Yokib' Continued

Pictured below are scenes of the ascent to the top of Temple J-4 with the accompanying remains of structures. The center photo is the grave marker for Tatainia Proskouriakoff, interned there in 1984. One of the many awards she had received was the ORDER OF THE QUETSAL the highest award given to a foreigner by the Guatemalan Government.

The view of the Ususmacinta, in the lower left, is visible from the top of Temple J-4 adjacent to the Proskouriakoff burial.

From the top we made a nearly straight line descent to the beach,

through the jungle and passed more ruins.

At the beach we boarded the boats for the short trip to the confluence of Rio Busilha and on to Rancho Vallescondido our over night accommodations.

Yokib' continued

An artistic interpretation of what Yokib' looked like at the end of Late Classic Period (AD 700-800 ). The earliest ruler dates to AD 460 but the inscriptions show two references that count back in time; one reference that has to be in mythical time 4691BC and the other perhaps more realistic AD 297. Several rulers names were based on an old deity "God N" who wore a turtle carapace marked with Kan meaning yellow/precious. Over the 600 or so years Yokib' was a regional power of varying strength. References in the inscriptions are made to various sites that are unknown and well known. Some were important as allies, some important as enemies, and all were sources of captives. Yokib' itself was a source of captives for other sites. Yaxchilan was one of these polities responsible for the demise and destruction of Yokib' with the capture of Ruler 7 in AD 808. The site lingered on for two more years when the last altar was carved after which Yokib' came to a violent end.

Tatainia Proskouriakoff's depiction of the site below shows multiple doorways with carved lintels. Many stela were erected commemorating period endings as well as accession of rulers. Carving quality varied from shallow relief to nearly 3/4 relief in the later stela.

The collage below are the remains as seen today.

The two collages below show the state of the remaining carvings. Very little can be made out of the glyphs not covered in moss.

There are a few monuments on the site that can be still be deciphered.

Continued in next blog.

Yokib' (Piedras Negras)

This is the take out point on the Rio Usumacinta where we stopped for lunch described in the last blog entry. We had arrived at the site that was our primary reason for taking this trip. From here we start our exploration of the ruins of "Yokib' " the ancient Maya name for the site that is now known as Piedras Negras. Yokib', meaning entrance, is a possible reference to either the cataracts further down stream or a 100 meter wide cenote near by considered by the Maya to be a portal to the under world.

Access to this site is accomplish only by boat and at this point in time Willie is the sole provider of the means to get here. This alone makes it a unique experience but it is important to the two of us because this is where the roots of Maya Hieroglyphics were discovered by Tatainia Proskouiakoff. By studying the dates in the inscriptions she pointed out that events occurred with in a logical sequence of human life cycles. In other words the inscriptions were recording historical events which was contrary to the accepted archaeological theory of the time. Tatainia Proskouriakoff who was Russian born and educated in the United States as an architect was employed by the University of Pennsylvania's Museum and made her discoveries while working in the archives. While at the site in the 1930s, she made detailed drawings of what the complex should look like by studying the piles of rubble that represented the remains of structures.

Yokib', the largest city state along the Ususmacinta, has been reclaimed by the Chiapian Jungle and this is what it looked like as we started our trek into the ruins.

The site map below was taken from one of the books we use as a reference and is used here to show the extensive ruins that we will attempt to observe. As near as we can tell we entered the complex where the gully emerges by the "South Group", proceeding up to the "East Group", climbing through the "West Group", ending up near the top of Temple J-4, exiting the site from J-4 straight to point of origin.

Pictured below is a burial chamber the first ruins we encountered.

More on the next blog.

25 Miles On The Sacred River

After a few hours exploring the ruins at Yaxchilan Willie Fonseca met us at the landing with two out board motor boats and we began our trip to Piedras Negras. This was billed as a three hour trip down steam but the time passed with out noticing the hours. Steve was taking pictures from the smaller of the two boats and we wondered about his sanity for standing while the boat was in motion.


Below shows the full route between the two sites.

