definitely the monkeys, although we saw a couple of crocs and a ton of birds as well. The monkeys were totally looking for handouts and were used to them despite the signs that predicatably said to not feed them. We were good travelers and didn’t offer them a morsel.
Really No Food? Panhandlers of Palo Verde
The afternoon was free to wander. I did a bit of ambling on my own and later with a couple of other photogs in the group, Chrysta Brown and Jennifer Young. Liberia had a hint of tourism, particularly on the main strip, but the town had plenty of bright colors and peeling paint and was really what I had hoped to find.
A Little Bit of Everything - Liberia
Iglesia Católica de Liberia
The next morning found us bound for Nicaragua. I honestly didn’t have a lot of expectations for Nicaragua. I had heard a lot of great stuff about Costa Rica and what I had heard about Nicaragua was encouraging. Our first stop was San Juan del Sur, an up and coming coastal destination and a perfect place to ring in the new year on the shores of the Pacific, literally on the beach. The first New Year we saw in together was the UK in honor of the guys from Scotland. UK new year happened to be very close to sunset.
San Juan Del Sur Sunset
If Liberia had been colorful, then San Juan Del Sur was positively a riot of color, mostly pastel. Between New Years Eve celebrations, a day spent on a sailboat and a night watching sea turtles hatch, I only had one morning to really explore SJDS, but it was a rewarding morning.
Pick A Color - Streets of San Juan Del Sur
Yellow Meets Blue - San Juan Del Sur
This is just a taste, if you want to see more of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, the full album is going up here.
6
Jan
2009
Back To Nowhere
Ah, about to head off to another anonymous island in Lake Nicaragua. After Ometepe, I think I´m over the middle of nowhere now, but maybe this stop will surprise me and be stellar. But after getting into Granada and getting to be in an actual city a few days, I am really not itching to go back. Apparently the next place, Selentiname (sp?) is pretty remote and unvisited and this is the last GAP tour going there, so maybe it´s pretty cool to get to go.
I spent a good chunk of my day exploring the small town of Altagracia on the isle of Ometepe on my own as reported part way in last time. I took a local bus out and got in some net time during the rain and wandering around the small town. I eventually found a local cemetery, which is on my list of cool things – seeing the different burial practices and all. Similar to Yucatan but not as colorful. There were horses and a bull grazing in this one. I didn´t realize about the bull until I was quite close but he seemed content to eat and really didn´t care.
Afterwards, I got a ¨quick¨ lunch in a little restaurant. It was the slowest meal yet – over an hour to get food after ordering. It really is slow time down here. I missed several buses back to the hotel while waiting on lunch. Finally got it and woofed it down and made a run for the central square to find a bus back. Lucky me, the bus that should have left 15 minutes earlier was still sitting in the square, jam packed with people and boarding more and more. I´ve been on a couple of ¨chicken buses¨in Mexico, but this was much more crowded. Lots of kids, so maybe school was out. Not sure, but crowded. Standing room didn´t even really exist. I was one step up from the exit on the stairs. Oh, and it was an old Bluebird school bus made in Fort Valley, Georgia! Surprise, right up the road from home!
The bus finally shoved off, and then stopped several more times to take on more passengers, never dropping any off. I have no idea how they kept squeezing them in. One mother got on the bus, handed her baby to the ticket collector, climbed over everybody and then had her baby passed back to her. It was really a neat experience ONCE!
After getting back, the group re-gathered and most of us went to a rodeo. I won´t go again. Seeing them get the bull riled up once was quite enough. Several of us left early and waited outside for the rest. I´ll try to be neutral and accept it as not my culture, but it was not fun.
Next morning, we made our way up to Granada! Granada is a lot like Merida, Mexico. And in January, it´s as hot as Merida was in May! Whoa! It´s a colonial spanish city like Merida, so that´s where a lot of the similarities come from. In two days, I´ve wandered a lot of the streets and gotten some (I hope) great photos of old spanish architecture, peeling paint, and all.
