Calakmul (Mayan site), Mexico

After our time in Campeche, we headed south, retracing our route from Chetumal. We had planned on stopping at Calakmul, one of the largest sites in the Maya world, and (I believe) the largest in Mexico. Calakmul is north of Tikal, in Guatemala, and the two cities were rivals for regional dominance during the height of the Classic Maya period.

Unfortunately, we got a bit turned around in Escárcega (which I blame on a distinct lack of signage, but could possibly be due to my lack of Spanish-speaking ability) and ended up at a police checkpoint. We spent several minutes in the queue, and when we made it to the officer running the checkpoint, he told us in super-duper rapid-fire Spanish that we needed to turn on our hazard lights (which we did) then he told us to pull over to the side of the road.

Naturally, we pulled over, with our hazards obediently blinking. He walked up to us in a very imperious I AM THE LAW manner, stuck a ticket book in Amy's face (she was driving), and told us he was giving us a ticket. We asked why, and he said it was because we did not have our flashers on when we were in the queue for the checkpoint. Amy looked back at the line of cars, and pointed out that none of them had their flashers on, so why was he giving us a ticket? At that point another Federale walked up to the officer, and he fairly rapidly withdrew from our window and gestured at us to continue down the road. The next day, we learned from our Belizean driver that he was most likely looking for a bribe (!).

After surviving the checkpoint, we made a U-turn and got comprehensively lost in the middle of downtown Escárcega. I have never seen such congestion--cars, buses, bikes, pedestrians, pushcarts, people EVERYWHERE. Eventually we made it through, found the (unsigned) highway, and continued east towards Calakmul.

Unfortunately, the delays in Escárcega and the rather decrepit state of the road from the highway to the archaeological site resulted in us arriving at 3:30, much later than we anticipated. We paid our entrance fee and walked into the park. We were not given a map, but I figured "no big deal" based on my experiences at Tikal. I gave the map a cursory glance but assumed there would be adequate signage throughout the complex and we could easily find our way to the main structures (Estructura 1 and Estructura 2) we were interested in seeing. I could not have been more wrong--the signage inside the site was execrable.

Habla Español?

Making our way into the jungle, it was a LONG hike to get to the structures estructuras

Lochlan found an "air plant" along the way

Finally, we locate the first structure! Pretty cool, but definitely not Estructura 1 or Estructura 2 (the two big temples we've seen in pictures and are searching for)

In front of some of the numerous Stelae. Starting to wonder if we will find the big temples.

Really running out of time now, so we start running through the structures.

Calakmul is enormous--there are thousands of structures, and only a small percentage have been fully excavated. Aside from the one big map at the entrance, there are no other maps in the site that show the full extent of the excavated structures, and none of them show you where you are in relation to the structures you are standing next to. Also, everything is in Spanish, which is fine, except it is more difficult to extract contextual clues from an unfamiliar language, particularly if you get a word wrong.

So we got lost, and it was starting to get dark, and there were no other people in the site for us to ask. The howler monkeys started howling in the trees all around us, and it was awesome, but it definitely added to my growing sense of unease. But we did not give up, and after an additional 10 minutes or so of walking, we came through a clearing to find--ESTRUCTURA UNO! We all did a little happy dance, then we climbed to the top.

Estructura 1!

The climb to the top was very steep, and we did it very quickly

But the view was worth it! The forested lump in the middle of this shot is the backside of Estructura 2

Amy and the boys at the top

Cool carvings on a stela at the top

The boys in front of Estructura 2, one of the largest structures in the Maya world. Unfortunately we were running out of time and daylight and did not climb this one

On the hike out to the parking lot, we saw a bunch of spider monkeys up in the trees

On the drive out, we saw a lot of wildlife--deer, a gray fox, a snake, bats, and this guy, which I have yet to identify. I believe it is a roadside hawk (Buteo magnirostris)

Estructuras 1 and 2 were awesome. I really wish we'd had more than 2 hours to explore the site, and if I had it to do over again, I'd schedule an entire day for Calakmul and arrange for an experienced, English-speaking guide to give us a tour.

