Post from Buried Mirror, a a guide to Mesoamerica and the Maya world
Follow me on twitter.

Back soon

This image of the Aztec calendar wheel — also known as the Stone of the Sun — that was excavated in the Zócalo (main square) in Mexico City comes from Drogdon’s photostream. The basalt stone is about twelve feet in diameter. It is now in the collections of the National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City.

It’s possible that this is a photo of a replica, as it doesn’t look sufficiently aged to be the real stone. (If anyone knows, please leave a comment.)

Post from Buried Mirror, a a guide to Mesoamerica and the Maya world
Follow me on twitter.

Photo Wednesday: The Stone of the Sun

Christine Delsol identifies ten revolutionary Maya foods.

1. Chocolate
2. Vanilla
3. Corn
4. Chiles
5. Tomatoes
6. Black beans
7. Avocado
8. Sweet potato
9. Squash
10. Papaya

Pretty good list. Read what she has to say here.

.

image from a Chiapas market from 10b travelling’s photostream

.

Post from Buried Mirror, a a guide to Mesoamerica and the Maya world
Follow me on twitter.

Maya foods that changed world cuisine

• A fine collection of Mexican colonial art : In Davenport, Iowa?
• San Francisco’s putative Mexican Museum gets $250,000 : Will it ever actual open?
• The Mixed Blessings of Mexican Dual Citizenship : Double military obligations anyone?
• The Lost Murals of Miguel Covarrubias : At the San Jose (California) Mariachi and Mexican Heritage Festival
• Maya altar from classic period to be reconstructed : Few objects from this period have been found in northern Yucatan

Post from Buried Mirror, a a guide to Mesoamerica and the Maya world
Follow me on twitter.

Friday roundup

This photo of hanging plants at the Hotel Lunata in Playa del Carmen on the Mayan Riviera comes from theilr’s photostream

Post from Buried Mirror, a a guide to Mesoamerica and the Maya world
Follow me on twitter.

Photo Wednesday: Hanging plants

• Natural Guatemalan Color Palette : It goes with caldos
• Jade sheds light on Guatemala’s geologic history : I’ts more complicated than had been thought
• Guatemala stops ex-officials from leaving country : But did it do the same for the cocaine?
• Plants of the Ancient Maya : Identification of important plants to the ancient Maya is still in its early stages
• Lo cruel que es el discurso de ricos y pobres : “Si no fuera cruel, sería sólo cínico”
• J.D. Smith’s top 5 mariachi links : Volver volver volver

Post from Buried Mirror, a a guide to Mesoamerica and the Maya world
Follow me on twitter.

Friday roundup

I hope to return to more regular blogging soon. We might as well start with our regular feature, Photo Wednesday. This image of hammocks against a bright wall comes from CasaDeQueso’s photostream. CasaDeQueso says that the hammocks were for sale at a roadside souvenir shop, near Coba, Quintana Roo, Mexico.

Post from Buried Mirror, a a guide to Mesoamerica and the Maya world
Follow me on twitter.

Photo Wednesday: Colorful hammocks

This photo of the Caribbean near the ancient Maya city of Tulum is from mdanys’ photostream.

Post from Buried Mirror, a a guide to Mesoamerica and the Maya world
Follow me on twitter.

Photo Wednesday: Beach near Tulum

• Ancient Maya practiced forest conservation : Well, duh
• Conditions not ripe for coup in Guatemala : Analysts say
• Horned Guans : “turkey-sized creatures with white sewn-on eyes and ludicrous senses of dignity”
• Coke-bottle virgin draws protest : Shades of Godard’s “Marx and Coca Cola”
• Maya relics found in garbage : All I find is garbage

.

Post from Buried Mirror, a a guide to Mesoamerica and the Maya world
Follow me on twitter.

Friday roundup

While U.S. attention has rightly been focused on Mexico’s drug wars – with high-profile trips by President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton before this weekend’s Summit of the Americas – Mexico’s southern neighbor is in far more serious danger of becoming a failed state. Reeling from gangs, corruption and pervasive poverty, Guatemala now faces well-armed, well-financed drug cartels.

Narco traffickers and organized criminals dominate an estimated 40 percent of the country, from the Mexican border to the Caribbean coast, as well as in the little-populated Mayan jungle and forest preserves of the Peten. Opium poppy fields grow freely. The major threat, though, comes from more than $10 billion in cocaine passing through Guatemala each year, with a tenth of the money laundered in the country and used to bribe officials.

The drug lords and their friends have become the self-ordained local governments and police, either directly or by buying off others. The Sinaloa Cartel, which has run cocaine trafficking in Guatemala for the past several years, is pitted against the Gulf Cartel newcomers. Their “Zetas” (paid assassins) are ratcheting up violence that inevitably hits “civilians.” Last year there were more than 6,200 homicides reported in Guatemala.

Schneider paints a bleek picture. Can this be reversed?

.

Post from Buried Mirror, a a guide to Mesoamerica and the Maya world
Follow me on twitter.

Guatemala in danger