Inside a cenote — the doorway to Mexico’s underworld

By

-

May 3, 2022

Templo Mayor cenote, Quintana Roo — The ancient Maya who lived in this region believed that cenotes were the access to points to the underworld. (Nori Velazquez/Amigos de Sian Ka'an)

The Yucatán Peninsula, a massive limestone platform of 165,000 square kilometers and one of the world’s largest karst formations, hosts one of the planet’s most spectacular subterranean aquifers — thousands of kilometers of underground rivers and lakes.

This hidden aquatic world is largely the result of a rare encounter between cosmic and earthly matter — an enormous meteor that crashed into our planet 65 million years ago.

When the Chicxulub Meteor struck the peninsula, the impact was so great that it fractured the region’s brittle limestone, opening up fissures and holes that allowed virtually all surface water to drain into a subterranean world of dark, sunless caverns and tunnels, creating a subsurface world like no other on Earth.

This system of complex underground rivers and caves finds portals to the dry land above by way of sinkholes, or cenotes. Thirty years ago, scientists documented the existence of about 7,000 cenotes on the peninsula; today, some believe the real number may be twice that.

I recently visited one of these mindboggling cenotes, locally known as the Templo Mayor.

“Welcome to Batman’s world,” Einner Medina proudly tells me as I crouch to avoid hitting my head on limestone formations. I follow him into a cenote in the Chemuyil community in Quintana Roo, on the Yucatán Peninsula.

Medina is the leader of the Bejil-Ha–Water Path — an ecotourist group of young men and women committed to their community, to Mexico and to our planet.

This is my first journey ever into the Mexican (and Maya) underworld, my first close encounter with the cenotes, with what the Maya called that “deep thing — abysm and profundity.” My first contact with these water holes along the long road that all Mexicans must travel through on our journey after death.

There, in the underground, is the doorway to the Mexican underworld. Where the traveling souls of the dead are reflected on the stalactites that hang from the cave’s ceiling and the stalagmites that rise from its floor. In the heart of the Mayan jungle.

Cenotes are our red blood, our mahogany-colored skin, our mouth, eyes and lungs. A place where our ancestral souls rest. And cenotes are all the living things they house: bats; blind white ladies and other blind fishes. They are also the uncolored sponges, bivalves and crustaceans. Cenotes are iguanas, toads, swallows and the Toh, also known as the turquoise-browed motmot.

And cenotes are Xibalbanus tulumensis, a tiny, blind, venomous, hermaphroditic crustacean whose ancestral distribution is linked to the ancient Tethys Sea. With its name, it honors Xibalba, the Maya underworld — a world in which we would be eternally lost if these humid sinkholes did not exist to guide us.

“Let us make the eternal darkness,” Medina says to us. Submerged in water, in the heart of the cenote 12 meters below the forested land, we turn off our small lamps. We make our way through the darkness and the silence.

What my wide-open eyes see is the boundless fusion between eternal darkness and eternal light — a state of grace, of dying without being dead, an indescribable peace, infinite calm. Floating on the water’s surface, I close my eyes, trying to see, but there are no differences when in eternal darkness.

Submerged to the chest, I slowly move my left hand toward the water, feeling it move through the air, independent from the rest of my body, until it enters the water, demonstrating to me that here the boundaries between air and water are just a mirage.

To reach the cenote’s heart, we swim under a dome framed by the speleothems that bear semblance to Tyrannosaurus rex jaws: they are the stalactites that hang from the roof and the stalagmites that grow from the floor — both growing, drop by drop, in opposite directions toward one another over millions of years.

Above, irregular, sharp cones each have a central channel, through which mineralized water runs ever so slowly. Below, there are solid forms, also built drop by drop, rounded like macaroni.

Each stalactite and stalagmite are born from a drop of mineralized water: mirror rocky formations that seek one another, gravitating ever so slowly toward an earthly, geological kiss. They are the yin and yang of the Mexican underworld.

While swimming, I see everywhere thin roots of the poplars descending from the jungle. The cenote is at once a floating and hanging garden.

