Apparently I haven't written anything about astronomy since December 7th, not long after we got our house.
The trip hasn't been great from an astronomical standpoint. Our house in San Felipe was on the north side of Oaxaca, so the sky glow form the city obscured a lot of the southern sky. Also, the big temperature swings between day and night and the geometry of the valley lead to unsettled air and poor seeing. Nonetheless, I did go out quite a few times while we had the house, at least for awhile.
I can't complain too much, as I found a lot of stuff I wanted to see. However, the views left me wanting more. I know that's always the case, but this time the limits were with the skies and not my equipment.
I eventually found Omega Centauri, but between the sky glow and the small scope I was only able to barely resolve a few stars. I learned to identify the southern cross and corvus and which star was Alpha Centauri. I may even have seen proxima, though I couldn't pick it out from the stars in the field.
I also got crappy views of the jewel box cluster and the Eta Carinae nebula, down in the murk above the city. The LPA filter helped with the nebula, but not much. I certainly couldn't see the Coal Sack.
I did try looking at some stuff more northerly and higher in the sky. Looking at stuff near the zenith is a real pain with the alt/az mount that came with the scope, but I managed. The seeing was always too poor for really good views of Mars, Saturn or Jupiter, but the view of the Orion nebula was surprisingly good. I felt like I could see nearly as much detail through my 5" refractor here as with my 15" dob from in BC. Presumably that's because Orion is nearly always still in the murk when I get to look at it from BC. I also saw M78 in Orion; I don't know why I had never noticed it before. Other favourites like the Andromeda galaxies don't look like much from in the city here; certainly nothing like the view I had from Death Valley.
For some reason, I didn't get around to looking at Venus much. I had thought I might follow the phase change, but I guess we were often away from home around sunset.
We tried to go to a village out in the mountains to find darker skies, but instead we found rain and very cold temperatures. Michelle came down with a cold and it was impossible to find warm air in the mountains, even in our cabana, so we retreated to warmer climes. Maybe I'll have better luck on the way home. We will be in a few reasonably dark places the next few weeks, but at lower elevation and with more humidity. Still, it's possible that the seeing will be better than here in Oaxaca.
Don't get me wrong: it has been a great trip so far, even though my high hopes for great nights of observing have been somewhat dashed.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Catching up
We have a few idle days in Oaxaca, so Michelle can get over her cough. That gives me a chance to post notes on a few things we've done.
I promised some photos of our stay in the Sierra Norte de Oaxaca. They are up on picasaweb.
Also on picasaweb are some photos of the church attached to the ex-convent of Santo Domingo in Oaxaca. We had been told that the church was very pretty, which it is. The ex-convent houses the Museo Cultural de Oaxaca, which covers both pre and post-colonial life.
We went on Linda Martin's very interesting tour of various churches in Oaxaca and took a few photos.
I promised some photos of our stay in the Sierra Norte de Oaxaca. They are up on picasaweb.
Also on picasaweb are some photos of the church attached to the ex-convent of Santo Domingo in Oaxaca. We had been told that the church was very pretty, which it is. The ex-convent houses the Museo Cultural de Oaxaca, which covers both pre and post-colonial life.
We went on Linda Martin's very interesting tour of various churches in Oaxaca and took a few photos.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
How do you say disappointed in Spanish?
We went to Ixtlan de Juarez, with high hopes of doing some hiking, seeing lots of birds and maybe a few animals. Supposedly they have armadillos, as well as pumas, deer and various marten/weasel-ey critters. I also had high hopes of doing some astronomy from a dark place. Anyway, things didn't turn out quite as we had planned.
We left Oaxaca on a beautifully sunny New Year's day. The drive up into the mountains was quite pretty and most of the road had been freshly paved. They don't make roads that windy and steep in Canada any more, but the driving was fairly easy, in part because there was very little traffic. It clouded over as we got higher into the mountains, which didn't bode well for my astronomical aspirations.
We had booked four nights at the cabanas run by the community. The parking lot was full when we arrived and things were very busy. So busy, that we couldn't find anyone to tell us about the available activities, whether we could participate that day or how we could book for future days. I inquired of several people to find out who could give us information; each time I was directed to someone else, who couldn't be found. Eventually we gave up, went for a short walk and retired to our cabana.
