Mountain getaway

5:47 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 31, 2010 – San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico

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I’m already very much in love with the city of San Cristobal de las Casas after just one day spent walking around. We bussed in last night and arrived at 8 p.m., with the temperature in the mid-40s. We had been warned about the cold, mountain nights, and were somewhat prepared. Yet it was still shocking to think of actually being cold when all we’ve experienced thus far has been the heat and humidity of Palenque.

Today we woke up and had a delicious breakfast courtesy of our hostel, and set out to explore the city. The weather was perfect—mid-70s and sunny but with a crisp, mountain breeze. The city itself is colorful and intimate, with narrow streets spilling over with handmade crafts and goods for sale. We strolled through several markets, Christmas shopping and admiring the artisans’ work.

Day of the Dead figurines

The town is full of a diversity of people, and much less homogeneous than Palenque. We could hear a variety of languages and accents as we shopped around, and for once didn’t feel like we stuck out like a sore thumb. Late in the afternoon we climbed an enormous hill up to a church which overlooked the city and provided a worthwhile view of the surrounding hills.

Feeling satisfied with our shopping and exploring for the day, we went back to our hostel and cooked up a makeshift dinner using the ingredients we rummaged up in the corner shop (garlic, tomato, penne, cheese). Our hostel is excellent—close to downtown, has a kitchen and internet, and is run by a super nice Mexican/French-Canadian couple. But while the temperature is pleasant during the day, it drops to the mid-40s at night and our room is neither heated nor insulated, with windows and doors open to the outside and a concrete floor. So we’ve been bundling up as much as our light layers have afforded us at night. After dinner I took my first hot shower since I left the States. While I haven’t minded the cold showers in Palenque, the frigid mountain water would provide a completely different experience and one I’m not sure I could physically handle.

Now we are about to commence the long and complicated process of transforming us into Greek goddesses (Artemis - Liz, Aphrodite - Brittany, Demeter – Evelyn, Gaia - me) for our Halloween night out. Hair, makeup, nails...I’m not sure I will survive the ordeal!

Our dress rehearsal in Palenque after buying the fabric

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Introducing Pegrito

5:42 p.m. Friday, Oct. 29, 2010 – La Casa, Palenque, Mexico

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Yesterday we got to finally do what we’ve been begging Sarie and Dr. Estrada to let us do for the past month—pay a visit to Pegrito, the little baby black howler monkey they’ve been caring for ever since he was brought to the animal rehabilitation clinic six weeks ago. Dr. Estrada brought him by our house once before when he was only a few days old, but we weren’t able to get too close. Since then he’s been battling a series of colds, so visits were out of the question. But yesterday we finally got to go over to see the little rascal—hold, cuddle and let him climb in our hair. And oh yeah, take a gazillion photos!

Pegrito learning how to howl! Or yawn, rather.

Lunch time!

He’s still really small but already an excellent climber/clinger. As he’s instinctively driven to hang onto hair, we “hairless” humans are not the ideal perch. So Pegrito wasn’t comfortable unless he was on top and nestled in our locks. He was incredibly curious, examining our cameras and watches, and climbing everywhere.

After the extended monkey visit, last night we went for pizza at Don Muchos in El Panchan with Katie and her newly arrived assistant Sarah. Tonight I will pack and then we’re on a bus to San Cristobal tomorrow at 2 p.m.! Can’t wait for the Halloween and Dia Del Los Muertos celebrations to commence!

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The newest Pakal member

6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2010 – La Casa, Palenque, Mexico

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After spending a lot of time in the field, you tend to adopt certain traits from the monkeys. Reciprocal grooming, for instance.

After two good days with Balam, we were scheduled to observe Pakal—the group that has given us so much trouble lately. While we were following Balam they actually had an encounter with Pakal and got quite aggressive—we all thought a full fledged fight might break out. It didn’t luckily, and besides the excitement of the meeting we didn’t otherwise notice anything unusual with any of the Pakal members (specifically the females).

Day before yesterday however, Chiara and Evelyn returned from the field with some exciting news. Esma of the Pakal group has a newborn! He had to have been born early that morning or the night before, because we hadn’t seen a tiny fuzz ball hanging on Esma during the inter-group encounter.

So needless to say, we were all pretty excited to begin our cycle with the Pakals. While they hardly gave us any decent views at first, remaining high in the canopy for the majority of yesterday, we got our chance today. It was still tough to spot the little pink and gray newborn, but we could occasionally see him peeking out under Esma’s arm or hanging on her belly as she jumped from limb to limb.

You can just barely make out the infant clutching onto Esma's stomach on the left, and its face is visible in the photo on the right
(click to enlarge).

Since the Pakal group underwent infanticide last February (the coup was led by now-central male Pakal), the other two females (Parcha and Pura) are also most likely pregnant. Pakal killed the infants sired by the previous central male so he could copulate and bear offspring with the three females. So despite the dismal circumstances, it will be amusing to have several infants playing with the already existing juveniles Kanika and Emma.

A hidden tunnel under a Mayan structure by the river where we were observing the Pakals

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Scoville scale of pain

7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 21, 2010 – La Casa, Palenque, Mexico

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Monday, the last day of our break, I debated over whether or not to take any action to diagnose and fix my ailing toe. Toe injuries are hard to take seriously, but also difficult to ignore. I’m generally under the impression that you can’t do anything about a broken toe except suck it up and walk it off. But with me having to stay on my feet hiking and climbing ten hours a day, I felt a more proactive solution might benefit me and the job.

I was finally convinced to go to the hospital clinic in town as my toe was looking worse than ever—extremely swollen and purple and painful to walk on. Sarie and Brittany accompanied me, Sarie to help translate and Brittany for moral support. They took an X-ray (which I got to keep!) and determined that my toe was not broken but severely infected and sprained. I was impressed/horrified that a mere infection was responsible for the enormous size and coloration of my digit. My toenail had been pulled completely back and my foot smashed against the rock, so dirt and bacteria had been trapped underneath all day while I continued to explore the Mayan ruins.