The water was quite smooth but we did hit some minor rapids which were rough enough to make you hang on. The collage below shows scenes along the way. The first picture is of the landing at Yaxchilan where we boarded Willie's boats.


Piedras Negras is on the Guatemalan side of the river. We had to stop at a guard station at El Cayo (bottom of map) to secure permission to visit Piedras Negras. We beached on a sandy bank where the official came down to the boats from his guard station located above the high water mark. Permission required that we each sign the official book documenting our visit. This sign in required names, home address as well as tour company and there was a discussion as to which tour co. should be listed ( Steve's or Willie's).


Willie had brought lunch and as we completed the book signing he gave the guard a can of pop as a friendly gesture. This does not sound like much but the remoteness of this guard station made the gesture a big item.

We proceeded on to the Piedra Negras take out point where Willie had his crew bring out the food and we had lunch right there on the bank under the trees. Beer, pop and bottled water were first priority. He served sandwiches of barbecued chicken, ham, and black bean burritos along with trimmings consisting of hot chillies, salsa, mustard, catchup, pickles. Dessert was canned peaches and chocolate cookies. Willie made sure that every thing packed in was packed out --- no wayward plastics at this site.

Monuments of Yaxchilan

Yaxchilan's stone carvings have contributed greatly to the understanding of the Maya culture during the Classic period (700 - 900 AD). Iconography and Epigraphy at this site have played a major role in deciphering the hieroglyphics that tell the story of Yaxchilan dynasty. Pictured below are some of the remaining carvings in bass-relief revealing the Maya mind set of the times. Steve is photographing a large stela(No 11)which in an aborted attempt to ship it to the Mexico City Museum was left laying on the river bank for many years. Later, a couple of enterprising people arranged for it to be barged back to Yaxchilan, where it was hauled ashore and left laying flat.

Yaxchilan is noted for the proliferation of carved lintels, numbering fifty eight in total. Since the lintels are structural elements placed at the top of door ways the carvings have been preserved as long as the structure remained in tact.

The site as we see it today reflects 8th century building efforts of a father and son dynasty who ruled consecutively from 681 to 768. All though the site itself dates to the 4th century Bird Jaguar IV (the son) was responsible for the majority of reconstruction and carving of stela and lintels that are presently seen on the site. Bird Jaguar IV, possibly the sixteenth ruler, went to a great deal of effort in his monuments to establish his credentials for being the Ahow even rewriting the history of his predecessors to make them appear more illustrious. Yaxchilan had a history of militarism and Bird Jaguar IV always was noted as "The Captor of 20".

Center top is an altar located in the plaza near the labyrinth entrance showing human figures holding up sections of glyphs that appear to be dates. Top left is a carved lintel that is treated by itself in the last picture of this Blog entry. Center row is a block of glyphs showing a stairway with a ball rolling down the steps. Lower left corner is of that ball depicting a bound human figure. The figure is upside down his head thrown back, clothing flying in the middle, lower legs bent at the knees indicating rolling action. Two pictures in the center of the collage are of one stela, a lord standing on a block of glyphs providing pertinent details about the lord above. Center bottom is of a ruler in the stance of a ball player. A double row of glyphs across the top and down the side describes the two dwarfs. The snakes on their heads and Venus signs under their arms indicate that they are gods. Stela lower right is probably Bird Jaguar IV commemorating his accession to the throne AD April 29,752. This date coincides with the Summer Solstice and the first appearance of Venus as the evening star.



Stela upper left is badly damaged and eroded and we have not been able to identify it but as noted above it may be Bird Jaguar IV. The glyphs pictured lower left are from the side of the stela laying on the ground in the previous collage (Stela 11). Down the side are random carvings from the hieroglyphic stair way, two are pictorials of the ball game and most likely captives being rolled down the stairs. This Ball Game is probably not a sporting event and likely relates to their creation myth as told in the Maya book "Popol Vuh".