Inside the cabana it was just a bit colder than outside. There was a big fireplace, so I went to inquire about firewood. I was told that someone would bring firewood that evening and a different person would be by later to light the fire.
There was a sign that said the comedor was open from 9am to 4:30pm that day, so we went to have an early supper. The food was OK, if a bit pricey for what you got. While we were out, someone had brought firewood to our room. About 6pm, it started to rain. By 7pm, we were cold enough that Michelle tried to start the fire herself. Shortly thereafter, the assigned fire starter came by to finish the job. Unfortunately, even though the fire and fireplace were both quite large, the fire didn't seem to throw heat more than a metre or so from the fireplace. The bed was quite a bit further from the fireplace than that. Still, dressed in long undies and fleece pants we were reasonably warm under the covers. However, Michelle had a bit of a cold, which progressed to a cough, and the cold damp air wasn't helping.
It rained all night, at times quite hard.
The next morning, our car was the only car in the parking lot. The holidays were over and everyone else had apparently gone back to work. It was still raining. The water in the shower was barely lukewarm. There were no staff around. Fortunately we had picked up some milk and cereal in town the day before, so we had something for breakfast. A family from Oaxaca arrived while we were eating and kindly offered us a hot fruit punch that was a lot like pluma mus without the cherries. They were very friendly and we had a nice visit. Partway through the visit, about 10am, a staff person arrived to tell us that the comedor wouldn't be opening that day, because there weren't enough guests. Note that the cabanas are about 6km from town and there is no cell phone reception so it's hard to call a cab; fortunately we had our car with us. The family from Oaxaca had come out to try the zip line, but with the rain and lack of staff, they gave up and went to visit relatives in a nearby village.
We went for another walk down to the river, where there still weren't any birds. Supposedly they often get trogons there, but we sure didn't see any. In the afternoon, we went into Ixtlan to get some lunch. While there, we stopped at the tourism office to see about arranging a guided hike for the next day. The two girls in the office seemed annoyed at the interruption. They spoke in very rapid spanish which we found difficult to understand. They didn't make much effort to rephrase things when we asked for clarification. First they told us that we had to make the arrangements at the camp. When we explained that there was no one at the camp for us to speak with, they told us we were mistaken. When we assured them that no one had been there when we left the camp, they told us that it was too cold and wet to do anything, anyway. This was said unapologetically; they really didn't seem to care whether we enjoyed our stay.
After lunch, we drove to Capulalpam, "un pueblo Magico" as it says in the guidebook and on all the signs. I don't know how magical the village really is, but their tourism office is certainly more organized and friendlier than the one in Ixtlan. A list of their activities was posted on the wall. When we inquired about a hike, the women at the desk told us it cost 80 pesos per person (about $7 CDN) and that the guide would be in the office the next morning at 10am. That suited us.
It rained all night again. The water in the shower was icy cold; there was no hot water at all. Despite the fire, it was just as cold in our cabana as outside. Michelle's cough seemed to be getting worse. We decided to go on our hike in Capulalpam, then head back to the city of Oaxaca, where the air would be warmer. The Ixtlan comedor did open that morning and they did serve us breakfast, but they didn't seem happy about it. They were preoccupied with setting up for a conference that happened later in the day.
We went on our hike. Our guide, Gilberto, was young and not that used to dealing with foreigners who spoke only a little spanish, but he warmed up as we went along and was really quite friendly. The hike went through town and out into the town's communal land. It was very misty and raining lightly when we started, which wasn't a big problem because we had hiking boots and rain gear. The communal land was all forested. I'm not sure whether it's technically a cloud forest, because they sometimes get sun, but we were certainly enveloped by cloud. The trees were a mix of pine and oak, with a few cypress and arbutus trees thrown in. Many of the trees supported bromeliads, some of which were flowering. There were many other small flowers as we walked along. We saw deer and dog tracks, but the only animal we encountered was a well camouflaged newt that Gilberto spotted. We heard some birds, but saw very few. Apparently they don't like the rain.