Yesterday was a tour of Massaya Volcano. There have been several chances but all involved hours and hours of hiking. This is a park and you can literally drive to the crater. Perfect! It was quite a site. No lava visible in the day, but you could see and smell sulfur smoke rising from the crater. Apparently no eruptions since 1772, but still active. We walked around there a bit and then visited a nearby town market and a pottery shop/school. There were some great bargains to be had, and now I just have to hope they can make it home in one piece! Think good thoughts!
After we got back, I walked to the edge of the old city to a giant old cemetery I´d seen on the way in. Fantastic! A half hour walk, but totally worth it as I got there in the best afternoon light. There´s really no way to describe it. I think it may be similar to New Orleans. Tons of mausoleums. Crosses and statuary dotting the cemetery´s skyline. I really could have spent a day there but it was late and I wanted to get back to the centro historico before dark. There were tons of guards in the ecemetery but there were also people sleeping amongst the graves! Not a full fledged city living in the cemetery like we saw in Egypt, but none the less they were there.
This morning, got up early and tried to re-pack everything. We have a charter cessna to ride from Managua to Selentiname island this afternoon. There are weight restrictions for both checked in bags and carry-on. I´m worried about hitting the weight limit on my carry-on since that´s all my camera stuff. So, I tried to re-distribute to the pack anything I wasn´t worried would break. I may have to pay for overage in the checked bag… oh well.
Anyway, that´s it from Granada. I could easily stay here a few more days. Nice city, nice people, but just a taste of it on this trip. Maybe back one day, maybe not. You never know.
13
Sep
2008
Purpose as a cautionary tale
I lazed about a bit this morning. Because my two nights here were unintentional and there was, in fact, only one spare bed tonight, I have to change rooms the first two mornings. If I hung out until 10am I could go ahead and change rooms rather than dumping my bag in storage. As I had nothing better planned, I went with that.
Once I was finally moving, I headed over to Earls Court, the exhibition center there has a Doctor Who Exhibit that was mad fun. Aside from trips to Forbidden planet (the huge cult tv and comic book shop here), I’ve never done anything really geeky here. I’m in shock to say that I’ve already visited Forbidden Planet this trip and got nothing for myself. Truly shocking. I just didn’t see anything worth the money and the dwindling space in my home. Anyway, the Doctor Who exihibit was mainly geared towards the new show, of course, but included some highlights of the past Doctors. It was truly cheesey fun getting to see so many props, stand in front of a blue screen and see yourself standing in the Tardis control room, and just in general see so many people geeking out over the same thing. I guess this was my less crowded fanboy convention this year. Afterward, I wandered through the gift shop, literally over-flowing with all manner of Doctor Who stuff from classic to now. I was tempted by a few items but talked myself out of them. The only thing I really wanted was some sort of souvenir that actually showed I had been, but they only had t-shirts… no thanks… I’ll just hang on to the ticket in my box of junk from my travels.
After a quick lunch (sort of brunch as I hadn’t had breakfast and it was cruising towards 1pm). I decided that the afternoon was to go check out the Tate Modern art gallery, which has been on my list of things to do for several trips. I overshot my tube choice just a smidge and wandered along the Thames path to the bridge at St. Paul’s. Very proud that I was able to over directions to three people while I was on my way. Oh, and I was able to point out Monument (the monument to the great fire of 1666). I regret that it’s completely covered in tarps and scaffolding while being refurbished. I overheard a son and his father looking for it standing literally 10 feet from it. Their disappointment was palpable, and yet again I will not be climbing it. Oh well.