“Listen to the cenote,” Medina says. I sharpen my hearing but hear nothing.

Suddenly, my face feels the hot air displaced by flapping wings that are not of a bird, and I hear the unmistakable sound of long, membranous bat wings. I smell the sweet and sour breath as it passes.

And then another bat and another, and many more pass, a chiropteran procession. The guardians of the cenote are telling us that we are in their territory. They warn us that they follow our movements and thoughts and that we would be well advised to keep our intentions honorable because we are at their mercy in this eternal darkness.

But, to my surprise, I eventually realize that all of the sounds and smells and movement are an illusion: there are not many bats; it is only the same inquisitive individual circling around us over and over, taking stock of our presence.

Seeing nothing, but with my eyes wide open, I enjoy the sound of its wings and the aromas of the misunderstood and vilified flying creature of the night — and planetary champion at devouring insects, dispersing seeds and pollinating plants. Blessed are the bats, the only winged mammal that has conquered the entire planet except for Antarctica.

Medina interrupts my thoughts. “That is nothing, Omar. Come back soon to listen to the sound of bells when many bats are flying and their wings brush against the stalactites.”

I can’t imagine anything more glorious than a bat symphony performed in the Mexican underworld.

Seconds after we turn our lamps back on, I see air bubbles emerging on the cenote’s surface. What I see takes me back to memories of Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey and my favorite James Bond movie, Thunderball.

Just 10 meters from us, two slender divers, like lost subterranean angels in silvery wetsuits, are being pulled through the water by small propulsion vehicles equipped with powerful lamps.

At first, I thought I was hallucinating due to insufficient oxygen levels in the cave; then I thought that the divers were aliens from another galaxy. Finally, I thought I had died and begun my own path to Xibalba.

Seeing my astonishment, Medina calmed me down and explained that they were a couple of the many speleologists who spend their life studying and protecting the cenotes and underground rivers.

The time comes to bid farewell to the underworld’s doorway. From the entrance to the inundated cave, I look one last time at the ray of sunlight entering through a crack on the cenote’s other side, a shaft of radiance where the sky meets the underworld.

Through my dive mask, I lift my head from the water’s surface for a final glimpse at the sun’s illumination on a small rock platform — a natural shelf that likely served as a contemplative place for a Maya emperor or a priest, a shining spot visible only to those convinced that the boundaries between air and water are but an illusion.

I thank Einner Medina for his patience in teaching us how to make our way through the eternal darkness and listen to the cenote. All photographs and videos used in this essay belong to his group. Visit their website, where you can learn how to listen to the cenote yourself.

Omar Vidal, a scientist, was a university professor in Mexico, is a former senior officer at the UN Environment Program and the former director-general of the World Wildlife Fund-Mexico.

Government claims theme park operator has never obtained permits

By

MND Staff

-

May 3, 2022

0

Amid criticism over the absence of environmental permits for its Maya Train project, the government fired back Monday by claiming that a Quintana Roo theme park and hotel operator has never obtained permits for its projects.

Environment Minister María Luisa Albores made the accusation against Grupo Xcaret at President López Obrador’s regular news conference.

“Xcaret is a group that prefers to ask for forgiveness rather than permission,” she told reporters.

“In all its projects and proposals it has never presented an environmental impact statement [EIS]. That’s a reality because we’re inside the Environment Ministry [Semarnat],” Albores said.

Individuals and companies seeking approval for a construction project are required to submit an EIS in order to gain the permits they need.

Xcaret operates several theme parks in the Riviera Maya of Quintana Roo, including its flagship park near Playa del Carmen, which opened in 1990.

López Obrador said construction of the company’s parks has damaged the environment and questioned why “pseudo-environmentalists” opposed to the Maya Train project didn’t speak up against them.

The company “has a lot of influence with the media,” he said, asserting that there are columnists who have cosy relationships with its owners.

