Copan: The Final Days

Hello friends and family! After four wonderful weeks, I have made it home safely. It was hard to leave such a magical place, but I think at the end we were all ready to return to the States and see our loved ones.

I apologize for not posting in the past couple of days. Friday night was spent preparing for our final on Saturday morning, and Don Udo's unfortunately did not have an internet connection on Saturday night so I was unable to post. Last night was dedicated to reuniting with my family and, more importantly, sleeping. But I am now well rested and will give you a final update.

Friday night was the Fash Bash, where Bill and Barb invited us all to their house to celebrate our time in Copan. Their house is in an inconspicuous location in town and is absolutely beautiful. Here is a shot of the back patio. Behind it, an amazing view of the valley.


A good portion of their house, like most spaces in town, is outside, which provides for a very nice, tropical atmosphere. Adding to the atmosphere was the live music of a marimba band, led by the one and only Don Felipe. As I mentioned before, I helped interview Don Felipe as part of my community project. He built the first marimba in town with his own hands in 1936, when he was only 20 years old.


You can see Don Felipe here in the far right. Aren't those instruments beautiful? It was such a nice surprise seeing Don Felipe play since he retired from playing a few years ago.

But it was Bill and Barb who were the recipients of the real surprise. Their birthdays are both in late July, during the run of the field school, and each let both occasions slip by without letting the students know. Well, we eventually found out about it and were not too pleased. Laura managed to get Udo's daughter to bake a cake secretly, and then sneaked the cake into the party unbeknownst to the hosts. When she brought it out, candles lit, the marimba band began to play "Happy Birthday."

Bill and Barb were completely surprised! They blew out the candles together--very cute.

The Fash Bash was a blast, but as it came to a close we headed back to the hotel for some last-minute studying for the final the next morning. Although I was stressing a little bit (especially over the Mayan glyph identification section on the exam!), everything turned out just fine. The rest of Saturday was spent shopping in the town and spending time with the other field school students, now my close friends.

Before I knew it, it was time to leave. When I arrived at the San Pedro Sula airport, a three hour drive from Copan, I felt like it had been ages since I was last there, but at the same time it felt like my time in Honduras had just flown by.

This summer was easily one of the most enriching experiences I have ever had in my life, and I am so lucky that I had the opportunity. I would do it again in a heartbeat, and maybe next summer I will get that chance.

Thanks for keeping up with me while I've been here! I can't wait to see all of you and catch up. But for now, I need to go find out what's been happening in the world for the last few weeks.

Adios!

Copan: Days 25 & 26

Hi guys! Sorry for not posting yesterday. I uploaded photos and everything, but then got distracted by lively conversations going on around me. Justifiable, yes?

It's hard to believe I only have a few days left in this magical place... The time has flown by! Even so, I am excited to see my family and friends when I return on Sunday.

Yesterday was the last day of our community projects. I had the last interview with Don Felipe, after which I spent some time transcribing it. On Saturday we will interview his wife. Now that community projects are essentially over for most people, we have all started working on our final site reports, community project reports, and have begun cramming for our final on Saturday morning. A few of us (myself included) are also feeling the crunch of what little time we have left, trying to get to all the sites we missed and doing some last-minute shopping.

Tonight we all went to Don Udo's house for a special dinner. It was absolutely beautiful there, and I am kicking myself since I didn't bring my camera. Fortunately, the photos from those that did bring their camera will be floating around Facebook soon enough. I'll try to post some of those when I can. The rest of the evening was pretty relaxing, especially knowing we would be able to sleep in tomorrow!

Oh, and before I forget, the temple in my post a few days ago that I kept referring to as Temple 16 is actually Temple 11. My bad!

For now, I thought I'd post some pictures of awesome people.

Moncho: the head honcho!

Lucy, in the tunnel right outside of Ruler 12's tomb.

Marc next to his second favorite thing: hieroglyphic benches! His first? Coffee. Have I posted this picture already?

I love and miss you all! Send me some love!

Copan: Day 24

Hey guys! Short and sweet post today. 1) I am absolutely exhausted and 2) I am running out of pictures (at least ones with interesting stories) to post.

Today I continued with the interviews, this time with a man named Don Facundo. He is at the tender age of 81, and is one of the most adorable people I have met yet. He did not work for Gustav Stromsvik (the archaeologist who worked here in the 30s and the focus of this project) but he has many good stories of how Copan was transformed over the years. I also began transcribing the interviews I have digitally recorded so far. The process is a little overwhelming and stressful: the words and phrases I recognize seem to be small in number compared to the majority of what is said that I can't understand. Trying to sort it all out takes a lot of time, and when you are working with interviews that are 2 hours long, it is hard to see yourself making any progress. But I am plowing forward, and my ear seems to get ever so slightly better with each listen.

