501 - 30th - The court room

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 30th Apr'09

These pillars once held a big roof and hosted a court to decide the fate of all the captives held during a war. Such court rooms were an integral part of all Mayan constructions and can be seen in almost all the Mayan sites across Latin America. Made of circular carved stones, joined together with stone and melted lime the pillars were arranged in perfect symmetry.

Standing in the middle of the courtyard once could feel and strange sense of energy around oneself. Whether it is the sheer history associated with the place or millions of deaths it would have witnessed over hundreds of years, the effect doesn't fade away soon.

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500 - 29th - A glowing entrance

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 29th Apr'09

A relatively busy place during the day, teeming with visitors and the hotel staff, lay deserted during the late night hours. No one to receive anyone and no one waiting for the hotel staff to attend them. No families waiting for the tour guides to arrive and no screaming children running around the corridors. Only small glowing lights and the silence of night broken by constant buzz of some nocturnal insects.

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499 - 28th - The grasshopper

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 28th Apr'09

I was checking out of the hotel in Celestun when my friend pointed out something perched on a nearby wall. At first glance, I was not able to recognize what it is but once I got closer I could see it was a grasshopper. I quickly unpacked my camera and tried to get some good close up shots.

The shots from the top didnt come good due to lack of enough light. But while the hotel staff was staring at what exactly I was up to, I got some really nice images against a bright background.

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498 - 27th - Beer and tequila

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 27th Apr'09

I dont know how well do alcohol and sea water mix but I've enjoyed my share of beaches and not at one have I seen people enjoying the sun and the waves without a bottle of beer. This time in Celestun it was tequila which was seen accompanying the beer at almost every shed I could see on the beach.

I took this image while returning to my room from the beach. The bigger glass you can see is for the beer while the smaller once is for tequila :)

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497 - 26th - Conch among the waves

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 26th Apr'09

Unlike majority of the beaches where shells are the ones you can get your hands easily on, conchs were the ones you could more easily find on the beaches of Celestun. They were so many in number that for once I felt maybe the hotel has spread them across the beach just to make the place look better. There small ones and there were big. There were white ones and there were ones with shades of brown. Never in my life have I seen so many conchs spread out in white sand.

I collected many and gave to my colleagues in office when I returned to Puebla :)

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496 - 25th - Eco paraiso

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 25th Apr'09

Eco paraiso was the "Ecological" hotel which we booked for our vacations in Celestun, Merida. It was supposed to be an environment friendly place and it lived up to its name to a large extent. The hotel had individual bunglows right next to the beach which were quite secluded and luxurious. All the things which would take you away from a "natural" experience, like a TV or music were absent.

The image above is the front side of the bungalow where I stayed. It has a relaxing net to lie on and a couple of rocking chairs. They were the best two days I have spent anywhere in Mexico.

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485 - 24th - A creeper in the sand

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 24th Apr'09

I was looking for some morning birds near the mangroves on the beach but finding them too quick to be shot, i gave up and started looking for something slower on the ground. There were shells, there were conchs and there were plants. The mangroves had all sorts of shrubs and creepers growing around. Small thorny plants, green and red crawlers on the ground and some beautiful purple flowers.

Of all those, two caught the attention of my camera. Here is one of them. The other quite similar to this one, would come up soon on the blog.

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484 - 23rd - Reflections

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 23rd Apr'09

It was ten at night and almost everyone was either sleeping in their room or enjoying the free buffet at the hotel restaurant. I was sitting at the pool facing towards the absolute darkness in front of me and just listening to the loud roar of the sea. I had my camera and my tripod with me to get a good shot of the rising moon but it I guess I need a better zoom to achieve something like that.

Anyways if not the moon, the reflections in the calm water of the pool came quite good. :)

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483 - 22nd - Webs in the woods

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 22nd Apr'09

Just another abstract image I clicked through my macro. On a dry fragment of dead food, were hanging these small webs almost invisible to the naked eye. I was actually following an ant on the wooden log when suddenly this web came into focus. Immediately I changed my own focus to this setting and let the ant go on it's way ;)

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482 - 21st - The twin boats

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 21st Apr'09

Kayaking is supposed to be a fun activity and supposedly pretty less dangerous when done at the sea. But given my "lower amateur" level in basic swimming I gave it a skip while others hopped into the little boats and went sailing right into the sea. Given that there might have been another weak hearted guy like me, there were two empty boats left on the beach; and definitely me with my camera trying to get something good out of the situation :)

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481 - 20th - The lighthouse

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 20th apr'09

I have always seen lighthouses from a distance; actually from quite some distance & all I could see was a huge huge "pillar" with a revolving light on the top. This was the first time when I was standing right beneath one and got a chance to click some photos from that close.