López Obrador noted that Xcaret has one project under development near Valladolid, Yucatán, where it is “joining cenotes,” or natural sinkholes. He has previously criticized the project while defending the 1,500-kilometer Maya Train against claims it will cause irreversible damage to the environment.

The president’s spokesman, Jesús Ramírez, said on Twitter on April 27 that “devastation” caused by Grupo Xcaret at the Xibalbá park site is an “ecocide.”

“The company perforated cenotes, diverted subterranean rivers and created artificial channels. It’s a shame that the environmentalists that protest against the Maya Train don’t see this destruction. No to predatory tourism development,” he wrote.

The 250-hectare Xibalbá park, which includes eight cenotes, was described by Grupo Xcaret president and general director Miguel Quintana Pali in 2020 as the biggest project the company has ever developed. “It’s the most lavish, grandiose, the most beautiful,” he said.

But Semarnat shut the project down in late March because it was being built without environmental approval.

“It doesn’t have a permit,” Albores said Monday. “It’s temporarily shut down because … [Xcaret was] making some revisions to an environmental impact statement proposal, which they didn’t even have [when construction began],” she said.

Despite Semarnat’s closure order, work has continued at Xibalbá, the Mérida-based newspaper Por Esto! reported, providing further evidence of the apparent disdain Xcaret has for environmental authorities.

It said that construction workers were seen working on towers at the entrance to the park as recently as last Saturday. Fidelia Canché Cetzal, commissioner of the community of Yalcobá, where the project is located, confirmed that work continued at the site Monday through Saturday.

All told, about 2,000 people are working on the new 1-billion-peso (US $49.3 million) park, Por Esto! said. The newspaper said the project received authorization for minor construction work, but Xcaret has admitted to significantly altering the local ecosystem, in which it has built a range of amenities to accommodate visitors.

Contrary to Albores’ claim, Por Esto! said that Xcaret has presented two environmental impact statements to support construction of the Xibalbá park. But its claims that the project wouldn’t have – and hasn’t had – a major detrimental impact on the environment have been disputed.

In addition to being criticized by the government, the project has angered environmentalists from organizations such as Greenpeace and Expedición Grosjean, which is dedicated to the conservation of cenotes.

Xcaret is “committing an ecocide,” said Sergio Grosjean, the founder of the latter group.

“It’s bad whichever way you look at it. [Cenotes are] natural unique ecosystems and by connecting them the ecological balance of the bodies of water is broken,” he said.

“… There are people who think that joining cenotes can improve them but it’s not true. It breaks the balance and generates a conflict between species,” Grosjean said.

Despite concerns about the park and Semarnat’s closure order, Xcaret appears optimistic that it will be able to open Xibalbá in the not too distant future. The park already has its own website, where it is described as an “exclusive nature reserve” where visitors can “explore things you have not seen before.”

“After spending a day here, you will get renewed profoundly,” the site says. “It is an unforgettable experience that only Grupo Xcaret can provide.”

With reports from Por Esto

Mom admits killing her four young children in Oaxaca

By

MND Staff

-

May 3, 2022

0

A Oaxaca woman has admitted to killing her four children, all of whom were found dead on Monday after apparently being poisoned.

Three girls aged under 10 and a baby boy were found dead on a bed at their home in Chicapa de Castro, a Zapotec community in the Isthmus of Tehuantepe region. Their father made the shocking discovery when he got home from work Monday afternoon, local authorities said.

Local authorities also said that the children’s mother accepted responsibility for the minors’ death, but didn’t say how she killed them.

Local media reports said the children had been poisoned, probably with rat poison. That hypothesis will have to confirmed by autopsies.

The 27-year-old mother, identified as Arely J., received medical treatment Monday for a stab wound to the neck, the newspaper El Universal reported. It was unclear how she sustained the injury, but at least one report suggested it was self-inflicted.

The Oaxaca Attorney General’s Office FGEO said in a statement that it had launched an investigation into the multi-homicide in Chicapa de Castro, located in the municipality of Juchitán.

“The FGEO is committed to carrying out a meticulous investigation taking all evidence into account,” it said.

