Urban Archaeology: Parque Ecoarqueologico de Poniente

A couple days ago my dad and I made our way to the "Parque Ecoarqueologico Poniente" which is a Eco-Archaeological park located in the western edge of the city (Merida). The park is a project similar to the one know as the "Parque Ecoarqueologico de Oriente", however although they are both within the city in large residential areas... this particular park is much less landscaped and wild, so it is very easy to forget that you are in the city (for the most part) and just enjoy the archaeology and birds! The area of the park is of about 300 square meters and has a few dozen observable structures which range from barely describable mounds to a couple pyramidal structures between 7 and 8 meters in high. There is also an aguada (artificial water reservoir) and Sacbe (pre-hispanic elevated road) which communicated the outpost with other urban centres in the region. There has been some restoration done at the site, however the structures have suffered a lot of damage since they where obviously pillaged for construction of newer structures in decades and centuries past. Anyway I hope you enjoy the photos!

Starting 2011 Off On The Right Foot!

For better of for worse the holidays are over! There is much to look forward to, so its time to start thinking about new shooting opportunities and adventures for the new year. I will be guiding a couple photography trips this year in South eastern Mexico and Central America, so if you are interested get in touch with me ASAP... there are only a few spots left and they are filling up fast! All the best and have an awesome 2011!

And now for some more Yucatecan wildlife!

Yesterday (Tuesday) Roque, Raul and I got back in to the car for another day in the Yucatecan countryside. This time we visited Yaxuna, as well as a couple cenotes :) It was a productive day... I got this wonderful photo of the Mut Mut (Pajaro Toh) you see bellow. Also noteworthy (and fairly rare) is the photo of the Geococcyx velox (AKA Road Runner, but sorry no Coyote!) and a little brown bat :) Hope you enjoy the photos!





One of many un excavated pre-hispanic structures surrounding Xtogil cenote.

Cenote Xtogil

Chacmultun!

Yesterday I made my way with Roque and Raul (a couple old friends from grade school) to the Mayan archaeological site of Chacmultun. The site is located in the municipality of Tecax, on the foothills of the Puuc valley and is truly impressive for its architectural beauty and gorgeous landscape. Chacmultun is representative of Puuc style architecture and is comparable to other sites in the area such as Kabah and Labna, however perhaps due to its out of the way location it is seldom visited by anyone... perhaps in great part due also to the fact that it is not an official part of the "Puuc route". If you ever want to take a daytrip to this wonderful site feel free to hit me up for some more info, hope you enjoy the pics.

There is no place like home!

After a 30 some hour trip without a wink of sleep I finally arrived in Merida last Tuesday! It always really wonderful to come home, but this time seemed extra sweet... although perhaps bittersweet as Jeanette was not able to join me. I have not gotten much sleep this week since my jet-lag has been compounded with that fact that I am now working nights... but I will get the hand of it soon I think... and besides I quite like my job and really like that its portable :)
Anyway here are two very different batches of photos I took this week... the first is obviously from Norway (near Jeanettes house) and the second are from Santa Elena and a hacienda called Yaxcopoil. Anyway I hope you enjoy the photos!

Godt av for nå Norge (Good bye for now Norway)

Well this will be my last post from Norway for a while. As you probably know if you follow this blog, I have been living in Norway with my wonderful girlfriend Jeanette and her family for the past six months... but now I will be returning to Merida for a while and getting some stuff sorted out. I will hopefully be back in Norway with Jeanette before to long but for now I am happy to be going home, seing my family and escpaing the bitter scandinavian winter! Anyway, enjoy the snowy pics! brrrrrr!