The clouds lifted and the rain stopped on our way back to town. We got a reasonably nice view of the valley below. Gilberto brought us to a restaurant which serves trout. Many of the communities in the area maintain trout ponds; in addition to serving them in restaurants, some tourists come to the area to fish. We were the only customers in the restaurant, so we wondered whether they had opened it just for us, however it seems we were just there early as on our way out we passed several vehicles headed for the restaurant. The restaurant had a nice view of the river which presumably supplied the trout pond and the original trout. There were also some birds in the trees by the river. Most moved too fast for us to get a good look, but a hepatic tanager posed nicely for us, as well as a very pretty bird with a distinctively patterned black and yellow head that we haven't identified but is probably some sort of warbler.
We went back to the cabanas and packed up our things. I stopped at the comedor to ask whether we could get a refund for two of the four nights, since we were leaving early. I was told that we had to stop by the office in town, which supposedly was open until 5pm. We got to the office about 3:40pm, but the door was locked, so we were out the 1100 pesos for the two nights. We shouldn't have paid in advance.
I don't think we'll be going back to Ixtlan.
We left Oaxaca on a beautifully sunny New Year's day. The drive up into the mountains was quite pretty and most of the road had been freshly paved. They don't make roads that windy and steep in Canada any more, but the driving was fairly easy, in part because there was very little traffic. It clouded over as we got higher into the mountains, which didn't bode well for my astronomical aspirations.
We had booked four nights at the cabanas run by the community. The parking lot was full when we arrived and things were very busy. So busy, that we couldn't find anyone to tell us about the available activities, whether we could participate that day or how we could book for future days. I inquired of several people to find out who could give us information; each time I was directed to someone else, who couldn't be found. Eventually we gave up, went for a short walk and retired to our cabana.
Inside the cabana it was just a bit colder than outside. There was a big fireplace, so I went to inquire about firewood. I was told that someone would bring firewood that evening and a different person would be by later to light the fire.
There was a sign that said the comedor was open from 9am to 4:30pm that day, so we went to have an early supper. The food was OK, if a bit pricey for what you got. While we were out, someone had brought firewood to our room. About 6pm, it started to rain. By 7pm, we were cold enough that Michelle tried to start the fire herself. Shortly thereafter, the assigned fire starter came by to finish the job. Unfortunately, even though the fire and fireplace were both quite large, the fire didn't seem to throw heat more than a metre or so from the fireplace. The bed was quite a bit further from the fireplace than that. Still, dressed in long undies and fleece pants we were reasonably warm under the covers. However, Michelle had a bit of a cold, which progressed to a cough, and the cold damp air wasn't helping.
It rained all night, at times quite hard.
The next morning, our car was the only car in the parking lot. The holidays were over and everyone else had apparently gone back to work. It was still raining. The water in the shower was barely lukewarm. There were no staff around. Fortunately we had picked up some milk and cereal in town the day before, so we had something for breakfast. A family from Oaxaca arrived while we were eating and kindly offered us a hot fruit punch that was a lot like pluma mus without the cherries. They were very friendly and we had a nice visit. Partway through the visit, about 10am, a staff person arrived to tell us that the comedor wouldn't be opening that day, because there weren't enough guests. Note that the cabanas are about 6km from town and there is no cell phone reception so it's hard to call a cab; fortunately we had our car with us. The family from Oaxaca had come out to try the zip line, but with the rain and lack of staff, they gave up and went to visit relatives in a nearby village.
We went for another walk down to the river, where there still weren't any birds. Supposedly they often get trogons there, but we sure didn't see any. In the afternoon, we went into Ixtlan to get some lunch. While there, we stopped at the tourism office to see about arranging a guided hike for the next day. The two girls in the office seemed annoyed at the interruption. They spoke in very rapid spanish which we found difficult to understand. They didn't make much effort to rephrase things when we asked for clarification. First they told us that we had to make the arrangements at the camp. When we explained that there was no one at the camp for us to speak with, they told us we were mistaken. When we assured them that no one had been there when we left the camp, they told us that it was too cold and wet to do anything, anyway. This was said unapologetically; they really didn't seem to care whether we enjoyed our stay.
