Climbing Nohoc Mul - Coba - (part 4)

Okay, back to Mexico (btw - hit that link to see all of the honeymoon in order on a single page if you need to catch up as it's taking forever to go through all the pics) briefly now (and just to catch you up) we had just been warned - "Nohoch Mul is just ahead, you have 30 minutes, the transport will leave without you if you do not get back in time. Please keep in mind it is 40 degrees centigrade, or about 104 Fahrenheit, you will have to climb almost vertically 140 feet on uneven, slippery polished stone, humidity is close to 98% and your insurance is unlikely to cover you, so please, think carefully before you walk through those trees"...and I had turned heels and stepped towards the stones at the foot of the pyramid just visible in the distance...the trees parted (and the photo can't do it justice) our task was ahead of us...

Talk about a ruin compared to "El Castillo", it's hard to imagine it ever had any right angles...each step varied in depth, height, inclination and grip by a colossal amount, sometimes a step up would be a foot and a half, onto a two-inch deep 30 degree slope of glassy rock covered in a light dusting of fesh-fesh like sand (only the creaking rope being gripped firmly with both hands giving you any hope of making the next one) -

- the next step would then be perfectly straight, comfortably deep and a mottled surface affording you the perfect grip (meaning you are constantly, and literally on your toes the whole time)...it took about six or seven minutes to drag myself to the area just below the top, absolutely dripping with sweat now, my clothing soaked through, fingers slick, my camera banging into my back looped around head and arm (just in case)...but actually, getting up here hadn't been too bad (I thought to myself, with a considerable amount of relief)...certainly not an exercise to undertake without total concentration, but not too bad...that was (and I'm sorry for no pictures, but both hands were used for *proper* climbing at this point) until I saw the *tiny* ledge (big enough to hold about half of my footprint) over the 130 foot drop I was going to have to navigate next...this in order to reach the final three 1.5/2-foot tall steps that also loomed over the void that had to follow...people were *very* cautiously gripping on with all their might to the top of the sheer wall (about 5 feet high) and tip-toeing along this ledge and around the corner, doing a very passable impression of Lara Croft...only one person at a time could traverse this section...I had *very* serious second thoughts (my feet are much larger than most peoples)...I pictured myself slipping on sand and tumbling off pointed rocks all the way to the bottom...I had some very deep breaths...and then some third and fourth thoughts, none of which were very encouraging either, and then (uh oh) a gap appeared in the people and I just gulped and went for it (without looking down), scrambled incredibly inelegantly up the three dusty giant stairs and there I was - standing like a Mayan Elite - on the top of the Yucatan peninsula (I've still got no idea how I managed it)...! I could have cried (had I not been petrified of falling off and completely shattered)...so I contented myself trying to stop myself shaking and carefully getting the camera off my back without dropping it to smash below...

This was about as close to the edge I could get myself to take a picture (my powers of self preservation being considerable) - at the top right of the shot you can just see one of the water sources I spoke of earlier (the reason why the city is here at all), some kind soul has made a panoramic view though, which is well worth a look, but we didn't have time to be mucking around (unfortunately), next I decided to take a look in the temple on the top -

- with obligatory falling god above the doorway -

- and it was actually quite disappointing, I'm not sure what I was expecting to be there...the space was incredibly small, and absolutely nothing was inside (just about a 10 foot tall Mayan arch-shaped empty space - entrance and corridor in a T shape), just enough room for about 5 people to stand comfortably in elaborate costumes (perhaps a box or two of bottles of wine, some snacks, maybe a rack for sacrificial weapons...that kind of thing), but nothing at all there now, not even any decorations...

Anyway, starting to get breath back, it really was time to be heading back down now, had I had a choice I probably would have delayed that horrible gap as much as possible and got myself in a state, but the clock was ticking, so stashed my camera, waited my turn and then scuttled back across...turned around and took a peek at what I had to do next and absolutely reeled with vertigo...it was so steep...coming up had been absolutely fine simply because you didn't have to look at what you were stupid enough to be doing...shit! I have *never* been good with heights...what on earth did I think I was doing? I get reactions sometimes to heights when playing sodding video games...!

