Day: July 4, 2022

https://www.flickr.com/photos/155629884@N04/52191370692/in/dateposted-public/

I chose to participate in the Ancient and Colonial Heritage Maymester in order to conduct field research to supplement my thesis on the Maya system of mathematics. I spent countless hours last semester with my neck bent ninety degrees to the side as I looked at every book in the Mesocenter library. Once I had exhausted myself, I’d take a quick power nap on the couch, tucking myself under a blanket of online academic journals. In the weeks leading up to the trip, I was reading up a storm, soaking up information on anything from ancient hunting almanacs to post-civil war reforms to Guatemala’s public school system.

From my research, I gained essential information about the algebraic structure of Maya date-keeping and began to appreciate the intersection between religion and mathematics. I thought the beauty of the Maya number system could be experienced by finding calendrical patterns, writing a mixed-base series, and linking Maya numerology with astronomical calculations. There is indeed beauty in all that math, but what I thought was experience was mere observation. It was Kawoq who taught me how to engage with Maya math in a meaningful way.

During the day-keeping ceremony, Kawoq stepped us through the orientation and numerological significance of every material he placed in the fire. But the beauty wasn’t in his explanation of how the colored candles were aligned on the cardinal axes, it was the wind blowing fire so close to my face that my bangs sizzled. Zero as a unit of completion is a very interesting idea to ponder, but I only experienced completion when I stood under the sun and looked to find the perfectly circular rainbow enclosing it.

My experience with Kawoq came as a surprise because I never thought I would be able to go beyond research and actually experience Maya math. Despite all my reading, I couldn’t conceptualize math as a sensation. It was like I went to Kawoq and asked for his thoughts on the weather forecast, but instead of talking about the climate, he just opened a door and told me to go outside. Kawoq helped me understand that predicting the weather is cool, but it never beats the feeling of a beautiful day.

Group photo of our Antigua, Guatemala homestay family

Photo: https://flic.kr/p/2nvVryF, Picture Courtesy of Milady Casco and Courtney Clark

On our final afternoon in Antigua, Guatemala, my homestay mates Courtney (pictured far left), Ashlee (second from left), and I (far right) ate some delicious cake from a local bakery with our homestay hosts, Don Carlos and Doña Ana (center). It was undoubtedly a bitter-sweet moment because regardless of my desire to hopefully visit Guatemala in the near future, there is no guarantee that I will see my homestay family again. Fortunately, I now have Don Carlos’ number saved to my list of contacts on WhatsApp, so I can keep in touch!  During our conversation, we discussed our plans for the rest of the summer. Don Carlos and Doña Ana plan on taking an extensive coast-to-coast road trip around the U.S.  As Don Carlos put it, ¡Viajar es Vida! (Travel is Life!)

It is impossible to comprehensively sum up all that is a Maymester in Guatemala and Belize. With less than a month to experience all that we did, it was truly an intense, emotional, and memorable experience. Part of that experience is navigating the cobblestone streets of Antigua and marveling at the colonial barroco antigueño architecture in decay, like ruins of the Church of Candelaria that now stand on the perimeter of a basketball court, or the repurposed buildings that are now home to fast food franchises like McDonald’s or one of the most upscale Starbucks you could visit. Another part is visiting amazing co-ops that benefit Maya women and boating across the marvelous, glistening Lake Atitlán. Furthermore, the Maymester journey involves visiting more museums than you typically experience in a year, both typical and living. By living museums, I mean the great pyramids of Tikal in the southern Maya lowlands and of Iximche’ in Guatemala’s western highlands, the latter of which is home to seemingly countless pieces of Pre-columbian pottery and obsidian that visitors can pick up and observe up-close. 

 

A piece of black obsidian unearthed in Iximcheʼ 

Photo: https://flic.kr/p/2nw7p84

In Belize, the ethnocultural mosaic that comprises the country allows visitors to experience both Maya and Kriol history and cuisine, among others. With a population of just around 1,400 people the Kriol community of Crooked Tree Village was once a settlement for workers in the logwood industry from Britain.

Entrance to the Crooked Tree Museum and Cultural Heritage Center

Photo: https://flic.kr/p/2nw7sJY

Both the horrors and cultural influence of colonialism are present in the stories and lifestyles of the people of Guatemala and Belize. The Maya people are some of the most resilient and generous people that I have met, and the Kriol people are equally strong and welcoming. It is important as tourists to get to know the locals and not fall into the trap of mindless consumerism. I was glad to have the opportunity to support numerous local businesses and organizations and I look forward to visiting Central America in the coming years, hopefully with the means to be of greater service to the disadvantaged. 

