Photo Gallery: Palenque

Photo Gallery: Kabah and Uxmal

Photo Gallery: Labná and Sayil

The material splendor of the Maya culture is appreciated, more than in any other field, in the architecture and ornamentation of their cities. These city-states were the center of power for the king-priests who administered the obedience, the tribute and the manpower of the people who believed in them.

Many Maya cities and ceremonial centres have been discovered, some of which appear in our map of the Mayan country, from the now Mexican states of Campeche and Yucatán down to Honduras in Central America.

Not all the cities were developed at the same time. At the beginnings of the Maya culture, the highlands raised the first edifices. In the apogee of the Classical Period, between 250 and 900 A.D., the lowlands witnessed the flourishing of great cities such as Tikal, located in the heart of the Guatemalan Petén. After that, the creative impulse moved to the plains and low plateaus of the south end of the Yucatán peninsula, where the Puuc cities saw their moment of glory.

Each Maya city exhibits a unique style, although regions and epochs lent them certain common features. When we visit the ruins of the cities that seem to suddenly appear from the dense jungle, we cannot but admire the engineering workmanship which guaranteed the supply of provisions and water to the inhabitants; the fine stucco decorations; the stone estelas, dumb witnesses to the most advanced calendar system of those days; the ample and complex network of roads that criss-crossed all the land, keeping communications, commerce and interchange open to all Maya centres.

The names of the old cities are forgotten. The ones we use today were made up by explorers and missionaries, travelers and archaeologists. One of the few prehispanic names we keep is that of the City of the Wizards of the Water, Chichén Itzá.

The huge ceremonial esplanade in Tikal contains three big platforms, and over them rest the pyramidal buildings so common in the ancient Maya cities. To the north of the Great Plaza, one of these platforms defines the area. Ten pyramidal basements are built over it, distributed in a symetric manner to the west and east of its central axis. To the center of the plaza, and to the south of it, two more vast platforms perform the same function, to give the complex a unique, majestic atmosphere. Seen from a distance, the buildings seem to surface from the bottom of the green sea of the tropical forest.

The temples that emerge so gracefully from the jungle, with almost vertical walls, have a molded base and composite corners, to accentuate the impression of height. Over the back walls you may appreciate the typical crests of Tikal. The stairs go up on the front and they do not show any lateral support, something which gives the building an aura of even greater height.

Many of the palaces contain one or two rows of rooms on just one floor, but in Tikal there also two, three and even five storey buildings. The emphasis put in height and verticality gives an imposing touch to the city. It seems that the constructors wanted to come closer to Heaven and to their gods in this way, and in doing it, they raised the tallest buildings in ancient America. One of the temples in Tikal reaches 70 meters in height.

The Stone Estelas

Tikal is a city of many estelas. To this day, more than 80 have been found, a fourth of them carved with bas reliefs representing personalities, figures, glyphs and “long count” dates. It is possible that the non-carved estelas were painted, but the merciless passing of time has erased the commemorative messages that might have been written over them.

PALENQUE

Palenque is located to the north of the Sierra de Chiapas, over a plateau that extends itself over the plain. With the exception of Comalcalco, it is the most western city of the Maya. The first vestiges in Palenque show that the area was occupied as far back as the 4th century A.D., but it did not reach its zenith until the 7th and the 8th century, when the Maya Classical Period was at its height.

The ceilings of the buildings in Palenque follow the outline of the false vault, or Mayan vault, so their profile reminds us of the straw huts which, then and today, serve many Maya families well. Crests are widely used as ornaments to buildings. To admire in Palenque, above almost everything else, are the very fine decorations in stucco, very characteristic of this city.

The Palace

The Palace is built over a gigantic trapezoidal platform, 100 by 75 meters, and to a height that varies to compensate for irregularities in the terrain. Steam baths and water distribution installations have been found in this building, something that leads to the idea that it was used as a dwelling in its time.

The tower of the Palace, which may have served as observatory or watchtower, lends a very distinct profile to Palenque, although it is thought that the original form was not preserved when the building was restored.

Decoration in relief, molded in stucco, reached a high degree of perfection in Palenque. Stucco was a very fine paste made of lime with a bit of sand in it, which was in turn applied over stone supports anchored to the walls, ceilings or crests. In many cases, the interior side of the walls were covered with stucco and later painted.

One of the most spectacular examples of stucco sculpture in Palenque is the representation of the god of Death, boasting an admirable, dramatic realism in its features and detail. Another good example of this type of ornamental sculpture is found in one of the rooms of the Palace, where a cross-eyed Mayan priest shows his carefully modeled face from a doorhead.

Numerals a\nd Glyphs

Inside the Palace there is a series of stairs, decorated with glyphs and Maya numerals. The unusually large size and the perfection of the workmanship in these reliefs sets them apart from the rest of marvels found inside this superb building.

Construction work in Uxmal began in the 6th century A.D., but the effort went on for more than 600 years. This is the most important Puuc style city in the Mayan country. The name Puuc comes from some very modest elevations found nearby, which the Yucatecans refer to as the “Sierra” Puuc.

The low half of each edifice in Uxmal is plain and unadorned, while the superior half is decorated with elaborate limestone mosaics and carved masks that represent the god Chac, the big nosed god of rain. The buildings in Uxmal are huge, but not very high, something that lends an elegant and sober air to the city. The soft colors of the limestone almost blend with the surroundings.

This temple rests upon a massive basement of elliptical shape, with a highly slanted talus. The staircase, protected by rows of masks carved in stone, climbs to the top and to the temple itself, which is soberly decorated.

This very beautiful compound of four long palaces is grouped around a patio 80 meters long by 70 meters wide. To get in, you pass below a Mayan arch located halfway to the south side of the complex. The palace which delimits the south side is elevated over a terrace six meters high, accesible by way of an ample staircase.

The facades on the buildings that conform the quadrangle are adorned with elaborate representations of Mayan huts, rectangles and Chac masks, with superimposed ornaments such as carved loops, lattices, small columns, human shapes, birds and monkeys.

The Palace is built over a staircased platform divided in three sections. The walls are crowned by a cornice shaped as a knot, with a serpent that shows its heads on each corner. Five Chac masks preside over it, superimposed on the corners of each section.

The decoration includes representations of sea shells, laces and knots, masks, two headed serpents and tufts of feathers carved in limestone.

Towards the end of the terrace outside the Palace of the Governor lies the House of the Turtles. It shows a regular layout, a simple facade, and a frieze with small columns surrounded by ornaments shaped as lacings and series of stone turtles anchored from roof to roof at the top.

Inside the Puuc zone, Kabah is one of the Mayan cities most easily accessed, since it is located to the side of the Pyramid Highway that runs from Campeche to Mérida. It is connected to Uxmal, which acted as capital city for Kabah, by 18 kilometers of “sacbé”, or Mayan white road. It reached its apogee between the years 800 and 900 A.D., although its history is much more ample than that brief period.

