ParticleGirl's Journal: San Cristobal and Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico

Long time no talk! I got back about a month ago from Chiapas, Mexico, where I had been since May. Anyone been to Chiapas? Very large indigenous population (varieties of Maya) and lots of great archaeology. I spent a couple of months tramping through the jungle, and found sites with pyramids, temples, ball courts... all sorts of cool stuff that had never been registered, mapped, recorded-- so cool, to stand in a building you know no one has probably stood in for many hundreds of years! So cool to stand in a community so removed that no one speaks Spanish, so cool to stand on a hilltop you know no gringo has stood upon before, or is likely to again for a very, very long time.

There was a tarantula in my bed my third day in Palenque. After that, I slept in my hammock.

I made it out of the summer without getting a single bot fly.

I stood at the top of a Maya observatory on the solstice and watched the sun set exactly between two mountain peaks, shining through a series of doors and windows onto the easternmost mural in the palace.

I learned exactly how hard it is going to be to sustain friendships in Mexico or in the U.S. when I spend a third of my year there and two thirds of my year here. I decided that such incredible experiences are worth that difficulty.

I learned exactly how much you can't help standing out in southern Mexico when you're tall with blonde hair and blue eyes, and that it doesn't matter as long as you speak the language. (Chido gringas do exist!)

I learned to use the words guey and fresco correctly.

In learned that Maya words and thought heavily influence Spanish in southern Mexico-- cool things like using the same verb to mean "to lend" and "to borrow" --no differentiation between whose property you're talking about and who is using it on a temporary basis. Definitely derived from some different conceptions of "property."

I can't wait to get back to Mexico. :)

Your missing life

[FortKnox]

I learned exactly how hard it is going to be to sustain friendships in Mexico or in the U.S. when I spend a third of my year there and a third of my year here

And where is the 'other' third spent at??

BTW - Did you get different bug bites that are something us americans wouldn't recognize? Like a bit that itches more than a mosquito bite, a giant spider bite, etc...
What about illness? If you were 'so far out of civilization', that has to mean you eventually had to 'drink the water' and such...

Re:Your missing life

[Elwood P Dowd]

It's September 17th. She hasn't spent the other third yet.

(Just trying to help.)

Re:Your missing life

[ParticleGirl]

Excellent point! It was, however, a typo. I meant to say that I spent/will be spending 4 months in Mexico and 8 in the US almost every year for the forseeable future. But who knows what will happen between here and January? :)

Re:Your missing life

[ParticleGirl]

1/3 (May through August) of the year in Mexico, the other two thirds (yes, oops) here.

I was very proud of myself that I escaped the summer without chiggers (which should be familiar to some people in the US) or bot flies (v. nasty things: Bot flies lay their eggs on the legs of mosquitos, and when you get a mosquito bite they drop down into it. Larvae grow in the mosuito bites under your skin, with little snork-like feelers to stick out and breathe/feel around. They anchor themselves pretty well, so you

How much Mayan did you learn?

[Elwood P Dowd]

Are there any indigenous languages of Mexico that you can speak? Even a little?

Re:How much Mayan did you learn?

[ParticleGirl]

I know a few words in Tzotzil and some choice words, phrases and plant/insect/bird names in Chol. Those languages are incredible, and I think it would take me a LONG time to get the hang of them. Apparently they [most of them] are closer to Japanese than to any other language. Cool, difficult-for-me-to-get-a-hang-of stuff like no real subjects and no verb 'to be.' :) Why do you ask? Do you know any?

Re:How much Mayan did you learn?

[Elwood P Dowd]

No. I'm just mildly interested in languages in general and mildly interested in mesoamerican cultures in general.

And, while I certainly don't speak any Japanese, I'm pretty sure it has a verb 'to be.' 'Desu.' Silent U. Since they're a tagged verb-final language, desu is frequently at the end of sentences.

A grad student in one of my linguistics classes was doing her thesis on a village that was in the process of integrating with Spanish-speaking Mexico. I totally forget where, and I totally forget the char