We settled here in Catemaco next to a large lake and have spent a couple days relaxing and checking out the town. It was overcast when we got here, the day after a major wind storm that caused lots of fallen trees and power lines, etc. It’s been intermittently raining most of the day so I took this opportunity to do some budgeting and computer work while trying to figure out why the Oregon Ducks football game was on the radio for 35 minutes and then after a glitch on my end stopped playing. Then all I could get from the radio station was a commercial loop. Very maddening but the Ducks are loosing big time anyway so no biggy to me I guess. Damn it.
I’ll get some more of those 100 pictures I told you about up here today while I’m enjoying the Prairie Home Companion. Here’s a link especially for you foreign readers, since you may have no idea what the show is about. Each show is 2 hours long and they are mostly comedy and music with some old fashioned monologues thrown in. Anyway, the shows are archived and available for free as streaming audio in English on-line:
The first day in Mexico it was getting wet and that evening we stopped and stayed at a Pemex station for the night.
Here’s a shot of our rigs and the weather:
The next day was more of the same weather:
We passed this huge statue in a grape growing region:
Here’s one of the many swollen rivers we passed over that day:
Finally we arrived at the El Taj’in ruins in the highlands:
We were sort of mobbed by salespersons as the weather was poor we were among the few that visited that day.
Here’s a view of the museum from where we parked for the night. Since we got there late in the afternoon, we stayed on the museum parking lot for a mere $6 US. Next morning we headed into the site thankful that it is free on Sundays.
A look at the booths the vendors use to sell you all sorts of trinkets:
The walk to the museum:
The entrance to the site:
Another view of a couple pyramids:
The following pictures speak for themselves, note that these ruins are over a thousand years old, and were inhabited then abandoned then re-inhabited then finally abandoned for 800 years. Anyway, enjoy:
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Ahh, I’m finally here, the place I’ve studied and read about and seen pictures of nearly my entire life. It does not disappoint. The Mayans built this place, I believe over a thousand years ago:
A shot of Sam to give you an idea of scale, plus she’s cute. Here she’s pointing out her great dimples to me, as if I didn’t know already:
One of the several ball courts (17) here at the site, this one is the most well defined:
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Here they (archeologists) are protecting the place with a roof since there are a lot of fresco paintings all around this building. The thatch roof helps keep it dry:
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A view from the hill top, where the elite lived in the cooling breezes, looking down over the city. Even up here, in the quiet part of town, there appear to be plazas where the elite could stand high over groups of people and lie to them, just like today:
Up in the elite part of town:
Look carefully at the lower half of the picture, those are frescoes painted over a thousand years ago:
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Sam talking to the scientist we found up on the bluff sweeping up around the covered building. He knows five languages and kept Sam occupied for 40 minutes. Since I don’t speak Spanish, I wandered off after 20 minutes or so:
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These following shots are just a few other buildings I happened to pass while wandering the site:
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This shot is of a stair well that I thought was particularly interesting. Seems meant to be intimidating:
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Well, I’m kind of tired so I’m going to take a break. I’ll put up more tomorrow before the football game.
wow!