The Maya Vault

The Maya invented their own vault, made of superimposed flat stones, called Maya vault or false vault. In Kabah there are several places where the Maya vault and arch may be appreciated. It is very interesting to see how the ancient engineers managed to solve the problem of sustaining their roofs, doors and windows.

Chac, the huge nosed god for rain and weather, appears in Kabah as the principal decorative motif. We have to remember the great importance that the Maya assigned to the weather, the seasons and the rain. The growing of maize, which was almost considered as a god, is what made them different from the nomad peoples, hunters-gatherers with no means for a sedentary life. Chac was (and still is) a deity much appreciated by the Maya for of that reason. Along with Chac, the architects of Kabah used carved lacings, small columns and false capitals to adorn the walls of their city.

SAYIL and LABNÁ

Not far from Kabah, Sayil and Labná complete, along with Uxmal, the picture of which is the Maya Architecture known as Puuc style. This zone was developed at the beginning of the 8th century A.D., when the lowland cities of the Maya were in decadence or already abandoned.

Just in the middle of the dense Guatemalan tropical forest, in the department of El Petén, the greatest of all the ancient Maya cities thrived: Sayil. Her constructive development spans more than 1,200 years, from the 3rd century B.C. to the 9th century A.D. A definite characteristic of its architecture is the height of its temples and palaces -sometimes counting several storeys- crowned by ornamented crests. Finely carved lintels and doorheads are also found in Sayil.

What gives deserved fame to Labná is its great Mayan arch, which connects two adjacent quadrangles. It is the first thing the fortunate traveler sees when he or she arrives in the city.

Towards the end of the ceremonial esplanade, the Edifice of the Columns permits access, to this day, to the water stored in the chultún below. A chultún is an underground reservoir of water, commonly built in the Yucatán to store rainwater. The Maya families who live nearby climb every day to the roof of the building to gain access to the round mouth that opens to the water below. In this way they get the water they need for personal use, daily bath included.

Tulum reached its highest splendor in the 1200 A.D., and it was still thriving when the Spanish arrived. They were amazed by the beauty, size and strength of the city. It must has been an important point in the network of commercial ports and havens that the Maya maintained over all of the southeast coast of the Yucatán peninsula. These maritime shelters, along with the sacbés, or white roads, were the heart of the communications and transportation system used by the Yucatán Maya in their time.

Temples and administrative buildings are located inside the fortress. Among these are: The Castle, The Watchtower, The Temple of the Frescoes, and the Temple of the Descending god.

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Photo gallery: Night in Mina Dos Estrellas, a haunted mine in Mexico

The proverbial bat in the belfry, a boy trapped in a bathroom, and a witching hour wander deep into the heart of a century old tunnel provided the eerie highlights of my recent overnighter at Mina Dos Estrellas, not far from Tlalpujahua in northeastern Michoacan (see map). Yet one resident phantom, reputed to be a child that flits past windows and sometimes seeks a cold embrace, was regrettably missing from the action.

The Dos Estrellas (Two Stars) mine has had a long and checkered history. It was a fabled producer of gold and silver in a region that was the early stomping ground of the man whose touch in the 18th century turned everything to, if not gold, silver — Jose de la Borda.

Then one night more than 70 years ago, the god of an underground commerce that had been vigorously worked since Prehispanic times vented its wrath, unleashing a tragedy on those who made a living from its veins.

Brought to its greatest heights by the Frenchman F.J. Fournier at the turn of the 20th century, the Dos Estrellas ultimately went the way of its predecessors in 1959 — a victim of diminishing returns and fluctuating markets.

Today assorted machinery lies rusting at the site, which has been converted into a museum. The once technologically vaunted processing mills, refining stations and purification plants that teemed with serious men and activity now slowly succumb to the elements in the surrounding forest.

I came to the mine as a guest of a friend, Eduardo Anguiano, whose brother Salvador is the official photographer for the Museo Technologico Minero, and its curator, resident muralist and ostensible owner, Don Gustavo Bernal Navarro.

The museum is open to the public during normal operating hours, and it’s free. Exploring the mine’s main tunnel is a must for all visitors and it’s an interesting experience during the day, to be sure — but at midnight… well, that’s another thing.

Salvador and his wife, Mari, had already arrived at Dos Estrellas from their home base in Morelia when Eduardo and I got there after a two and a half hour drive from Mexico City. They’d brought their sons and several of their sons’ friends along for the fun. We settled in the rooms of the former Mine Superintendent’s Office. The gates closed at 5 p.m. and then we had the Dos Estrellas to ourselves.

One boy paid a visit to the bathroom across from our rooms. He entered and closed the door. When he tried to leave, the door would not open. After some time, his cries were heard by somebody (we were all scattered across the mine’s environs exploring in twos and threes). Sure enough, the door was stuck. In fact, it seemed to be locked.

After an hour of fruitless effort, Salvador contacted Don Gustavo, who drove over from Tlalpujahua with a set of keys for every room in the complex, including a skeleton key — and none of them opened that door. Finally, five or six spirited kicks brought the door down. It was the only way to get the kid out.

Don Gustavo was mystified.

Later in the evening we discovered that a room we’d earlier explored housed a bat. This creature, quite frankly, is one of nature’s more grotesque productions, and the sight of it suitably grossed everyone out. Like some glistening rat embryo, it hung suspended from a corner, when suddenly it shot off at us, wings nightmarishly spread. A brief episode of pandemonium ensued as we escaped its manic swoops.

The midnight tour of the tunnel by torchlight, along with explorations of the surrounding ore processing buildings well into the early hours of the morning, was an uncanny experience in its own right — even if no phantoms were encountered.

Yet the Dos Estrellas was once featured on the hit MTV reality program MTV’s Fear a few years ago and gained considerable notoriety at the time. The show’s premise was that half a dozen contestants spend two nights in an apparently haunted location and complete a series of dares. The Dos Estrellas holds the distinction of being the only location used twice, since the group partaking in the first episode abandoned their stay claiming that the spiritual energy was “too dangerous.” It was the only episode in the history of the show in which every team member quit. When the second episode was filmed at the mine, half that team also quit midway though production.

Tlalpujahua

Nearby Tlalpujahua was named a Pueblo Mágico in 2005. The designation refers to an initiative developed by the Secretariat of Tourism to confer “magical village” status on those places with “legends, history, important events… magic in its social and cultural manifestations.”

Here one may visit the Museum of Mineralogy and History and the Lopez Rayon Brothers Museum, along with historic 16th and 17th century churches. The town is quaint enough yet it, too, relies on its reputation as a haunted locale favored by ghostbusters.

