Yucatan Living

Yucatan News: Horses and Graves

School Holidays Begin Friday, December 19

When school lets out on Friday, there will be more than 590,000 children, teens, and college students out of school until Wednesday, January 7, 2015. They and their teachers will be getting steep discounts on everything from Christmas shopping to public transportation, so expect streets and stores to be busier than ever. And it doesn’t stop there. The students and their teachers are also getting discounts on national and international tours, so they are ready to see the world. We hope every student and every teacher has a safe and wonderful Christmas. Please drive carefully, especially in outlying areas where children often think of their street as a really great place to skate and/or play a game of soccer.

Visit the Zoos!

In 2014, Merida’s zoos had a population explosion and, now, there are over 100 new babies to see for over 40 different species. Included in the list are over 40 babies at El Centenario: ocelots, Bengal tigers, macaws, scarlet monkeys, Nile hippos, Capuchin monkeys, rufous-collared sparrows, and stunning guaiabero parrots. At Animaya, there are now over 60 babies less than a year old. They include: Barbary sheep, guanaco (a species of llama), spider monkeys, black neck antelope, European mouflon sheep (huge, curled horns), guar (the largest wild cow, native to India and South Asia), white tailed deer, deer that are actually all white, red deer, brocket deer, squirrels, antelope wildebeests (with white beards), emu, monkeys of several species, parrots and Tortuga jicotea (active both day and night).

Virtual Library of Yucatan Hits New Heights

The Virtual Library of Yucatan has been open since 2007. Since then, researchers have been allowed free access to over 500,000 scanned pages. At this point in time, the Virtual Library of Yucatan has 8,000 visitors per month, with access to over 20,000 books, documents, and audio/visual files that provide instant access to the history and culture of Yucatan. These are not ordinary files. They include books and manuscripts from as far back as the 16th century, as well as the work of at least 150 contemporary Maya writers. In addition, there are copies of the graduate and post-graduate work done by researchers housed in the Virtual Library of Yucatan. To date, over 400,000 visitors have used the library, many of them from Europe, and all totally free. Do pay a visit to the Virtual Library of Yucatan and see what marvelous documents, books, pamphlets, and videos they have available.

What Children’s Graves Tell Us

Over the past few years, as Merida remodeled older districts and constructed new ones, it seemed as if they were discovering a new archaeological site almost every month, and the rerouting of traffic created inconveniences that had everyone on edge. Today, of course, all inconveniences are forgotten and everyone is Yucatan is proud of the groundbreaking research that has taken place in Merida and was shared last week at the First “Ichkaantijo” Symposium of Maya Culture, held in the library of Yucatan’s branch of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). Who would ever have thought that, underneath a neighborhood in the city, there would be enough children’s graves to completely change our understanding of the degree of importance of children to societies? That is exactly what has happened in Fraccionamiento Los Heroes, now known in archaeological circles as Zona Oxmul. Babies were buried in urns, while older children were buried in a type of sarcophagus. In either case, the formerly neglected topic of the role of children in Mayan society is now being discussed for the first time. In addition, new methods of excavation and recovery of the remains of children has been developed, which will be of use around the world. This brings new meaning to the term “living history” in Yucatan.

Twelve Year Old Mayan Girl Wants to be Orchestra Conductor

Young Mayra Gabriela Medina Gonzalez wants to be an orchestra conductor and she is well on her way. Thus far, she has reached her goal of mastering three instruments (piano, saxophone, and clarinet), goes to a free form alternative school where she attends primary and secondary school at the same time (with stellar marks), and has spent two years training as a high performance athlete without neglecting her music or academic work. Assisted by the Jose Jacinto Cuevas Music Center, Mayra began with the piano at four years of age, then the saxophone at age seven, but then fell in love with the clarinet and has now dedicated herself to it. This past week, Merida’s Deputy to the State Congress was instrumental in seeing to it that Mayra received a new clarinet, something her family would find extremely difficult to afford. All eyes are on Mayra now, which is an odd thing to say because Mayra has flown through her twelve years of life, racking up one amazing accomplishment after another, and she is not only blind, but also a former victim of bullying. Will Mayra become the first female orchestra conductor from Yucatan? Our bet is on Mayra earning whatever she sets her mind to. How about you?

Two New Places to Shop Coming in Early 2015

For the shoppers among us, life is going to be better than ever in Merida in 2015. These are the new malls that are being built at break-neck speed:
(1) Costco: Construction is moving fast, but no opening date yet. Location: Next to Plaza Galerias, where the old henequen fabrics factory was. This will be a great shopping location for those who live at the beach and dread the drive all the way into the city.
(2) Plaza Aurea: two story mall with 21 stores. Location: at the entrance of Fraccionamiento Auria. It is designed to serve both the Aurea and Francisco de Montejo areas.
(3) There are also two new hotels already under construction: a Hampton Inn and a City Junior Hotel.

Mayan Language in Schools: Reading and Writing

With the Constitution being translated into Maya, this indigenous language is positioning itself to stand on equal footing with Spanish in Yucatan. Until now, the different dialects of the Mayan language have largely been an oral tradition and almost impossible to teach in schools. With the recent standardization of Mayan grammar and spelling, courses in basic, intermediate and advanced Mayan will be compulsory in the schools of Yucatan, as are French and English now. Both reading and writing will be taught beginning in preschool. This is wonderful news and gives the next generation of Maya Yucatecos yet another tool with which to not only preserve their culture, but to meet the rest of the world on their own terms and with their own perspectives. We cannot, at times like this, forget the somber, young, East Texas plumber who, several years ago, informed us that “the Mayans are extinct.” Well, look out world, here they come! This next generation of Mayan children will not only out-write you, but will continue to beat you at chess as well. Our congratulations to every educator who has made this possible!

Need to See a Man about a Horse? Come to Yucatan!

Yucatan now has five new associations, incorporated and registered with Sagarpa, as being specialized in equine production, and every one of them has a membership of cattlemen! We have watched as these five groups of livestock producers spent almost the past decade moving past being just horse lovers to breeding and raising some of the finest horses we have seen. If you missed them at the municipal and state fairs, you really need to go looking for them next time you have an opportunity to do so. To add to the uniqueness of this occasion, the certification of these specialized horse breeders’ groups as associations is a first in all of Mexico. The five associations and their presidents are: Sucila: Isac Portillo Duarte, Uayma: Alejandro Ay Xooc, Buctzotz: Pedro Eduardo Castro Madera, Colonia Yucatan: Emir Perez Estrada, and Tizimin: Mario Alberto Romero Cervera. If you love horses, or know someone who does, spend some time in each of the municipalities listed above. One of them just might be where your expat dreams come true.