Chicapa de Castro authorities declared three days of mourning for the deaths of the four children.

“It’s a tragedy that fills us with sadness,” one resident told El Universal. “… The children were innocent beings, little siblings. We won’t forget this tragedy.”

With reports from El Universal, La Razón and Reporte Indigo

As Maya Train gets another injunction, contract for rail cars signed

By

MND Staff

-

May 3, 2022

0

A rendering of the interior of one of the Maya Train's rail cars.

A court in Mérida, Yucatán, has issued another provisional suspension order against the construction of the Maya Train railroad in Quintana Roo.

A second injunction against the Cancún-Tulum section of the 1,500-kilometer line was granted to Defendiendo el Derecho a un Medio Ambiente Sano (Defending the Right to a Healthy Environment), or DMAS, a Cancún-based environmental organization.

The court previously issued a provisional suspension order against section 5 of the project due to the “imminent risk” of “irreversible damage” to the Mayan jungle, caves, subterranean rivers and cenotes (natural sinkholes) and the absence of environmental studies and permits. A ruling on whether that order should be made definitive will be handed down on May 13.

In the second lawsuit, DMAS argued that the project violates constitutionally-enshrined rights to due process and a healthy environment.

“They say that without cenotes there is no paradise. We say that without an environmental impact process there mustn’t be a project,” it said in a statement.

There is significant opposition to the southern part of the Quintana Roo section of the railroad, which will run between Playa del Carmen and Tulum.

The federal government modified the route earlier this year, moving the section inland after the business community in Playa del Carmen complained about its construction through the center of the coastal resort city. Jungle has already been cleared for the construction of tracks, triggering protests both at the site of the deforestation and online.

Environment Minister María Luisa Albores acknowledged Monday that definitive environmental approval hasn’t been granted for the Cancún-Tulum leg as well as three other sections of the US $10 billion project. A decree issued by President López Obrador in November allows work to proceed with only provisional approval.

The government has overcome several previous injunctions issued against the railroad and is determined to complete the project next year.

López Obrador – its most prominent proponent – signed a contract on Monday to purchase 42 trains for the railroad, on which tourist, commuter and freight services will run through the states of Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán, Quintana Roo and Chiapas.

The trains, consisting of a total of 210 rail cars, will be made in Mexico by Alstom, a French company that acquired Canadian-German rail transport manufacturer Bombardier Transportation early last year.

“Twenty years ago we signed a contract with Bombardier, now associated with Alstom, to buy 45 trains and 400 cars for the Mexico City Metro. Today we’re signing with the same companies for the purchase of 42 trains with 210 cars for the Maya Train,” López Obrador wrote on Twitter and Facebook.

“The construction was done and will be done in Ciudad Sahagún, [Hidalgo], always thinking of employment for Mexicans,” the president said.

The federal government announced almost a year ago that a consortium including Alstom was the successful bidder in an international tendering process for the acquisition of rolling stock and rail systems for the Maya Train railroad. The consortium submitted a bid of 36.6 billion pesos (US $1.8 billion) to supply rail systems and 42 trains.

Alstom was part of a consortium that built line 12 of the Mexico City Metro system, part of which collapsed a year ago today, causing an accident that claimed the lives of 26 people. Another member of that consortium was Carlos Slim’s Carso Infrastructure and Construction, which is building section 2 of the Maya Train.

With reports from Milenio

First-quarter remittances by Mexicans working abroad hit record US $12.5 billion

By

MND Staff

-

May 3, 2022

0

Remittances sent to Mexico increased 18% to US $12.52 billion in the first quarter of 2022, a figure that represents a new record for the first three months of a year.

Reported by the Bank of México (Banxico) on Monday, the figure is $1.91 billion higher than in the first quarter of 2021 and comes after a new calendar year record of over $51 billion in remittances was sent to Mexico last year.

The vast majority come from the United States, where millions of Mexicans live and work.

