This painting I call Green Raven and I thought it was appropriate since we saw beautiful green toucans in Palenque (see below). You can also view this painting in Painting Gallery 4.
Here is Part Three from the Rainforest in Mexico:
We are currently in the rainforest of Chiapis which right now is well named! We've had almost continual downpours for three days. Everything we own is damp. I think we're starting to grow mushrooms under our armpits. Hah!
Going back in time, we went to Edzna which was a lovely city (now ruins). One of the best parts is that we were the only people there for a couple of hours. We climbed the big pyramid and had a wonderful view of the jungle. There were guys working on the reconstruction of the back of this temple. We watched them mixing cement and hauling stones. Hard, hot work. Apparently they have had Guatemalan refugees doing all the work there for years now.
On the last night in Campeche, we caught the tail end of a political march with Marcos -- he´s the leader of the Zapotistas. We had also seen a pro-Zapotista rally in Merida. In both places, it was neat to see a lot of young people and long-haired guys -- the alternative Mexicanos. We picked up a Communist party newspaper to bring home and translate. In both Campeche and Merida, we also saw some young hippies drumming in the streets with fire dancers accompanying them. Actually last night at a restaurant in El Panchan (more on this later), we saw an amazing young fire dancer -- a young woman who danced and did gymnastics with poi (for those who don´t know, they´re balls of fire on ropes that are swung). So fire dancing is popular all over the world now! Fun to see it here after all that we saw at Burning Man! We also caught some great Peruvian/Bolivian music last night with gorgeous indigenous flutes and churango.
So we're in a little hippy enclave called El Panchan next to Palenque in the state of Chiapas. As I write this, I'm looking out on a raging flooding brown river, pouring down rain, red flowers the size of my head, and leaves the size of my torso. The jungle is so incredible here. Gorgeous ceiba trees -- tall with roots that come out in waves from the bottom. Vines everywhere. Plants growing on plants growing on plants growing on trees. Dense, wet, dripping all around.
Yesterday, we spent a lot of the day at the ruins and in the jungle around them. We managed to not get too wet or slip either! Palenque was a grand huge Mayan city. The temples are very dramatic. High and with interesting roof structures. And some fabulous carvings inside and on some of the buildings. Carvings of their rulers, of the gods, and of supernatural beings. And the glyphs are really marvelous. They've been able to decipher a lot of it now too. One of the glyphs we saw translated is for artist/sage (I like that!). One of the unusual things about these ruins is they had some underground rooms you could go into. And the views of the jungle from atop some of the buildings were fantastic.
On top of one temple where we were alone, my eye caught a big bird in a tree and I realized it was a toucan! We looked in the binoculars and ended up seeing maybe 4 or 5 toucans. The first time either one of us have seen them in the wild! They were beautiful -- green all over, yellow bellies with reddish rings around their middle and coming up their neck and the distinctive beak (sort of grayish). I was so excited! Also heard the wild cries of the howler monkeys (Chris joked that it sounded like an owl and a cat mating!). Wandered into the jungle to try to catch sight of it but weren't able too. The museum there had these gorgeous huge ceramic censors (to burn incense in) with gods and snakes and figures all over them. Plus we saw beautifully sculpted figurines from clay and stucco.
We´re on our way to drier climes. Maybe Tulum!
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