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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