The central bank reported that remittances totaled $4.68 billion in March, a 12.6% increase compared to the same month of 2021, and that remittances totaled $53.49 billion in the 12-month period to the end of March.

During the first three months of the year, 99% of all funds were sent via electronic transfer, Banxico said. Cash and payments in kind accounted for 0.7% of the $12.52 billion total while the other 0.3% was sent via money order.

The bank also reported a seasonally adjusted figure for remittances in the first quarter. The figure derived from that statistical method was a first quarter record of $13.91 billion, an 18.5% increase compared to the first three months of 2021.

In March, remittances were sent to Mexico in a total of 11.9 million transactions. An average of $393 was transferred in each one, a 6% increase compared to the same month of 2021.

Banxico also reported that remittances totaling $271 million were sent abroad from Mexico in the first three months of the year, an increase of 26.6% compared to the first quarter of 2021. Just over $1.1 billion in remittances left the country in the 12 months to March 31.

New records for incoming remittances were set in both 2020 and 2021 despite the negative impact the coronavirus pandemic had on the global economy.

The United States government’s extensive support for the U.S. economy during the pandemic was cited by many analysts as the main reason for the record remittance levels.

Mexico News Daily

Security forces capture senior CJNG lieutenant

By

MND Staff

-

May 3, 2022

0

A billboard offers 500,000-peso reward for El Señorón.

Federal security forces caught a senior lieutenant of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) on Friday, the navy and Morelos Attorney General’s Office announced.

Francisco Rodríguez, known by the alias “El Señorón” (the big shot), was arrested in an operation by marines in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, outside a luxury apartment complex in the northwest of the city. He is thought to be a high-ranking member of the CJNG in Morelos.

In June, Rodríguez was identified as the leader of “Los Colombianos” (The Colombians), a criminal group of growing importance in Morelos, allied with the CJNG. Los Colombianos have been linked to homicide, kidnapping, extortion, money lending and drug trafficking. Its leader is believed to be one of the key people behind violence in the state.

Authorities offered a 500,000-peso (US $25,000) reward for information about Rodríguez in July.

Rodríguez is suspected of the murder of three doctors in April 2020, according to the Morelos Attorney General’s Office. An inter-state working group said security forces had an arrest warrant for murder, criminal association and generating violence in Morelos.

The navy said he controlled several synthetic drug laboratories, whose products were distributed in Cuernavaca, Jiutepec, Puente de Ixtla, Amacuzac, Emiliano Zapata, Cuautla, and Cocoyoc.

Morelos Governor Cuauhtémoc Blanco said a violent reaction to the arrest was expected from criminal groups in the state.

The head of CJNG, Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, is one of the most wanted cartel leaders in the world. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has offered US $10 million for his arrest.

Late last year, security forces arrested his wife, Rosalinda González Valencia.

With reports from Reforma, CBS News and El Sol de Cuautla

Foreign minister accuses Texas governor of extortion

By

MND Staff

-

May 2, 2022

0

Minister of Foreign Affairs Marcelo Ebrard.

The foreign minister has accused the governor of Texas of extortion for his negotiation methods with Mexican governors, who wanted U.S. officials to lift stringent border checks on vehicles.

The inspection program on vehicles was introduced by Governor Greg Abbott at Texas’ almost 2,000-kilometer border with Mexico in early April, for authorities to conduct more thorough checks to detect drugs and migrants trying to enter the U.S. illegally.

All commercial vehicles crossing the border into Texas were checked, causing lines of 24-30 hours and generating losses in Tamaulipas of at least 1 billion pesos (US $50.1 million) in the space of a single week, according to an umbrella group of business organizations.

Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said that Abbott had attempted blackmail the governors, instead of looking for compromise. “It’s extortion. Closing the border and forcing you to sign whatever I say. That’s not an agreement, an agreement is when you and I agree on something,” he said.

“The migration problem is not Mexico’s problem,” Ebrard added, before saying that resolving problems around migration depended on the decisions of U.S. officials.

The governor of Nuevo León, Samuel García, and the governors of Tamaulipas, Coahuila and Chihuahua negotiated individually with Abbott to lift restrictions.

