My first contact with Mesoamerica

We could learn just three Spanish words in our everyday struggle to communicate with the old world inhabitants of the new world.

Hola, we said to Me-hi-co which the English speaking world calls Mexico. Part of the greater Mesoamerican landscape, Mexico is organized chaos. Just like good old India! Arriving at Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City at midnight was quite an experience. Free baggage trolleys to start with (feels luxurious if you have ever landed in SFO/JFK) but then paid for taxi twice and pushed our bags without the trolley anyway for the experience. Hola! said Mexico to us in return, Spanish for ‘Hello’.

Walking down the streets of Centro Historico in downtown Mexico City, I was amazed at how two countries so far separated by distance and time could be so similar.

 

If I changed the hoardings and billboards to Hindi/Marathi, it would very much feel like you are walking in Mumbai. Bustling markets, crowded streets, haggling in shops, building facades – some flashy, some dilapidated, footpaths – some well laid, some non-existent, numerous traffic police trying in vain to control the menacing vehicular population and everywhere you see there is a sea of brown skin – this is everyday India.

Amazingly, there weren’t many two-wheelers on the road (how did Bajaj and Hero get left out?) but cars and especially taxis do show off their incredible driving skills. Our taxi driver did a quick 100m reverse on a busy highway because we had missed a turn. Our hearts were in our mouth. Now that was special, I hadn’t seen something like that even in India!

As we sat down in one restaurant after another, we kept on asking for our food to be made picante which means Spicy. (My second Spanish word) But alas, the food was never very spicy to our taste. We were given a super picante salsa as a side which was ‘burn your mouth’ category but it doesn’t compensate for bland food, does it? 

Imagine bland Chicken curry or Chole in India and an extremely spicy pickle on the side. Nah!

Some context….. The American continent was populated by humans around 10,000 years ago when humans crossed the Bering Strait from present day Russia to Alaska and walked down north, central and South America. These set of people were then unknown to rest of the world until Columbus ‘discovered’ the new world in 1492. There are theories of pre-Columbian contact but most are vague and a couple of those which have some basis weren’t permanent. The point is, the indigenous American people developed their own language, culture, tools and invented everything again. The phrase ‘Reinventing the wheel’ is quite literal in this context although they didn’t put the wheel to use – to the bafflement of Europeans. America did not have Cows, Sheep, Chicken, Horse and Pigs – the 5 most important animals for mankind. Nor did it have wheat & rice, today’s staple cereals. They were thriving in spite of it.

The pyramids of Teotihuacan were thus an incredible sight. Built around 200 BC and just 40kms outside Mexico City, the pyramid of the Sun is the 3^rd largest pyramid in the world after the first 2 in Giza, Egypt but with different uses and building styles. Something must be universal about the pyramidal shape, amusing. They knew nothing of the Giza pyramids. While Chanakya was writing Arthashastra in ancient India, Tenochtitlan was a sprawling city and had built these pyramids but didn’t have a writing system.

The Aztecs were ruling this place when the Spaniards captured Mesoamerica and built modern Mexico City on top of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital near to Teotihuacan. The remains of ancient temples & palaces can be seen beneath Spanish buildings in Mexico City.

The awe inspiring Cathedral Metropolitan gonged majestically in the downtown but it was so sad to see that it was built on top of an ancient Aztec sacred site. It even used the stones of the Aztec temple beneath.

Museo Nacional de Antropología showcased this Mesoamerican history in a very detailed manner with interesting excavated artifacts and bringing this lost civilization to life.

It was interesting to know that Mesoamerica (which includes present day Mexico, Guatemala and Belize) has numerous cultures & languages and is not homogeneous. Feels like India again? BUT, although 95% of the indigenous population did not survive this civilizational collision there are still a number of them alive today and many more of mixed indigenous and European blood. But, almost all talk Spanish and almost all are catholic Christians.  Again it pained me to see how a native culture and civilization has been eradicated. It’s the good fortune of India that we didn’t get affected by Arab and European diseases (because we were already immune being part of the Eurasian landmass) and Indian civilization had reached a certain level which could help it to defend itself and survive an onslaught from outsiders.

Benito Juarez International Airport wasn’t done with us. As the departure time of our flight to Cancun neared, there was no sign of our flight number on the display boards. Frantic calls to airline customer care and Informacion counters at the airport punctuated with Hola! And Gracias! (My third spanish word which means Thank you!) finally made us understand that the flight was 3 hours late. We understood what it feels to be illiterate.

Cancun is a paradise made to earn American dollars. Beautiful beaches, turquoise blue seas and warm 30 C was a welcome change from Mexico city. 

This place too was probably an ancient Maya settlement but most died after the Spanish conquest and a tourism project by the Mexican government built Cancun to what it is today.

“Museo Maya de Cancún” gave a quick glimpse of the Maya culture but it was nothing new as most of it was covered in the Anthropology museum in Mexico City. The surrounding archaeological site around the museum is interesting though showing ruins of ancient Maya settlement.

The drive from Cancun to Chichen Itza was a 200 km smooth highway and driving in a different country was an interesting experience. Chichen Itza was a Maya city built during 600-800 AD. So when Islam was born in the Arabian peninsula, the Mayas unknown to the old world were building Chichen Itza. 

A tic-tac-toe like pattern on a wall in Chichen Itza. How incredible that human thought can be so much alike!

The Mayas were supposedly very advanced in astronomy and could predict eclipses and used the sun and the moon for time and seasons. Strikes a chord here? Jantar Mantar at Jaipur & Delhi! The ruins in Chichen Itza include places which are thought to be residential, ceremonial or temples. But most of them are so damaged that it leaves a lot to your imagination.

Coming back to the US and looking at English signs all around feels so homely and safe. We are so limited in our worldview.

What would have gone through the mind of that Mesoamerican man when he saw Spaniards wearing steel armor and sitting on horsebacks on his shores? First contact, a chilling thought.