Tate Modern was interesting. i think most of my excitement was for the building, an old industrial power plant on the south bank of the Thames that was re-born as an art gallery. I think it has been so far down my list for so long because I have mixed feelings about modern art. It’s not that I don’t consider it art, it’s that often I don’t really see what others see in it. While the museum is free, there are paid exhibits. I ended up paying to see one by an artist called Cy Twombly, an American artist who did most of his work living in Italy. This was a slight mistake. I had seen him listed in the guide I got, but the adjacent description was actually for an exhibit on contemporary urban photography that had ended a couple of weeks ago. I realized my mistake after I walked into the first room and re-checked the brochure. This was modern art at it’s modernist… undulating crayon lines, blobs of paint, and I could not help the feeling that I was looking at one of those posters from a decade ago where you had to squint to see an image in the picture. I read the descriptions in the guide and saw nothing that was supposed to be there. I squinted. I turned sideways, I looked at an angle, and all I ever saw looked like squibbles and lines. He had a few sculptures and some later modern stuff that didn’t leave me wholly unhappy but by and large, I’ll consider that admission my donation to the arts…
From there, I wandered through a ton of art. I’m not familiar with most of the artists. I want credit for stopping at a couple of Picassos, at least they caught my eye. There were also some very cool sculptures and even a smattering of photography along the way. All told, I spent around 3 hours, getting in my quotient of the arts before my feet told me enough was enough. I had blisters days ago that have finally healed, but now have managed to kill my arches. I don’t know what I was thinking when I didn’t pick up the arch supports that were lying in my closet. I know I have issues with them, so I should have. And I’ve paid the price. When I finally found a pair, they were the equivalent of nearly $40… I felt a wave of wallet-robbing-nausea wash over me as I paid for them. An expensive lesson.
I meandered a bit more before finally wandering into Leicester Square hunting for a meal. I found a Mexican Restaurant. This is my second attempt at Mexican this trip. The first was in Bath. While it was a fine meal, it did not compare to home and wasn’t even served remotely in the same manner. An enchilada that included the rice within it and was mammoth and was served with a salad!? Of course, tonight was Saturday night, so the place was packed. I was given a pager and told it was a 20 minute wait. I wandered into the bar to wait… no seats… I stood for a few minutes. My feet already felt better but not like standing, no sir. Finally I notice this seat behind this black lady and went and asked if it was taken. She wasn’t sure, but the seat beside her, which I assumed was taken, was not. As I sat down, the couple across from me gave a look that combined sympathy with relief. She turned out to be a talker, and I don’t just mean a little conversation, I mean I feel like I know her life’s story now, at least the bits I could understand through the heavy Jamaican accent. She apparently was going to see a movie, but needed a drink first or it would be “garbage.” I sincerely hope that means she was meeting friends, otherwise it’s expensive garbage! She had a brain tumor removed at some point in the past -she showed me the scar. She told the doctor his other 9 patients with the same surgery would die, because it was their time, but not hers. She lived because she “had a strength of purpose.” I wasn’t really sure what she meant by that but at least followed her comment that it wasn’t science that saved her, it simply wasn’t her time yet. She’s 67 and expects to live to be 105, because she knows that’s her time. Really, there’s more to be told, but that should be enough for you to get an idea. She was harmless and interesting, but I was still quite happy when the pager went off to get my table.
My table was, of course as close to the kitchen door as possible. This is what happens to you when you dare defy society and eat at a sit down restaurant alone. It doesn’t always happen, but it doesn’t surprise me either. The meal was okay. Closer but still not quite the Mexican I’m used to. A touch bland, but almost all the parts were there this time. Only missing the refried beans. I’ll survive.
Afterward, I contemplated seeing a movie, sounded great since my tired feet could stit still. I checked the prices… uhm… wow… they pay more for a movie in pounds than we pay in dollars. I know that Leicester square is kind of a hub, so maybe at other theaters it’s not so bad, but it cost £13.50 to see a movie at nights or on weekend! That would be around $26… I could not justify that cost so just wandered a bit before hopping the train back to the hostel.
No idea what’s on for tomorrow. But my feet would appreciate a somewhat early to bed night. Hopefully I’m not in a room of folks who are already out for the count. Last night, two of the 4 total in the room had already called it a night at 10pm last night! So, I ended up getting organized in the dark! I was surprised as I’m usually one of the comparative early to bed folks. And if I’m asleep when the others roll in, they have to be remarkably loud to bother me. Oh well, wish me luck!