García promised to install migration checkpoints for vehicles before they reach the border and to activate patrols across 14 kilometers of the border. After the agreement was signed, traffic flow was revived between Nuevo León and Texas.

Ebrard said that he respected the governors’ decisions to cede to Abbott’s demands, but that he couldn’t take the same approach.

“I don’t judge. I think the governors have to do what they can. They had no alternative, but we are not going to allow a governor to extort Mexico, I will never allow that,” he said.

Ebrard added that Abbott’s behavior should be attributed in part to the his re-election campaign.

Two-way trade between Mexico and Texas was worth US $177.8 billion in 2020, according to the Foreign Ministry, with both sides benefiting almost equally from the cross-border exchange.

With reports from Milenio

Environment minister admits Maya Train lacks permits

By

MND Staff

-

May 2, 2022

0

A construction crew works on a section of the Maya Train in Yucatán.

Environment Minister María Luisa Albores acknowledged Monday that definitive environmental approval hasn’t been granted for four sections of the Maya Train railroad project.

She said that sections 4, 5, 6 and 7 only have provisional approval but their construction has been able to proceed thanks to a decree issued by President López Obrador in November.

The decree instructs government agencies to grant provisional authorizations and permits to projects deemed to be of public interest and national security in a maximum period of five working days so as to ensure their timely execution.

Speaking at López Obrador’s regular news conference, Albores said that sections 1, 2 and 3 of the 1,500-kilometer railroad have definitive environmental approval. They are the Palenque-Escárcega, Escárcega-Calkiní and Calkiní-Izamal sections.

The environment minister then admitted that the other four sections only have provisional approval. They are the Izamal-Cancún, Cancún-Tulum, Tulum-Chetumal and Chetumal-Escárcega sections.

Environment Minister María Luisa Albores talked about environmental issues related to the Maya Train at the president's Monday morning conference. — Environment Minister María Luisa Albores talked about environmental issues related to the Maya Train at the president’s Monday morning conference.

“What was done is that on November 22, 2021, there was a decree to issue provisional permits,” Albores said. “It doesn’t mean that … technical studies [and] environmental impact statements aren’t being done,” she said.

However, it is unclear when those studies – which are needed for full environmental approval to be granted – will be completed.

Albores – the country’s foremost environmental official – defended companies’ capacity to work on the US $10 billion project while the environmental studies are being carried out. She said that the National Tourism Promotion Fund, which is managing the ambitious project, has experts in the field who monitor work on the railroad to ensure that the environment isn’t adversely affected.

“We’re talking about more than 100 specialists who are in the territory [where the railroad is being built]. … They’re brigades that do everything related to looking after the environment,” she said.

Albores acknowledged that there has been significant opposition to the southern part of section 5, which will run between Playa del Carmen and Tulum, but claimed that work has continued, apparently before a judge suspended work due to environmental concerns and the lack of permits.

The protesters – which López Obrador has dubbed “pseudo-environmentalists” – have made a lot of noise, but it doesn’t mean work has stopped, she said.

Opponents of the Playa del Carmen-Tulum stretch have denounced the clearing of forested land without environmental permits having been granted and warned of irreversible damage to flora, fauna and subterranean rivers in Quintana Roo.

Albores said Monday that “only 300,000 trees” will be cut down to make way for the highly-controversial section before she asserted that over 143 million trees will be planted along the railroad route thanks to the government’s reforestation and employment program, called Sembrando Vida (Sowing Life).

While the environment minister argued that work on the Maya Train sections without definitive environmental approval was legal, given AMLO’s infrastructure decree, a National Autonomous University academic took a different view earlier this year.

Ana Esther Ceceña, an academic with the university’s Economic Research Institute, told the news website Animal Político in late March that environmental impact statements have to be completed before work on the different Maya Train sections can begin.

“That is by law, and they can’t be provisional permits,” she said. “… They haven’t done land or environment studies or even economic feasibility studies. They haven’t done them in advance, they are doing them on the fly,” Ceceña said.