Fantastic legends abound in the environs of Tlalpujahua; many of them stem from a catastrophe that occurred here in 1937 — inextricably linked with the Dos Estrellas — when a dam containing mineral waste (a slag heap, basically) broke and buried a segment of the town, killing more than 300 people. Tales arose of ghosts roaming former streets destroyed by mud and debris, seeking earthbound relatives to tell them where their savings could be found.

Today the almost entirely buried remains of a church, known colloquially as the “Iglesia Enterrada,” can be visited just outside Tlalpujahua in a clearing in the forest. It is a haunting, surreal sight; a small cemetery inhabits the woods nearby.

A serial killer once lived in the town in the 1970s. Mexican horror movies by the Galindo brothers including Pánico en la Montaña and Trampa Infernal were filmed here in the 1980s; and in 2008 the inaugural Mórbido: Festival Internacional de Cine Fantástico y de Terror was staged at the local Cine Obrero.

Now The Family — a drugs cartel that recently emerged from President Felipe Calderon’s home state to lay waste to its once benign reputation — is the embodiment of fear around these parts.

Balaclava-clad soldiers riding shotgun on jeeps rumbling through the streets of Tlalpujahua can instill a slight sense of unease. Accordingly, the Morbido brains trust has canceled Tlalpujahua as its venue this year. They’re taking the festival to Mexico City — calculating that it’s a safer bet than this little town of 18,000 souls nestled in the hills of Michoacan! Of course, if one forever obsessed over the security situation in Mexico, tourism would become a ghost of the past, too.

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Let’s face it.

Escaping Mexico City can be a great thing.

Now more than ever.

So much so that one would think that this unrestrained monster we call the Federal District, and the paranoia revolving around it, is a modern phenomenon.

Time to think again.

In the early 1700s a century-old community of monks, dwelling along the southwest edge of the Valley of Mexico, were terribly concerned about the encroaching society of the nation’s nearby capital.

It turned out that the Carmelitas at Santo Desierto de Los Montes de Sante Fe eventually left their sacred ground in search of the ultimate hideaway.

Perhaps it was divine intervention.

Today the cradle of their order is the main attraction at Desierto de los Leones, a forested part of Mexico City where thousands peruse the abandoned monastery and picnic in its gardens.

Meanwhile, however, the Carmelitas having found their paradise a few hundred miles to the east in the town of Tenancingo in the State of Mexico are enjoying the silent meditation and prayer they are accustomed to.

Since 1796 (with the exception of a few periods when anti-clerical trends and/or military occupations forced an evacuation of the area), the brothers have meditated, prayed and educated their own atop a secluded, misty mountain that overlooks the luscious valley of Tenancingo.

They and the locals call the sacred place El Carmen de Tenacingo. You won’t find your average tourist here. In fact, you probably won’t encounter any. But for sheer beauty it’s one of Mexico’s best kept secrets.

And if you’re a Federal District kind of person—you know, the kind who inhales large doses of carbon monoxide on a daily basis—why not make an exodus of your own and discover some of that peace and tranquility. Times have changed and the Carmelitas don’t mind visitors as long as they are quiet and respect the beauty of their holy grounds.

Actually the middle-of-nowhere 15-minute drive up the mountain, with its single-lane, unpaved road, does not encourage large groups of tourists. Nevertheless it’s worth the trouble for anyone enchanted with Mexican ecclesiastical heritage or far-out colonial spots. And if you consider the nearby Malinalco pre-Hispanic ruins, the “Nevado de Toluca” volcano and the charming pueblo of Tenancingo, it starts to look like the culmination of a great country day out.

The monastery includes a large Neoclassical church, spectacular gardens, mountain-top views, rooms for retreat/prayer groups (like rooms you would find in a 5-star historic hotel), and a “clausura” a restricted men-only area where the monks and their apprentices eat, sleep, pray meditate and learn. Inside the church is a wealth of 17th-century paintings and sculptures, some of which have been or are in the process of being restored by students at the National School of Restoration.

Of particular note is “La Dolorosa,” a rare and beautiful statue adorned with hundreds of offerings from poor campesinos who live in nearby villages.

A good time to see the church is on Sundays when a few Masses are held during morning hours. The church is surprisingly filled with devout locals who literally come out of the forest from all directions to listen to the sermon and place flowers below the various saintly symbols.

Although some attractive features are completely off-limits to travelers, the main garden, “Jardin de la Cruz,” is open at various intervals during the day. The view of the valley is heavenly. It’s no wonder that this is the monk’s garden of choice for deep meditation.

Many of the young clerics have taken a vow of silence for their training and are hardly seen. There are few women around (they mostly make up the kitchen staff) and the boys are forbidden any contact. However, according to an inside source (an old groundskeeper) it hasn’t been uncommon in the past for a lad to abandon the area and the monkhood in some kind of love-struck euphoria.

For those who stay, there are vegetable gardens, a small population of livestock, horses and a wide variety of trees. But the monks aren’t totally self-sufficient or isolated as in the good ol’ days: they leave for the city or have others visit with supplies on a steady basis. There’s also a small gift shop which offers religious articles and a book on the history of the Carmelitas in Mexico. Judging by their story, it’s amazing not to find for sale some tacky bumper sticker like “Welcome to the Desierto, now go home.” However, the store does have a telephone if you want to drop a line.
Tel.: (01) 727-02-288.

How To Get There

By Car: Take the Toluca Highway (Carretera Toluca) from Mexico City. Take the Malinalco exit (Deviación Malinalco) and continue until the intersection (cruce) Malinalco-Tenancingo. Take the Tenancingo highway (it’s actually a worn-down, two lane road) to the city of Tenancingo. Continue and watch for signs of El Carmen de Tenancingo. There is only one exit and road to the monastery. Most locals can point visitors in the right direction. It’s a bumpy, mountain road. Take your time and enjoy the scenery.
Estimated travel time: two hours.

By Bus: At the bus station located at Metro Observatorio,take the bus to Tenancingo. The driver will leave passengers at the Central Camionera in Tenancingo. From there take a taxi to El Carmen de Tenancingo. Estimated travel time: two hours and 30 minutes. WARNING: If you are going to arrive in Tenancingo after 6 p.m. the bus will leave passengers at a stop along the highway. From there you can choose to take a 20-peso taxi ride to the monastery or take a 5-peso colectivo.

• Jonathan Whitaker is a freelance journalist currently based in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

ANNOTATION – By Ron Mader

Endangered – Nearly 200 years after the Carmelite monks left the area, an encroaching Mexico City still threatens the Desierto de los Leones

A short, one-day side trip from Mexico City takes you to the fresh air and the dense pine and oak forests of Desierto de los Leones, Mexico’s first national park. Located on the western side of the valley, the abundant springs were the major water source for Mexico City and the dense forests attracted pilgrims and loggers alike.

