The colonial town of Valladolid was first established in 1543 by an unnamed Spanish conquistador at a place called Chouac-Ha. Two years later, mosquitoes forced its relocation to its present site over a Mayan town called Zaci-Val. The town was built from the stones of the ancient settlement and to show this, the residents have left the corners of their buildings unplastered. Valladolid became a city in 1823. It was the center of the native Mayan’s revolt in 1847 against the European-descended Yucatecos which became known as Yucatan Caste War. In 1910, the sparks that would trigger the Mexican Revolution were ignited in Valladolid.
But this blog is about churches and noodles and what really pulled me to Valladolid is the Church of San Servacio that was first built by Fr. Francisco Hernandez in the same year the town was relocated in 1545 to its current site. The church was ordered demolished in 1705 by Bishop Pedro de los Reyes Rios who declared it profaned by the massacre of 40 city officials by Mayan insurgents (i.e. Assassination of the Mayors). It was replaced by the present structure that was started to be built in 1706.
I would find out later that Valladolid is host to 5 more colonial era churches: the Cathedral of San Bernardino which is said to be the first Catholic church to be built in American soil, and the churches of Santa Lucia, Candelaria, San Juan de Dios, and Sta. Ana. And I could have had enough time to go to those churches if I did my usual pre-shoot research. I should be hanged for this oversight.
My first Mexican church is more of a recreation in a restaurant called Hacienda where we were treated to a buffet lunch of Yucatan cuisine after our Chichen-Itza tour. Then I have to insist to turn back and shoot the centuries-old church of Pitse who, according to our host, was the largest ancient Mayan settlement in Mexico.
I
did not have time to sample the noodles because there’s none except for the everyday spaghetti. Hindi din daw masarap ang pansit nila sabi ng boss ko sa email niya.
I should not have listened to him.
PHOTOS (from top to bottom): (1) Valladolid's Church of San Servacio, (2) the recreated church of the restaurant called Hacienda, and (3) the ancient church of Piste.
Naikuwento ko nang mahilig akong magbasa ng komiks noong kabataan ko.
Isa sa mga paborito kong serye ay ang “Zuma” --- ‘yung kulay berde at kalbong mama na may nakapatong na double-headed snake sa kanyang balikat.
Si Zuma ayon sa kuwento ay anak ng diyos na si Kukulkan, isang higanteng balahibuing ahas, na aksidenteng napalaya ng mga archeologist sa pagkakalibing sa isang Aztec pyramid.
Si Zuma ay kathang isip ni Jim Fernandez.
Si Kukulkan naman ay isang alamat na sinamba ng mga sinaunang Mayan lalo ng mga nakatira noon sa palibot ng Chichen-Itza.
Totoong lugar ang Chichen-Itza at masuwerte akong mapuntahan ito nang magkaroon ng break sa Climate Change negotiations sa Cancun. Doble suwerte pa dahil sa maagang aginaldo ni Gob. Joey Salceda ng Albay na siyang naging ninong ng aming pagpunta sa doon.
Nasa gitna ng Chichen-Itza ang Templo ni Kukulkan na kilala din sa pangalang El Castillo. Tuwing panahon kung saan magkasinghaba ang araw at gabi (o equinox) sa tagsibol at taglagas, iniluluwa si Kukulkan ng mga anino at sinag ng araw upang muling bumaba sa lupa marahil upang hanapin ang pasaway niyang anak na si Zuma. Parang mahika ang kanyang paglitaw: isang trianggulo na nag-uumpisa sa kanyang buntot at nadadagdagan ng isa pa tuwing limang minuto hanggang sa humantong sa kanyang ulo sa lupa.
Pero dahil 30 minuto lamang pambihirang pangyayaring ito ay walang sapat na panahon si Kukulkan upang mahanap ang anak niya. Mahaba ang biyahe mula Mexico papuntang Pilipinas kung saan nakatiral si Max Laurel na siyang gumanap sa pelikulang “Zuma”. Alam din kaya ni Kukulkan na may apo na siyang ang pangalan ay Galema at may kakambal itong isang kulay puting ahas?