Below is a picture we took of the lintel in the left most doorway of Temple 33. The scene is of two people facing each other (probably Bird Jaguar IV on the left) witnessing the conjuring of an ancestor by the burning of paper soaked in the blood of the person on the left. The paper is in a shallow bowl held by that person and the smoke curling up forms a monsters mouth from which emerges an ancestors head. (Clicking on the picture to enlarge will help you see what is being described above).

Day 7. Escudo Jaguar to Yaxchilan

We were awaken early on February 19 to an awesome sound, an extremely loud bass tone reverberating through the forest, of one long blast followed by descending bursts. A sound that perhaps resembles that made by a vacuum cleaner with a ten foot 4 inch pipe intake. Certainly no need for an alarm clock after that! Howler monkeys had just given us our wake up call. After an early breakfast we walked down to the river for a look around. The lanchas (Spanish for motor launch) were lined up for the morning trip to Yaxchilan, a route that seems to be reserved exclusively as a Lacandon enterprise.



The "eco-hostal" where we spent the night is owned and operated by Willie Fonseca who is from the province of Guerrero. Willie will supply the boats and be our guide after we leave Yaxchilan.

Grounds around "Escudo Jaguar" slop down through a grassy landing strip to the Rio Usumacinta (Sacred Monkey River) where limestone bedrock is exposed. A month earlier the water level had been up to the edge of the landing strip about to where we were standing to take the picture center right. Canopied lanchas are floating in a long lagoon with exposed rock and the river behind them. Rocks in the lower left are a telephoto shot of the river bed. A ticket office for our lanchas is housed in the pink building upper left.



Time had arrived for us to board the lancha. Pictured below is Bibi being helped aboard by Richardo. The next two pictures show some of our group in life jackets with our Lacandon skipper at the tiller. Out away from the bank and in the main channel there were no more rocks showing on the surface. A pleasant 45 minute ride to Yaxchilan allowed us the opportunity to observe the scenery.


The last picture above is our approach to the Yaxchilan landing. Yaxchilan is located on a prominence looped by the river, undoubtedly the reason why the Maya selected this location. The approach was greatly improved over the last time we were here. We scrambled up the embankment in 1996 without any aids to help our climb. Now there are concrete steps built into the bank.



The first row of pictures below was our first view as we topped the bank and proceeded to the entrance which is a labyrinth of rooms and alleys leading to the main acropolis. Many structures line the perimeter of a large plaza and the rest of the collage provides a sample of the buildings ending with a picture of howler monkeys in a tree.

Lacandon Biosphere Reserve

We left Bonampak around noon and drove a few miles to the town of Lacanha and on to the Lacandon Biosphere Reserve where we were scheduled to take a nature walk. A necessary rest stop was made and permission was given for the use of the facilities, a porcelain toilet in an outhouse. Picture (upper left) is of the back side of that establishment featuring the outdoor kitchen. We drove a little farther searching several places to find an eatery that met Ricardo's standards. This was another thatched roof, open air dining area furnished with tree sections (stumps) for seating. The picture in the upper right corner of the collage features Ricardo and two of our traveling companions who are talking with the lady proprietor. Below, Steve, Darlene and Lorna are contemplating the lunch (lower left) and Steve is sampling an ear of roasted corn. Settling the bill for the meal is shown in the last picture and is significant as we all were generously contributing to the tip for the young man who was our waiter. He is standing behind the lady of the house and was an excellent server who rushed our meals from the kitchen in the neighboring shelter to the tables with acumen of a master waiter. The meal was grilled pollo (chicken) with vegetables and very good.

After lunch we traveled on to the Biosphere where our Lacandon Guide took us on a long walk in the jungle, The trail was pretty much devoid of any hills but there were plenty of stream crossings and a great variety of very interesting vegetation. Too many species to describe even if we could remember them. Our Lacandon Guide could not speak English and Richardo was translating for us. From all appearances Richardo was being creative in supplying missing details.

The Collage below is a sample of the terrain we traveled showing several water falls, tall trees as well as low plants such as philodendrons and fungi. The tall tree (lower right) contained a viewing platform in the upper branches accessible by a climbing rope. Pictured in the sign at its base were instructions for using the climbing equipment. None of us tried the rope or cared to, it was a long way up to the platform and the rope did not appear to have been used in a long time!