The name of the park, which translates to Desert of the Lions” might appear misleading. If you’re looking for Lawrence of Arabia type sands, you will be sorely disappointed. This is not a desert but an area named for its (one-time) inaccessibility. The Desierto is a pleasant retreat, made even sweeter by occasional Sunday concerts at the Carmelite monastery (completed in 1611) in the center of the park.

The Carmelites believed that they should worship in a house in the wilderness” to honor their spiritual founder, Saint Elias. They built their convent and spent almost two hundred years paying homage to God in the wilderness. As the centuries passed, Mexico City grew, so much so that the urban encroachment made the region not secluded enough for the spiritual pilgrims, so the monks moved to the town of Tenancingo, and the Desierto de Los Leones monastery became an ex-convent” in 1801.

The dense forests caught the eye of investors and in the 1880s Mexico City officials encouraged logging in the area so much so that the excessive forestry caused a diminished flow from the springs that fed the Mexico City population. It was one of the clearest cases of deforestation having severe consequences in the country. As a result, a few years later, when the Mexico City government auctioned off land in the Desierto, it was with the proviso that the buyers agreed to conserve the springs and not cut down trees protecting the underground watershed.

Such noble intentions did not go unchallenged, however. In 1914 Mexican president Victoriano Huerta proposed to convert the forest reserve into a casino operation. Huerta had various schemes such as transplanting trees from Mexico City streets to his ranch in the northern Mexico City district of Azcapotzalco but this proposal of converting the park into a casino went bust amidst the bustle of the ongoing revolution. To safeguard the forests, Mexico’s premier conservationist Miguel Angel de Quevedo (source of the name for the “Quevedo” metro stop) urged President Venustiano Carranza to establish Desierto de los Leones as Mexico’s first national park in 1917. While the forests in this park and the Ajusco mountains in general still function as the lungs of Mexico City, they are not immune to environmental degradation.

Prevailing wind patterns in the valley affected the forests and pollution contributed to a die-off of oyamel firs in Desierto de los Leones in the early 1980s. Weakened by pollution, the trees are plagued by small burrowing worms that lodge themselves between the bark and the trunk, interrupting the flow of sap.

In 1996 government officials launched a new program called “S.O.S. Operation Desert” that combines reforestation programs, agroforestry, and new natural management techniques to boost the trees’ health. Woodpeckers are being re-introduced into the forests to help restore balance to the ecosystem. The history of this park is far from over.

Ron Mader is the author of the guidebook Mexico: Adventures in Nature and host of the popular Planeta.com: Eco Travels in Latin America website ( https://www.planeta.com).

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Did You Know…?

A small church with a rather nondescript exterior in a tiny village (Tupátaro) just off the main highway between Morelia and Pátzcuaro hardly sounds like the kind of place where you’re likely to find one of Latin America’s artistic masterpieces, but initial appearances can be very deceiving.

The whitewashed exterior of Tupátaro’s church may be plain, but its interior is richly decorated and absolutely breathtaking. The present church, thought to date from the eighteenth century, is dedicated to Santiago Apostol (St. James). It houses several outstanding artistic treasures.

Near the entrance is the life-size El Cristo de Cuanajo, made of cornpaste (pasta de caña de maíz) in the style typical of the Pátzcuaro region.

The church’s elaborate gilded retablo (the altarpiece behind the main altar) dates from 1761 and includes paintings depicting Christ’s Passion, carvings of pelicans (a symbol of Christ’s sacrifice) and a painting of the Three Kings, besides another panel depicting the village’s patron saint.

One of several unexpected surprises that emerged during restoration work carried out in the church in the 1980s and early 1990s by Enrique Luft is the fact that the eighteenth century altar table is entirely covered with silver leaf.

But, by far the most remarkable feature of the church is its magnificent painted wooden ceiling. Only a small number of churches in Mexico still have artesonado ceilings, and almost all of them are located in Michoacán. Artesonado ceilings are apparently of mixed Arabic / Spanish ancestry. The name derives from the similarity of their shape to a gigantic upside-down artesa or wooden trough. This particular artesonado ceiling is vividly painted, in its entirety, with panels illustrating the Life and Passion of Christ; there are 42 panels in all and the effect is awesome.

The central section (dated 1772) of the ceiling depicts well-known incidents in Christ’s life like the Last Supper and the Ascension. The side panels display Archangels in all their glory. Details include cherubs, miniature portraits, fruit, superb headdresses… Various different dates, ranging from 1725 to 1793, are found on the supporting crossbeams, suggesting that the ceiling took several phases of work to complete.

The pigments used in the paintings, derived mainly from vegetables and insects, are reds, blues, greens and browns. The indigenous artists responsible for all this elaborate work remain anonymous, but their masterpiece is one of the finest examples of what has come to be known as the Popular Mexican Baroque style.

Lovingly restored, this colonial gem is now looked after by INAH, the federal institute for anthropology and history. A resident INAH custodian is on hand, whenever the church is open, to switch on the soft lighting artfully positioned so as to reveal most of the incredible details of the paintings. The custodian is also prepared to provide some explanation (in Spanish) of both the techniques used and the subject matter chosen by those enterprising indigenous eighteenth century “Michelangelos” of the New World.

The church attracts some 16,000 visitors a year. Admission is free, but donations to INAH are accepted. Opening hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday to Sunday (closed Monday).

How to get there / Where to stay:
Tupátaro is about 4 kilometers south of the major divided highway (federal highway 14) that links the town of Patzcuaro to the city of Morelia, the state capital of Michoacán. The side road to Tupátaro is signposted about 50 kilometers west of Morelia or 15 kilometers east of Pátzcuaro. The village of Tupátaro has no tourist services. Incidentally, the village’s name, Tupátaro, means “place of reeds or bulrushes”, plants that still thrive in profusion today on the shores of nearby Lake Patzcuaro and are widely used in making modern handicrafts. Consider combining your visit to see the “Sistine Chapel of the Americas” with some serious purchasing of wooden hand-made crafts and furniture in the nearby village of Cuanajo. For those wanting to stay overnight, Pátzcuaro, with its rich Indian heritage, has excellent hotels and restaurants and is an excellent base from which to explore the fascinating countryside round about. Alternatively, Morelia, which enjoys “World Heritage” status, is a large and lively city. It also has the full range of excellent tourist services and is about 50 minutes driving time from Tupátaro.

Reference / Further Reading:
Many of the details in this article are based on Richard Perry’s authoritative account of colonial religious architecture in the region, “Blue Lakes and Silver Cities; The Colonial Arts and Architecture of West Mexico” (Espadaña Press, 1997). The book can be ordered on-line from Sombrero Books. Some additional historical information (regrettably without pictures) is included on INAH’s web-site

The illustrations accompanying this article are from a poster supplied by the Tourism Secretariat of the State of Michoacan.