Before observing this photo after downloading it to my laptop I never observed that there was a "wind-direction-indicator" (don't know the actual name) right on top of the lighthouse. I need to be more observant I guess.

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480 - 19th - The star fish

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 19th Apr'09

It is quite easy to find a shell or even a conch on the beach, but to find a star fish (dead though) is quite a piece of good luck. It was six in the morning and I was walking around the beach with no intentions of shell collecting at all when I stepped over this dead start fish. I didnt realize that it was actually a real fish until I picked it up and felt in my hands. I gave up the idea of keeping it with me when I realized that it might rot and start smelling a couple of days. So I captured it somewhere where it will forever remain the way it was - in my camera.

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479 - 18th - I am the star

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 18th Apr'09

I was on a trip to the backwaters at Celestun when we sailed past a small island full of birds. Our guide slowed the boat down so that we could have a good look. There were around fifty odd birds, most of them dark black. Among this huge group, there was this bird completely different in color and much taller in height than the others. It seemed as if it was the lead male/female of the group with seemingly unquestionable dominance.

I am the star - the bird seemed to give out the message.

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478 - 17th - The pool on the sea-side

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 17th Apr'09

This is the view of the beautiful pool at a sea resort I was in a couple of weeks back during my vacations to Celestun, Merida. The resort was a huge empty place with not many people around at that time of the month. It was an ecological reserve with everything designed by keeping the environment under consideration. The place felt all the more peacuful and amazing after the sun went down. It was like spening a weekend in a different world altogether.

I spent one whole afternoon at this pool. It was at a few yards from the sea and you could enjoy the view while immersing yourself in the chilled water.

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477 - 16th - Along the sea shore

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 16th Apr'09

Imagine living in a house right on the shore with not many people/things around to disturb your peace. Just a small garden on the side, endless white sand all around and the bustling sound of sea waves hitting your ears all day. The peace and tranquility of the beach all to yourself and you in the midst of this heaven completely alone with your own thoughts.

A dream house and a paradise to live in.

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476 - 15th - Bumping along the waves

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 15th Apr'09

The sun was just setting down and all the fishermen were returning to their homes. Every 30 seconds I could see a boat pass by; bumping against the high waves and making a roaring sound as they sail away.

The sky was golden and so was the water. The sun had an orange circle around it and you could barely see the people or the boat for that matter; only a silhouette.

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475 - 14th - A pearl in the making?

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 14th Apr'09

I dont exactly know how pearls are formed naturally, but I have read somewhere that it is the water inside the shell which combined with some minerals changes into a pearl overtime. This was the first thought which came into my mind when I saw this half filled shell lying on the beach. It had some water which had just crawled in from the sea and some brown sand which had come along.

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474 - 13th - From the top

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 13th Apr'09

It was my first visit to a lighthouse and I was really excited; a tall tall tower right on the sea-side with a huge revolving light on the top. It took me around 3 minutes to climb some 500 odd stairs, but when op top the view and the feeling was really amazing. A strong cool wind hitting your face and a sprawling empty beach spreading out. I did some bird watching too using the binoculars my guide gave me.

Bending down over the edge was a bit dizzy but I had to do it for this image :) We had a light-house at the Marina Beach in Chennai too but those guys never allowed me to climb to the top.

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473 - 12th - Splash!!

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 12th Apr'09

There is nothing much to write for this image as I have already written a couple of times before about the weird fish hunting methods of these birds. How they suddenly nose dive right inside the water once they spot a fish.

I always wanted to catch them right in the middle of their downwards flight but never got a satisfactory frame. Wasn’t so unlucky this time :)

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472 - 11th - Let's do some fishing

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 12th Apr'09

I was speeding away on the highway towards Celestun when I saw some cars topped at a distance. I slowed down the car and tried to figure out why these cars were parked in the middle of the highway. As I approached the place I noticed that it was a bridge and most of the people had stopped to admire the view of the place. Some simply stood and enjoyed the cool wind hitting their faces while some others were busy fishing.

This family caught around 4-5 fishes during the ten odd minutes I spent at the place. The dad (supposedly) was the one holding the net while others were simply watching the fish accumulate in the small drum kept besides them. Pobres pescados …

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471 - 10th - Leaning over

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 10th Apr'09

Merida has two main cathedrals in its downtown. Both of them are huge and stand right in the middle of the city. One is exactly opposite to the central park while the other is at a walking distance. This image is from one of those cathedrals which has a statue of “Benito Juarez” just at the side of it. If you go the back of the statue and see it with the cathedral in the background, it appears as if Mt Juarez is trying to lean over the high walls and get a peek of what is going on inside.

Seems to be a nice perspective but it didn’t occur to me until I transferred the photos to my system and viewed this one on the big screen.