So, I was looking through the photos I have yet to post, and I realized that I haven't yet talked about the awesome taxis around here (and even if I have, I definitely have not devoted the time to discussing them as I should). Here's a picture I took of the town square, and inadvertently captured two of these vehicles.

I've heard them referred to as both Tuk Tuks and Moto Taxis, but either way they are fun to ride in, small and agile on the crowded streets of the pueblo, and I can only assume economically efficient. I believe they also use these things a lot in Southeast Asia (my first clue was the maintenance instructions in the taxis are only in English and Thai). They are essentially motorized tricycles with a wind shield and a canvas cover. Wouldn't this be an excellent way to zoom around on campus? Or for short trips at home? I think so!

Let's band together and buy ourselves a Tuk Tuk!

Copan: Days 22 &23

Hello! Sorry I didn't get a chance to post yesterday. The internet in the hotel wasn't working, unfortunately, but I am back now! I also fixed the problem with the last post. For some reason the pictures didn't show up as they were supposed to. They should be visible now, so take a look if you didn't get a chance when I first posted.

Yesterday was an excellent shopping day. I was pretty frantic knowing this was my last good weekend to buy things for people, and I am indecisive as it is. I always want to find the perfect gift! But I think I found some pretty cool things. If you want something, though, there is still time... so please tell me!

We also went as a group to a showing of the Dark Knight at Via Via, a local bar. Ticket price: one dollar. I love Honduras! And the movie quality was pretty decent. Excellent movie by the way. I can easily envision a posthumous Oscar win for Heath Ledger.

Today was our real last day of digging. Most of us start on community projects this week, while others are working in the lab identifying ceramics and lithics, or even excavating further. As I explained earlier, I am interviewing people from around town (with a lot of help from Bill) who worked with some early Copan archaeologists (we're talking 1930s). I talked with Don Felipe for the second time today, and I will be talking with him again on Wednesday. He is really a wealth of information! The interview today lasted a good 2 hours! Tomorrow I will start work on transcribing the interview, which will help my listening comprehension immensely. Can't wait to start on that!

At dinner, two field-schoolers (Alasdair, a writer; and Kenny, an artist) unveiled a project they had been working on for about two-and-half weeks. The title: Archaeology's Finest. It's a comic book starring our professors Bill, Barb, and Marc. Today they released the first installment of three. One of the funniest things I've ever read! I may scan in the pages once I get home to share with you all, but be warned: the references are pretty esoteric.

Speaking of hilarity, here's something I learned today: my name (or, the sounds that comprise my name), when said in Classic Mayan, mean "testicles." Wrap your heads around that!

The pictures today are a little random but have interesting stories attached.

First, check out this hole:

This is an ancient drainage way that takes water out of the plaza. For some context on where it is:

You can see one ballcourt structure on the left, a tree to the right of it, and behind them Temple 16 (it may be Temple 11, but I think it's 16). The drainage way can be found at the bottom of Temple 16, probably somewhere on the right of this picture (I actually think it's behind the tree in the foreground). I know it's far in the background, but use your imagination!

A few years ago, this drainage way got clogged and as a result the plaza flooded. From what I hear, the water was a few feet high. Well, one man decided to take action. I don't remember what his name was or how he was connected to Copan: he may have been a local, or perhaps an archaeologist. Either way, he took initiative. He dove into the water and swam into the drainage way--yes, that tiny little hole--unclogging it and saving the Principal Group. The big mystery is how the heck he got out of that drain once the water started rushing in. We may never know!

Next, I thought I'd talk a little bit about the local currency, the Lempira. Lempira was a Lenca (the indigenous Honduran people) chieftain and hero. When the Spanish Conquistadors invaded, Lempira managed to unite Lenca tribes that had long been enemies to resist the conquest. The story goes that Spanish leaders invited Lempira to a meeting under the pretense of peace negotiations, and there Lempira was shot in the forehead by a hidden marksman, thereby ending his movement.

The one Lempira bill (seen above, front and back) is my favorite note here in Honduras. A portrait of Lempira graces the front, and the back is a view of the ballcourt (left) and Hieroglyphic Stairway (right). One of my favorite moments here in Copan was climbing to the top of Temple 16 (again, it could be 11), and seeing the very view depicted on the Lempira:

Awesome, hmm?

Well, I'm off! Have a great night, and let me know how you all are doing! I love you, and miss you.

