Día de Muertos and Mayan Ruins

It’s hard to believe it’s gone by so fast, but my six months here in Palenque is almost coming to an end.  After just one more week of monkey business, I’ll do some sightseeing as I make my way up to Mexico City before flying to the U.S. for Christmas.

The monkeys are still doing well.  Just a few weeks ago, we arrived in the field to discover that one of the females named Kia had given birth to a new baby, which was cute as can be.  While Kia has had an infant in the past, it did not survive, so we are hoping that this new baby will be her first to make it to adulthood.  The new baby is tiny and much grayer than adult black howler monkeys.  Most of the time, it clings to Kia’s belly, but we have seen it climb onto her back and even be carried by some of the other monkeys.

Mora, one of the howler monkeys we study

The study’s main questions about how monkeys navigate through the forest to find food will not be fully answered until the data are analyzed at the end of the three year study.  Still, after enough time following the same groups, you start to notice how often they seem to use the exact same routes between different feeding trees.  These memorized routes seem like they will make up a critical part of how the monkeys navigate, although mental maps of feeding trees could also play a role.

When I am not in the forest with the monkeys, I have been able to have some interesting experiences here in Palenque and in the surrounding region.  Fortunately, my six months in Mexico included both Mexican Independence Day and also Day of the Dead.  Mexican Independence Day marks the start of the Mexican War of Independence on September 16, 1810, although the celebration occurred on the evening of the 15^th leading up to the 16^th.  The town hall here in Palenque was all decked out in red, white, and green: the colors of the Mexican flag.  There were live music performances and some political speeches that mostly fell beyond my Spanish language abilities, but that seemed supportive of the ongoing teachers’ union strike and very much opposed to President Enrique Peña Nieto.  Some of the people running this were wearing ski masks; I am not positive, but I believe this was to show support for the Zapatista movement that took place here in Chiapas.  The ceremony culminated in the Grito de Dolores that marked the beginning of the War of Independence: “¡Viva México!”

The town hall of Palenque on Independence Day

Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a colorful and joyful celebration to honor loved ones who have passed on.  Even though it is about death, the atmosphere is neither sad nor morbid.  In the central town square, each school in the area created an ofrenda, or altar in honor of someone who has died.  These typically included photos, foods, candles, crucifixes, and marigold flowers.  The festivities also included some traditional Mexican folk dance performances, followed by a parade of Catrinas and Catrines (people wearing skull makeup and fancy clothing).  The whole holiday was very beautiful, and I am glad I had the chance to witness it.

Día de Muertos ofrenda with a Catrina standing to the right

On weekends, I have visited several nearby Mayan ruin sites.  As a day trip out of Palenque, several other research assistants and I travelled east to the Usumacinta River that forms the border between Mexico and Guatemala.  A forty minute boat ride took us to Yaxchilan, a ruined Mayan city located in an oxbow of the river.  This site featured various temples, some exquisite carvings, and an underground labyrinth.  We even got to see both howler monkeys and spider monkeys.  After lunch, we continued to the smaller site of Bonampak.  The temples at Bonampak are not as big as those at Palenque or even Yaxchilan, but the real treasure here was the beautifully preserved murals.  In several rooms, the walls and ceilings are decorated with colorful paintings depicting Mayan rulers, scenes of war, and other images of Mayan life.  They were quite stunning to behold, and I am shocked that this site is not better known.

One of the murals at Bonampak

Last weekend, I ventured once more to the Usumacinta River, but this time, I crossed over into Guatemala for the weekend.  After many hours on a bumpy road, I arrived in the picturesque town of Flores.  Flores is located on a small island in Lake Peten Itza, connected to the mainland by a bridge.  The colonial architecture and cobblestone streets gave it a nice atmosphere, and it is small enough to walk all the way around the island.  While I enjoyed Flores, the main reason for my trip was to visit the ruins of Tikal.  Arguably the best known ruins site, Tikal was a regional superpower for hundreds of years during the Mayan Classic Period before collapsing of environmental degradation around the year 950.  In order to beat the crowds and see more wildlife, I left in time to arrive not long after sunrise.  Tikal did not disappoint.  The temples were huge, and could be seen poking out above the rainforest canopy from quite a distance away.  In the main plaza, when you clap your hands, it echoes off the steps of the temples to produce a sound like the call of the quetzal.  The wildlife was also quite abundant, including howler monkeys, spider monkeys, raccoon-like animals called coatis, and many birds such as the keel-billed toucan and the oscillated turkey.  It was an amazing place to visit, so I’m glad I had the chance for this mini-vacation, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of the region before heading home.

