The Ancient Maya

Temple V

    
     The Maya civilization started in Central America, on the Yucatan Peninsula, around 400 c.e.  They were eminent craftsmen; many elaborate scenes were painted on pottery.  The Mayas also held war as an important factor in their everyday life.  They attacked neighboring tribes and captured men, women, and children to sacrifice on their temples.  They fought with bows and arrows, and sharpened stones bound to a piece of wood for spears.  The temples were built like pyramids, with stairs to climb up to the top. It also had a flat surface at the summit, so they could perform sacred ceremonies there.  The pyramids were usually 200 feet tall, and they built all this without any metal tools, or horses or mules to drag the material up to the building site.

Ancient head

     Tikal was one of the most important Mayan cities.  It had more temples in it than any other Maya settlement.  The largest temple rises 400 feet.  The Mayans had built multiple temples on top of each other whenever the temple began to crumble, so there are many temples buried underground.  Some temples were meant for climbing, and some for worshipping, but no one was allowed up the worship temples.  Some of the off-limit temples were rigged with booby traps.  There were also spectacular faces, almost 6 feet high, carved out of the temples.  There were stone slabs with elaborate scenes or pictures of gods and rulers decorating the front as well.

View from the Temple of the Jaguar

     Worshipping gods was an important aspect in everyday Maya life.   They had to appease the gods, or the gods would send rain and floods to punish the people.  The Maya gods supposedly dwelled in the upperworld, and could be depicted in many forms, whether human or animal.  The supreme god, Itzamnaaj, was the creator of writing, learning, and the human race.  When in human form, he was an old, toothless man with a big nose.  Unlike other gods, Itzamnaaj was compassionate.  His wife, Ix Chel, was the goddess of nature, but could be terrible and cruel.  The other gods were the children of Itzamnaaj and Ix Chel.  The Maya kings wanted to please the gods with their own blood, and often experienced visions of the gods when they spilled enough blood.  They also had a more sinister method of appeasing the gods.  After their soldiers had taken captives from a nearby city-state, the Maya priests would escort them to the top of the temple, where their fate awaited them.  Then the priests would hold the victim over a stone slab.  While priests chanted hymns, the terrified victim had his heart cut out for offering to the gods.  The mutated body was then kicked down the side of the temple. The Maya may have been powerful, but they were also bloodthirsty.  

In the Maya passageway

       In the late 13th century the Maya began to desert their cities because of lack of food.  Earthquakes and tidal waves may have helped too.  Tikal did not escape these  natural phenomenons.  The Maya villagers took over the Maya’s holy temples.  Wanderers stalked the royal palace’s corridors, until time  and the jungle cut off Tikal completely.  The Maya world was beginning to crumble from attacks from the Aztecs, an even fiercer tribe than the Mayas.  By the time Columbus arrived, around 1400, the Maya were living in small, unimportant villages.

Maya ruins

     When we visited the ancient Maya city of Tikal, we hiked all over the ancient ruins.  Some of the ruins still had heads carved out of the stone, and they were covered with moss and growth.  Most of the temples were roped off, but we could climb some of them, including the largest temple, temple IV, and the view was superb! Over the tangled mass of green jungle, we could see the other taller Maya ruins, protruding from the jungle.  We visited many small towns, cast down in ruin and also smaller temples for the less important ceremonies.  I climbed temples where Mayas had tossed sacrifices down.  We came back home tired, but it was totally worth it.  The Mayas did some pretty amazing things, and they are still astounding us with their puzzles to this day.

Goin' down

Jamaica, West Indies

    The first people to settle Jamaica were the Tainos,in c.e. 700 , who came from somewhere around the Amazon.  They used boats to get to Jamaica, and they planted and harvested many casava,yams, beans, and spices.  They didn’t write, but they were good potters, carpenters, and carvers.  In 1494, Columbus discovered Jamaica and claimed it for Spain.  The Spanish made the Tainos work as slaves, but eventually the diseases brought by the Spaniards killed them all.They had to get slaves from Africa to use them for labor after the Tainos died.

    In 1655, he English took over Jamaica, although small groups of Spaniards and runaway slaves kept up a guerrilla warfare.By 1662 there were 4,000 colonists on Jamaica.  They began to make profits from selling cocoa, coffee, and sugarcane plantations.  In the 1700s, the British sponsored buccaneers to pillage and plunder England’s rivals.  The buccaneers became a powerful and ruthless force feared even by the English.The Jamaican governer tried to stop them, but the pirates settled in Port Royal, where they multiplied quickly.  A massive earthquake toppled Port Royal in 1692, and more than 2,000 people died.  The rest fled inland.

 
  The English slave traders became wealthy from selling slaves.  The slaves were imported from Africa, and those who survived the 6-12 month passage were oiled to look healthy.  Escaped slaves formed a band and were called Maroons.  The English tried to annihilate them in 1729, but the Maroons held the upper hand until they signed a peace treaty that promised them 1,500 acres if they returned all runaway slaves.  By 1700 there were 40,000 slaves in Jamaica, and by 1800 there were 300,000 of them.  Many were worked to death, but sometimes they saved enough mony to buy their freedom.  Many slaves tried to revolt and escape but none of the revolts were successful, and many were whipped and hanged.  One Jamaican governer expressed such brutality to slaves that he was stripped of his office, and slaves had more rights than before. 

    On August 6, 1962, Jamaica became independent.
Jamaica’s new flag had 3 colors.  Black ( for the people ), green ( for the land ), and gold ( for the sun ).
   

   

Morton's Salt Works - Great Inagua

Salt being loaded by conveyor belt from the salt pan

    When we visited Great Inagua in the Bahamas, we toured Morton’s Salt Works, which is the third largest salt work in the world.  They harvest the salt by pushing sea water into shallow salt pans with an Archimedes screw.

Saltwater being pushed into the canals.

Then, when it dries up and becomes salt, trucks take it away to be cleaned, and then it is put in immense salt piles until it is loaded onto a freighter by a conveyer belt.  This whole process takes about  7 months.

Waiting for a freighter

  Pink flamingoes also live here, and they eat the pink brine shrimp that live in the salt pans.  Since the flamingoes eat them, they turn pink as well.

Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park

     When we arrived at the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, which is in the Bahamas, I knew we were going to have a great time by looking at the crystal clear water and the tropical looking island.  We got the dinghy ready and started over the sand bank to  Powerful Beach.  On the beach was a skeleton of a Sperm Whale, which had, sadly, been killed by a horrible plastic bag.         
              

    The current through the anchorage was very strong, but my mom and I could swim during slack tide.  We swam over one of the reefs but the current became too strong because we were swimming after slack tide.  My dad had to motor over in the dinghy to retrieve us.  We decided that when we swam in deeper water, we would swim together.     
                                         
    On the first day, I saw an eagle ray.  It was about 4 feet long, had white spots over its body, and had a snout-like face.  Over the days, we would see many of these beautiful creatures. 

    One day we decided to take a hike to BooBoo Hill. It got its name because of a schooner that sank off of its coast. Tragically, it was lost, along with all of the sailors and not one of them was found for a burial.  The legend tells that the lost souls sing hymns on top of BooBoo hill at the bloom of the full moon.

    In the park, there are these adorable little black, white and yellow birds, called Bananaquits.  All of these birds are about the size of a sparrow, with black beaks.  They love sugar and will hop onto your hand if you hold it out.  They are just one of the many creatures in the park.      

             
    There are many different things to do here, such as walking trails,  swimming, and looking at wildlife.  The Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park should be kept the way it is,  without too much pollution and people.  It is indeed a treasured and special paradise.