What can I say? Thank God for time constraints...? What choice did I have in the matter, we had to get down (although "I'll be fine, I'll just stay up here" did sort of cross my mind in a ridiculous way)...so I started to lower myself, one step at a time, perched on my arse...(at least, I thought, I am cleaning the slippery sand off the the people coming after me)...but it was incredibly slow going, my final solution was to cross (crab-like) over to the rope and then sneakily come down *backwards* (no view of bone smashing fall? No problem!) using the rope to support myself...when I got to a comfortable height (fracture rather than shatter sort of level) we paused for Flyingpops (who was having no problems at all) to take a quick snap (still about 70 feet up mind you) -

- and then I resumed my reverse descent until we finally reached Terra firma (and my heart-rate was allowed to return to normal)...

Jeez...did I really just do that?

We found a small stall selling ice cold water, bought and glugged down two bottles in about 60 seconds flat and then returned to where the guide was waiting (after promising each other we could get a bike back through the jungle)...he was talking as we were waiting for the stragglers to complete the climb - "So now I wish to explain to you, put the jigsaw together, how did these people rule? How did the elite control the people? It was simple, they ruled by..." and here, he hushed his voice, ducking down with a sparkle in his eye..."Magic!"...he stared directly at the little girl whose ears he had covered earlier (who looked incredibly shy and hid behind her mum)...

He smiled and stood up - "Put in your mind, these people, their heads deformed, looking not like the regular Mayan people, dressed in elaborate costumes, hidden at the top of the pyramid in the temple, word has been sent out to the people to come along on a certain day. They come, they assemble in their thousands, on this particular day the sun rises directly behind the pyramid, the top of the pyramid is covered in obsidian, when the sun strikes it the gold colour in the rock bursts out at the correct moment, out step the ruling elite, it looks from here as if they have walked directly out onto the top of the pyramid from inside the centre of the sun"..! "They have used their incredible mathematics and astronomy to create this illusion, the people are in awe already, and then, thanks to the acoustics of the pyramid, their voices are boosted to a booming level, they can be heard from miles away"..."What do they say? They use their calendar to announce the movement of the moon, the timing of the next eclipse, to these people it seemed that the Gods were manifested before them! Speaking the secrets of the heavens!"...it's all suddenly so clear...there is no mystery here, the Mayans were ruled through a combination of clever science and showmanship...

...and as we paid our money and collapsed into our taxi bike my mind spinning with everything we had already seen and done it came back to me that this day had much more left to offer - on the bus (at about 8am) we had been asked to choose what we would like to eat for lunch (chicken, pork or "vegetarian") as it was going to be cooked in a pit, wrapped in banana leaves in the traditional Mayan manner (which would take 3 or 4 hours)...and then after we would be privileged enough to go and visit a real Mayan village, not a tourist reproduction, but a current living breathing settlement taking it's first faltering steps towards integration with modern Mexico (but more on that later)...

A visit to Tulum

Another painfully early start this one (quite unfairly) as Tulum was only a short way away (as the Psittacidae Ara Macao flies), but we'd opted for a half-day (our visit to Chichen Itza having been a bit of an epic) so getting up early was part of the deal...in retrospect we probably should have got a cab (would have been quicker and cheaper), but we hadn't discovered that fact at this stage...anyway, the coach finally dropped us off in Tulum (the nearby town has the same name as the ruin) in a half derelict single storey shopping centre, only the stores on the outside had survived, blocks and blocks of empty space, signposted by faded, cracking paint signs pointing to long ago deceased "Pizza y Hot Dog", "Fresh Burger" and other failed tourist amenities, only "el Banos" remained with working electric light-

- complete with hilarious sign asking those that were in need of relief to (please) demonstrate their level of schooling while doing so (but there was no attendant to enforce it, so I quickly muttered "one plus one equals three" and scuttled out guffawing at my naughtiness) -

- we boarded the (undisguised) tractor-driven "Wally Trolley" (having been warned that it was quite a walk from here to the site entrance) and it whisked us past more busy roadside shops -


- (and it was actually quite a long way, so we felt justified in our laziness) and then we arrived at the main entrance -

- here, while we waited for the walkers to catch up and the people with camcorders to pay their taxes at the office (yeah, you don't just pay your tax once, it's a fresh payment every time you approach anything interesting)...

