Honeymoon Pictures - Costa Maya and Chacchoben - Page 1 of 3
These are pictures from Costa Maya and the nearby Chacchoben ruins. Costa Maya is a small, relatively new port that serves cruise ship traffic and specializes in ecological and archaeological tourism. The port is built in a sparsely-populated area of Quintana Roo, between Cozumel and the Belize border.
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The people at the port of Costa Maya show off their Mayan heritage. Most of the people in this area still speak the Mayan languages and many practice the old religious traditions. |
January 24, 2007 11:05 PM |
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More Mayans |
January 24, 2007 11:05 PM |
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Traveling to the ruins at Chacchoben. Most of the land around the port is limestone flats or jungle. The groundwater is slightly toxic due to a very high sodium concentration, and in the days of the Maya most people died of severe osteoporosis by the age of 30. Now, the few farmers and villagers who live outside the tourist areas drink purified and bottled water. |
January 24, 2007 11:05 PM |
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The outskirts of Chacchoben. The ruins were first spotted from the air as a series of hills; the jungle had grown up and over the old Mayan buildings. In this picture, you see part of the farm that was here when the archaeologists showed up; the farmer who owned the land was actually using stones from the ruins to build barns and walls for his farm (the government put a stop to that right quick) |
January 24, 2007 11:05 PM |
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This is the first pyramid that was excavated at the Chacchoben site. Most of the structure is just as it was found when it was dug out of the jungle, but the upper part was reconstructed from loose blocks that had fallen away. |
January 24, 2007 11:26 PM |
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Chacchoben is Mayan for "place of the red corn". Corn was one of the staple foods of the Mayans, and they practiced an odd sort of crop rotation, planting several different plants in the same location. For example, a bean plant would wind around the stalk of a maize plant, while pumpkins grew between the stalks. They had to get as much as they could out of the land, because most experts believe plot would have been rendered infertile in as little as four to seven years after the area of jungle was cleared. |
January 24, 2007 11:26 PM |
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This is what the structures look like before they're excavated - you can tell the jungle is pretty thick |
January 24, 2007 11:26 PM |
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These hills are all man-made; under each is a building from the Classical Mayan era |
January 24, 2007 11:26 PM |
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This is a gum tree - you can see where the bark has been cut to get at the sap, which is used to make chicle (traditional Mexican gum) |
January 24, 2007 11:33 PM |
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The thatched awning has been reconstructed on the back of the pyramid. It's protecting some painted stone; the sun and flash photography have already done a lot of damage to the painted surfaces that have been exposed. |
January 24, 2007 11:33 PM |
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Dave |
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