Oxkintok and the Amblypygii

27Jan08

Yesterday, we visited the Mayan ruins of Oxkintok (pronounced Ohsh – kin – tow-k, because in Mayan, “x” is pronounced like an “sh”). First, we got off the bus and had our first bird-watching session, which included learning how to use our binoculars and take field notes. We were the epitome of bio nerds – all decked out with backpacks, binoculars around our necks, field notebooks in one hand and camera in the other :-P I’m sure we were quite the amusing sight. We were able to observe a Mot-Mot, Turkey Vultures, Swallows and a few kingbirds. At first, I was overwhelmed trying to figure out how we were going to identify all these birds that look exactly the same on paper, but after observing them, you can start to discern identifying factors to tell them apart. Take vultures for example – we have to be able to identify Turkey and Black Vultures, which are usually found soaring/circling in the sky, so one doesn’t really have time to sit there and start at them, trying to figure out what they are. Black Vultures are completely black whereas Turkey Vultures have a red head and black and white wings, and it is pretty easy to tell which ones have the white on the lower half of the wings.

After bird-watching, we ventured into the ruins. This site was one of the biggest we have seen, and also one of the most gorgeous. There were temples, town plazas, a ball court, labyrinth, and many mounds that were buried temples that have yet to be uncovered. Oxkintok is really not one of the more touristy sites, so we essentially had the entire place to ourselves, which was a pretty awesome feeling. Being the adventuresome crew that we are, we of course decided to scale every single one of the temples. On many of them, there weren’t really stairs, so at times it was almost like rock climbing to get to the top. Once up there though, the view was breathtaking – as far as one could see was jungle and a few “hills” off in the distance. The Yucatan peninsula starts off at the coast as very flat and only a few feet above sea level, but as one gets closer to the interior and farther south, a few hills start to appear and the terrain is less and less flat. (Hills is in quotation marks, because when most of us think of hills, we think of our mountains or the hills of rural PA, but while these are hills in Mexico, they by no means compare to those aforementioned - are much smaller) After climbing down one of the temples, Dana, Amanda and I found this crawl space that looked like it opened up into a room, so we decided to check it out. We all got out our headlamps and after deciding that I would be the first to die, started investigating. I crawled through this little tunnel that opened up into a small room that was big enough to stand up in. The small “tunnel” continued into what looked like another room, so, naturally, we decided to crawl through. It did, in fact, lead to another room about the same size as the previous one, albeit a dead end. So as I’m standing there looking around with my headlamp, I look about a foot and a half in front of me and a tad higher than eye level, and I see an arthropod from the Order Amblypygii - a tailless whipscorpoin!!! Granted, since they do not have tails, they are not poisonous, but they are still pretty creepy/scary looking, and to be looking one essentially in the eye is a tad nerve wracking. At this point, Amanda was still crawling through and as I saw the scorpion I said something, and after it registered with Dana, we both decided to QUICKLY leave :-P After we got out, some more people had assembled, including the Dawleys, who of course had to go and investigate. They were pretty proud of us for going in and crawling under temples through our own accord. Robert of course had to get a picture of the scorpion, so he went in, and there was a another crawl space parallel to the one we went into, so Ellen went into that one along with a few other people. Ironically enough, in the entrance to the tunnel that I went into, there was a medium-sized tarantula sitting there and a wasp’s nest up above – both of which we neglected to notice before entering the first time …. After that little escapade, nothing really happened comparatively, but it was still really amazing to be there.

Next, we heard there was a newly discovered cave with Mayan glyphs, so we changed our itinerary to go investigate this cave. Our guides were actually the two men that have the credit for discovering the cave and the things inside. First, we saw the glyphs that were painted on the ceiling of the cave, and carbon dating determined them to be over 1,000 years old if I remember correctly. How did they get on the ceiling of the cave you ask? Well, all the caves were essentially cenotes – filled with water. So at the time they were painted, there was enough water for someone to be able to float out and paint them. It was also determined that they were painted from East to West, no doubt in accordance with the rise and set of the sun. Venturing by groups of four into this tiny little room, there was a small ceramic face that they had found (BTW – they said that all the things they were showing us had not been moved or touched) that almost looked like a face from a small doll. Next, there was a set of negative hand prints on one of the walls – negative being that the hand was held up on the wall, and the paint was “sprayed” around it. Usually, the paint would be in some sort of straw that they would blow through and the paint would then go on and around the hand, so when you lifted it up, the hand print was the cave wall, with paint around it. The cool thing about this was that the two prints were each of the left hand. Then, climbing through some more small passageways, we saw bones, teeth (of animals) and clay pieces laid out in some sort of order that looked like an offering. After seeing all of these, since the guides believed the cave to be sacred, we each had water poured over our heads to “cleanse and purify” us as we were leaving. It was really incredible.

Finally, we were off to the cenote to swim and cool down a bit. So a few minutes later, we arrive at what looks like someone’s house. We were told to walk into the backyard, and in the middle of the yard, there is what looks like a well, with a few steps and then a rope next to a ladder that we are all supposed to climb down. It turns out that as they were drilling for what they thought was a well, they came upon this cenote. So we all climb down, and it was completely different from what we had expected. The air was very humid and warm, and the water looked incredibly shallow. Of course, looks can be deceiving. None of us believed the owner when he told us that at one point it got down to about 15 feet, because we could all see the bottom, and it looked like no more than waist level at the deepest. After getting over the initial awkwardness of swimming in the backyard of these random people, we got in and to our surprise, where the water looked to be only a foot, it was actually up to our waist! And pretty cold too! After swimming and playing with Poncho, one of the little kids who lived there and was pretty enthralled with our cameras, we left and headed out to eat dinner. We stopped at this traditional Mayan restaurant that was made out of stick huts and where the oven was a hole in the ground, where they cooked the meat and whatnot in metal containers and then buried them. The soup was amazing (my vegetable soup that is :-P) and so was my plate of vegetables and tortillas. For everyone else, they had Sopa de Lima, and Cochinitas.

This week (tomorrow actually) starts the Maya course, the second course of the semester, with a few day trips, including one to Chichen Itza. Again, sorry about the lack of new pictures – this week at CIS I’ll try to upload some if the internet will allow me to do so … If not, I’ll just have to bore you all to death with trillions of pictures when I come home :-D