López Obrador, who has consistently denied that the railroad project will damage the environment and has touted the economic benefits it will bring, claimed on March 31 that all environmental permits had already been issued for the Maya Train project – one of his signature infrastructure projects – but Animal Político ran a fact check on the assertion and declared it to be false.

With reports from Milenio and Animal Político

Becán’s remains hint at the story of an important pre-Hispanic trade center

By

Thilini Wijesinhe

-

May 2, 2022

0

Structure X at Becan site in Campeche — The towering Structure IX at the ancient Maya archaeological site of Becán in Campeche.

If you are a fan of archaeology and history, Becán is yet another beautiful Maya site in Campeche that is a must-see!

Situated around 130 kilometers from Chetumal off Highway 186, you can combine a visit to Becán with a trip to the famous Maya site of Calakmul, and several other nearby ruins.

The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) says the site’s first occupation dates to around 600–300 B.C., and it is believed to have been the capital of the Río Bec region in the late classic period (A.D. 600–900). Becán enjoyed a strategic location and controlled trade routes, according to INAH.

It was eventually abandoned around A.D. 1200–1400.

Becán is Yucatec Mayan for “trench.” It is also translated as “path (cavity) formed by running water” or “path of the serpent,” according to INAH. The name refers to a unique trench shielding its main buildings.

Becan archaeological site Campeche — This passageway was once a street.

With around a two-kilometer circumference covering an area of approximately 12 hectares, the trench has seven entrances, with bridges to access the enclosed area. The trench had different uses, including possibly for defense. Outside the shielded area, other constructions and residences of Becán’s population have been identified.

There are about 20 structures to see, so expect to spend a few hours exploring the site. Río Bec is one of the key architectural styles to observe here, featuring symbolic twin towers with decorative stairs and temples on top.

Remember to keep an eye out for traces of original paint on buildings.

Once you enter the site, you will see an interesting tunnel-like passage that was once used as a street. In ancient times, there had been a fake arch covering the length of this passage. The arch had included niches for offerings.

An absolute must-see section of the site is the Central Plaza. The magnificent structures here will help you envision the grand city that Becán was.

East of the plaza is Structure VIII, with a beautiful central area and two towers on either side. The main section’s entrance has columns, and a stela — a carved or inscribed stone slab or pillar — stands in the center. The stela probably commemorates a ruler’s official occasion, according to INAH. While some of the building’s rooms are identified as living quarters, there are others believed to have been used for storage or religious ceremonies, including possible self-sacrifices.

Structure IX at Becan site in Campeche — A burial chamber was found within Structure IX.

North of the Central Plaza is Becán’s tallest building, a large pyramid measuring around 32 meters in height. Named Structure IX, INAH says a burial chamber was found here. The pyramid has a large stairway that leads to a temple on top.

You can climb this pyramid, but the site notice says they will appreciate it if you do not — for preservation and to avoid accidents. You can observe the features of this pyramid from the plaza, however, even without climbing it.

West of the Central Plaza is an interesting building called Structure X that looks like a complex of buildings. It has many rooms across two levels and a temple on the top section. This temple’s facade had decorations representing the Maya creator god Itzamná, also called the Earth Monster, whose remains can be seen.

You can also see the remains of the roof comb — which was once decorated with stucco figures. Structure X has palace complexes that were likely the residences of the city’s key residents, according to INAH.

Towards the south end of Structure X is a magnificent stucco mask with remains of original colors, believed to be of a ruler or a notable person. In the past, this mask was displayed through a glass window, but during our visit, it was covered with a canvas to protect it from the sun. While it is not the same as seeing the real mask, the image on the canvas will help you visualize what it looks like.

Make time to explore the interesting rear of this complex to the west. Next to this complex is the West Plaza. A notable section here is the ball court where the Mayan ballgame believed to represent the recurring life and death cycle was played. It has the usual parallel rectangular platforms, but its playing area is wider than what’s seen on some sites. The ball rings are speculated to have been made of wood, but no traces of them exist.