After lunch, we drove to Capulalpam, "un pueblo Magico" as it says in the guidebook and on all the signs. I don't know how magical the village really is, but their tourism office is certainly more organized and friendlier than the one in Ixtlan. A list of their activities was posted on the wall. When we inquired about a hike, the women at the desk told us it cost 80 pesos per person (about $7 CDN) and that the guide would be in the office the next morning at 10am. That suited us.
It rained all night again. The water in the shower was icy cold; there was no hot water at all. Despite the fire, it was just as cold in our cabana as outside. Michelle's cough seemed to be getting worse. We decided to go on our hike in Capulalpam, then head back to the city of Oaxaca, where the air would be warmer. The Ixtlan comedor did open that morning and they did serve us breakfast, but they didn't seem happy about it. They were preoccupied with setting up for a conference that happened later in the day.
We went on our hike. Our guide, Gilberto, was young and not that used to dealing with foreigners who spoke only a little spanish, but he warmed up as we went along and was really quite friendly. The hike went through town and out into the town's communal land. It was very misty and raining lightly when we started, which wasn't a big problem because we had hiking boots and rain gear. The communal land was all forested. I'm not sure whether it's technically a cloud forest, because they sometimes get sun, but we were certainly enveloped by cloud. The trees were a mix of pine and oak, with a few cypress and arbutus trees thrown in. Many of the trees supported bromeliads, some of which were flowering. There were many other small flowers as we walked along. We saw deer and dog tracks, but the only animal we encountered was a well camouflaged newt that Gilberto spotted. We heard some birds, but saw very few. Apparently they don't like the rain.
The clouds lifted and the rain stopped on our way back to town. We got a reasonably nice view of the valley below. Gilberto brought us to a restaurant which serves trout. Many of the communities in the area maintain trout ponds; in addition to serving them in restaurants, some tourists come to the area to fish. We were the only customers in the restaurant, so we wondered whether they had opened it just for us, however it seems we were just there early as on our way out we passed several vehicles headed for the restaurant. The restaurant had a nice view of the river which presumably supplied the trout pond and the original trout. There were also some birds in the trees by the river. Most moved too fast for us to get a good look, but a hepatic tanager posed nicely for us, as well as a very pretty bird with a distinctively patterned black and yellow head that we haven't identified but is probably some sort of warbler.
We went back to the cabanas and packed up our things. I stopped at the comedor to ask whether we could get a refund for two of the four nights, since we were leaving early. I was told that we had to stop by the office in town, which supposedly was open until 5pm. We got to the office about 3:40pm, but the door was locked, so we were out the 1100 pesos for the two nights. We shouldn't have paid in advance.
I don't think we'll be going back to Ixtlan.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Feliz Nuevo Año
I'm getting way behind with this blog. We have been to quite a few interesting places, but I haven't had much internet access where I can upload photos and blogging over cellular data using Michelle's ipad hasn't been working that well.
Mitla has probably the most well-preserved ruins in the valley. That's partly because it's (relatively) new: Mitla was the dominant Zapotec city in the late post-classic period, i.e. from ~1250AD until the Spanish arrived. The Zapotecs didn't leave Mitla even then: the ruins are in the middle of the modern town. The church was built partly on top of a palace, using stones from the palace of course. The remainder of the palace was converted for use as the priest's house and stables. You can see bits of broken pottery in the walls where the conversion work was done.
The rulers of Mitla had remembered or re-discovered how to write and had the resources to build palaces and pyramids, though not on the scale nor to the standards of Monte Alban. The palace complex was made of stone, but outlying pyramids were made from adobe and haven't lasted nearly as well. Someone had built a house into one complex and was using the court for a goat enclosure.
We've finished lunch and I should give up the table, so I'll cut this short. I've put a few photos of Mitla at https://picasaweb.google.com/100719842898341494426/20111222Mitla . I have lots more, including some details of well-preserved murals, but don't have time to post them right now.
Hasta luego!
