Date:  December 20, 2012
Time:  5:43 pm CST (Maya Standard Time)
Current Location:  Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico
Weather:  Cloudy
Mission Objective: Check out the festivities, talk to some locals.

After checking into our hotel we hit the streets again to check out the action in the town square.  It's dark outside now, probably about 6:30 pm.  There are supposed to be events celebrating the end of the Maya calendar.

Plaza in Palenque

The plaza is a pleasant place to relax in the evenings

Maya religious display

The town square is pleasant.  A tall Christmas tree is lit up. (The obviously are expecting to make it at least until Christmas).  Music is playing, people are relaxing or conversing with one another.  Indigenous women are selling hand-woven handicrafts, but there is only one display that seems to be Maya.  Under a thatched roof palapa there are candles and incense burning but I don't know what the meaning of it is. 

Shopping for souvenirs

Down an adjacent street is a road dedicated to traditional handicrafts.  Along one side of the street are dozens and dozens of booths built of sticks and palm leaves selling mostly local handicrafts such as hand-woven blankets, clothes, jewelry, food stuffs, etc.

Performance celebrating the end of the Maya calendar

Revive the Maya spirit

Local beauties performing traditional folklore

At the end of the road of handicrafts is a stage with a live performance of music and dancers.  They dance traditional folklore.  The host of the show is dressed something resembling a Maya god of the underworld.  There are nightly performances free of charge and this is already the third night.  I think Friday night is the last series of performances beginning at 6 pm.

After watching about half an hour of performances we head back up the road of artesanias.  On the way, I can't help but ask about some beautifully woven fabrics at a booth hosted by a young woman in traditional clothing.  She says that the items are handmade from her village just outside of San Cristobal de las Casas, in Chiapas.  She shows me several beautiful items and I decide on one.  It's a centerpiece for a table.  Another woman arrives to the booth.  They are apparently working together and begin to speak in their native tongue.  I want to buy the piece but under one condition, that they allow me to record them speaking in their language.  They happily agree.  The language is called Tzotzil, and is the sixth most commonly spoken indigenous language in Mexico.  I turn on the audio recorder and Dani records the video.

They go on and on, speaking in Tzotzil.  It sounds completely foreign to me.  No resemblance to Spanish, Portuguese, or Russian, but a little resemblance to Mixteco, an indigenous language spoken by peoples in Oaxaca, Mexico.  I finally interrupt and they tell me that they were just talking about how a lot of people say there will be darkness and earthquakes on December 21.  I laugh and tell them about how Hollywood even made a movie called 2012 and that even in Russia, a friend there told me that the stores have sold out of candles due to the belief that there will be darkness for several days.

I then request a brief lesson in Tzotzil.  The women teach me a few words such as how to greet another person, how to say "I have no money", "thankyou", "goodbye", and "see you tomorrow".

Ok, time to go back to the hotel and get some rest.  It's almost 10 pm.

See you tomorrow!
Ok'ohl tome'!