Campeche, Mexico

Last weekend was a school holiday, called the "Long Tropical Weekend" (which gets my vote for best holiday name ever) and we took the boys to Mexico.

We pulled them out of school a bit early to catch the 3:00 Thunderbird ferry to Corozal. We were met there by a transfer driver (sort of like a long-distance taxi) who took us through the Mexican border and to our hotel in Chetumal. The next morning we picked up our rental car from the Hotel Noor and drove west.

The Yucatan Peninsula is surprisingly large. Chetumal is in the southeastern corner of the peninsula, and Campeche is about halfway up the west coast. It took us six hours to get there! We passed many security checkpoints along the way, some staffed by Federales, others by the Policia Municipal, and still others by the military. The landscape was pretty flat just outside of Chetumal, but as we headed west, became increasingly hilly and we gained a fair bit of elevation as we neared Calakmul.

At Escárcega we turned north and arrived in Campeche just before sunset. We stayed at the Hotel Castelmar, an old military barracks that was converted to a hotel. It is such a cool place! The walls are tremendously thick, the doors are made from ornate tropical hardwoods, there is a central courtyard, and each room has a balcony. They even managed to fit a swimming pool into the building!

Our hotel

Courtyard of the hotel

Amy and Liam on our balcony

We chose Campeche as one of our destinations for this trip because of its history. Campeche was founded in 1540, and quickly grew into a prosperous sea port. Before long, this prosperity attracted the unwanted attention of PIRATES (including John Hawkins, Henry Morgan, and Edward Mansvelt). The city was attacked so frequently that in the late seventeenth century the Spanish throne consented to fund the construction of a wall surrounding the entire city.

Map of the old city and the wall

The wall is truly impressive--it includes eight bulwarks or bastions (seven of which have been preserved), is about 24 feet high, 15 feet thick, and features four gates:  the sea gate, the land gate, and two lesser gates on the remaining two sides of the irregular rectangle.

The buildings encircled by the wall have all been painstakingly restored, and walking through this portion of the city feels very much like traveling back through time. The ornate doors, iron work, and architectural details seem a bit European, but the color combinations and tropical climate make for a festive atmosphere. There were also some very interesting sculptures placed throughout the old city.

We saw many ornate doors

The boys posing with one of the cool sculptures placed throughout the city

Amy and the boys with another cool sculpture. There are faces within the hands of the bird lady.

The Cathedral was really beautiful at night

Our first evening there, we attended a "re-enactment" at the land gate. There were actors dressed in period costumes, some as Spaniards, others as pirates, Mayans, priests, dancers, and various others. We got to walk along the top of the wall and look out over the city from the gate, which was really cool. The balance of the presentation was a super-duper cheesy video (!) that was projected on the wall, and the costumed actors would (sort of) act out some of the bits that were being narrated in the movie. And of course, the whole thing was in Spanish. In fact, just about everything was only in Spanish--there don't seem to be many non-Mexican tourists in Campeche, so my advice if you are contemplating a visit is to bone up on your linguistic skills.

The Land Gate

The Land Gate from outside the walls

Cannons, cannons everywhere

Walking atop the wall

We drove south a couple of miles to visit the Fort of San Miguel. This fort was built slightly after the wall around the city, but with the same goal of protecting the inhabitants and the bustling commerce. The fort is also in remarkable shape, and we were able to explore the entire thing--across the drawbridge, down into the moat, all around the curtain wall, climbing on the cannons, you name it. There was not a barrier or a "no climbing" sign in sight, and naturally the boys took full advantage.

The inside of the fort is a (rather ironically) a Mayan museum, and we saw many very interesting artifacts. Of course, like the rest of the city, everything was in Spanish, and there were no English speaking guides, so I only kinda-sorta knew the story behind each of the artifacts. Many of the most interesting pieces came from Calakmul, a very large Mayan site in between Escárcega and Chetumal.

Obligatory cannon shot

Another cannon shot

On the drawbridge!

After we toured the fort, I bought coconut ice cream for Amy and the boys...

...from a guy on a motorcycle.