The East Plaza, which you will see when entering the site, is worth exploring. There are several beautiful buildings surrounding this plaza; a notable one is the magnificent Structure I, identified as one of the oldest buildings on the site.

This structure has many rooms on two levels and two towers on each side measuring around 15 meters in height. INAH says the towers had openings that may have been used for astronomical observations, but they no longer exist.

Check out the round structure called the circular altar in this plaza. These types of constructions are thought to be linked to Kukulcán – the feathered serpent deity.

The palace-like Structure IV in the East Plaza is also worth seeing. Rulers are believed to have occupied certain rooms here. The benches in rooms are considered resting spaces. This building has remains of decorative masks.

There are several other buildings to explore onsite. Don’t forget to also enjoy the natural scenery: near Becán is the town of Xpujil, where you can explore more ruins and enjoy some local food.

Thilini Wijesinhe, a financial professional turned writer and entrepreneur, moved to Mexico in 2019 from Australia. She writes from Mérida, Yucatán. Her website can be found at https://momentsing.com/

Inflation: prices of 12 key food products up as much as 28% in first four months

By

MND Staff

-

May 2, 2022

0

basic basket of goods, Mexico — Prices for 12 basic food staples has shot up to more than double Banxico's target inflation rate.

The average price of 12 staple products leapt up as much as 28.6% in some parts of Mexico during the first four months of the year, according to data from the Economy Ministry and the consumer protection agency Profeco.

The products in question all feature in the shopping basket of essential items. Mexico uses this economic tool to track inflation, which was 7.72% in the first half of April, more than double the Bank of México’s target rate.

The 12 products included in the January-through-April calculation are limes, melons, serrano chiles, onions, apples, tortillas, tomatoes, milk, beans, rice, eggs and chicken. These 12 products are not the entire makeup of the basket, which includes several other foods and also cooking items such as oil, chocolate and some hygiene projects like soap and toothpaste.

The cost of limes, serrano chiles and melons all skyrocketed in the first four months of 2022, between 97% and 173%. Those price spikes were partially compensated by a drop in the price of beans (1.9%), chicken (16.2%) and rice (32.1%) over the same period.

Mexico City citizens were the worst affected, where a 28.6% spike in the cost of the 12 products was recorded. In Guadalajara, Jalisco, the items increased 27.9% in cost, while in Monterrey, Nuevo León, their prices jumped 18.1%.

shopping in Mexico City — Shoppers in Mexico City had it the worst with a 28.6% spike in prices for the 12 products.

President López Obrador announced last week that the government was seeking an agreement with private companies to limit price increases on basic food items.

“We are going to reach an agreement, which is already very advanced, with producers and business people,” he said. “We are going to guarantee a basic basket of food with fair prices so that people do not suffer …” he said. López Obrador added that the plan had the support of the business community.

However, opinions in that sector appear mixed.

The finance director of restaurant operator Alsea, Rafael Contreras, said the plan was workable in the short term.

“It’s a good thing in the short term for people who consume items from the [inflation] shopping basket, but in the long term, it could generate a shortage of those products. It’s something that will have to be defined as inflation grows to see if producers are willing to continue with it,” he said.

Rodolfo Ramos, the general director of poultry producer Bachoco, supported the government’s plan to facilitate product distribution. “The government said that it’s not going to control prices, which is very important, and that there is going to be some support for distribution, including reductions in taxes on gasoline and diesel, and there are some other proposals relating to … transportation,” he said.

Chickens at Bachoco — Chicken is one of several items contained in the basic shopping basket of food staples. Bachoco

The director-general of supermarket chain Chedraui, Antonio Chedraui Eguía, has voiced concerns that the government could try to keep prices low in the longer term.

The director of economic analysis at Banco Base, Gabriela Siller, said the strategy could end up being counterintuitive.

“Unifying prices [between states] implies that for some, prices will have to rise. Then you end up affecting people instead of helping them,” she said.

With reports from Milenio