When I travel I tell myself I am not a tourist because tourists in my mind do silly things like adopt silly poses with dignified statues. But here I am doing just that, in Costa Maya, on the Caribbean coast of Mexico.
I must remember that when I do stuff like this I must take another picture of the statue without me because embarrassingly I could not Photoshop myself out of this one and only picture I have of this representation of the Mayan figure Chacmool who guards the entrance to this faux Mayan shopping plaza. But Costa Maya is purely and simply made for tourists. It is a collection of tourist facilities at the end of a long, unadorned concrete jetty for cruise ships,
long strips of white sandy or rocky beaches and cabanas
A port of call carved out of the extensive featureless jungle beyond.
There are two villages within some miles of Costa Maya and some unexplored small Mayan sites in the jungle, but those are largely beyond the reasonable reach of a cruise passenger who has only a few hours on shore.
So one does touristy things.
Sightseeing here is simple and two-way: from the ship you look with envy and impatience at the white sand, colorful buildings, thatched cabanas and the warm clean surf lapping at the shore at the other end of the dock. From the white sandy beach and thatched cabanas you look at your ship at the other end of the dock and think of the splendour of life at sea.
In between you pose with Chacmool, perhaps with a shiver down your spine recall that in the days of the Mayas, it is thought, sacrificial human hearts would be placed on that tablet on his stomach.
Or you visit this replica, on a much smaller scale, of a Mayan pyramid of the kind that are found all over Mexico.
Pretend to be scared by this fierce jaguar, an important figure in Mayan culture.
A Mayan style arch forms the entrance to a shopping mall with the customary souvenir stalls.
You might be lucky to catch an outdoor folkloric dance at this plaza.
Or take in the vivid colors of the various buldings.
When your sightseeing’s all done, this oversized bottle of Mexican beer may persuade you to slake your thirst. ¡Bienvenidos, amigos!
12 comments:
Louis, you must be a hell of a drinker to finished that bottle of Tequila.
Have a nice day.
When you're a tourist, you can be forgiven for doing touristy things, lah. So, knock yourself out.
Man, that beer sure looks good right now. It's SO hot and icky here in KL right now, I'd give anything for a long, coooooool beer!
Louis,
Like a tourist my wife will insist that we take photograph of ourselves against something like the name of the place we visited or the landmark of the place. Just like you I will take another shot of the place to show friends of what I saw.
Idrus,
I was carried back to the ship perhaps :) Nice thing about a bottle like this is you can use it when it's empty as a water bottle for a place where you need lots of water because of the heat, like Penang in May.
Pat,
Thanks for your dispensation. That's one more bit of guilt I can get off my conscience.
Just reach for an Anchor or a Tiger :)
Hello Zawi,
I think I will take my own advice myself! It's handy though to have those pictures of place names and landmarks that your wife suggests. They are great when you make slideshows or YouTube videos, right?
I love the touristy photos, Louis, what a riot! Especially the one with the giant bottle of beer. The views are fantastic, though I don't think the cruise ship passengers can learn much about Mayan history or culture in a 2-hour stopover. Pity though that such a powerful race of people are reduced to colourful folk icons and shopping malls. I feel the same way when I into a shopping mall and find t-shirts, caps and backpacks with Che Guevara's face printed all over them.
Hi CO'78,
This part of Mexico has very few explored traces of Mayan culture. Their heritage though is well preserved and respected in other areas of the country where their culture had flourished.
Places like Costa Maya, developped as coastal resorts in sparsely populated areas to provide economic opportunities and jobs don't really pretend to be anything other than tourist attractions. They market their beaches and warm and beautiful Tropical seas to those of us shivering or gloomy through Fall and winter.
Louis, I really liked this:
"Sightseeing here is simple and two-way: from the ship you look with envy and impatience at the white sand, colorful buildings, thatched cabanas and the warm clean surf lapping at the shore at the other end of the dock. From the white sandy beach and thatched cabanas you look at your ship at the other end of the dock and think of the splendour of life at sea."
I like the touristy photos because I find that the human element makes the surroundings less "cold". I especially liked the photo, which you must have taken from the ship, showing the line of cabanas on the white beach. You can look at it as a strip of white sand keeping the blue sea at bay, but then you wonder if that sea of green behind the cabanas isn't the more voracious of the two. There is a vulnerability about that tourist outpost. I almost want to shout at it, "Watch your back!!"
By the way, that jaguar symbol was important throughout Latin America and the Caribbean and still continues to be in many cultures.
Blessings
Hello Guanaguanare,
Thanks for filling me in on the importance that jaguar symbol still has.
I would say that that "sea of green" behind the enclave is the more voracious. Costa Maya has been literally carved out of that jungle and that vegetation is massed there, uniform and in closed ranks as if ready to take its territory back just as it has taken back the relics of the Mayan civilization.
Hi Louis, I really enjoyed reading this post. The hilarity, the riot of colors... it helps brighten up a drab fall day:)
Sharifah,
Thanks for your visit and comment.
You mean there are actually glitches like drab fall days down there in that perfect sunny Southern California weather?! My neighbors there thought I was mad to abandon it for Seattle!
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