Copyright 2002 by Tony Burton. All rights reserved.

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-Valley of Anahuac, New Year’s Eve, 1507.

Tenochtitlán, the great island city, capital of the Mexica empire, lies cloaked in darkness. An eerie silence pervades the vast ceremonial center — the Teocalli or Templo Mayor — spreading out over Moctezuma’s splendid palace, with its botanical gardens and well-stocked zoo, across the market places, canals, aqueducts, and within each of the humble abodes in the residential wards.

For five full days, activity in the normally bustling metropolis has ceased. Commerce has been suspended, ceremonial and household fires extinguished, clothing, furniture, crockery and religious idols torn, broken and smashed. It is a time of fasting, sexual abstinence and uneasy waiting. But the nemotemi — empty days — that mark the end of the solar cycle are about to come to an end.

At the summit of Uixachtecatl — the Star Hill — overlooking Tenochtitlán, the city’s astronomer-priests anxiously watch the heavens. Each is outfitted in the image of one of their many gods. They await nature’s sign, for not until the Pleiades appear on the horizon can the sacred New Year’s ritual begin.

Finally a noble captive is guided to the sacrificial stone. At the moment the brilliant star cluster reaches its zenith the priests jump into action. With one swift stroke of a razor-sharp obsidian knife they slash open their honored victim’s chest. They work furiously to kindle fire within the gaping wound, and as the first spark turns to flame, cut out the heart, casting it upon a brazier. One by one, a line of waiting couriers step forward to ignite their torches, then turn back towards the darkened city to relay the New Fire first to the altars of the Templo Mayor and thence to every temple and hearth throughout the empire.

For the next 12 days Tenochtitlán will erupt in unbridled festivity, for this ceremony marks not only the commencement of the new xiuhmolpilli  — year bundle  —  but also the start of a new 52-year calendar cycle. According to Mexica belief, if the New Fire failed to ignite, the sun would surely perish. But on this night it seemed that the gods were pleased; El Quinto Sol  — the Fifth Sun — would continue to illuminate the Mexica Empire. Once again the forces of darkness had been routed by the powers of light.

Or had they? We can only surmise the above scenario of that final New Fire ritual and wonder whether the wise priests perceived some augur of their civilization’s imminent doom. Did they in fact forsee that only a few years hence the mighty Tenochtitlán would be laid to waste, that the foundations of another metropolis would be created from the rubble of their lofty temples? Did they envision that conquerers from a distant land would be so indifferent to their accomplishments, so reviled by their religious customs that all evidence of the Mexica culture would be systematically destroyed and suppressed for generations to come?

As it happened, the Empire of the Mexicas (or Aztecs as the Spanish called them) fell to Cortés and his Conquistadores in 1521. Within a few short years the heathen temples were obliterated and valuable records, such as friar Bernardino de Sahagún’s codices — a 12-volume encyclopedia of Aztec life and culture — secreted and gathering dust.

Widespread interest in Mexico’s pre-Hispanic past was not awakened until 1790, when an astonishing artifact was uncovered during a renovation of el Zócalo, Mexico City’s central plaza. It was a massive disk of carved basalt, three feet thick and 12 feet in diameter, weighing some 24 metric tons. A veritable monument to art and science, the monolith initially remained at the Zócalo, embedded for viewing in the base of the west tower of the Metropolitan Cathedral. A hundred years later it was transferred to Mexico’s National Museum of Anthropology, where today it stands as the institution’s centerpiece.

Following the first intepretations of the intricately carved hieroglyphs it was labeled the Aztec Calendar Stone. In current thought Stone of the Fifth Sun is considered a more apt moniker. Though scholars have long debated the stone’s meaning and purpose, they still puzzle over its many mysteries. Some suggest that, fixed horizontally, it served as a sacrificial altar. Most now agree that it offers a graphic representation of the Mexica cosmos.

The stone’s outer rim shows two fire serpents meeting face to face at the lower extreme. Their tails are joined at the top with the symbol for the ritual date 13-Reed, considered to represent the creation, possibly corresponding to 1011 A.D. Looking out from the center of the stone is the sun god Tonatuih. His tongue, in the form of a sacrificial flint knife, protrudes from between his bared teeth, while in each claw-like hand he grasps a human heart. The god is surrounded by four glyphs symbolizing the cataclysms that ended each of the prior solar eras. According to Mexica belief, earth’s earliest inhabitants were devoured by jaguars. The demise of the second sun brought destruction by great winds. The third era ended with fiery rain, while the fourth sun was extinguished by massive floods.

These symbols, together with the image of Tonatuih, are neatly contained in the abstract motif for motion called ollin. It is surmised that the stone reveals the predicted date of destruction for El Quinto Sol during a 4-Ollin cycle. The Mexicas attempted to preserve their era, forestalling catastrophe by sating the gods with myriad rituals and sacrifices, including a steady diet of human blood.

In fulfilling their sacred duties to some 1,600 deities, the Mexicas adhered to a complex calendar system. There was a civil calendar made up of 18 months of 20 days each, which with the ominous nemontemi brought the total of the solar year to a tidy 365 days. A second sacred calendar — the tonalpohualli — was an ancient ritualistic almanac, probably adopted from the Mayan culture, comprising 260 days. Each 24-hour cycle was designated by one of 20 day names plus a number from 1 to 13. A band of the 20 day-sign gylphs encircles the Sun Stone’s center.

The formula by which the two calendars were combined meant that no one date would be repeated for a period of 18,980 days. Thus the last day of a solar cycle and the last day of a sacred cycle coincided just once every 52 years. It was on this auspicious occasion that El Quinto Sol was considered in greatest jeopardy of extinction. A successful New Fire ceremony would assure the the reappearance of the orb and continued survival of human civilization.

The intercalation of a 12-day New Fire festival period once every 52 years brought the Mexicas into nearly perfect synchronization with the true cycles of earth and sun. Modern scientists calculate the tropical year to be precisely 365.2422 days. While the Gregorian calendar currently in use allots 365.2425 days for each year, the remarkable Mexicas were a bit closer to the mark at 365.2420 days.

This is just one of many unsolved mysteries that promise to keep the Mexica’s Kingdom of the Sun a subject of fascination so long as Tonatuih — the luminous one — shines upon our earth.

(This article originally appeared in the January, 1993 edition of El Ojo del Lago. With some recent revisions by the author, it is reproduced here with her kind permission, as well as that of the publisher.)

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The post Touring Mexico’s Yucatan ruins appeared first on MexConnect.

The vast majority of visitors to Cancun never make it south of Tulum. Yet to many, that’s where the adventure starts. The relatively empty region south of Tulum is a delight to nature lovers, ruin buffs and adventure travelers. The best way to see this region is to rent a car for several days but long distance busses are frequent on this highway.

