Nim Li Punit and the Spice Farm

I slept great with the jungle sounds in the background. While it was hot and I had no air conditioning the design of my hut required only a simple fan to keep things comfortable.

I was right on the river which was quickly approaching my hut, fortunately it only came up for a look and not a visit.

I was up early enjoying the open air shower and then headed to the main lodge to be greeted by Sandy, the resident dog. Fortunately my dog watcher was texting me updates of my dog Koda and it looked like they were having fun, so I didn't feel too bad in cheating on him by petting Sandy.

We all ate breakfast and continued to share our stories with each other before heading out to Nim Li Punit, a small but important city that was active between the 5th and 9th centuries. The site is rarely visited and we did not see another tourist during our visit. Our journey would begin here with an opening ceremony as Malcolm guided us in connecting with the site. Taking time to look, listen, and most importantly feel, connect with it in a way that makes sense to you. When you do this you start to understand the site differently. For example the way they have you enter is not actually the entrance to the city, it's just a convenient one. So you step out and explore, finding your way to the true entrance, knowing that this is really how the Mayans would have entered.

The entry contained what is referred to as an E-Group, a set of 4 pyramids build in alignment to mark the summer solstice, equinox, and winter solstice. The amazing part is that not only do various cities contain this grouping but that the cities themselves also make up a larger E-Group, a real life fractal.

We entered the main plaza and the most important part of the city, a kind of spiritual center. It was surrounded by various stelaes, large stones that were either carved or painted, representing different Gods such as the rain God or corn God.





Just to avoid any confusion the one on the left is actually a tree.

Mayan priests would wonder around connecting to various stones and it was the stone that told them which one represented rain or corn or something else.



This was the perfect site to begin our journey as it represented the start of civilization, not just for Mayans but on a more general model. Early on man was very connected to nature, watching and tracking things like the sun and the movement of the planets, spending day after day gaining the wisdom of the universe. These people became known as priests and were respected. This wisdom was written down and others gained the knowledge simply by reading about it, and the wisdom and connection was lost over the years. The elite used this knowledge to proclaim themselves as Gods because they knew things like when was the best time to plant corn. The peasants could not read and thus not gain this knowledge so they truly believed their leaders were Gods. Egos took over and the leaders began to believe they really are Gods, craving more power and abusing it. Peasants began to doubt the validity and intentions of their "Gods". Uprising occurred, wars broke out, and civilization began to fall. It's a rough outline of just about every civilization, including ours. And on that note here are some tombs.

Unfortunately the remains have been removed and I tried to offer my condolences on behalf of my generation.

We then headed up to the next plaza and enjoyed the views.

We then came across a ball court which are common to just about every Mayan city. I would explore this further with each site and at this stage it was simply a game of light vs dark, reenacting the account of twin brothers and their journey in to the underworld.



We then moved on to the third and final plaza. It's easy to get caught up in the moment and race up the steps to see what awaited us. But that is for the tourists, we are here to move slowly, take it all in and connect, to walk in the footprints of the Maya and become them.



Looking back on the ball court.

During the time of the Mayans this was not a grass plaza but rather a stone one and a small portion remains.

We wrapped things up and headed out to a local spice farm for lunch.

I was amazed by the smell of different things like all-spice, cardamon, and cinnamon, just to name a few. But as smell does not translate over the web well, here are some pretty flowers instead.



I didn't feel that there were any Mayan spirits here that I would offend so I thought it was safe to bend the rules a little.

One of my favorites, coffee.

I also learned that chocolate is actually a fruit. In fact on this trip I would get to know the spirit of Cacao quite well.

Thorny bamboo.

We then headed in to the drying room and if you thought it was hot outside this place took your breath away.

Coffee.

Some kind of spice.

Another kind of spice.

After lunch we returned to the hotel to relax before dinner. As we were not drinking Ayahuasca there were not any dietary restrictions, so it was time for another Belikin Beer.

Our fearless leaders Malcolm and Loretta. Even though we did not leave the physical reality of Earth, thanks for another amazing journey! And it was only day one!

VIDEO: Mayan Cosmology - Day 2