The Mayans

Luis, our tour guide on the bus tour to Chichen Itza, was a funny guy who reminded me alot of my dad. He had a lot of social commentary to make on the state of affairs for Mayan indians in Mexico, and it all boils down to the state not giving them any breaks, and any breaks they got they had to create for themselves basically.

Now, I've studied the Mayan civilization in my History of the World classes, and I was quite knowledgable to begin with, and I also knew from my global development classes that the current state of affairs for the Mayans was at times comparable to third world status. So I was prepared to a degree for what I was going to see. But I didn't quite feel ready for the Little villages and highway-side stalls of souvenirs and coca-cola interspersed the constant flow of litter, shabby-looking little houses and lots of farm animals.

When we stopped at a co-op market, we were given the opportunity to buy some Mayan Cartouches, decorated with Mayan hieroglyphs, buy Rod doesn't care for wearing jewellery that much, and I can't wear silver because of allergies, so my only option was to spend $300 on a gold one, and that's not much of an option. This market was all of the Mayan's own making. They formed a co-op and sold their goods and made their money off of the private tour companies that had deals with specific co-ops. This money went further than just supporting their families. According to Luis, this money also paid for community necessities like healthcare, infrastruture, schools, ect.

I was struck by the fact that many Mayans throughout the Yuchatan Peninsula and throughout Mexico were not so lucky. Only some communities have gotten together and formed these co-ops, and they are doing well by Mayan standards. But what about those who aren't granted that privilege? The government still determines who can have co-ops where because much of the land surrounding Mayan ruins is Federally-kept. So the Mayans we were constantly approached by on the grounds of Chichen Itza were unregulated, and judging by my estimation, not making much money off of their wares. Children as young as 3 or 4 years old were parroting their elders and running up to tourists...these tiny little kids were trying to sell us linens and alabaster chess sets without really grasping what they were doing.

There we were, Rod and I...standing in the shadows of the incredible Mayan ruins of a city that was overrun by the jungle long before Spanish Conquistadors could lay waste to it, surrounded by the descendents of the civilization that built these incredible buildings, and as I stood on top of the pyramid and looked out over the landscape, I realized that History was an unforgiving taskmaster. "Here today, Gone tomorrow" takes on a new significance when you are standing on the ruins of a formerly advanced civilization. Makes you wonder who will be standing on the ruins of our civilization 1,500 years from now.