Palenque MexicoCaribbean Cross-Roads: Mayan, African and Spanish Heritage of Guatemala, Mexico and Cuba

28 January - 20 February 2012

Tour Highlights

Join Latin American expert Professor Barry Carr and experience the Greater Caribbean, journeying from Guatemala and southeastern Mexico to the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola. Barry will be assisted by ASA tour manager Emeline Herbreteau. Highlights of the tour include:

  • • Guest Lecturer Dr. Andrew R. Wyatt will join us for 3 days in Guatemala and will present lectures on the ancient Maya and their agricultural practices
  • • There will be authoritative talks on a wide range of topics in the history, archaeology, textiles, food culture, and politics of the region
  • • Stay in hotels of great historical and architectural interest (in Antigua, Mérida and Chichén Itzá)

GUATEMALA

  • • Stay in Antigua, colonial capital of Guatemala founded in 16th century, now an international cultural centre for artists and students
  • • Visit and attend a lecture on recent Guatemalan history at the prestigious research centre CIRMA (Centro de Investigaciones Regionales de Mesoamérica) in Antigua
  • • Experience local life and learn about traditional Guatemalan indigenous culture and textile weaving in villages surrounding Antigua
  • • Visit the highland Mayan archaeological sites of Kaminaljuyu in Guatemala City and Iximche
  • • Tour Lake Atitlan, Latin America's most impressive volcanic lake, and its surrounding villages
  • • Visit the Indian town of Chichicastenango, and its uniquely colourful Thursday native handicrafts and textiles market
  • • Journey across the western highlands of Guatemala to the Mexican border

MEXICO

  • • Visit San Cristóbal de las Casas, a jewel of colonial architecture, and entry-point to the lands of the modern Maya of southern Mexico
  • • Explore the Tzotzil villages of San Juan Chamula & Zinacantán with Maya Highland Textiles expert Walter 'Chip' Morris
  • • Investigate the Mayan archaeological site of Palenque, located in tropical rainforest: there will be a full day guided tour and lecture by a resident scholar from the Maya Exploration Center
  • • Enjoy the colonial city of Mérida, capital of the state of Yucatán: sampling the delicious cuisine of the Yucatán (sopa de lima; cochinita pibil)
  • • Explore the great Mayan archaeological site of Chichén Itzá

CUBA

  • • Tour Havana: UNESCO World Heritage recognized Havana Vieja/Old Havana, Presidential Palace, Morro Castle, Palace of the Captains General, and Hotel Nacional - Cuba's signature hotel opened in 1930
  • • Witness an Afro-Cuban religious ritual and music in an inner city temple in Old Havana.
  • • Visit Santiago de Cuba: Caribbean capital of Cuba, Basilica of the 'Virgin of Copper', Moncada Barracks, Museum of Carnival, Morro Castle and Museum of Piracy/Buccaneers
  • • Explore Trinidad: beautiful and brilliantly preserved UNESCO World Heritage Town on the Caribbean coast of southern Cuba
  • • Visit Santa Clara: Monument to the Argentinean revolutionary, Ernesto 'Che' Guevara
  • • Opportunity to attend optional evening musical performances in Havana, Santiago de Cuba & Trinidad

The tour ends in Cancún, the newest international beach and ocean resort of the Americas together with the Mayan Riviera further south

Sites visited GUATEMALA Antigua (UNESCO Heritage colonial city; tour of local villages incl. San Antonio Aguas Calientes, famous for its beautiful textiles; lecture at CIRMA research centre) • Guatemala City (National Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Kaminaljuyu Archaeological Site) • Iximche Archaeological Site • Lake Atitlán (boat excursion, settlements of Panajachel & Santiago Atitlán) • Indian market of Chichicastenango; MEXICO San Cristóbal de las Casas (colonial centre, Na Bolom Cultural Association & Museum, lecture on Highland Mayan textiles by Chip Morris & visit to Sna Jolobil textile cooperative) • Tzotzil villages of San Juan Chamula & Zinacantán • Archaeological site of Palenque & afternoon lecture by Maya Exploration Centre scholar • Campeche (UNESCO Heritage fortified town) • Mérida (colonial centre, Hacienda Yaxcopoil) • Archaeological site of Chichén Itzá; CUBA Havana (Old Havana, Museum of the Revolution, Capitol Building, Revolution Square, Hotel Nacional de Cuba, Hemingway Museum, Municipal Museum for Afro-Cuban Arts and Culture, EL Morro Castle, Afro-Cuban religious centre performance) • Santiago de Cuba (Cathedral, Casa de Diego Velázquez, Museo del Carnaval, Morro Castle, Moncada Barracks Museum) • La Isabelica coffee plantation, La Gran Piedra • Basilica de la Virgin del Cobre, El Cobre • Camaguey City • Trinidad (UNESCO Heritage colonial city, Valley of the Sugar Estates) • Santa Clara (Che Guevara Monument & Mausoleum).

About the Tour

This 24-day tour is designed to introduce you to a fascinating region of the world that is still unfamiliar to most Australians - the Greater Caribbean culture zone. This reaches down from the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola to parts of south-eastern Mexico and Guatemala.

The tour explores spectacular pre-Hispanic archaeological sites with their splendid pyramids, and Spanish colonial architecture in the magnificently preserved cityscapes of the UNESCO World Heritage cities of Havana and Trinidad in Cuba, San Cristóbal de las Casas and Mérida in Mexico, and Antigua in Guatemala. The tour addresses the impact of social and political revolution in 20th century Mexico and Cuba. Above all, you will encounter the vibrant rhythms, colours and aromas of the sensual Caribbean. It promises lots of surprises and unforgettable experiences.

The Caribbean has always been a cross-roads of cultures, a meeting-place between the Indian peoples of the region and waves of European migrants and conquerors. The Spaniards came first, of course, in the 16th and 17th centuries, but then came the English, French, Dutch, and in the 20th century the Americans.

The sugar boom of the 18th and 19th centuries also brought more than a million African slaves to the region, and their descendants make up a large part of the population of present day Cuba. African culture has also contributed hugely to the region's vibrant musical, dance, food and other cultural traditions.

When the Spanish conquistadores and settlers arrived in the late 15th and early 16th centuries they encountered the remnants of ancient civilizations on a scale that made even the hardened European settlers marvel. In south-eastern Mexico (the Yucatán peninsula), and in what is now western and northern Guatemala, the dominant culture that greeted the Spanish derived from the Mayan civilization that had reached its peak in 700-800 AD before collapsing precipitously for unknown reasons. Historians and archaeologists still debate the causes of this collapse. On our tour we will be visiting two of the most spectacular Mayan archaeological sites: Chichén Itzá (in Yucatán) and Palenque in the rain forest of southern Mexico.

Guest Lecturer Guatemala

Dr. Andrew R. Wyatt is a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has worked in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Belgium, and the Midwestern U.S. studying agriculture, landscapes, and ancient environments in rural and hinterland societies. His research at the ancient Maya farming community of Chan in western Belize studied the development of the complex system of agricultural terraces at the site, as well as the relationship between farmers and complex political society. Currently he is working at Lake Mendoza in western Guatemala, studying the lives of the ancient Maya living in the far hinterlands of Maya society. Dr. Wyatt is an archaeologist as well as a paleoethnobotanist, and studies the use of plants by ancient cultures. He will be our guest lecturer and guide in Guatemala City (Day 4), Iximche (Day 5) and at Lake Atitlán (Days 5-6) and will present lectures on the agricultural practices, daily life, food and rituals of the ancient Maya.

 

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