Me at the Temple of the Great Jaguar, Tikal

A Visit from my Parents

About a month ago, my parents visited me here in Palenque.  Since they were taking a two week vacation in the Yucatan Peninsula, we figured it would be a great chance for them to see me and the place I am currently living.  So right before one of my weekends, they made the drive from the coast to inland Chiapas, a drive that was more interesting than they’d hoped for due to Hurricane Earl passing through the area.  Despite the weather, they arrived safely in Palenque on a Thursday night, and we spent the next few days sightseeing in the area.

The next day, the three of us went to see the archaeological site of Palenque, my second visit to the main ruins.  The gigantic structures, with names like the Temple of the Inscriptions, the Temple of the Red Queen, and the Palace, were as impressive as ever.  Since the last time I had visited the ruins, there was actually a new archaeological discovery announced regarding the Temple of the Inscriptions.  This pyramid is notable for the 1952 discovery of the well-preserved, ornately decorated tomb of the king Pakal the Great, who ruled over Palenque from the year 615 to 683.  Just recently, scientists discovered a small opening under the tomb that connects to an underground passageway filled with running water.  I’m excited to hear what more they discover about it.

Temple of the Inscriptions

As my parents and I continued around the ruins, we saw both places I had seen last time as well as areas that were new to me.  The ruins include an extensive Palace where the aristocrats once lived, a ball court for an ancient Mesoamerican ballgame that sometimes ended in human sacrifice, a pyramid where a French count once took up residence, and a pressurized aqueduct that carried water through the city.  After seeing the ruins, we also visited the nearby museum that has some of the artifacts excavated from the ruins, as well as a reconstruction of the tomb of Pakal.

The next morning, I took my parents for a hike through the forest where I do fieldwork.  While we got there early with the goal of finding monkeys, we unfortunately didn’t see any.  We did hear a few groups howling in the distance, though.  After continuing down the main trail farther than I go for research, we made it to Templo Olvidado: the Forgotten Temple.  This ancient Mayan building stands on the top of a hill in the middle of the forest.  Since there were no other tourists at that time, it was a nice, tranquil spot, with only the sounds of the birds and insects.

My parents and I in Palenque National Park

Once we had finished with the forest, we went to Aluxes Ecopark.  Although they brand themselves as a wildlife rehab center, I would describe the experience as being like a zoo of animals native to Mesoamerica.  Although I felt bad for many of the animals’ rather small exhibits, it was nice to get to see some of this regions’ wildlife that I am unlikely to see in the wild, such as jaguars, tapirs, and manatees.  Even though it wasn’t in the wild, my parents got the chance to see some howler monkeys here, as well as spider monkeys that are found in other parts of Mexico.

Black jaguar at Aluxes

In the time since then, research has been going well.  One week, the Balam group seemed like it was about to merge with the neighboring Templo Olvidado group, but then when I observed them again this past week, everything was back to normal.  In the Pakal group, we were sad to discover that one of the babies has disappeared, but fortunately the other two infants in the group seem fine.  There has also been quite a bit of turnover among the human primates on this project.  Three of the other research assistants left in the past couple weeks, and five new ones arrived, bringing the total number up to seven.  There are now quite a few new people to get to know over the remaining three months here in Palenque.

Monkeys, Wildlife, and Culture

It’s hard to believe, but it’s already been more than a month since I first arrived in Palenque.  There are five different groups of monkeys, and today I finally got to do observations on the last of these groups.  As of the last blog post, I had just finished a week of observing the Unites group, which has only four monkeys.  (FYI, I finally managed to upload the pictures to my previous blog post, so check those out if you haven’t already.)  Next came the Motiepa group, which was especially fun to watch because there are two infants.  My third week, I observed the Naha group.  The Nahas have the biggest home range of all the monkeys in Palenque, and its dense vegetation and numerous streams make it difficult to get around and find the monkeys.  Still, I really enjoyed watching this group due to their quirky personalities.  Several of them even walked around on the ground.  The Balam group was next, with just two females and a male.  Oddly enough, the male that week was different from the one who was originally part of that group, so it seems that he replaced the other one in recent weeks.  Last week, I was with Naha again, and today I had my first day of watching the Pakal group.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t find them for the first half of the day, and when we finally encountered them, there were only three of the nine.  At first we were worried something had happened to the rest, but they suddenly showed up an hour before the end of the day.