Copan: Day 21

Hello again! Pretty relaxing day today. Some kids went out to the bird park today, but I elected to stay in town and do more shopping. I'm so indecisive... but I think I came away with some good finds. The tickets for the bird park are reusable, apparently, so a group of us may go tomorrow. If I do, there will be pictures to share.

This afternoon a bunch of us went to the ruins to play sardines. For those of you who don't know the game, it is essentially like hide-and-seek, except only one person hides and everyone else seeks. When you find the person who is hiding, you hide with them. It goes on like this until everyone has found the hiding spot (in round two is was Ruler 16's tomb). AWESOME. This is really an amazing place, and I'm honored to say that I know where are all the good hiding places in the Principal Group.

I also managed to find my camera cord this afternoon, so I thought I'd post some of the pictures from our "last day" of digging yesterday. Here is our digging group (dubbed Black Force Jaguar by the boys). From left to right, Sarah, me, Alana, and Don Fidensio! I apologize for the blurriness, there was a smudge on my lens at the time, unfortunately. But Sarah and Alana have copies of it (including one where we are all posing like explorers), and I'll be glad to share them with you when I get them.

A look at the entirety of the site. You can see Don Fidensio working in our unit on the right in the black shirt. Don Chepe is standing to the right of him in a dashing cowboy hat.

A few of us decided to grab a picture with the beloved Moncho, head honcho. When we asked to take a picture of him, he eagerly ushered us to the top of a mound nearby the site. Turned out to be a great spot for a photo, don't you agree? (From left to right, me, Emily, Moncho, and Lorena.)

Right before that picture was taken, Moncho took off his iconic hat and put it on Emily's head. Right after the picture, Emily proclaimed, "I win." She totally did.

While Don Daniel (aka Don Kick-Ass) was finishing leveling out his unit, the boys were left with some free time on their hands. With that time, Kenny built this exquisite pyramid out of sifted dirt and rocks.

Truly, a work of art.

For now, I'm off to bed, but you will hear more from me tomorrow. Don't forget to e-mail me to let me know how you are doing. I love and miss you all!

Copan: Day 20

Hey guys! Sorry for the lack of a post last night: there was an epic outing that could not be missed! I hope you'll understand.

Yesterday was our last official day of digging (although we may go back on Monday morning, since we've been rained out the past two days). We've had a lot of fun at the site in our two weeks there. The boys in the unit next to ours (Will, Kenny, and Alasdair) gave themselves the name "Wolf Force Delta" or "Fuerza de los Lobos Delta," and approached the dig as if it were a mission, even naming their gear bag the "Ops Bag." Each group also bonded quite a bit with their respective workers. Our worker, Don Fidensio helped me practice my Spanish, and taught us all a lot about the local insects and plants in the area. He knows everything! He'd also laugh at our Spanish when we made egregious errors (along with the other workers), but all in good fun. Don Fidensio is an expert at what he does--I am so glad to have met him.

We all got to know each other's workers as well. Will Force Delta worked with a man named Don Daniel who is an incredible person. He is 82 years old and still working in the field. I hope I have some of those longevity genes! He is also a machine when it comes to moving dirt. So much so, that the boys have dubbed him "Don Kick-Ass."

The site was full of amazing people that I hope to remember for the rest of my life: Don Marcos and Don Chepe, the other two expert workers with a good sense of humor and unparalleled expertise; Moncho, the head honcho who is always smiling and warns us when the rain is coming; Jorge Ramos, the co-director of the excavations who is not only brilliant but extremely kind.

Anyway, digging has been such a blast, and I did take a bunch of pictures to immortalize our last day of digging. However, I can't find the cord that connects my camera to my laptop, so you will have to wait for those (there are also some epic photos of me doing cartwheels during lunch floating around, I'll see if I can get some for you to see).

On Thursday, though, I took some pictures of this beautiful tree just to the west of where we are working. It has these lovely purple flowers that attract throngs of yellow butterflies. I've posted a few of those photos for you to see (look carefully, the butterflies are hard to see). While enjoying them, keep in mind that the Maya used butterflies as a symbol of war (so ferocious, no?).

Copan: Day 19

Hey guys! The penultimate day of digging was today. It's amazing how fast it's all gone by! It feels like we have just started and already we are finishing our work. After this week we will start our analysis of the features and artifacts we found, and embark on our community projects. This afternoon, once the rain started, we headed to CRIA (which means el Centro Regional de Inverstigaciones Arqueologias, thanks Mommy!) to help Barbara with some work that needs to be done. I've been assigned to help with the mapping of the site. Woo! Putting those drawing skills to work!