I would like to sincerely thank Dr. Astrid Runggaldier, Milady Casco, and the numerous UT faculty and staff that made this Maymester trip possible. I am also very grateful to Ruta Maya Coffee Company for helping to sponsor my study abroad experience. Finally, I want to thank Don Carlos and Doña Ana for opening up their lovely home to students, and the many other residents of Guatemala and Belize whose generosity and enthusiasm for sharing their knowledge and wisdom with our group made the trip an experience to cherish. 

Standing at the top of El Mundo Perdido at Tikal, I was astounded by the magnificence of the forest ecosystem. From that perspective, it is endless green broken only by the few largest Maya temples. The resilience of Maya architecture through time combined with the curiosity and technology of today are the only reasons the site was not lost to the forest. At the peak of Classic Maya kingdoms, the Maya people completely altered the landscape to provide for themselves. They were not nearly as extractive or destructive as our society today, nevertheless, they pushed the limits of what resources their environment was able to provide. After sites like Tikal were abandoned, the forest reclaimed its space. Without the disturbance of humans, highly productive ecosystems like this are able to bounce back with ease. All ecosystems thrive with some degree of disturbance, whether that be wildfires, hurricanes, dry seasons, or even plagues. With our advanced technology though, our society is currently creating a dire situation for many ecosystems across the world because of our literally destructive methods and long term effects of climate change. Maya sites like Tikal show that even after hundreds of years of human civilization clear cutting and plastering over the land, biodiversity will bounce back and resist the emptiness left by people. Some day our society will push the limits of even what the most advanced technology will be able to provide for, and we will leave a space that nature will fill again with rich ecosystems that can sustain themselves.

Studying abroad, in my mind, is the pinnacle of the college experience. For years I was promised that embarking on a study abroad program would be a life-changing experience, so this trip was a dream come true. I expected to spend one month traveling across two countries to study the Maya and their surrounding environment. This trip was so much more than that.

I found my time abroad framed by comparisons and balances. My research project studied the ancient Maya and Western civilizations’ environmental ideologies to compare their urban planning styles. This project prompted constant acknowledgment and analysis of the balance between human and natural spaces, and any possible shifts in this relationship over time. Due to the temporal range of my project, I needed to make observations in every archaeological site and town we visited. However, I often found myself struggling to balance academic requirements with tourist desires. Some days the academic was victorious, and I focused on the connections between our daily excursions and my research project. On other days, like the day in Tikal National Park, the desire to be a tourist won out. I allowed myself to experience the jungle and Maya temples without the pressure of notes and detailed observations. The comparative nature of my project and my inner balance between fun and academics often left me feeling like I existed at an intersection between worlds, similar to the interworld connections represented by the ceiba tree.

Traveling and studying in Guatemala and Belize lived up to the life-changing promise of study abroad. There was a lot of new on this program: cultures, friends, countries, sights, and experiences. Every night I went to bed exhausted, and every morning I woke up ready for more.

At Lake Atitlan, I spent a lot of time thinking about my project. We went to the textile cooperative in San Juan La Laguna, and there were many women wearing traje that were very different from what I had seen in Antigua. Even the difference in traje from San Juan La Laguna to Santiago Atitlan was drastic. During the semester in Austin, I felt like I struggled to conceptualize how traje varied. There was not a lot I could find on the associations between the styles and their specific locations. I also could not, for the life of me, understand how weavers assembled the sticks into a functioning loom, but after speaking to Delfina at the coop and seeing how they were put together in person, I could. She showed us the entire process from start to finish, from a ball of cotton to a woven table runner. Being able to see firsthand the different styles of traje and the weaving process made what I had gathered from my read research so much clearer.

Lake Atitlan was crucial for my project, but it was also the place where I learned the most about my classmates. After dinner, most of us went and got ice cream. We had a gathering in our rooms to play cards and talk. It was the last place we were before a lot of us started getting sick, so in retrospect, it feels like the lake was a haven.
It felt surreal to return to the US after spending a month with some of the coolest people I have ever met. Without our group, I don’t think the experience would have been anywhere near the same. This experience was completely different from traveling with my family or friends for leisure. I was always actively interacting with my environment and reflecting on the information I was learning. I always had something I wanted to write down. Balancing my time between my new friends, a new explorable environment, class, and my research in another country also, ultimately, turned out to be just as difficult as I imagined it, maybe more, but after a while, I got the hang of it.

I value everything that I learned or gained from this experience from my research to the friends I made on the way.

-Michelle Brun