Home again!

As some of you may know (if you follow me on twitter), I have been back in the Yucatan for a little over a month now. It is absolutely brilliant to be at home... enjoying time with my family and friends and of course stuffing my face with great food. Other than coming down for some much needed sunshine (as Norway's pseudo summer is truly deficient in this department!) the main reason for this trip has been to collect data for my thesis. I am doing the bulk of my research at Santa Elena... a small village which I have blogged about several times (search the archives if you like). I have spent a fair amount of time at Santa Elena already and will continue to do so, as I far from feeling I have enough data, I am more confused than ever. That being said, I am fairly happy with how things have been going and with what I have collected so far... but as is always the case with this kind of thing... nothing turns out being the way you expected, which I guess is a good thing! Anyway.... I will try to be better with posting this summer, as I have admittedly been quite slack... but alas. Hope you enjoy the photos.

The next few photos a Don Felix. Don Felix is 79 but as strong as an Ox and still goes out and works his land every single day. He is also well know in the village for being particularly knowledgeable about traditional Mayan medicine. Several people in the village told me stories about workers in the field (and foolish tourists) being bitten by poisons snakes and being rushed to him because "el si sabe de esas cosas" (because he knows about that kind of thing). 

Don Felix also took me to a pre-hispanic structure hidden in the fields which was so covered in vegetation, I doubt that even the best trained archaeologists in the world would have been able to find. Very cool, very cool indeed. 

My first day in Santa Elena doing research was the day after the federal/state/municipal elections... so there where quite a few demonstrations of support for the new mayor complete with fireworks, marches and big parties. While my feelings about this past election are complicated (I may blog about this latter)... the spectacle of it all was quite interesting.

 

Abel atop an enormous pyramid at X'oot checking if he can get reception on his Finish made smart phone. Not exactly what you think about when you hear the word "Maya" but there you go!

 That´s all for now!