If you start your trip in Chetumal, the southern city and capital of the state of Quintana Roo you should take some time to visit the Maya ruins near there.

The ruins close to Chetumal are some of the best on the Yucatan Peninsula. Kohunlich is in the forest and is extensive and delightful. Dzibanche is a newly restored “Tikal-like” city with almost no visitors yet has great restored temples on high pyramid bases. Both can be seen in a day from Chetumal. Other great sites further along Highway 186 are Xpuhil, Becan, Chicanna, Balku, the Rio Bec centers and of course, Calakmul, one of the major players in the Peten in the late Classic period. Basic and upscale lodgings are now available in the pueblo of Xpuhil.

I recommend renting a car for your trip up the coast but if not, then book a day tour in Chetumal to these places or it might even be cheaper to make a deal with a taxi driver to spend a day going to them. Before leaving Chetumal be sure and visit the Museum of the Maya Culture. I haven’t yet seen it but it is highly recommended in many books.

A nice place to see near Chetumal is Lake Bacalar (Laguna de los Siete Colores). The little town of Bacalar has a Spanish fort to check out and the lake itself is a fantastic place to swim and kayak. See if you can find a place to rent kayaks (or get a kayak tour) at the lake because it is an incredible place, especially at the south end where there are wetland channels and a small outlet called the Rio Chaak. The swimming in this fast current creek is great. There is plenty of jungle all around. The clear warm water is unreal! There are several upscale hotels located at the south end of Lake Bacalar.

An excellent side road to the coast goes from Cafetal, just beyond the north end of Lake Bacalar to Majahual, where hotels are springing up on the last long stretch of deserted beach on the east coast. From this location boats take divers and snorkel tours to the Chinchorro Banks, an enormous atoll and reef complex about 15 to 20 miles offshore. This “unspoiled” area is set to be the next huge area of coastal tourist development in the near future. It will undoubtedly change the character of the southeast coast from the tranquility of today to the supercharged pace of the Cancun area. See it before it is too late!!

Further up the highway toward Cancun is the sleepy town of Felipe Carillo Puerto. Don’t let the slow pace let you pass it by. It has the most incredible history of any town in Mexico. It used to be called Chan Santa Cruz and was founded by the rebel Maya following Yucatan’s Caste War (1847-1850), and until 1900 it was the capital of the only Native American state ever to become successfully established since the Spanish conquest of the Americas.

Chan Santa Cruz was built in part with the labor of Ladino slaves captured by the “Cruzob”, the rebels who worshiped a set of “speaking crosses” housed in the “Balam Na” or House of the Jaguar. The building, which was a Maya temple, is today the Catholic church of the town. This little town survived 50 years of Yucatecan and Mexican army raids before it finally surrendered 100 years ago.

While there, also go to see the Grotto of the Speaking Crosses, four blocks east of the central plaza. Virtually all of the Maya in this region are the descendants of the Cruzob rebels and there is no love for the Mexican government there.

The speaking crosses still exist and are housed in a small temple in the village of Tixcacal Guardia. Visitors are not allowed to view the “santisimas.” Maya villages housing the descendents of the Cruzob rebels are scattered in the dense forests around their former capital.

Just before reaching Tulum there is a small Cruzob village called Chunyaxche, where you can explore an interesting small Maya ruin, Muyil. The main pyramid, very similar to one at Coba is newly restored and is very photogenic. You can also enter a recently opened tomb in another rather ruined pyramid. When I entered the very dark burial chamber I was surprised (and delighted) to see the remains of recent offerings from the Maya villagers of Chunyaxche. The ancient Maya still live!!!

A wonderful thing to do there is ask the villagers to take you out into the nearby lakes (Laguna Chunyaxche and Laguna Muyil) inside of the Sian Ka an Biosphere Reserve. The lakes are fantastic and you can see “Petenes” or islands of old growth tropical forest rising out of the vast wetlands of the region. There is also an ancient Maya canal, dug more than 1000 years ago, straight as an arrow and several miles long which connects the ruin of Muyil with the sea. At the far end of Laguna Chunyaxche is a Maya temple, as if it were a guard station for trading canoes going into the lake. It is on the banks of a natural stream and the swimming there is fine. I wouldn’t miss this trip!!

You can make the arrangements to see this area by asking the villagers. Be sure and negotiate! Another possibility is to find a tour agency in Tulum and ask them to take you on a wetland boat tour of the lakes and the Xamach Lagoon of the Sian Ka an Reserve. Kayak tours are an even better way to really enjoy the quiet of the wetlands. Tours are the only legal way of seeing the reserve.

The once tiny Cruzob village of Tulum is now growing into city-status rapidly. However, it is well situated for forays to the many worthwhile places nearby. It is still a Maya town, although they may already be a minority. A motel or hotel room in Tulum is a good alternative to the pricy beach hotels on the nearby coast. The Tulum ruins are situated in a spectacular cliff and beach setting but are already the most visited archaeological site in the Americas. Go there before the multitudes of bus tours arrive in the morning or after they leave in the afternoon.

Be sure to visit Cobá ruins before going any farther north. It is the best ruin on that part of the coast although it is well inland. Cobá was a “Peten-style” Maya city having more in common with the Classic Maya cities of the lowland forests of Guatemala than the other Maya sites of the Yucatan. Two large pyramids tower above the tropical forest and dozens of small temples, pyramids and carved stelae dot this extensive site. Well marked paths through Coba are each atop an ancient road (sacbe). This is a fine place to get that “lost world” feeling and is a wonderful place to experience the tropical forest and to see forest life.

There are some small inexpensive hotels near the ruins (close to some beautiful lakes) and several restaurants. Bus service connects the site with Tulum and the cities of Chemáx and Valladolid to the north. If you drive there from Tulum there are several very nice cenotes (small freshwater sinkholes) with excellent swimming. Gran Cenote is located near the Tulum crossroad and is a nice one. Bring along snorkeling gear for cave swimming.

A noteworthy ruin north of Tulum is right across the highway from the entrance to Xelha National Park. The Xelha ruins are very nice and practically deserted considering the thousands of visitors to the National Park right next door! One temple, ten feet from the highway and easily seen as one cruises down the road, contains a painted wall mural of the Tlaloc war god of the great Central Mexican city of of Teotihuacán. Since that city was destroyed by fire around AD 600 the mural is very old in comparison to most of the other structures at Xelha. There are also wall murals to be seen a few miles south at Tancah ruin.

The national park at Xelha surrounds perhaps the most beautiful tropical lagoon in Mexico. The multihued waters, which extend like fingers into the surrounding forest teem with colorful fish and invite the visitor into the warm waters. Unfortunately, the volume of visitors to this fine place is overwhelming for its size and take away from the beauty of Xelha.