Apart from the monkeys, there is still quite a bit of interesting nature in the forest.  We often see rodents called agoutis, and I even saw a skunk today.  There are loads of interesting birds, my favorite of which are the toucans.  If you take the time to look at them, the insects are absolutely incredible.  Leaf-cutter ants carry leaves along well-worn miniature trails that they themselves created.  Several times, I have encountered army ants.  These form dense swarms that cover the ground and vegetation, and there are so many that you can actually hear their legs moving.  Spiders run out of the way of the oncoming sea of ants, and birds follow the ants to snatch up these spiders.

One of the many fascinating insects of Palenque

A few weeks ago, the other research assistants and I took a trip to the nearby Catazajá Lake on one of our days off.  One of the other assistants, an avid birder, counted more than fifty species of birds.  Countless storks, egrets, and herons flocked on in the trees on the shoreline.  We even saw iguanas and several groups of howler monkeys.  Ironically, I actually have better monkey photos from Catazajá than from Palenque, since the trees are much shorter and I wasn’t busy recording observations.

Bare-throated tiger heron

Howler monkey at Catazajá

This past weekend, we noticed a banner in town announcing the “Primera Semana Cultural,” the first Cultural Week in Palenque.  So on Saturday evening, we all went into the main square in town to watch the performances.  Most of these were people performing folk dances in traditional attire.  Some dance groups were from Palenque itself, but others were from as far away as the state of Chihuahua, on the U.S.-Mexico border.  I was glad we were able to see the performances, and I’m especially excited that I will be able to witness more Mexican cultural traditions later this year on Independence Day and on Day of the Dead.

Heading South of the Border

Hello, my family and friends!  I thought it was about time for another blog post to update everyone about what I am doing now that I have finished college.  On May 15, 2016, I graduated from Duke with a B.S. degree in Evolutionary Anthropology and Biology.  Now, my plan is to gain more research experience for a while and then to pursue a Ph.D.  The first thing that I am doing is working as a field research assistant on a project studying Mexican black howler monkeys (Alouatta pigra).

On June 14, I said goodbye to my family and flew off to Mexico City.  I decided to allow myself a few days of sightseeing in Mexico City, since this layover presented a great opportunity to do so.  On the afternoon I arrived, I spent some time walking around in the historic district of the city, including seeing the largest square in Latin America: the Zócalo.  The next day, I visited the ruins of Teotihuacan, which are located not too far outside the city.  Teotihuacan was once a large pre-Hispanic city home to around 125,000 people.  By the time the Aztecs found it, the city was already abandoned.  The Aztecs thought the huge pyramids must have been built by the gods, so they named it Teotihuacan (city of the gods).  Most of the pyramids were open for tourists to climb, so I took the opportunity to do so while marveling about what it must have taken to build these gigantic structures without even using wheeled carts or pack animals.  After visiting the ruins, I went to the National Museum of Anthropology.  This museum is home to artifacts of the many cultures that inhabited Mesoamerica prior to the arrival of Columbus.  Some of the highlights included seeing the famous Sun Stone or Aztec Calendar (much bigger in person than I expected) and the tomb of Pakal the Great, the king of Palenque (where I am currently doing research).

Me at Teotihuacan

 

Me in front of the Aztec Sun Stone

After about a day and a half in Mexico City, I boarded another plane bound for Palenque, in the state of Chiapas.  It is here that I will be spending the next six months on research.  I live in a house rented by the monkey project, which I share with the four other research assistants.  Monday through Thursday, we head into the forests of Palenque National Park for a full day of observing the monkeys along with the post-doc conducting the research and the local field assistant.  There are five different groups we observe, each ranging in size from three to eight individuals.  Each individual has its own name and distinguishing characteristics, so I am still in the process of getting to know them all.  In the field, we periodically record the monkeys’ behavior, and we also take measurements of their travel routes through the forest and the trees they feed from.  The ultimate goal of the study is to understand how the monkeys make their decisions about where to travel in the forest based on the current availability of food.  Because this involves an intersection of ecology and cognition, I’m especially interested to see what we find.

A howler monkey I saw in my first day in the forest at Palenque

When we are not working, we have time off to spend how we want.  We are conveniently located near the town of Palenque, which has all the amenities we need in a town.  On Friday, I chose to visit the main ruins of Palenque.  When we are in the field, we are constantly seeing traces of the ruins wherever we go in the forest.  Many of the rocks were clearly cut for building by the ancient Mayans, and overgrown walls and temples are not uncommon.  However, I had not yet fully experienced the excavated areas that the tourists generally visit until Friday.  This includes are quite a few pyramids, an aqueduct, a ball court, a palace, and an observation tower.  Much like at Teotihuacan, I was really amazed to contemplate what it must have taken to build such a city.  I am looking forward to getting to know this area better in the months to come.

The view from one of the pyramids at the Palenque ruins