Anyway, as I mentioned last night, yesterday was Laura's 21st birthday. I thought I'd share some pictures from the festivities. Bill arranged for a special meal at Don Udo's with live mariachi music, the students bought and filled a piñata shaped like a hippo, and those who wanted to enjoyed a celebratory tequila shot. I have a short video of the mariachi band and the unveiling of the cake, but with the slow connection here I can't post it in a reasonable amount of time. I'll definitely get it up once I get back!

Beth taking a swing at the piñata. She ultimately brought it down, along with the ring that was holding it up.

There was dancing and merriment. My favorite couple, Bill and Barb, can be seen dancing in the background.

Happy birthday, Laura!

More pictures tomorrow! Miss you guys. Let me know what's going on in the states (or wherever you may be!).

Copan: Day 18

Hi guys! Quick post tonight because I am absolutely exhausted. We had a long day of excavating/sculpture-drawing followed by an amazing birthday party for Laura (a rising senior doing thesis research). Bill threw the party in her honor and it included a mariachi band, a hippo-shaped piñata, and free tequila shots (I did not partake--don't worry, Mommy!). I will post some pictures from tonight tomorrow.

For now, I am off to bed, and leave you with some photos of stelae (plural of stela) in Copan's Principal Group. Stelae were dedicated by different rulers, usually to commemorate important events. They usually have the likeness of whichever ruler happens to have commissioned the work on one side (often times dressed as various gods), and an inscription describing the important event on the other side. Unfortunately, I do not know a whole lot about each specific stela, so I'll leave these pictures for you to enjoy on your own. Find your own interpretations!

Copan: Day 17

Hey guys! More excavating today. We switched units yet again, and now may be on top of the structure's staircase. Only time will tell!

I also had my first interview today. As a part of my receiving funding from DRCLAS (David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, pronounced "doctor-clas"), I am helping Barbara and Bill with photo-elicitation interviews. The Carnegie Institution, and the Peabody Museum, have a bunch of photos from excavations in Copan over the years. Last year, Barbara worked on identifying individuals in photos from the 1890s. This summer, we are working on identifying people in photos from Gustav Stromsvik's excavations in the 1930s. As well as trying to identify as much of the unknown as we can, we are also trying to get a sense of what Copan was like back in the day.

Today, we talked to Don Felipe, aged 93, who worked with "Don Gustavo" when he first came to Copan. He continued his archaeological work until he retired in his 80s. The interview was a little intimidating, since my listening comprehension in Spanish is completely atrocious. But I had my trusty audio recorder to preserve his every last word. It turns out that Bill did most of the talking anyway, which allowed me to sit back and absorb as much as I could. Finally, my Spanish in action! It was hard for me to understand Don Felipe completely: he spoke pretty quietly and quickly. However, I understood a fair amount and am getting much better at processing these foreign sounds. When Bill speaks in Spanish (usually very clearly and slowly), I can usually understand most, if not all, of what he says. Very encouraging!

Anyway, enough with the rambling. I thought I'd show some more pictures from the Copan Sculpture Museum. Enjoy!

These two sculptures you see behind Bill were once on the temple (Temple 16 I believe) behind Altar Q. The top figure is the likeness of the first ruler, Yax K'uk' Mo', in Teotihuacano warrior garb. Below, we see the face of Tlaloc (the rain god and Teotihuacan's patron god) surrounded by a skull rack.

You can recognize Tlaloc by his goggle eyes and missing mandible. It might be hard to see, but Tlaloc only has his top teeth, a tongue, and blood spilling out on either side of his tongue. A pretty gruesome image.

This temple, as well as Altar Q in front of it, is a tribute to the founder by the 16th, Yax Pasaj. Above all, it emphasizes Yax K'uk' Mo' as a foreigner, really playing up the Teotihuacano imagery. According to Altar Q's top inscription, Yax K'uk' Mo' walked all the way to Teotihuacan (Central Mexico), took part in an accession ritual, walked 153 days (give or take a day) back to Copan, and "rested his feet." The founder's original power came from Teotihuacan. Although it is debated where Yax K'uk' Mo' was originally from (new evidence shows he may have been a lord of Caracol), he was definitely an outsider in the Copan Valley. Starting with Ruler 12, monuments and altars began to emphasize his ties, and therefore Copan's ties, with the great city of Teotihuacan.

This is the Motmot marker, one of the earliest inscriptions at Copan.

