A teeth-chattering Land Rover ride over unpaved roads led us through the hills of Poptún amongst farming Guatemalans. It is amazing how the maíze planting takes place by hand in the limestone-strewn hills.
Evidence of the typical slash-and-burn fertilization gives rise to seedlings of corn and beans.
Clearing is done by machete.
Most farming in Guatemala is subsistence-based and the whole family is enlisted. The woman on the left of this photo carried her baby in a white fabric wrapped around her forehead, balancing him/her on her back as she bent over to hang laundry.
Young kids were working across long stretches of land along the road traveled.
Arriving at Naj Tunich, our Kekchi (Q'eqchi') Mayan guide, Elicio, read us the park literature in Spanish. We caught the general gist and have since read anthropological acounts about this cave.
Two adorable Mayan girls watched on with curiosity and giggled when I showed them their picture on my camera.
Naj Tunich or "house of stones" was vast and it is surprising to hear varying accounts of how it was discovered and that it happened so recently, between 30-40 years ago. Still being shaped by stalactites and stalagmites, our flashlights illuminated fascinating facades.
In the middle of our tour, Elicio received a phone call and much to our amusement, seemed to have good cell reception inside the cave!
"Can you hear me now?".
I also discovered that, with the right amount of flashlights, I didn't feel claustrophobic in a dark cave (bats included) and that my camera (Canon PowerShot S95) worked exceptionally well in the dark.
Naj Tunich was a sacred Mayan site and several tombs have been excavated (looted?) inside.
There are also over 80 dibújos (drawings) depicting novel aspects of Mayan culture, including glyphs, music, sport, dwarfs, sexual and sacrificial activities.
Unfortunately, the original drawings have been scratched and desecrated by vandals so the internal part of the cave is now closed.
We next hiked over to another cave that housed reproductions of the drawings.
Although not original, the depictions were well done and still compelling to view in a dark cave on a rock face, rather than on a poster.
Musicians
Ballplayer
Dwarf & ritual drinking
Erotica
Decapitation