 Apparently, American tourists--particularly of the fair-skinned, blue eyed variety--are so rare in Campeche that we really stood out. In fact, one woman was so enamored of the boys that she asked Amy if she could take a picture with them and her twin girls. Of course we said yes, but I think Lochlan's expression nicely sums up our family's reaction to the request.

My boys are celebrities in Mexico

On our last day in the city, we took advantage of the numerous restaurants and had a delightful lunch where we were serenaded by two fantastic guitarists/singers. They asked what we wanted to hear, and not knowing a single Mexican song, I punted:  "Uhh...conocen los Beatles?" So naturally they played a very Mexican version of....My Way, by Frank Sinatra. It was awesome. That night at dinner, we also found some Mexican craft beer (first craft beer in six months!) and it was muy delicioso.

They played it THEIR WAY

Craft beer!

Horchata!

Overall, we were very impressed with Campeche. It was frustrating at times that we did not really understand much of what we read or heard, but that is more a reflection of our poor Spanish language abilities than a lack of information. The old portion of the city is also a bit Disney-fied, which we discovered during a nighttime sojourn outside the walls. But everyone was very friendly, and we all enjoyed the palpable history of the place and the pervasive presence of PIRATES!

Pirate

Pirate

Pirate

Ammo...in a pirate's chest

Even the hostel is named after pirates!

Spear Fishing

The red lionfish is an invasive species that has caused terrible problems for the ecology of reefs throughout the Caribbean. This fish is native to the Pacific and was introduced to the Caribbean by pet owners that no longer wanted their fish and dumped them in the ocean off southern Florida. Over the last 30 years, they have spread like wildfire to every part of the Caribbean basin. They have no predators here, and are themselves voracious predators and have decimated fish populations.

Red lionfish under the dock at Ramon's Village Resort

There is a fairly well organized, concerted effort to educate the public about this problem and to promote the only strategy that seems to work--killing them, one at a time.

We've heard so much about the problem, and seen enough lionfish ourselves, that when Liam got some money from his grandparents for Christmas, he decided to spend some of it on a type of spear called a Hawaiian sling. The sling works by looping the thick elastic band on the end around your thumb, pulling the sling back, and holding it in place until you are ready to "shoot" it at a fish. It takes a fair amount of strength to hold it in that position, but Liam was very determined and eventually figured it out.

Liam on the prowl for lionfish

We went searching for lionfish off the Caribbean Villas dock, and had great success in locating them--we saw about 8! However, they like to hide in nooks and crannies amongst the various bits of detritus the resorts have placed near the piers as artificial reefs, and consequently, it is hard to get a clean shot. The other thing we discovered is that even if you hit them, unless it is a killing shot, they will wriggle off the spear. The way to keep them on the spear is to pin them against a rock, piling, or even the sea floor until you can reload the sling and shoot it again to run it further through their body.

The first lionfish!

Eventually Liam was successful in spearing the first fish. It was just a tiny one, but tiny fish become big fish. As we were looking for more, we saw a local boy named Kevin fishing under the dock with a hand line and a homemade hook. He was not having much luck. He was fishing under the dock because there are hundreds and hundreds of fish, most of them blue-strped grunts, but also some snapper, sargeant majors, sailors choice, chubs, and many others. I speared a grunt and gave it to Kevin, and later managed to spear a sailor's choice, which I also gave to him.

Blue-striped grunt

Another view of the grunt

Eventually I found and successfully speared a small lionfish too. It was surprisingly satisifying to kill something with a pointy stick, and I actually felt a bit guilty about enjoying it. However, I have to believe there is some part of our animal mind that evolved to do exactly that, so perhaps it should not be too surprising to feel a sense of satisifcation after successfully completing a task that our brains and bodies evolved to do.

A day's catch

Liam with the largest lionfish yet, speared under the Caribbean Villas dock

Cleaned and scaled fish--the fish on the left is the lionfish, which I skinned completely

Fried grunt, just about ready for the tortilla

On a subsequent trip, Liam speared two lionfish, one of which was big enough to eat. We speared three decent sized grunts between the two of us, and we cleaned, scaled, cooked, and ate them in some fish burritos. The lionfish was surprisingly tasty--I'm obviously not much of a fish eater, but I thought it tasted quite good and I can understand why restaurants here on the island have it on their menus. 

