Mexico - Day Six: Uxmal with George/Jorge

The Dwarf's Pyramid

After the best night’s sleep yet, I’m already awake when Luis dutifully comes to wake me at 7:30.  Throw on my clothes, just time for a hot chocolate (it is Mexico, after all!) and off across the street to the ruins.  Very convenient; that’s why I’m at this hotel, not a different one.
       And there, waiting for me - oh surprise! - is my guide.  George.  Well, Jorge.  I kid him about having put the old people with the old people... but only after an hour or so with him.  Turns out he’s two years younger than me, to his surprise.  I try to keep up with him; he’s as nimble as a goat on these old Maya stone steps.
       And these are the only ruins I’ll be able to climb extensively (except for Teotihuacan).  The rest - Tulum, Chichén Itzá, Palenque - are off-limits, either because of potential damage to them or past fatal falls by tourists.

Nun'ss Quadrangle

Snake head & tail, Nun's Quadrangle

       Unlike the Peruvians, who sculpted their stones to fit together without leaving room for a sheet of paper to pass (and I tried), the Maya used mortar made of water, charcoal, “white earth” and honey... a second new use of bees for me.  At Uxmal, the stones are fitted together with much decoration, including stone latticework - another difference from the other sites; the latticework is meant to symbolize water.  Jorge points out the snake on one wall of the Nun’s Quadrangle, a feature the show last night highlighted.  Each of the four platforms forming the Quadrangle is different, built at different times, with a different symbolism.  There are even some male figures sticking out of the facade of one, and Jorge explains that they symbolize the astronomers whose role was vital in Maya culture.  The East and West buildings are the most striking, with intricate decoration:  heads of Chaac, stylized Maya huts, columns, serpents, flowers, the traditional Maya arches...

       The concept of the keystone to hold up an arch was known to the Maya.  There are even two triangular arches (looking like pine trees) in the Governor’s Palace, which Jorge and I climb now.  From that platform you have a view out over much of the complex:  the Dwarf’s Pyramid, of course, and the Nun’s Quadrangle, but also the pelota court and a small simple temple with turtles on the upper frieze (thus the name the House of the Turtles).  And in front of the Palace stands a double-headed jaguar throne from which the governor must have ruled.
       As we gaze at all these wonders Jorge explains about the region, called Puuc, meaning “hills”.  Explains that the owl is the symbol of wisdom, water or death; take your pick.  I tell him on Easter Island, the symbol of wisdom is the sea turtle, which is their guide, and that’s why I have on a T-shirt with a turtle, given to me there, as I was seen to be wise.
       Next to the Palace rises the Great Pyramid, with a temple at its top.  Only one side has been restored; the rest lies partially obscured by earth and undergrowth, as was everything when this site was rediscovered.  The stairway is said to represent a snake, and at the solstices (December 21, and then June 21 in reverse) the sun casts the shadow of a snake (as at Chichén Itzá) and the people stopped working to celebrate the event.

       Beyond the Great Pyramid is a building dubbed the dovecote
by the archaeologists because of its many niches.  It was probably a residential complex, but still stands partially in ruins, its triangular peaks rising from stone-columned walls.
       On the way back, we visit the pelota court, much smaller than the one in Chichén Itzá but with a bigger and much lower hoop.  “It’s Maya pelote”, Jorge tells me, “not Toltec”.  Here, too, they played with their hips, elbows and knees; no hands.  The game was seen as the struggle between the forces of light and darkness.
       As we pass the Dwarf’s Pyramid on our way out, Jorge tells me its story, or rather its legend.  There was once an old woman, a witch, who went out into the forest.  She found a big egg and brought it home, keeping it warm in blankets.  Finally it hatched, and inside was a dwarf, whom she loved and raised.  One day, for some reason, the dwarf wanted to rule over everyone.  Not wanting to be replaced, the  Governor set him two chores.  The first was to build a pyramid in one day, but his mom, being a witch, made a deal with the evil powers.  And when the Governor woke up the next day, there was the Pyramid of the Dwarf!  The second chore was to break 100 cocoyoles, a small hard fruit, with his head.  But again his witch mother helped, making him a helmet out of a tortoise shell.  The dwarf broke open 99 of the cocoyoles, and then challenged the Governor:  “You do one and I’ll give you your realm back.”  The Governor tried... and died.  So the dwarf became the ruler of the land.  And his pyramid remains to this day:  the Pyramid of the Dwarf, also called the Magician’s Pyramid.

Hand of the Creator

       It was this pyramid that brought me here.  It’s the only one, not only in Mesoamerica but in the entire world, that has rounded sides and an elliptical base.  In Mayan, the name Uxmal translates to “three times built”, but there are actually four smaller, nested pyramids within the one we see today.  The first, Temple I, dates back to the 6th century A.D. and is exposed on the west side of the structure, at the pyramid’s base.  If you were allowed to climb this pyramid, you could enter the second temple, Temple II, through an opening in the upper part of the eastern staircase.  On either side of the staircase are twelve statues of Chaac, making 24 in all... perhaps the hours of the day.  The whole thing, together, viewed from the east, forms a complex work of art.  One that struck Frank Lloyd Wright as “some of the finest expressions of art and architecture in the world”.  And I couldn’t agree more.
       One detail that struck me:  a red hand traced on a wall.  Jorge explains that it is called The Heavenly Hand or The Hand of the Creator... meaning a god.  But it reminds me of the human hands I’ve seen traced on walls in the prehistoric caves of central France.  I always took them to be the artist’s signature, the hand of the artistic creator.  Maybe it’s a bit of both?

Pyramid of the Magician, or House of the Dwarf 

Breakfast now and a rest.  Then Luis picks me up for a Jeep ride around the old plantation, founded in 1673.  Fruit trees are still grown:  orange, lemon, lime, other tropical fruits.  Pineapples as well.  The original owners were named Shu, yet another Chinese-sounding Maya name.  After the Mexican Revolution, the present owners were allowed to keep their land when many others had their property taken away by the government as punishment for treating their workers as virtual slaves.  Both Jorge and Luis say the present owners are good people.

     Luis ushers me around what’s left of the hacienda.  It once had a sugar mill and a noria to provide fresh water.  And a chapel.  Now all that’s left are remnants from which tangled trees with long roots grow, even high up on some walls.  We climb up to the top of an observation tower from which we can see the ruins of Uxmal in the distance, rising among the trees like something out of a dream.  Finally, we walk over to a thatched area where the driver has set up fresh fruit at tables made from gnarled tree roots.

Back at the Lodge, it's time for a cool-down, a swim, a shower and dinner, then back to the room with a mojito to go with a slice of Chocolate cake colorfully decorated with flowers and the Mayan thank you:  Yom bo'otik.  I feel I should be thankig them!

View of Uxmal from the old hacienda