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Coba - Jungle Trek (Part 3)

...and so off we set, sticking to the shade as much as possible (it helped, but not a huge amount), everyone was absolutely dripping with sweat (guide included) -

- some people sensibly decided they wouldn't be able to make the trek and hired a taxi bike (which cost 95 pesos for the round trip or about £4.60 - very reasonable) -

- as we staggered through the heat, so the guide would periodically pull the group together to show us interesting things -

- this plant, for example, the Mayan people would pick off some of the peeling bark and chew to help with tooth ache and headaches -

- when scientists got hold of some and worked out what the active ingredient was, the world was given ibuprofen (Nurofen or Advil in the US)...I sneakily pulled some off and ate it, but spat it out - nasty bitter taste - we'll keep the pills I think...this next one -

- he said a certain flying insect had laid eggs on the leaves, later the offspring would work their way to the interior of the tree and feed there - the tree is felled and the creamy matter left behind was used to treat diseases of the stomach - this was where the world outside found "Milk of Magnesia"...next up, something we had been waiting for, these two tiny patches of apparently white coloured mould -


- burst into brilliant colour when the guide spat on his finger and rubbed them vigorously...this is the source of Mayan pigments (and these patches were few and far between, the amount of foraging required to colour even a tiny handkerchief would be considerable)...next he stopped us by a very sorry looking stick (with one tiny leaf just peeping out the top) -

- this, he explained, wasn't surprising...it was "Salvia divinorum", an extremely potent (in fact the most potent) naturally occurring psychoactive compound known to man...specimens further from the beaten path would likely have a few more leaves... ;)

This next plant, he said, was infected with something (and actually I'm not sure I needed him to tell me that), the wound that was still bleeding (two weeks later) on his hand occurred when he accidentally brushed against just such an infection during an earlier tour (suffice it to say we kept our distance) -

A short distance along the path, our attention was directed to a dark mass up in the trees, this is said was another signal used by the Mayan people to predict severe weather, the termites apparently have a sixth-sense for severe weather conditions and up-sticks (literally) the entire hive into the branches (quite why I'm not sure, maybe to be closer to their food supply), if people noticed new hives appearing up in the air, it was another clear signal bad times were neigh and to make sure everything was securely tied down...

Later we passed a funny looking tube, sticking out from a tree trunk, some people pointed at it and the guide ran in, looking very closely it was possible to see tiny (about a third of the size of UK bees) Mexican bees sitting inside (it was safe to go near, we were told, as Mexican bees have no sting) -

- so I took a macro shot while they patiently put up with my lens blocking the entrance (we hadn't noticed a single flower the whole time we had been walking, so they probably didn't have too much to do anyway)... ;)

The rest of the walk was conducted as quickly as we could, considering the conditions...we walked over one of the "sacbe" (the raised, white walkways that connected the various Mayan cities that we learned about when we visited Tulum), but it was now just a (many kilometre long) bump in the ground, completely overgrown...we passed the entrance to the other ball court (which was in a considerably worse state than the one we had seen already, so we skipped it)...Oh and noticed one thing the guide didn't point out -

- some Epiphytic plants (called "air plants" in the UK) living comfortably without soil while hitching a ride on a rather taller cousin...funnily enough, extracts from these plants are used to make most common hay fever remedies (lots of medicine in the jungle)...

We pulled up into a huddle in an area of tiny trees just a little way further on and the guide settled everyone down, and then said "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"...

I took a peek through the trees to the base of the largest pyramid on the peninsula, greater even than El Castillo at Chichen Itza but in a state of terrible ruin...Flyingpops turned to me and said "Are you going to do it?"...I fixed my gaze, reeling slightly with anticipation of vertigo, gritted my teeth and then strode purposefully towards the bottom step...

No way was I coming all the way to Mexico and not climbing to the top...