The trail was about three kilometers long ending at a riverside camp site in use by overnight tourist. We took a short rest and hiked back out to the bus. Day light was on the wane as we boarded the bus and proceeded to return our Lacandon guide to his house. Upon arriving the group was offered a look inside his the home to observe Lacandon living conditions. This offer was made with the understanding that a substantial gratuity in pesos was required and dollars were not acceptable. As it turned out it was not the guides home at all, but belonged to a relative. Most of the group took part, but as neither of us had enough pesos on hand we declined to participate! So much for privacy and dignity but certainly commercialism is alive and well in the reserve.

The Lacando Indians have lived in isolation in this area for a long time and are considered to be descendants of the Maya. They were very seldom seen when we first visited the area some 20 years ago. Occasionally they could be seen, in their traditional dress, (a long white sheath of bleached cotton) in the market selling hand made items. They were very shy, perhaps because they spoke only their own language, very little Spanish and less English. It appeared that over the years that they received the short end of many dealings with people out side their home land. While foreigners admired them, in those early years, as the "Noble Savage living off the land" exploitations occurred all too frequently in their encounters with outsiders of all descriptions. These encounters were at the root of the 1994 uprising that became quite serious. This rebellion lasted for several years and when we visited the area in 1996 we had to pass through military check points to get to the Usumacinta River. It is our understanding that the Mexican government has attempted to mediate the situation by training the Lacandon in the hospitality industry to capitalize on the tourist trade. The numbers of the Lacandon still living in isolation are dwindling to fewer than 300 who are still living in isolation. Any Lacandon that can not speak Spanish can not get a job and must live off the land in the old ways. This creates a real paradox trying to live in the trditional manner and interface with the modern world.




It was getting dark fast by this time and we drove on to the village of Lacanja Chansayab and checked in to the Hotel "Escudo Jaguar" for the night. We went immediately to the dinning room for supper after which we found our room with the help of a flash light. The rooms were duplex concrete huts with thatched roofs, wooden louvered screened windows and no locks on the doors. We propped a chair against the door and crawled into mosquito netted beds.

Below are pictures of the buildings and grounds which we took the next morning. Pictures inside our room were taken the night before including the spider by Bibi's shoes. Building lower right is the dining room, taken after breakfast as we made our way to the boats.

Day 6. Bonampak and on to the Sacred River

Leaving Palenque early the morning of the sixth day (February 18), we drove southeast more or less parallel to, but out of sight of, the Rio Usumacinta. Bonampak, our first destination of the day, is an archaeological site dating to the late classic period (700 to 900 AD). This site is noted for vivid polychrome stucco frescoes that depict the court life in that time period. Time had taken its tole on these murals but it is still possible to discern activities involving prisoners and blood letting by the extraction of the fingernails. Courtly ceremonies showing the playing of horns and the dressing in costumes of aquatic life are also depicted. Work has been done by National Geographic to enhance copies of these images which greatly helps to realize what is being depicted.

This collage is of the Bonampak Acropolis. The sign gives information about the site and its history. The sign in the lower left was on the highway and dates back to the days of the Zapitista Rebellion in 1994.



Below are photos of the polychrome murals mentioned above and the frescoes found inside the canopied building pictured in the collage above.


Bonampak stelae and frescoes are pictured in this collage.


Top band of photos are of the grounds from near the top of the temple.

The lower bands of frescoes are illustrations of the Maya writing system and generally tell the dynastic history of the site. Bonampak was defeated by Tonina (a nearby contemporary city state) in the early 9th century.

Meanwhile Back at the Ranch

Spring has sprung! We took a break from the Trip Blog to document the rejuvenation of life and spirit. It has been a long winter. The collage below shows pictures taken at Shoshone Falls near Twin Falls on April 15. More water this year than we have seen in many years.



Views of Spring Blossoms on the Home Place.
An extra treat on April 22nd was an early morning sighting of Venus and the New Moon just before occultation. The picture is a double image as it was take through a double pane window.