Mitla has probably the most well-preserved ruins in the valley. That's partly because it's (relatively) new: Mitla was the dominant Zapotec city in the late post-classic period, i.e. from ~1250AD until the Spanish arrived. The Zapotecs didn't leave Mitla even then: the ruins are in the middle of the modern town. The church was built partly on top of a palace, using stones from the palace of course. The remainder of the palace was converted for use as the priest's house and stables. You can see bits of broken pottery in the walls where the conversion work was done.
The rulers of Mitla had remembered or re-discovered how to write and had the resources to build palaces and pyramids, though not on the scale nor to the standards of Monte Alban. The palace complex was made of stone, but outlying pyramids were made from adobe and haven't lasted nearly as well. Someone had built a house into one complex and was using the court for a goat enclosure.
We've finished lunch and I should give up the table, so I'll cut this short. I've put a few photos of Mitla at https://picasaweb.google.com/100719842898341494426/20111222Mitla . I have lots more, including some details of well-preserved murals, but don't have time to post them right now.
Hasta luego!
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
A little birdie told me
I started a post on birds we have seen, but didn't publish it until today. Blogger in its wisdom, inserted the post back on the date I started it, so it doesn't look like a new post. Here is a link to the bird list: http://principleduncertainty.blogspot.com/2011/12/bird-list.html
Monday, December 26, 2011
Monte Alban
Caves in the central valleys of Oaxaca contain human remains and artifacts dated to at least 9000 years ago. The Zapotecs created city-states at San Jose El Mogote and Suchilquitongo at about the same time as the Olmecs in Veracruz and Tabasco, i.e. between 1800-300 BC. There is certainly evidence of Olmec influence in Zapotec culture. Around 300 BC, a group of Zapotecs created the city of Monte Alban, which dominated the three main valleys of Oaxaca through the classic period, until around 800 AD when most cities in mesoamerica were abandoned for reasons unknown.
Building Monte Alban was quite a feat. The main ceremonial pyramids and plazas are in a group known as the "Gran Plaza", located at the crest of a mountain that rises 400m. The Gran Plaza extends roughly 300m N-S and 200m E-W and is nearly level. Making it level involved removing the top bit of the mountain. The hauling was all done by humans: the Zapotecs had neither pack animals nor the wheel. Some of the stone used in the construction of the Gran Plaza came from the mountain, but much if it had to be brought from elsewhere in the valley, again on the backs of human workers or on sledges pushed by teams of workers for stones that were too heavy to carry. Unburdened, it would take me about two hours to walk up to Monte Alban from the valley floor. I can't imagine making the climb in the heat and carrying a heavy load of rocks.
Monte Alban ruled over 200 other communities in the Valles Centrales of Oaxaca for about a thousand years. The population of the city grew to about 25000 people, most of whom lived high above the farms, which were mainly on the valley floor. Estimates of the total population of the Valles Centrales at the time vary widely, but it would have been at least several hundred thousand people.
The people of Monte Alban developed writing, a sophisticated calendar and probably had the concept of zero right from the time of the city's foundation. There is evidence to suggest that people from Monte Alban taught astronomy to the people of Teotihuacan (astronomical knowledge is necessary in order to create an accurate calendar). As Teotihuacan grew, it in turn influenced architectural and artistic styles in Monte Alban.
Monte Alban was never reoccupied after it was abandoned. The people of the valley appear to have lost their knowledge of reading and writing; writing appears to be absent from the valley for several centuries after Monte Alban's abandonment.
The rulers of the nearby city of Zaachila claimed to have inherited their right to rule from Monte Alban. The Mixtecs who eventually conquered a large part of the Valles Centrales for a time buried their dead kings in old Zapotec tombs in the ruins of Monte Alban. The treasures from the famous "Tomb 7" date from the Mixtec era.
It's pretty easy to visit the ruins of all the major cities in the Valles Centrales, from the pre-classic city of San Jose El Mogote, to Monte Alban, to the post-classic centres like Yagul and Mitla. At each site, if you look carefully, you can find shards of pottery made when the city was occupied. At Yagul, some of the shards can be quite large, say 20cm square (except that pieces that big are usually curved). Michelle found a piece of worked flint at Yagul; I'm sorry I didn't take a picture. At most of the other sites, the pieces we found were mostly less than 3cm on a side, but they sometimes had traces of tool marks, ornamentation or the original colour. A large intact clay sculpture was found quite recently near the access road to Monte Alban. There is presumably lots more to be found on the mountain, but visitors are only allowed to wander a small fraction of the old city. Of course, all finds must be left at the site, so we didn't take away any souveniers.
