Campeche on a Sunday Morning

Here are a few pictures from around the centro of Campeche (Aj Kim Pech in Maya which means "Lord Sun Sheep-Tick"). Campeche was first approached by the Spaniards in 1517 but were met with a lot of resistance by the Maya. Colonial Campeche was founded in 1531 but later abandoned due to Maya hostility. But by 1540, the Spaniards had gained sufficient control to set up permanent residence and named the town "Villa de San Francisco de Campeche." I've included a picture of the Catedral de Nuestra Senora de la Purisima Concepcion which has stood on the same spot for over three centuries with statues of St. Paul and St. Peter occupying niches in the facade. I realize now that I have better pictures from walking around the city today but I'll post those later. I only have one more full day left here in Campeche; tomorrow I go to Edzna and the archaeological museum. But Sunday morning I took a nice long stroll around the Plaza Principal and the Malecon of Campeche.

So I have tried and tried to post a video-clip that I have of this "ballet folklorico" that I saw on Sunday morning but blogger just isn't uploading the video. Anyways, these pictures will just have to do for the moment. I heard some music coming from speakers outside of this building so I decided to check it out. Entrance for the performance was free, which is always great (especially for us students!), and I really enjoyed this dance troupe's performances of regional Mexican dances. I saw a similar show in Valladolid but I had forgotten my camera. This was a great Sunday morning activity and one that I was able to share with a bunch of other people.

I then ended up walking down the Malecon (the sidewalk right next to the ocean for cyclists and people who are walking or running) for about as long as I could tolerate! It was so hot and humid that I was sweating within a few minutes of leaving the theater. I really liked this mosaic mural on the front of the government building here in Campeche. And I, of course, had to include a few pictures of the ocean. It was a nice introduction to this picturesque (even without beaches) city of Campeche.

Casa Quetzal

Casa Quetzal is our home for the three weeks that we are staying in Valladolid, Yucatan, Mexico (and yes, I'm aware that two of those weeks have already come and gone!!). It is such a lovely spot!! We jokingly refer to it as the "compound" because it kind of is one. They gave us keys when we first arrived but they lock us all in at night (but one of the keys they gave us does open the front door so we can escape if necessary!). Anyways, I can't really explain how beautiful Casa Quetzal is! What a great place to learn Maaya! The "boutique hotel," as it's called, is beautiful and the staff is so friendly and willing to answer our questions. I feel so grateful and I have absolutely enjoyed staying here!

And here are some more pictures of this little paradise on the outskirts of Valladolid's center. It really is so peaceful and beautiful here. Even though we only have one more week here, I still appreciate this gorgeous environment for studying Maaya T'aan (literally "Maya Speech"). I love the two cats that live here and all of the lush, green flora. It has truly been a great place to stay.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

I was really excited to go the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York because everyone was telling me that it's just a great museum with so much artwork! And that is an understatement. The building itself is absolutely enormous. There was no way we were going to be able to see everything that we wanted to in one day (or two, or three days!). Anyways, I was very excited to finally see a few paintings by Gauguin because the MoMa (Museum of Modern Art) did not have one painting of his on display. So these four paintings are by Gauguin; it was exhilarating for me to stand in front of these after spending last semester learning so much about Gauguin and the decade he spent in Tahiti and the Marquesas Islands. We also saw some Rembrandts (quite impressive-his play with light and dark spaces is remarkable). Overall, it was a great way to spend the afternoon, even with a lot of walking and expensive cafeteria food (sandwich, cup of fruit and a bottle of water=$20!!). It was a lot to take in but so worth it!

The Met's collections of Ancient American material cultures was really cool because they have so much stuff there! They have sculptures, ceramics, gold and metalwork, a few stelae, figurines, jewelry, and more. I had a great time wandering around these exhibits, fascinated by all of it. And I was also happy to see that there were several other people taking their time walking around these exhibits, and a few of the people were speaking in Spanish (one of the prevalent languages that I heard all over New York-but maybe I'm just always looking for it so of course I heard it more). I really liked the Maya ceramics and figurines and the Olmec figurines and celts that the Met has on display. Just fascinating stuff!

The Pre-Columbian exhibit was very impressive. Obviously, the museum is enormous and has so much money (there is no entrance fee but the employees there really push you to contribute something, even if it's only $1). So I cannot post a lot of my pictures from the Americas section but here a few more. These pictures are from the Moche and Nazca cultures of ancient Peru. There was a lot of gold and metalwork in South American cultures, and most of it at the Met was from Columbia (which of course I know almost nothing about the ancient cultures there). But this was fascinating and I enjoyed seeing all of this material culture from the Ancient Americas.

These are the last few exhibits that we visited in the Met. These tall wooden sculptures were from Africa and Oceania cultures. They were fascinating because of their size juxtaposed with intricate carving and coloring. And then, Jen and I went to see the Egyptian exhibit, but we were so tired at that point. I took a few pictures of the fragmented pieces of an Egyptian temple that the Met has. Of course what fascinates me most about the Egyptians is their writing system and its representation in various figures and symbols. It was a great way to end our visit to the Met.

New York City!!

While in New York we went to a show called Fuerza Bruta (Brute Strength or Brute Force). It was quite interesting, very interactive with the crowd, and something that I think would only take place in New York (as in, that's so New York). NYC is such a fascinating place with so many things to do, to see, and to be consumed by. Anyways, the show was unique; the crowd is moved around (yes, like we're cattle) and the six or seven actors/dancers require audience participation. No flashes were allowed so these pictures are a bit raw and blurry but I still find them to be interesting and of course they remind me of how bizarre this show was at certain points. Towards the finale, this enormous and thick plastic sheet was lowered over the audience's heads and lightly sprinkled with water; the "swimmers" splashed right above our heads, sliding all around this "pool" that had formed right above us. Fuerza Bruta was more like performance art than a typical theater production. It was a great experience and part of my first New York experience.

Here are a few of the pictures that I took while in NYC. I can truly see the appeal of New York, but I can also understand why people would not want to live here. I think that it's a great place to visit though. I really had a great time here because of Dalia and her sister Jen (who lives in New York and kindly let us stay with her). Both Dalia and Jen told me that I was experiencing an atypical visit to New York which is great to me. Of course, some of the things we did were typical touristy kind of stuff but either way, we had a great time! The building with the crane arms on top of it is the new edifice at Ground Zero. I took this picture from Jen's balcony (she lives in Tribeca, right across from Ground Zero, as you can see). Also, I had to include the picture of me and Dalia on the Brooklyn Bridge. It was so cold (compared to Tallahassee at the time-early February) but I love seeing new places and I had never been to NYC so my first trip was so much fun and quite overwhelming at times. New York is absolutely immense. As we walked down the streets it reminded me of Garcia-Lorca's poems about visiting New York for the first time (I think it was Federico!).