Fink's Links #21

Seven more days have trotted by, so once again it's time for a round-up of plump and juicy webby wonderment sieved from the flotsam and pungent effulgent then delicately washed in spring water and sliced into internet carpaccio (and served with rocket salad) thusly -

An excellent series of pictures from Time magazine entitled "It Fell From The Sky"...

A bizzarre collection of medical training manikins...

Note to American Family Association - "auto-replace is not your friend" (with a screenshot of the result)...

Some rather interesting garden sheds...(from "Reader's Sheds"...urm wtf?)... ;)

A great sign from Ontario Power Generation company...obviously in possession of some hidden powers... ;)

A (homebrew) stroke of genius with regards to console controller design (i.e. place the buttons where your fingers naturally end up)...why did this not occur to anyone before? My thumbs have had enough!

Two incredibly scary places to live...

A bike for the final frontier...? ;)

Landscapes of Mars...

A nice "Zombie Lawn ornament" for the back garden...?

"Photo Essay: Revisiting the Most Controversial Olympics of All"...

Unleash the goo (video)!

A "house with tentacular cancer" (inflatable art)...

...and sticking with the theme, how about a solar powered Cthulhu? Not dead, but recharging... ;)

An amazingly cool Lego lift of WIN!

A circular bike...

What? You mean, that wasn't part of the show??!

...and finally, a hilarious translation FAIL...and another one that is almost even better!

More next week and lots more of this kind of thing in this direction (if you are still hungry)...

Paper Tiger - Susan Stockwell

There is an interesting installation in the lobby of One Canada Square at the moment (back to Mexico shortly), from the sounds of things it was put together by the artist (Susan Stockwell) with the site in mind. The pieces are quite intriguing, all of them looking like they may be functional, but in reality freakishly tall (you would need stilts to wear this one) -

- or these ones (look like quilting) but are actually made from cleverly sliced maps -


- or an impossibly long train, and all made from scrunched up or folded layers of rice paper...

Coba Mayan Ruins - a walking tour - (part 2)

...and so we pulled into the car park at Coba, the difference to the other site we had visited was pronounced, this was basically still in the middle of the jungle -

- our guide handed out water, took people to pay camcorder tax (blah blah blah), warned us that the walk was very long (4km to the main pyramid) and that in the jungle we were to make sure we touched *nothing*

- showing us a wound on his hand where he touched a tree by accident, it had been two weeks now, and the bleeding still hadn't stopped (ulp!) -

- and then in through the "entrance"...trees proving rather difficult to avoid, being pretty much everywhere, on the other sites we would (by this stage) have been walking on well bordered paths, not so at Coba, the archaeology is still going on -

- believe it or not, this pile of rubble is actually what a lot of Chichen Itza looked like when the archaeologists first arrived, seeing the ruins in this untouched condition the plant-life they have removed and the jigsaw puzzles they have then solved are all the more impressive, the reason why this site is so overgrown and in comparatively poor condition is that it was only *really* examined in any detail by archaeologists in 1926, and serious work on the site only started in the 1970s (so you can really get a feeling for what it would have been like, spotting the mysterious piles of stone for the first time off in the jungle as an early adventurer - pretty exciting!) -

- anyway, we picked our way carefully through the brush, stopping briefly for our guide to draw a map of the site in the sand and tell us the built up area here is the largest in Yucatan at around 80(!) square kilometres (about the size of Plymouth), it sprang up here because of the proximity of two huge fresh water lagoons (and three smaller ones), the lands all around the city were an agricultural centre...estimates for the number of city dwelling inhabitants seem to put the elite at around 55,000 strong, with an unknown (but probably significantly greater) number of agricultural workers working the lands around...first stop proper was the Coba Group complex, starting with the main pyramid -

- the revelation here being that the archaeologists did a bit of digging (as this site was a bit of a state anyway) and discovered what was underneath the pyramid, the answer? Another pyramid -