My Monte Alban picasaweb album contains a small fraction of the photos we took there. I'll be more than happy to subject you to photos of nearly every visible carving in the Gran Plaza, some from several different angles, if you show the slightest bit of interest :-) Plus the obligatory photos of every pyramid and wide angle shots to put the buildings into context, of course.
Here are "drawings" made from a few of the shots, with commentary from a native guide (click for a larger version):
Building Monte Alban was quite a feat. The main ceremonial pyramids and plazas are in a group known as the "Gran Plaza", located at the crest of a mountain that rises 400m. The Gran Plaza extends roughly 300m N-S and 200m E-W and is nearly level. Making it level involved removing the top bit of the mountain. The hauling was all done by humans: the Zapotecs had neither pack animals nor the wheel. Some of the stone used in the construction of the Gran Plaza came from the mountain, but much if it had to be brought from elsewhere in the valley, again on the backs of human workers or on sledges pushed by teams of workers for stones that were too heavy to carry. Unburdened, it would take me about two hours to walk up to Monte Alban from the valley floor. I can't imagine making the climb in the heat and carrying a heavy load of rocks.
Monte Alban ruled over 200 other communities in the Valles Centrales of Oaxaca for about a thousand years. The population of the city grew to about 25000 people, most of whom lived high above the farms, which were mainly on the valley floor. Estimates of the total population of the Valles Centrales at the time vary widely, but it would have been at least several hundred thousand people.
The people of Monte Alban developed writing, a sophisticated calendar and probably had the concept of zero right from the time of the city's foundation. There is evidence to suggest that people from Monte Alban taught astronomy to the people of Teotihuacan (astronomical knowledge is necessary in order to create an accurate calendar). As Teotihuacan grew, it in turn influenced architectural and artistic styles in Monte Alban.
Monte Alban was never reoccupied after it was abandoned. The people of the valley appear to have lost their knowledge of reading and writing; writing appears to be absent from the valley for several centuries after Monte Alban's abandonment.
The rulers of the nearby city of Zaachila claimed to have inherited their right to rule from Monte Alban. The Mixtecs who eventually conquered a large part of the Valles Centrales for a time buried their dead kings in old Zapotec tombs in the ruins of Monte Alban. The treasures from the famous "Tomb 7" date from the Mixtec era.
It's pretty easy to visit the ruins of all the major cities in the Valles Centrales, from the pre-classic city of San Jose El Mogote, to Monte Alban, to the post-classic centres like Yagul and Mitla. At each site, if you look carefully, you can find shards of pottery made when the city was occupied. At Yagul, some of the shards can be quite large, say 20cm square (except that pieces that big are usually curved). Michelle found a piece of worked flint at Yagul; I'm sorry I didn't take a picture. At most of the other sites, the pieces we found were mostly less than 3cm on a side, but they sometimes had traces of tool marks, ornamentation or the original colour. A large intact clay sculpture was found quite recently near the access road to Monte Alban. There is presumably lots more to be found on the mountain, but visitors are only allowed to wander a small fraction of the old city. Of course, all finds must be left at the site, so we didn't take away any souveniers.
My Monte Alban picasaweb album contains a small fraction of the photos we took there. I'll be more than happy to subject you to photos of nearly every visible carving in the Gran Plaza, some from several different angles, if you show the slightest bit of interest :-) Plus the obligatory photos of every pyramid and wide angle shots to put the buildings into context, of course.
Here are "drawings" made from a few of the shots, with commentary from a native guide (click for a larger version):
Christmas Piñata
Our only Christmas ornament this year is a piñata. Decorating with piñatas is a Oaxacan tradition, though often they are broken by children at the end of the posadas that take place from December 16th to 24th. Anyway, here is a picture of our piñata, as well as a photo of some in the main square.
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