Just inside the entrance our guide stopped us to point out a "Ceiba" tree (called "Yazche" or "wacah chan" by the Mayans) -

- he explained that this tree was worshipped as a "tree of life", they planted them at compass points outside their cities, but this one was probably a descendent, being both not on a compass point and rather small (they can get absolutely enormous), the spreading branches represent the heavens (stars etc.), the trunk (typically they swarm with insects) represents the earth, those living on it and it's stability -

- (and very spiky it is too), and the roots represent the underworld and death, very nice...Anyway, we followed the outside wall for a long way -

- until we came to one of the four (deliberately small) entrances to the site (each of them are simple Mayan arches) -

- here we stood for a while, as the guide told us quite a lot of interest - This was an important trade port, the wall was a deliberate fortification (with watch towers on each corner) -

- protecting the elite ruling class who dwelt within, the Mayan Arch deliberately small (to limit the number of foe that could enter at one time).

The main trade route from here cut it's way through the jungle, straight as an arrow (you can see where they got their modern road-building habits) to Coba (more on that later) and from there other (similar) paths linked up with Chichen Itza and other smaller sites. These roads were well constructed, consisting of several layers, the uppermost being crushed shells or coral rendering the surface completely white, from this the conclusion is that the movement of goods was conducted mostly at night (it being easier to lug stuff around when it's cooler and less humid) meaning the road needed to be clearly visible by moonlight...and then it was time to risk banging my head to enter the city itself -

- (phew!)...Next, we stopped at one of the first dwellings (on a very low step, and Tulum is right by the ocean, further evidence to debunk the "flooding" theory we were fed at Chichen Itza). It was the house of a minor noble or a respected warrior. Most interesting here was to spot the pigment still *clearly* visible on the steps (the red house at Chichen Itza being only a little bit red by now, comparitively)...

Here we learned that Tulum was still being actively used by the Mayan elite at the time Cortez (the first of the naughty conquistadores) arrived. The poor natives having never seen anything like a fully decorated white European (one previous Spanish shipwreck did happen but most of those poor souls were used as novel sacrifices by the various tribes), honestly thought that one of their gods, who looked similar, had returned from the sea (as had been foretold in their holy writings) - the Spanish, of course, did little to correct their honest mistake, smiled, traded a little and then returned to Cuba gushing with tales of a huge untapped source of silver and gold ripe for the plucking, even though it was *actually* extremely rare in the area. Their enthusiasm was obviously enough of a catalyst, however, and thus began 150 years of torment for the native people of Mexico...

Our next stop was one of the extremely high status buildings, the so called "Great Palace" -

- this one was obviously particularly special for one very good reason - up on the cliff there is a small temple dedicated to the "Descending God" (if you zoom in you can see him above the door doing his thing)-

- now, note the very small hole in the far wall (near the top), on a certain date each year, the sun lines up perfectly with the hole and brightly illuminates the "Great Palace" (the rest of the area being in shadow), thus transferring the power of the sun into whoever it was that lived there...powerful stuff, even though calculated, it would have seemed akin to an act of God for the lowly...next we stopped off at the "Temple of the Frescos" -

- on each of the front corners you can clearly see a face carved into the wall, one is awake -

- and one is asleep -

- inside it is almost impossibly small (and according to the guide this is again deliberate - "when worshipping the Gods it *shouldn't* be easy or straightforward and also to enter is itself an act of penitence, you bend to visit the Gods house"), amazingly here you can still clearly see painted murals and other signs of decoration -



- we also learned a very peculiar thing about the Elite, which was going to form a part of a mental jigsaw puzzle that would be completed during our visit to the ruins in Coba, and that was that the ruling Elite used to deliberately change the shape of their children's heads by using wooden moulds and cords to massively elongate it (picture White Egyptian Pharaoh crown, but being your actual skull)...anyway, here the guide left us, so we went exploring the rest of the site -

- including the imaginatively named "Main Temple Castle" and the staggeringly beautiful coast below -


- in the distance, where you can see the breakers out at sea, this is where the waves are hitting a coral reef -


- Flyingpops went for an impromptu swim (not many archaeological sites where you can say that, and this was now the *second*, out of two) -

- and, refreshed, we braved the heat of the day and headed back to meet the coach (the pool beckoning)... ;)