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470 - 9th - Stretched out

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 9th Apr'09

The traffic from the streets suddenly vanishes on Sundays. The shops, the markets and the malls which are otherwise over-flowing with people, seem to me empty and barren. The streets are deserted and none of the usual road-side snack shops can be seen.

It was one such lazy Sunday in Merida. On a normal day I would have been over-run by a dozen cars by the time I would have clicked my camera; but on a Sunday morning, I had all the time in the world to stand right in the middle of the street and get a view of the whole stretch.

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469 - 8th - Mayan Skulls

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 8th Apr'09

Skulls and bones have been symbols of huge importance for ancient Mayas. A normal practice after a war used to be to build a wall of skulls and bones of the captives, just outside the conquered city. This wall served the purpose of warning anyone trying to breach the boundaries. Replicas of such constructions can still be seen in most of the Mexican museums. You can even find a partially renovated form of such a wall in Chichen Itza.

Influenced by the popular culture, it is not hard to find shot-items in shapes of skulls and other scary shaped. You can find skulls carved out of wood, stone and even small plastic ones to serve as key-chains

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468 - 7th - Hot Dogs

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 7th Apr'09

American fast food has infiltrated the streets of Mexico to such an extent that you can see a hot dog place at practically every corner. Once the night falls and the darkness creeps in, these small mobile shops crop up like mushrooms in rain and prepare for a good night’s business. Being a vegetarian, I have never been a customer at one of these but the people who eat there seem to really enjoy the food.

This image is of one such hot dog outlet in Merida. The guy was selling hot steaming burgers and cold “refrescos” right in front of a busy street.

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467 - 6th - The lively musicians

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 6th Apr'09

It was 10 at night and we were searching for a nice place to eat in downtown Merida. After 15 minutes of roaming around we saw this restaurant with the sitting space sprawled out in the open. Open air sitting spaces somehow fascinate me a lot and hence we decided to dine at the place.

Once we were seated and ordered our food I noticed the light music floating in the air. I turned in the direction of the music and found these two guys immersed in their tunes. They sang around 4 songs while we finished our dinner. After each song they used to choose someone from the people sitting in front and have a casual chat. A lively pair I must say.

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466 - 5th - Amongst the dryness

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 5th Apr'09

Almost everything nearby had dried up due to the scorching sun. Even the green leaves of the tree had given up and left the tree. The whole tree looked like a dark shade of brown except for these shining orange flowers. It was really amazing to see such a touch of freshness among a scene fully devoid of life.

Nature has surprises hidden in places you least expect.

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465 - 4th - Thousand pillars

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 4th Apr'09

"Thousand pillars" is one of the main archeological finds in Chichen Itza. They are located just in front of the main pyramid and have a really interesting story behind them.

All columns once supported a frieze and a roof which have since collapsed. The exact nature of the roof is not certainly known. It may have been made of mortar, wood or thatch. It is believed that these were great meeting halls. Remains of the painted frieze indicate that it was decorated with motifs and Chaac masks representing an earlier priestly class who governed the city.
And the addition of warriors on the pillars must have made the citizens aware of the military religious aspect of this site.

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464 - 3rd - Under the blazing sun

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 3rd Apr'09

Temperatures can go up to 45 degrees in the South of Mexico. At such times it is nearly impossible to roam about outside in the sun, leave alone sitting at one place and waiting for someone to come and buy something from your shop. This lady was struggling to do exactly the same. She was sitting besides her small shop, daring the blazing sun with only her umbrella as a means of protection from the immense heat. I was walking past her shop when I observed her and thought that it might make a good photo.

It took me two minutes to click this one without catching her attention.

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463 - 2nd - Busy carving

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 2nd Apr'09

While visiting the numerous archeological sites in Mexico, you can often see a lot of artifacts being sold on the pavements and on the sprawling grounds spread across the site. Most of them are in the form of pyramids or ancient Maya figures. I always thought that some very skilled artists would be making these things at some place far away and selling them across the country to different vendors. But for the first time in Chichin Itza, I observed that actually it is the very own people selling the things who carve them out of dry pieces of wood.

I had no intentions of buying anything and hence asking the man for a photo was seeming a bit awkward. But after thinking for a couple of minutes I finally asked him and took this photo.

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462 - 1st - Chichen Itza

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 1st Apr'09

The Maya name "Chich'en Itza" means "At the mouth of the well of the Itza." This derives from chi', meaning "mouth" or "edge", and ch'e'en, meaning "well." Itzá is the name of an ethnic-lineage group that gained political and economic dominance of the northern peninsula. The name is believed to derive from the Maya itz, meaning "magic," and (h)á, meaning "water." Itzá in Spanish is often translated as "Brujas del Agua (Witches of Water)" but a more precise translation would be Magicians of Water

It is one of the seven wonders of the world and now I can boast of seeing two of the seven ;)

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