The reason for our relatively slow progress towards Yucatan is the Olmecs; Mexico’s first well organized civilisation, which started around 3000 years ago (dates vary wildly in the literature), and according to archaeologists provided the basis, in terms of religion, science, architecture and art, for the subsequent indigenous cultures. As far as physical remains are … Read more
Takalik Abaj – 20 years ago known as Abaj Takalik – is a Mayan site with Olmec history. The Olmecs we know from Mexico, from their characteristic large head sculptures (see for some examples the last Mexican travelogue entry). The site seems to have an astonishingly 2000 years of history, from the 9th C BC … Read more
There are hundreds, no, thousands of masks and statues and other expressions of human faces in the Chilean and Peruvian museums, of great variety and artistic value.
Haitian Voodoo knows many different forms, from benign and supportive to more aggressive and undermining. One special form is the Bizango, a kind of a secret special brigade. The concept originated in Africa, and came with the slaves to Haiti, where it established itselves initially as secret societies in the resistance against the French, and … Read more
A very un-Chinese city, with a very Chinese-style Ice Festival in winter. Winter in China is not the most inviting time to travel, but there is one exception. Harbin, in the northern most part of Manchuria, towards the Russian border, hosts its annual ice festival, and we were determined to go and see it. So … Read more