Mayan Cooking

Should we learn how to do a bit of mayan cooking (traditional and modern)?

I love chaya -- it's a tropical spinach. Nummy.

Here are some more

Turkey lime soup--- mmmm

Some shrimp for Joe

Ooooh and here are more!

This one is with lima beans -- i think i'm going to try it.

This is the traditional poc-chuc

Learning a Bit About Mayan Culture

Here is a guide at Coba talking about the ball game they played. This site has a lot of information about the game as well.

And here a bunch of games you can play to learn about mayan culture.  And here is another fun site.

This site has loads of information based on mayans in guatemala.

from q

i am most excited about :

helping the turtles;
and every thing else.

Kinkajou - Cute Until It Bites Your Nose Off

Okay this guy looks pretty cute doesn't it. Natl Geo will tell you all about him.

Wikipedia has a lot about him too.

I think he is an alien because check out his tongue.

Lots of pictures here. 

Toucan

Click here to here what they sound like

Flamingoooooos

Okay i think this picture of the flamingo is really weird - doesn't it look like they are in an outline of a bird or kind of duck? This picture is very cool. Here is a little bit of info aabout flamingos? 

And a bit more. But I haven't found a great resource about flamingos yet, have you?

Where else do they live in the world other than the yucatan?

Funky Feathers

Hi -- Last week I went out on the boat to "bird island". It's a mangrove island that hundreds of birds all come back to every night. You see them streaming in over the lagoon -- all different types.  Lots of grunting, cackling, and flopping around until they get settled in for the night.

This is a picture of a juvenile reddish egret that was practicing fishing. It and his/her pal would pick up small sticks in the shallow water, sometimes grabbing from each other.  Periodically it would lift its wing like this to shade the water from the sun so it could see what might be hanging out around his feet.  (One of the cesiak-friends, Vince, took this picture).

The other picture is of an adult reddish egret. Jorge (one of the guides at cesiak that we will meet at the beginning of the trip) kept laughing and saying "funky feathers"!

So I have a question -- why does the reddish egret have such funky feathers. They seem so different than the other birds at the bird hotel.  Anyone have any ideas?

I bet when wearing bird feathers on ladies hats was in fashion, the reddish egrets were under seige!

Here is a cool site -- you can here what it sounds like and learn about it as well. 

The Trip

 Our Trip

Meet Ben Reynosa our guide. 



First stop is Cesiak at Sian Ka'an for turtles and birds. And to meet my friends.

Then to Calakmul. Here is another video. Temples, animals, birds, and a very hot jungle.

Bacalar. For kayaking, birding and looking for mantaees in a nearby lagoon.

Quick stop at chetumal to visit a museum on mayan culture.  Then Off to Xcalak (shh ca lahk) for snorkeling

Rio Largotos to meet the flamingos.

Isla Holbox to swim with whale sharks -- this was not on my things to do in my life list.

An intro to mayan

A couple of good Mayan phrases

Hach ki – It’s good as in referring to food.  After you try a bit of something you can say to the waiter or chef  hahch KEE – emphasis on the KEE.

Bix a beel – How are you? Or What’s happening? The “x” in mayan is a “shhhh” sound, just like you are telling someone to be quiet in a gentle way. So this is pronounced

Beesh a  beel.

Ma’alob – Good. This is the response to bix a beel.  The ‘ indicates a quick stop before the next sound. Think of the stop almost as if it a syllable.  So this is pronounced

 mah- (min-stop)-ah-LOHB.

Dios bo’otik – Thank you (literally God will pay you).

DEE-os BOH (min-stop)- OH-teek

Tu’ux a kaahal? What is your town or where are you from?  The folks at Cesiak we will meet come from different towns (I’ll see if I can get a good map) and can point out where they live now and where there families came from.  TOO(min-stop)-OOSH-ah-KAAH-hahl

What Kinds of Animals Live in the Yucatan?

Hi -- This is a pretty interesting website on the wildlife in the yucatan.  

I am going to keep my eyes peeled for baby tapirs -- doesn't it look cute. However I would not want to be kissed by an adult tapir.

I saw a long-tailed weasel last time i was there. 

Should we listen to bird calls before we go to see if we can recognize them even if we can't see them?