To the Cemetery

I read in a blog that the Copan cemetery was pleasant. So I set out today with my back pack imagining I'd sit on grass under a spreading tree, sketching pad in hand. But cemeteries here are all choc a bloc with great square cement blocks, mostly decorated with brightly coloured plastic flowers. What you see here are the most cared for ones. The rest are sad affairs and unfortunately there's a lot of garbage strewn about. Ah well.

But then I found a small gallery of photos describing the excavation of the Mayan temples towards the end of the 1800s. What's fascinating is the Hieroglyphic Stairway Plaza before and after the excavation. In the first photo from the late 1800s, you can see excavtors with wooden cranes and ropes lifting tumbled stones. The second photo shows what the mound looked like before.

Another gallery photo showed a wedding party at the ruins. They don't look very happy do they?

The result of many ecavations is the Heiroglyphic Stairway Plaza as it looks now.

From the ancient to the modern and not so modern.

 

Luckily I have 2 1/2 weeks here still because the Ruins are closed now due to a protest against low wages. There's a ton of corruption in this country. So the money the workers should be earning is probably lining a few pockets.

I hope I'll be able to post photos for you of the temples, plazas and terraces. According to researchers this Mayan civilization area was inhabited from 2000 BCE to 900 CE and is right up there in magnificence.

As with other special places in the world such as the Acropolis in Greece and Venice in Italy, Copan has preservation problems. The ruins are endangered by erosion of the river and also by agricultural practices. The site is also in a seismic zone and has been damaged by at least two earthquakes.

Tomorrow I'm going to church with my "family." It's an Evangelical church and a two hour service. I'll have to be on my best behaviour. The family I'm living with is Mayan. I didn't realize that the father taught at a Mayan school until we passed by it yesterday and I asked my instructor Dunia if they were Mayan. What a dolt I am.

Good night.

 

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