Merida in Mexico(200207)

 

Merida in Mexico

        Last May I had a chance to visit Merida in Mexico. Before going there, I had never heard of Merida. Merida is a city in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. The peninsula is pointing to the Atlantic ocean and the city is located inland almost at the center of the peninsula. one of my acquaintances told me that Yucatan means "I don't know" from the language of  the Mayan natives. When the European people arrived there first, one of them asked the name of the area. Then the natives answered "yucatan". From then on, the name of the peninsula became  "Yucatan".

        One day I went to Chichen Itza, which is 75 miles east from Merida. In Mayan language, "Chi" is mouth, "chen" is  well and "Itza" is the tribe that inhibited the areas. Chichen Itza has the famous Mayan relics. Chichen Itza has no mountains around its area. A wide plateau with forest encompassed many Mayan relics from hundreds of  years ago. Hot and dry weather made the people wet. Time and weather eroded parts of the Mayan structures. When I climbed many stairs to the top of the one pyramid, I exclaimed at a beautiful scenery over the plateau. I was high in the sky. I could see the spacious plateau as well as the other relics nearby. With this kind of high pyramid, what did the Mayans do at that time? It is said that was the altar to praise God. When the Mayans had mishaps, the king of the tribes prayed to God by sacrificing his people's body on the altar. In turn, the king demanded his tribes to show their loyalty to him and reigned ruthlessly.

        There is a wonderful big ground not far from the pyramid. The ground is surrounded by stone walls engraved with many playing pictures. At the ground the Mayans had ball games between the two strong warrior teams. They say it's the origin of the soccer. Strangely enough, the captain of the team which won the game was beheaded. Some pictures on the walls show its story.

        Some say that these two stories might have something to do with  the fall of the Mayan civilization. The glory of the past was shedding  over the relics under the hot sun with weird stories. on my way back to Merida in the bus, I saw the sun sinking down over the horizon for a long time.