If you have some time while passing Puerto Morelos be sure to stop at two places. Crococun is a wild animal park (not real touristy) featuring local fauna like 16 foot long crocodiles. My favorite pen contains Maya “hairless” dogs. These quite ugly brutes were (and possibly still are) used as food by the Maya. Before the Spanish conquest, there were only a couple of domesticated animals in Mesoamerica: the dog and the turkey so reliable animal protein was limited.

The other place to see is the Botanical Gardens (Jardin Botanica). They contain the last stand of old growth tropical forest on the northeast coast and several interpretive trails have markers identifying the common trees and medicinal shrubs of Yucatan. More interesting to most are the many wild animals attracted to the park by virtue of the ban on hunting there. Monkeys swing from tree to tree and land mammals like deer, coatimundis and agoutis scamper around. It is a unique site! The last time I visited a guard showed me where a jaguar had jumped over a chain-link fence and eaten a deer the night before.

One is never far from the wilderness on the east coast. There are lots of beach towns between Tulum and Cancun, but they get quite touristy and crowded. Many expensive and moderately priced beach resort hotels line the beach for miles south of the ruins of Tulum. Cheap hotels can be found in Playa del Carmen and some smaller beach towns like Puerto Morelos.

You might also want to stay at Isla Mujeres, a laid back Mexican resort island just off the coast from Cancun. It can get crowded with day trippers from Cancun, though. The better choice for avoiding the crowds nowadays is Isla Holbox, on the northeast corner of the peninsula. Crossing the Yalahau lagoon in a small boat is quite refreshing and offers the opportunity to see pink flamingos and families of dolphins. The Holbox coast has one of the prettiest beaches in Mexico.

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Rompope, or “Mexican eggnog,” is one version of the many combinations of egg, milk, sugar and spirits that are traditionally used to toast the winter holidays in Europe and the Americas. English eggnog, a descendent of the milk and sherry combination called posset, German biersuppe made with beer, Puerto Rican coquito made with coconut milk, Peruvian biblia con pisco made with pisco brandy, and American eggnog made with either rum or bourbon are all close cousins of Mexico’s rompope.

Spain, where ponche de huevo or rompón is prepared for the holidays, was the original source of the recipes for egg punch that found their way to the Spanish colonies. There are versions of rompope in nearly all Latin American countries, where local spirits are incorporated into the drink. But it was in Mexico, where the colonial nuns created so many culinary delicacies, that rompope became a national signature drink. And it is Mexican rompope that is popular and widely available in several countries.

Rich, sweet and spicy, Mexican rompope is typical of the baroque recipes that came out of the colonial convents, particularly those of Puebla, home of mole poblano, chiles en nogada, and a variety of typical Mexican sweets. The original Mexican rompope was elaborated in Puebla’s Convento de Santa Clara in the early 1600s.

The convent had been founded in 1607 by the nuns of the order of Santa Clara, called the claristas, affiliated with the Franciscan friars. The prominent role of the Church in New Spain, the culinary skills of the nuns, and the fact that many were the daughters of wealthy Spanish families and had been exposed to fine food and service, all dictated that the nuns be appointed as the hostesses for political and religious dignitaries visiting Puebla. The Santa Clara convent was particularly famous for its sweets. Each nun had her specific job in the kitchen, and the clarista in charge of making rompope was a Sister Eduviges, who was largely responsible for the spread of its popularity.

Although the nuns made large quantities of rompope for guests, they had not been permitted to drink it until Eduviges appealed to the Mother Superior. Once permission was granted, they became accustomed to the tasty drink (one glass each being the prescribed limit) and soon were preparing it daily. Since they were making it so frequently, reasoned Eduviges, it would not be difficult to commercialize it and make money for the congregation. Soon the convent was taking orders from poblano households, and the beverage’s fame spread to other parts of Mexico.

The Convento de Santa Clara no longer functions as a cloister, though its church still stands and Puebla’s nuns still make and sell rompope. They are often present at religious celebrations in the city and village fiestas in the outlying areas selling rompope, cookies and candy. Even rompope made outside of Puebla is often referred to as rompope de Santa Clara.

Today, rompope is made all over the country and, although the commercial brands are popular, many Mexicans prefer to make it at home, especially around the holiday season. There are variations on the flavorings added to the drink, which can include almond, cinnamon, pine nuts, vanilla and even chocolate. The alcohol used also varies from region to region, although rum and the cane alcohol called aguardiente are the most common.

In addition to the holidays, Mexicans drink rompope on other festive occasions, and children are often permitted to have a small serving on a birthday or saint’s day. It is most often sipped as a liqueur or served over ice. Besides being offered as a beverage, rompope is incorporated into several desserts, including a version of tres leches (three milk) cake and rompope mousse. It is a popular topping for fresh fruit, especially mangos and strawberries, and there are even rompope flavored gelatin powders.

Commercial rompope is available in stores north of the border, especially during the holiday season, and can also be ordered on the Internet. Widely distributed brands include Santa Clara, Coronado and Santa Ines. Samswines.com, internetwines.com and quantobasta.com all sell rompope online.

Making rompope is not difficult and, even if you buy commercial brands, making at least one batch of the homemade drink is fun and easy. Mexicans often use dry cornhusks to seal the bottles, but any good seal such as a cork or screw top is fine. Be sure to use sterilized bottles and store the rompope in the refrigerator, where it will last for about three months, although it will probably be consumed before that. Unlike some American eggnog recipes, all of the rompope recipes given here call for cooking the eggs, since raw eggs can pose a health risk.

Try pouring rompope over fresh berries or ice cream, or add it to coffee to make a Mexican version of “Irish cream” coffee. Substitute rompope for half of the milk in your favorite flan recipe. Homemade rompope can be made without alcohol, although the commercial ones always contain it. The following recipes will bring some Mexican “holiday cheer” to your table.

• Almond Rompope:Rompope Almendrado
• Rompope de Chocolate: Chocolate Rompope
• Three Milk Cake with Rompope: Pastel de Tres Leches con Rompope
• Rompope Mousse: Mousse de Rompope

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Cogan’s Reviews

I’m not sure why I haven’t reviewed this book, currently in its 3rd edition, sooner. It’s been around since 1993 and it was one of the first books my wife and I read when we arrived here in Ajijic eight years ago. And – heaven knows! – I’ve reviewed more than 60 books about this fascinating country in the past few years. Anyway, this useful volume is back in a new and updated edition and it’s still as essential as ever. Whether you’re making a brief visit as a tourist, or escaping the northern winter for a few months or checking out the area more extensively as a place to spend one’s retirement years, this is one item you should have in your survival kit. It’s a nice blend of guidebook, travelogue and history text with lots of local color and some ecological notes sprinkled throughout.