It covers a tomb, or offering, of a young woman. Both Rulers 1 and 2 appear on the marker, and it was probably dedicated by Ruler 2 (the Founder's likely son). The marker is interesting in a lot of ways. Throughout the Maya area, limestone was the preferred stone to carve. Limestone is much scarcer in Copan, however, volcanic tuff being much more prevalent. The Motmot marker is made of limestone, which seems to suggest that the first carvers at Copan spent a lot of time and effort finding a stone they were comfortable carving. Even more telling is the fact that all monuments after this are carved out of the volcanic tuff. It mustn't have taken them long to figure out that the tuff is much softer and easier to carve! The marker also covers a circular tomb, which is highly uncommon for Maya burials, but very Teotihuacano. Again, ties to that great ancient city. And if anyone is wondering where the term "Motmot" comes from, it was the Maya way of describing the sound a bird makes.

Below is a stucco macaw. I believe it would have been found on the side of the earlier versions of Copan's ballcourt.

As you can see, his feathers all have macaw heads at the end, and there is some saurian figure emerging from his groin area. Would you believe that both characteristics are Teotihuacano in nature?

And one of my favorite pieces: the old men!

We see these figures a lot, and they play a big role in Maya mythology. Unfortunately, I don't know much more on that topic--I'll have to look into it. Nonetheless, these things crack me up. He only has two teeth! Ha!

Love you and miss you all! More tomorrow!

Copan: Days 15 & 16

Hi guys! Sorry I didn't get in another post last night. I had everything set up on Blogger to do so, and for some reason it wasn't allowing me to connect to the site. The web connection here has been pretty spotty recently, I apologize.

Unfortunately, I don't have time to do two posts today (one for yesterday and one for today) so I'll have to cram it into one. Sorry!

The two Chinese students arrived on Saturday, so yesterday we took them out to see the site. I love going to the Principal Group: each time you learn something new. I finally got a chance to look at the mysterious Altar L (which I missed both previous times I've been to the ruins), but more on that later. The rest of the day was pretty relaxing, and I got a chance to catch up on some reading.

Today we continued excavations, with a twist. In order to learn all aspects of the archaeological process, in this case directing a site, each unit is in charge of a local worker. The man assigned to our unit is Don Fidensio, and he is an expert excavator. He cleared out an entire level in one day essentially by himself. It took three of us about 2 days to do the same. Intense! We basically spent the whole day at the sifter trying to keep up with him.

Anyway, since I didn't take any pictures from today, I can post some of the ones from yesterday. The topic today: Altar L! This is either one of the last or the last monument created at the site of Copan. What makes this altar so unique is that it is unfinished. One side is carved, and the opposite side was started, but the other two sides are completely blank.

Here you can see the fully carved side at the front, and a blank face on the side to the left.

Here is the partially-carved side on the left.

Here is the partially-carved side on the right, and another blank side on the left.

From the glyphs that were actually carved, archaeologists can guess that this altar was dedicated by a mysterious ruler who tried to impose himself after the rule of Yax Pasaj, the 16th and final ruler of Copan. Altar L is a good piece of evidence for how little control this man had, for the altar he commissioned wasn't even finished. It's a pretty neat window into the past: Copan was in such dire straits that the stone carvers didn't have enough time to finish the altar before the city's administration completely collapsed. One of the more interesting pieces at the site.

And finally, I got a slightly better picture of two, yes two, agoutis while at the site. It's impossible to get a good picture of these critters, but I do my best:

There is one just to the right of the farthest left tree, and one to the right of the next tree over. They're evasive, but someday I will nail an awesome shot of them. And you will see it, of course.

Now I have to go work on my Spanish. Night!

Copan: Day 14

Saturday was a pretty relaxing, uneventful day. While some kids decided to go horseback riding in the morning, and others went zip-lining through Copan, I decided to stay in the town and do some shopping. It was nice to have some time to myself to explore a little bit. The town is pretty bustling, especially on weekends. There are vendors on the sides of streets selling cooked meats and sweets, colorful parades, and an interesting mix of musical styles blasting from various speakers.

The roads are all cobblestone and very uneven, sometimes intimidatingly steep. The sidewalks also vary in height, being anywhere from one to 3 feet off the ground. When it rains, these streets turn into rivers, which is why the sidewalks are so high. When I first got here, I had the weird feeling that every street seemed like an alley.

While I was out shopping, I took some pictures so you could get a better look at the town. Here is one of the more touristy streets, with tables full of altar replicas, jewelry, and hand-woven items.

This is a shot of the town square.

Here are two random shots of the town, so you can get a better idea of what everything looks like.

I have another full weekend of shopping left, and I'm trying to get as many cool things as possible. Don't forget to let me know if you want something! I love you all, and will try to get in a post about today's adventures later tonight!