The nurse informed me she would have to remove the rest of the toenail to prevent further infection. She also said the anesthesia injection would be extremely painful, and likened it to hundreds of chili peppers being injected into my foot. I’m not sure how much I appreciated this colorful imagery, it certainly didn’t comfort me. Having a large needle jabbed into my tender foot was painful in itself, but the liquid fire which was released indeed felt like the essence of habaneros. All I could do to distract myself was mutter "Chili, chili, chili,” under my breath. From now on that shall be my mantra while under stress.

I went to the field Tuesday and Wednesday to track the Motiepas, but climbing up and down hills and waterfalls was miserable on my foot. We’re working on an abbreviated schedule through the rest of October in order to get three complete cycles in, so we’re doing just two days with each group.

Turtle rescue!

Who says you can't find clean drinking water in Mexico? You've just got to know where to look.

"Because I love that dirty water, Oh oh, Mexico you're my home!"

Today we went to town to finally pick up the material for our Halloween costumes we’ve been planning for weeks. On the 30we’ll take a bus to San Cristobal, a cute little mountain town six hours away that has been constantly recommended to us. We all want to experience an all-out Dia del los Muertos celebration, and San Cristobal will have a lot more going on than Palenque. Plus, it will be nice to get some fresh, mountain air. Of course, dressing up isn’t exactly the tradition here, but we thought we’d have fun with it anyway. I don’t want to give away too much about the costumes yet though—it’s a surprise! Stay tuned.


Refreshments and Halloween
costume sketches

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Yaxchilan and Bonampak archaeological sites

8:45 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 17, 2010 – La Casa, Palenque, Mexico

A mural at Bonampak archaeological site. Much better preserved than I ever expected and a beautiful thing to witness (see the enlargeable image below).

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Today I was (very fortunately) talked into going to the Yaxchilan and Bonampak archaeology sites with Brittany, Liz and Evelyn. It was an all day trip for $600 pesos ($50 USD), including transportation, entrance fees, breakfast and lunch, yet my extremely stingy self still hesitated. However, Sarie had enthusiastically recommended the trip and her approval is difficult to earn, so I figured it must be worthwhile. Plus, we were all getting cabin fever from being stuck inside, working on our computers for the past two days. Last night we impulsively made fondue (five girls in a house, what do you expect?), and then went to bed early.

This morning the tour picked us up at 6:30 a.m. in a charter van, and we stopped along the way to have a wonderful breakfast of eggs, rice and fruit. Then we continued the rest of the three hour journey to the Usumacinta River, which divides Mexico and Guatemala. We rode on a long, skinny and low-riding boat down the river, drifting so close to Guatemala’s shore that we were all tempted to jump out just to say we’d been to Guatemala. But we had heard the river was teeming with crocodiles, and while we never saw any, there were tons of crazy huge, swimming iguanas.

The shore over my shoulder is Guatemala!

We arrived at Yaxchilan (Mexican side of the river)

and were given two hours to explore the premise. While not quite as expansive as la ruinas de Palenque, this site featured more detailed carvings and ornately decorated tablets. In the first building we entered there were dark hallways that crisscrossed throughout the structure. Most of the pyramids we had visited in the past had roofs but not many walls, so seeing wasn’t a problem and we didn’t bother to bring headlamps. This was an exception, but I couldn’t leave it unexplored. There were bats in the narrow hallways so I was walking through trying to catch them in flight with my camera and flash. The flash also doubled as my navigation tool, and I would initiate it, walk about ten feet (or as far as the image burned in my head allowed), then flash it again.

I inched my way through with this strategy, until I reached some steps. I had seen them for a fraction of a second, and I thought that was sufficient to get me up safety. But I took a few steps up and went crashing forward on my forearms, as my feet slipped backward on the uneven and damp steps. Luckily, my arms cradled the camera and it never made impact with the rock.

My feet did not fare as well. I had smashed the toes on my left foot against the rock and was only wearing sandals. It felt like a stubbed toe x 10, but when I made it out of the darkness and back with the rest of the group, I looked down and didn’t see the damage I was expecting based on the still non-relenting pain. At first. But a few minutes later I looked down again and there was blood gushing from beneath the toenail of my middle toe, and the nail looked like it was about to fall off. We cleaned it and applied a band aid (our group has quickly learned the importance of taking a first aid kit everywhere, because you never know what could happen—especially in my case). It definitely felt broken, and I spent the rest of the day in pain and struggling to climb up and down thousands of steps, always trying to keep the weight on my heels.

Lizard checking its [Mayan] calendar

We did see some amazing sights though—enough to drive the throbbing toe out of my mind. We finally got to see our first spider monkeys at Yaxchilan, which was quite a treat for us monkey-lovers. We met back at the boat and returned to the tour’s home base for a delicious and well-presented lunch of chicken fajitas with flan for dessert.

Next, the four of us hopped back on the van and headed to the Bonampak site. These ruins were much smaller and consisted of only a few buildings, but they made up for their modest size by boasting incredibly well-preserved murals. They were highly detailed and colored, and I was amazed at how well the artistry had survived the centuries. This was my favorite part, actually witnessing full paintings where I could see the subjects clearly rather than just guessing vaguely at their meaning. I continued taking photos until I was the only one that remained, then reluctantly turned my back on the cultural treasures and joined the others at the van.

When we got back to the house I took off my band aid to reveal a black and purple, swollen toe with a puss filled nail and crooked joint. I seem to be attracting injuries here like Nutella attracts ants.

Working on my feet all day is not going to be fun.

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