- it was explained that the Mayan's used their amazing powers of mathematics to work out (and I think it was on a 22 year cycle, but I could be corrected on that number) when it was time to add another layer onto the pyramid, so not just one pyramid but many, many pyramids, each more impressive than the one before (in order to appease the Gods)...another amazing feature of *this* pyramid are the grooves cut in this one side -

- the guide explained that when the (annual) great storms threatened as the winds start to pick up so these channels in the side set up a resonant hum, warning the residents in good time (in and no uncertain terms) that now would be a good moment to tie everything down...they had also uncovered a few tunnels -

- eating into the base of the pyramid, but there wasn't a lot to see down there (a few very dark, tiny, empty rooms)...from here we made our way to one of the two ball courts (the best preserved one) -

- where our guide showed us a very interesting carving (you will want to zoom right in, which may mean logging into Flickr/Yahoo!) -

- here he showed us (and it's very clear) the elongated head - the physical sign of the ruling elite (and here the rep reached out and turned a little girl's head away and then covered her ears, whispering to the adults), in his hands a blade, between his legs his erect penis, and he has used his knife to cause a river of blood to pour from his member to fertilize the land. The thought being, two teams of elite played this game (*not* sitting on high watching - actually playing) fighting for the honour (by thrusting the ball with their hips, aiming to get it through the circular opening) of being the one who has earned the right to give the divine blood from his penis to guarantee the rains and harvest...puts rather a different perspective on it, doesn't it...? Being a farmer looks a bit more attractive now... ;)

The last thing we were shown here, before starting the trek proper through the dense jungle were the skull carvings -

- not with hollow eyes, but staring - a sign, he said, that these people found no fear in death as they believed in life after...

All incredibly interesting, but there was much, *much* more to come...

The Road to Coba - (part 1)

Back to Mexico (I know, I know, but that many photos take a *long* time to go through, and besides, Flyingpops *still* hasn't written about the Dolphins yet, and I'm nearly at the end of the holiday now, so actually I'm being very quick, comparatively)! This day was *so* packed with information and experience I'm going to be forced to chop it into bits, so just to start with, a little about the journey to Coba...This pick-up was an *absolute* *nightmare* so early that as the main restaurant doors were being unlocked we were barging in, nearly knocking the Maître de off her feet, grabbing a quick bagel with Swiss cheese and butter turkey (for me...oh how I miss American butter turkey...) and loads of watermelon and cereal bars (for Flyingpops) and then we were running for main reception...of course the coach was late, so we sat puffing and panting for about ten minutes, occasionally checking the various coaches that *were* arriving (and being disappointed), until ours finally pulled in, we got on and then spent an hour touring around all the other hotels on the peninsula (Flyingpops turning an increasingly nasty shade of green each time we went around another vuelta in the road), finally finishing up having to get off the coach and wait for another one (about a 20 minute wait, but at least Flyingpops had a chance to return to a normal colour)...some people were getting really quite angry by this stage and were making a lot of fuss about it (which actually worked in our favour later on), but for now was actually a bit annoying and wasn't achieving anything...Flyingpops took a travel sickness tablet and by the time the coach turned up and we clambered on it only took about 10 minutes and she was fast asleep, leaving me to enjoy the hour long DVD about the discovery of the secret passage that led to the burial chamber of Pacal the Great (the engraving on his tomb lid being one of the straws clutched at by Erich von Däniken when writing "Chariots of the Gods")...