Re-reading it brings back a host of good memories. I’d forgotten, for instance, Santa Maria del Oro and the impromptu New Year’s party we were invited to in the campsite there in 1994 when we visited the area – as a result of reading this book. And then there’s the lovely drive up the flower-covered slopes to Mazamitla in September and October. Also, my wife says I shouldn’t forget to mention the restaurant that Burton recommends on page 158 – the Camino Real just outside Pátzcuaro. (Cecilia never forgets a good comida.) The restaurant is located in an unlikely place, next to a gas station. But Burton’s book is like that – well researched and he’s obviously checked out all these places before writing about them. Lots of other memories flooded back as a result of a rereading.

The book covers eight distinct areas of Western Mexico in the States of Jalisco, Colima and Michoacan. Reading it leaves you wondering if there’s any country anywhere that’s offers so much variety in such a relatively small geographic area. Altitudes range from sea level to 12,600 feet, which is the peak of Tancítaro, the highest peak in Michoacan. That’s almost 2-1/2 miles straight up! The terrain includes desert, cloud forest, ocean beaches, picturesque villages, swampland, mountain ranges, tropical jungle and several cities, including, of course, one huge metropolis….Guadalajara. Also, we have volcanoes. I don’t know the precise number but there are obviously lots of them. And some are still active. As I write this, in February 2002, our local community newspaper, The Reporter, features a front page story on a volcano very close to Colima which is spewing out lava and causing the evacuation of several villages.

Guadalajara receives little mention because Burton is obviously more interested in getting into the hinterlands and exploring everything that’s out there. Be warned that it’s very much a book that’s geared to driving although the author provides maps and clear directions on how to reach the offbeat places he describes.

I know that there are lots of buses in Mexico and the first class ones are really first class. But this volume is also concerned with getting you down side roads and visiting places you might otherwise miss. Along the way you pick up all sorts of information on the various specialties offered in each community – whether it be equipale furniture, quilts, ceramic tiles, straw goods, woollen sweaters, guitars, pottery, toys or whatever. And you’re also given useful information on accommodations and restaurants and Feast Days and other occasions that might tickle your fancy.

History isn’t neglected either. People have been living in this area for thousands of years and there’s evidence everywhere regarding these former inhabitants and their societies. The author covers them with colorful accounts that enhance your explorations or are simply interesting to read, not just about the various Indian tribes that inhabited the area but also about the coming of the Conquistadors and the profound effect they had on every aspect of life here.

Burton is obviously interested in the geological and ecological history of this part of the world. He provides accounts on topics such as how Lake Chapala was formed and why there are so many of those troublesome volcanoes still around.

The book also contains some 30 or so short highlighted passages that cover various relevant subjects. For example half-page sidebars discuss topics like “Why There is Such an Astonishing Variety of Flora Here”, or “The Production of Tequila”, or “The Volcán de Fuego”, a brief look at Mexico’s most active volcano.

The book is illustrated throughout with drawings by Mark Eager. There are about three dozen of them, bringing the overall story even more to life. Maps are also provided for all the areas Burton explores and the driving routes he’s recommending.

In my humble O: It’s a volume that just makes you want to git up and go. Now then – where on earth did I leave those car keys….?

This review (2001) was of the 3rd edition.

REVIEW OF THE EXPANDED AND UPDATED 4th EDITION.

Western Mexico: A Traveler’s Treasury, 4th edition
By Tony Burton
Sombrero Books, 2013
Available from Amazon Books: Paperback

Published or Updated on: February 15, 2001 by Alan Cogan © 2008

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Cogan’s Reviews

A Mexico book by Victor Villaseñor

I reviewed the forerunner of this novel, “Rain of Gold”, a short time ago and reported that I really enjoyed it, even though I don’t normally read many family sagas. The first book was based on the history of the author’s mother’s family. This book is a kind of sequel in which Villaseñor tells us about his father’s family, who are of mixed Indian and Spanish blood. The father of the family is an exiled Spaniard who married an Indian woman.

If you’re wondering about the title, “Wild Steps of Heaven”, it is simply a metaphor for life itself, as explained in the last paragraph of the book.

“And so they began to dance, to laugh, to rejoice, and the heavens opened and the earth parted like a ripe woman, and all the universe smiled and sang with them. And all was well – who had the eyes to see and the ears to hear: life was, indeed, a living miracle, a dance up the wild steps of heaven!”

The setting of the story is around 1910, the time of the Mexican Revolution and the war is an ever-present background to the story. It’s a time when great cruelties were imposed on the Indian populace by the country’s rulers. Indeed, genocide is the only word you could use to describe what happened. The villain of the piece is a colonel of the Rurales who makes it his personal mission to see that every Indian dies in the most hideous fashion possible. As villains go – and let’s face it, they’re essential to a good story – this one is a real bastard.

Part of the family action in the story concerns the youngest son, Jose, who is banished from the family by the autocratic father but later returns to play a leading role in defending the family against the Rurales.

My difficulty with the overall telling of this story is that it doesn’t quite take place in the world as I know it. Rather, it seems to be happening on a huge three-level stage with Earth as the middle level and Heaven and Hell as the upper and lower levels. The characters are constantly referring to Mother Earth and Father Sun. Even though there’s loads of action and the actual setting is plainly realistic and historic there’s no end of magic and belief in gods and demons and omens and signs and miracles and ghosts and saints. Some of the characters seem to be forever reading larger meanings into everything that happens.

And so you get lots of passages like the following:

“Why do you think that it was you who summoned the Devil the night of the full moon and that you’re now the last male left?” said Jose to his little brother. “And why do you think that I was the one who suffered our father’s wrath and got thrown out of our home, and then it was I who brought peace between us. Because, Juan, there are no accidents in life. In our native tongue the word accident does not even exist…no matter how life turns you and twists you, the stars above are always with you. That’s why we must forgive our father and these colonels, because they just don’t know.”

The author is describing a people who clearly think in a different way from you and me and I have to say there were times when it took a little getting used to.

I have a minor quibble with the narrative too. It’s the over-use of Spanish phrases. I personally have no problem with most of what I read but I wonder what a unilingual reader would make of phrases like:

“….if only we open up nuestros corazones!”

“They now know who we really are, and we’re… chingonese, a todo dar.”

“I think I’m going to get boracha a toda madre,” she said.

There seem to be hundreds of examples of such expressions and cross-lingual dialog throughout the story, some of them translated, some of them not. They at least give a feeling of Spanish-Indian atmosphere to the story but I’m not sure they’re that much of an asset to the reader’s understanding.

In my humble O: I liked it – after all, it’s a well told, action-packed story – but not as much as “Rain of Gold.”

Wild Steps of Heaven
By Victor Villaseñor

1996

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