Quirigua, Guatemala
They say it happened, 750 years, 4 months, 29 days, 8 hours and 45 minutes in the evening, the Chak constellation had risen, the axe fell and Waxaklahun Ubah Kawil entered the Underworld.
They passed, 0 days, 0 months, 1,265 years.
And then it happened, 2003 years, 4 months, 29 days, 8 hours and 45 minutes in the morning, the sun had risen, the bus stopped and we entered Quirigua!
Glyphs cover the many monuments of Quirigua. They spell out its history in terms similar to the writing above. Many record the greatest moment of the city’s history, when Quirigua’s king captured the ruler of the powerful city of Copan, dragged him back to Quirigua, and sacrificed him in ritual decapitation. And we were lucky enough to visit Quirigua on the 1,265th anniversary of this event!
We wandered through the ceremonial square at Quirigua, marveling at the size of the monuments, their beauty, and at the interesting history they describe.
The monuments at Quirigua are the tallest in the world, but equally impressive is the artistry of the carved zoomorphic boulders and their accompanying altars. This image, from Alter O’, depicts Chak, the god of lightning and rain. Here the god dances in a swirl of cloud. Chak is intimately connected to Maya creation myth. In it, the Hero Twins visit the Underworld, find the bones of their uncle buried in a ball game court, and bring them to the “roof” of the Underworld. Chak then splits the ground with his flint axe and the uncle is reborn to Earth as the Corn God. Quirigua’s own ball court is near this altar, and its connection to death, rebirth, and the god Chak were obviously important to its makers.
Later in the day we admired Chak’s creation. The rain of ten thousand years has filled the Rio Dulce and carved its canyon. We used Zodiacs to explore the river, and admired its towering tree lined walls. Orchids hung from the trees, and herons and kingfishers perched in their branches.
There is no place like the Maya world for seeing the complexity and grace of human and natural history intertwined. Today’s explorations were a rich taste of both.
They say it happened, 750 years, 4 months, 29 days, 8 hours and 45 minutes in the evening, the Chak constellation had risen, the axe fell and Waxaklahun Ubah Kawil entered the Underworld.
They passed, 0 days, 0 months, 1,265 years.
And then it happened, 2003 years, 4 months, 29 days, 8 hours and 45 minutes in the morning, the sun had risen, the bus stopped and we entered Quirigua!
Glyphs cover the many monuments of Quirigua. They spell out its history in terms similar to the writing above. Many record the greatest moment of the city’s history, when Quirigua’s king captured the ruler of the powerful city of Copan, dragged him back to Quirigua, and sacrificed him in ritual decapitation. And we were lucky enough to visit Quirigua on the 1,265th anniversary of this event!
We wandered through the ceremonial square at Quirigua, marveling at the size of the monuments, their beauty, and at the interesting history they describe.
The monuments at Quirigua are the tallest in the world, but equally impressive is the artistry of the carved zoomorphic boulders and their accompanying altars. This image, from Alter O’, depicts Chak, the god of lightning and rain. Here the god dances in a swirl of cloud. Chak is intimately connected to Maya creation myth. In it, the Hero Twins visit the Underworld, find the bones of their uncle buried in a ball game court, and bring them to the “roof” of the Underworld. Chak then splits the ground with his flint axe and the uncle is reborn to Earth as the Corn God. Quirigua’s own ball court is near this altar, and its connection to death, rebirth, and the god Chak were obviously important to its makers.
Later in the day we admired Chak’s creation. The rain of ten thousand years has filled the Rio Dulce and carved its canyon. We used Zodiacs to explore the river, and admired its towering tree lined walls. Orchids hung from the trees, and herons and kingfishers perched in their branches.
There is no place like the Maya world for seeing the complexity and grace of human and natural history intertwined. Today’s explorations were a rich taste of both.