(Itutuloy…)
MGA LARAWAN: Ang pangalawang larawan mula sa itaas na nagpapakita sa El Castillo ay kuha ng may akda ng blog na ito. Ang unang larawan naman na isang promotion poster ng pelikulang "Zuma" at ang pangatlo at pang-apat na larawan na nagpapakita at nagpapaliwanag sa paglitaw ni Kukulkan tuwing spring and fall equinox ay kinuha mula sa Google images.
“FM in Cancun”.
That was the headline I remembered from the Bulletin. I thought it would make a good material for my Cancun blog entry but Dean Tony Lavina of the Ateneo School of Government beat me to it. His column for the Today mentioned just that.
FM (i.e. Ferdinand Marcos) was among the 23 world leaders who attended an Economic Summit in Cancun in 1981. I was among the thousands of delegates from 194 countries and governments, and among the 50 members of the Philippine delegation, attending the 16th Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change twenty-nine years after FM but also in Cancun.
Cancun is very touristy and indulgent. At least that’s what impressed on me by the Hotel Zone strip where I stayed. For $120/day, I can gorged myself with unlimited breakfast, snacks, lunch, dinner and drown in free flowing margarita, daiquiri, mojito, pinacolada, and local beer while ogling sunbathing sexy tourists wearing almost nothing. Not bad at all for a place which recorded only 3 residents in 1970.
But I was sent to Cancun to work and when I did, I realized that the only decent meal I will have for the next 2 weeks will be breakfast which became so monotonous later I feel like puking just thinking of it. Lunch was subsisting on whatever we were able to pack in our bags and bring to the negotiations. Dinner is a limited room service selection because the buffet tables close at 10 pm. Thank God for the Margaritas and I always manage to catch 5 of these, triple strength, just before the bar closes at 12 midnight.
Our daily grind starts with a hurried breakfast to catch our 7:30 morning briefings followed by a frantic 30-45 minute trip to the Cancumesse for the security checks then another restless 10-15 minute ride to the Moon Palace for the negotiations. We walked a lot with our heavy briefcases-on-wheels in tow. Internet access has never been so important. On the way back at 10 pm, we go through a reversed routine of the morning grind but this time with a complimentary 300 meter walk from the bus stop to the hotel gate then a steep 10 meter climb for the finale.
I did somehow survived Cancun and now have a COP tucked in my belt. But it’s not because of them heavily armed Mexican Marines and Federal Police security cordon. It’s more of Team Philippines who pulled us together and carried us throughout the 2 weeks of the negotiations. It’s not a perfect team but it has more good than bad in it. And it’s been my privilege to work with such fine men and women…
PHOTOS EXPLAINED: [1] Top photo grabbed from Google images shows FM (all white at extreme right) with some of the 23 world leaders in the 1981 Economic Summit in Cancun. [2] The second photo shows yours truly in action during the Cancun climate change negotiations (Ramon Magsaysay awardee Atty. Antonio Oposa who represented Micronesia is in the center while that on the right is Jasper Inventor of Greenpeace). [3] The third shows some of the members of Team Philippines. Both second and third photos were taken by Kuya Fred Serrano who is undersecretary of the Department of Agriculture and the top negotiator of Team Philippines' adaptation panel.
Four years after beginning their journey, the Lagalag notebooks are now on their way back to where it all began. I was on my way to Cancun, Mexico to attend the 16th Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Oyet invited me to visit him in San Francisco on my way back home to the Philippines. He asked me to bring the Lagalag notebooks. I said yes but first, The Dafinator who has been the guardian of the notebooks for almost 2 years now must turn-over them to me.
That turn-over happened in a less than a minute. But the inside story is it almost did not happen and on the last possible day too. The Dafinator and my schedules just would not fit despite repeated attempts to do an eyeball. Finally, the green Honda Civic arrived at the lobby of the Discovery Suites in Ortigas and the man called Randy handed the bag containing the 2 precious notebooks. And I rushed back to Nueva Ecija to pack my luggage and scrambled to find a car to bring me back in Manila and catch my flight.
The notebooks, accompanied by a copy of Mondo Marcos, are now in Cancun where they will stay until December 10 when it will continue its journey back to where it all began...