Half-way

The Sunday before last marked the halfway point of our time in Belize. This has triggered a certain amount of reflection on my part, and Amy and I have talked at length about what we've experienced and what we and the boys will take away from our time here.

A toast to the halfway mark!

Over the past five months, we've seen beautiful animals in their natural habitats--spotted eagle rays, nurse sharks, lobsters, octopus, reef fish, toucans, parrots, frigate birds, tree frogs, snakes, lizards, and many, many others. We've all made new friends, with people from all over the world. The boys have adapted to a new school. Liam learned to sail, and Lochlan has become a confident swimmer and snorkeler. We've seen Mayan ruins in Mexico and Guatemala, learned how to drum from a Garifuna man in Punta Gorda, made chocolate with a Mayan farmer, held wild boa constrictors on the beach of a tiny tropical island, and fed jaguars and ocelots their evening meal. Amy started volunteering at a local clinic and has learned to give injections, draw blood, and deliver babies. I've managed to keep my Seattle-based business running from thousands of miles away, and have been fortunate enough to still have time for the occasional day of fun in the sun during the middle of the week.

But there have been many, many challenges. The climate and tropical storms took some getting used  to. The whole process of "getting things done" is radically different here than it is back home. Despite the English-speaking population, there are still communication issues that we deal with regularly. There is way too much drama happening between certain portions of the sizable expat community here in San Pedro. But I think the most persistent and difficult challenge, especially for the boys, is homesickness.

In five months, we will move back to Seattle, return to our old house, and resume our normal lives. Yes, we are having amazing experiences and are very happy with our decision to move here, but we are simultaneously looking forward to returning to our dear friends, wonderful neighbors, fantastic public schools, and Seattle's first-world infrastructure.

However, when we consider what our "normal" Seattle lives consist of, we realized that it won't actually feel that normal, at least not at first. To a surprising degree, we have adapted to the unique climatic and cultural conditions of this tiny Central American nation.

Things that seem normal now:

Golf carts
People drinking beer as they drive their golf carts
People drinking beer (and various other alcoholic drinks) EVERYWHERE
Loads of unsupervised kids
A ubiquitous "go slow, no worries" attitude
Geckos, geckos everywhere
Iguanas staring at us as we work out at the gym
Cockroaches, scorpions, mosquitoes, sand flies
Sand, all over the floor, all the time
Not wearing shoes or socks
Riding our bikes on the beach
Riding bikes without a helmet
Crocodiles in the backyard
Buying our produce off a boat from Spanish speaking Mennonites
Lake-sized puddles in the middle of every dirt road every time it rains
Bats
Lightning bugs
Frigate birds, ospreys, spoonbills, parrots, grackles
Sailing on crystal clear blue water
Sending the kids to the bar to order (non-alcoholic) drinks for themselves, and putting it on our tab
Having a tab at the bar
Soca music blasting everywhere
Parades, for every holiday, or sometimes for no apparent reason at all
Waiting in line for over an hour to deposit money in the bank
Random power outages
Having to visit 4 or more stores to do the week's shopping
The lack of many familiar foods
Very friendly people everywhere
Having to add 15 minutes to every trip outside the house in order to chat with people along the way
Stray dogs
Beautiful sunsets
Hammocks
Belikin (more bottle than beer!)
Sweating
Having our drinking water delivered by a wagon pulled by a tractor
The unique ways people transport themselves, their children, and various large objects

Over the next four months we will have four sets of visitors, and undoubtedly the time will fly by. There are still many places in Belize we want to see, and we are in the early stages of planning a tour through Central America. We are going to make the most of the time we have left.
 
We are surely in for some culture shock when we get back to Seattle, but I'm sure all of us--especially the boys--will adapt to the familiarity of Seattle even more quickly than we've assimilated to the strangeness of Belize.