Flyingpops woke up just in time to watch the end credits and listen as our guide began his extremely lengthy evangelical lecture on behalf of the Mayan people...it turns out that the Mexican economy currently relies almost entirely on oil, however even the best estimates give them only another 11 years of useful pumping with which to sustain the country...a bit of a problem...they are therefore following in the footsteps of several of the Arab nations and taking the country through the process of forced globalisation and a massive career change to tourism as the primary source of national income...a couple of minor issues with this - huge sections of jungle are being sold off to developers (for a pittance) in one extreme example, when they bagan surveying the land (with helicopters equipped with heat seeking cameras) they discovered 11 thousand people that no-one had any idea were there, living quietly and simply off the land, minding their own business...the other thing is that Mexico, while being "officially" predominantly Spanish speaking actually has 62 "official" recognised languages...16 million people (that are known about) while they may have a bit of Spanish, certainly don't speak it as their first language, and many don't know any at all...so when the jungle is concreted over and littered with sun beds and pool bars, what is to be done with all these people? It's a huge challenge...apart from the obvious (a lot will be needed to clean rooms, wash millions of bed sheets, adjust acidity levels in pools, feed and water countless foreigners), many of the native people are filling unexpected gaps - suddenly a huge number of wooden hotel room doors are needed (for example)...but a lot of people are going to be left over, their homes destroyed, many unable to communicate with landowners and potential employers...

He kept speaking as we pulled into a little gift shop for a comfort break (and I'm *sure* we stopped here as another lesson) -

- telling us not to bother picking anything up right now, we would be back later -

- as we piled back onto the coach he pointed out a couple of things - did we know (he asked) that ancient Mayan people knew how to make and insert silicone breast implants? He pointed at some blankets -

- did we *really* think these were made locally? How many people around here had we seen that looked like those pictured on the blankets? Anyone even vaguely like Pamela Anderson or Arnold Schwarzenegger? No - everyone here, he said, is short, slightly overweight with black hair and deep brown skin - these blankets had come in from China, designed by people who had no idea what they were doing, as had much of the other tourist tat - and it had *nothing* to do with the Mayans (past or present)...very little was helping the *community* to adjust and survive, just one local, buying cheap from China and making money for themselves, not helping out the Mayan people as a race at all...and as such, was frankly an insult...

...the guy that bought these locally made blankets to market had not only helped himself, but he had helped his neighbours too...

What was the Mayan's idea of beautiful? Certainly not polyester pictures of imaginary muscled warriors...He pointed to the trees, the fence posts, even to rocks by the roadside -

- colour (pigment) is difficult to get in the jungle, he said he would show us just how difficult later in the day, but this simple effort with a cheap can of undercoat, that was the height of sophistication...to these people, appearance is all, status symbols are terribly important, as we drove onward through villages he pointed over and over to brick or concrete buildings (only one or two rooms) laying completely empty while the Mayans happily conducted their daily business and slept in traditional hammock in the rickety structures behind them (the concrete buildings there only because they have to keep up with the Mayans, as it were)...

And so, he said, he gave up a lot of time to working with these displaced people (in a charitable way)...educate them, teach them Spanish, give them a useful trade (teaching them how if necessary, throwing in a Victorian a sewing machine if possible) and allow them to transit, as gently, but also as quickly as possible to the new (new) Mexico they are about to find themselves in. Not only that, but teach them to support their community and also find a *proud* position as a modern "Mayan".

Before I came to Mexico I thought the Mayan civilization had ceased to exist and the people were dead...how much had I learned already? There is a lost people here - lost identity and pride, marching with their heads bowed towards the edge of oblivion...just staggering...

Tomato plants - Hanging Basket

It's been a couple of years now since we last grew tomatoes at home, this time Flyingpops came up with a radical idea to prevent sharing at least half the crop with slugs and snails, putting the plants in hanging baskets -

- and it's been incredibly successful, taking advice from a gardener at Horley car boot sale (where we bought the plants), we planted them in the contents of a grow bag (just tore it open and popped it on top of a plastic lining), then let them grow four good sets of side branches and then simply pinched out the growing top -

- and we already have some fruit! However, I must say, the plant that we put into a regular pot seems to be much more healthy than the hanging basket ones, but I think the trade off is a good one considering the total immunity from slimy pests... ;)

More pics later when we have some juicy red coloured things to show off... ;)

Great...

Great...
Originally uploaded by finkangel.

