Skip to main content

Remember Chichen Itza


A BIG part of the culture in the Yucatan Peninsula is Maya. The people who live there today are direct descendants of what you may think of as the Lost Mayan Empire. You hear about Mayan ruins and pyramids, but you may not realize that the Maya people still live among the jungles and farmlands of the Yucatan even as I write this.

Most of them still incorporate traditional clothing, food, building techniques, art, language (YES! You can learn the speak Maya!) and religion into their daily lives.

In January, when my daughter and I went to Mexico, we visited the state of Yucatan where the famed ruins of Chichen Itza are. Standing on the sacred grounds of the temple of Kukulkan is an experience that makes you pause, almost stop breathing, and try to take in the energy of the place and imagine what it was like to be there hundreds of years ago when life in the city was in full swing.




But one of the most humbling things about the site, is to stop and take time to connect with the local people who are there. Now. Today. Selling their art. Trying to feed their families.


Working daily in the ruins of a city that IS their own.

How do you get your brain around that?

I bought this handkerchief hand embroidered by this little Maya lady. Her names is Isabella. She sells the things she makes among the ruins of a place where astrologers predicted the exact times comets would pass the earth thousands of years before the comets came, a place where people were sacrificed in times of great turmoil, where tribal wars bloodied the ground, and where immeasurable secrets were lost with the burning of all but two of the ancient books.

And here she stands, asking for a dollar for something she made.

And what does the embroidery say?

"Remember Chichen Itza"



Yu'um Bootik (God go with you -- in Maya)
laura



June 24- July 01, 2017 I am taking a small group back to Chichen Itza and to other sacred places on the Yucatan. We are going in search of the secrets of happiness.
For more information go to https://www.strangertruthtravel.com/happify-mexico-june2017



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Secrets of Happiness and How to Happify Your Life with Happy Food

Maria with a guanabana ripe off the tree. Panama  Tell me please: What are SECRETS OF HAPPINESS? According to the Happy Planet Index , Costa Rica is the #1 Happiest Place on Earth!  I love this quote from the study:  People  living in Costa Rica have higher well being than the residents of many rich nations including the  USA and the UK, and live longer than people in the USA. Panama has repeatedly been the NUMBER ONE SPOT to retire overseas according to  International Living.  Check out this quote:  Internatio nal Living’s   Annual Global Retirement Index is hitting the presses. And in the top spot: Panama. I should say: Panama  again . Because this tiny powerhouse has topped this index more times than any other country. And this year, International Living is going over the top promoting Mexico as the up and coming best place to retire saying: The U.S.’s southern neighbor consistently makes...

Why I Am Here: The Beauty in the Poor Places

I don't write about myself very often, but this time I just want to share a little bit. I want to tell you why I am here. I have been in Central America for five years now. I came on vacation and never went home. Something happened to me that is hard to explain. I walked streets I wasn't sure were safe. I went places I wasn't sure I would come back from. I got really far out of my comfort zone. And in the most unlikely places, I found life. Now I understand why Jesus ate with the prostitutes and drunkards. Why he went to the lost and the broken. They are actually cool people! You cannot imagine how amazing it was to hear their stories, to feel their pain and share their joy, to meet their families and get to know their names. I wish I could explain to you the beauty I see. I wish I could take the feeling that swells inside me and put it in your heart. I am without words, and so I try to convey in pictures the depth I see in their eyes the joy in the e...

Surprising Discoveries About Why Poor People Are Happy

My time spent living with the poor and the indigenous people of Mexico and Central America has turned up some interesting correlations. You understand that your life is full of stress in the Western world and I am sure you have been exposed to the idea that people who live simpler lives with less things seem to be happier. But do you know WHY? Is it just a mental thing? Is it because they don't know what they are missing? I believe it is much more than that. I lived in an impoverished community in Panama. Many of the home were square wooden boxes that were partially open to the outside. There was no plumbing, no running water or electricity. There were no beds nor any furniture. Families slept on the ground and cooked over an open fire outside. They had no refrigeration (and neither did I for nine months). They collected rain water in buckets which they used for drinking, cooking and bathing. They often went without shoes. They ate very little meat and instead a lot of th...