...pouring with rain, no coat or brolly, Jubilee line closed and huge queue for the boat, oh well! :)

Fink's Links #20

Another week, another steaming disgorgement of vaguely shrimp-like items ejected from the distended maw of the world wide internets for you to ponder hungrily over with your chop-sticks, what are you waiting for? Tuck in while it's still stomach-warm, some of it's even fresh! ;)

Shocked Americans given the opportunity for potentially offensive license plates to be replaced for free...wtf? ;)

How to hide an aircraft plant (just in case you ever find the need)...

How to fool a Japanese cigarette machine (actually, it's not rocket science)...

Enjoy some imaginary scenes from a flooded London in 2090 (the originals are on display in London at the moment, just to cheer everyone up)...

...and I know you probably didn't miss this as it's been all over the place, but just in case - the incredible story of "Christian the Lion" (with video goodness)...

Giggle as you watch a competitor in the doggie "dock-jump competition" change it's mind about jumping into the water (a little too late... ;)

Read about (and then listen to) some freaky Aztec/Mayan "Whistles of Death"...

Some amazing time-lapse photography of Aurora Australis: The (oft-neglected) Southern Lights

Decorate your home with some nice Nintendo "wall graphics" (scroll down to see the various styles)...

An excellent photo set called "Split Second" (my fave one is the Switzerland/rooftop combo) to challenge your sense of perspective...

Video of live lobster "claw game" - (PETA not amused)...

A photograph entitled "Awkward" (although it would be fine for Siamese twins)...

Human rights writer submit's himself to a nice spot of waterboarding (in the interests of investigative journalism)...with video goodbadness...

...and finally an Irish scarecrow...

More next week, and previous links can be found here (if you like this sort of thing)...

Now go outside and play... ;)

Canary Wharf Summer Series

Lots of little signs like these have popped up around the Wharf, advertising the (apparently completely free) "Summer Series", from the looks of things that great big TV wasn't there just for Wimbledon, they show all sorts of sporting events on there, including the Grand Prix, the British Golf open and the Olympics, and it's not only that...

...there is all *sorts* of things going on (kind of makes me wish I could afford to live around here) from outdoor Jazz festival, a couple of big concerts in Canada Square park (BBC Big Band and the London Symphony Orchestra), two operas (Don Carlo and The Marriage of Figaro), lectures, even a film festival...

...and all sorts of other things, loads of performance art and art installations including the intriguing sounding "Skyscopes" ("peer through the periscope trees planted in the park to discover stunning views from the top of One Canada square and beyond")...

Looks like we're in for a lot of fun! ;)

Daisy Fields Camping Park, Littlehampton - review

So, as I mentioned briefly on Saturday, after a quick haircut at my folks we managed to get ourselves booked in for a mini-break last weekend in Littlehampton...the plan being that this year we get away on a *lot* more little trips (anywhere is fair game as long as it's around an hour away from home, which luckily takes in a large amount of the south coast) and really make use of Colin the Camper (we already have our next trip planned, but more on that later)...the place we chose was the charmingly named "Daisy Fields" camp site (about a mile from the center of town, so easy walking distance), it was painless to find, being clearly signposted from the main road (but *just* far enough away from it not to be troubled by the traffic noise) -

- we were intending to come along with Flyingpops' folks, but an extremely strict "No Commercial Vehicles" policy meant that they couldn't, as the only vehicle with a tow bar available on that day was a transit van -

- and it's enforced too, by locked gates...

So when we arrived we had to leave the camper outside and trot round to the reception (hidden, from where we had parked, by a large hedge) -

- Reception did have a few things on sale, but really only *very* few (jars of coffee, soap, that sort of thing) so make sure you bring everything you are going to want to eat and drink, although their walls were absolutely overflowing with flyers for various attractions around the place (so if on a slightly longer break you would have no shortage of suggestions for "days out")...Flyingpops decided to try and push the lady behind the desk on the commercial vehicle policy, but she was extremely firm, not even prepared to entertain the idea of the van being parked in the visitors car park...so if you are in a similar situation - find a different place to go...anyway, we paid our bill which was £14 (including £2 electric hook up) and then balked slightly at having to leave £10 deposit for the toilet block access key, but not having a lot of choice in the matter, yielded...and then the site gate was unlocked and we were allowed to proceed inside (watching the roof carefully to make sure it didn't scrape)...

...and (once inside) it's really very nice, definitely set up for families, equipped with an adventure playground (of sorts), a fenced in area for ball games (so footballs don't go flying all over the place), however it's perfect for couples too as the pitches are absolutely huge so you don't feel like you are having to pitch right on top of anyone else, and all the kids activities are right in the middle, a long distance from the pitches, they also just let us park up wherever we wanted, no allocated spot or anything like that (but then the site was quite empty)...

...we spent a lovely lazy day sitting in the sunshine, reading, dozing and munching (too many bags of crisps and a lot of strawberries)...about the only moment of (unwanted) excitement was when a flock of about 40 seagulls descended on the site (making a huge fuss), but when they discovered that there weren't any bags of rubbish to plunder they swept off to the next target...

My folks came down in the early afternoon (another bonus of being quite near to home), they coughed up their £1 entry fee (yep, visitors must also pay...but it gave us a laugh as a certain scene in "Carry on Camping" sprang to mind as a result) and we had a few drinks at the camper, then headed into town for a nose round -



- and some grub, we found a fantastic Turkish/Mediterranean fusion restaurant where we had an incredible meze -

- and then headed back to the site (for a very good night's sleep), woke up at about half nine (very rare for me, normally awake by about 7-8am on the weekend), made a cooked breakfast, thought we had lost a gas bottle (but found it hidden in one of the secret smuggling compartments) and then went to claim our tenner back (realising that this is a very clever trick to make *sure* you check out exactly on time as the shop closes at 11am...stay any later and you are looking at paying another £4 for the privilege)...did also seem a bit tough if you fancied leaving early as the shop isn't open all the time (I think it was an 8.30am start)...so you do need to be rather organised or you will be walking away with the most expensive useless lump of metal you ever accidentally bought...

Anyway, we had an excellent weekend, proved to ourselves that we can get organised enough to get away just for one night *and* manage to get that relaxed "holiday" feeling and also proved that (in fact) it's actually better sometimes *not* to go too far afield...thus my suggestion for the next break is a really nice looking place in Horsham (which is very near home indeed)...now, we just need to find some free weekends! ;)

Random spout on H.P. Lovecraft

"Howard Phillips Lovecraft, heaven knows, had a talent for writing which was of no mean proportion; only what he did with this talent was a shame and a caution and an eldritch horror. If he had only gotten the Hell out of his auntie's attic and obtained a job with the Federal Writers Project of the WPA, he could have turned out guidebooks that would be classics and joys to read, forever. Only he stayed up there, muffled up to the tip of his long, gaunt New England chin against the cold which lay more in his heart than in his thermometer, living on 19 cents worth of beans a day, rewriting (for pennies) the crappy manuscripts of writers whose complete illiteracy would have been a boon to all mankind; Ah, but life is a boon and producing ghastly, grisly, ghoulish and horrifying works of his own as well--of man-eating Things which foraged in graveyards, of human/beast crosses which grew beastier and beastlier as they grew older, of gibbering shoggoths, and Elder Beings which smelt real bad and were always trying to break through Thresholds and Take Over--rugose, squamous, amorphous nasties, abetted by thin, gaunt New England eccentrics who dwelt in attics and who eventually Never Seen Or Heard From Again. Serve them damn well right, I say.

In short, Howard was a twitch, boys and girls, and that's all there is to it"...

I offer up no explaination other than the fact that it's been running around my head for too long, it had to come out in the end... ;)