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Huipiles: The Traditional Wearable Art of the Mayas

mayo 28th, 2012 | Posted by Iberostar Hotels & Resorts in Snapshots - (0 Comments)

If while vacationing at Iberia’s great Mexico resorts in Cancun, on the Riviera Maya, or the island of Cozumel you find yourself in one of the Yucatan’s Maya villages or even just browsing in many gift shops, you’ll see huipiles (also called hipiles). They’re boxy ladies’ cotton tops, either white with colorful embroidery and stitching or in some of the more elaborate versions, complex designs; they can range from sleeveless blouses to tuniclike garments extending most of the way down the legs.

Often made by women with simple “backstrap” looms (a wood-and-cloth contraption tied to a wood post), huipiles can take weeks or even months to weave, depending on its complexity. The craft and designs go back centuries, and the motifs in the designs including not just the merely attractive and decorative (flowers, hummingbirds, butterflies) but reflect a variety of cultural symbolism and traditions. Some, for those who know how to read the language of huipil designs (and that of course includes almost none of us), also refer to the wearers’ village or region, language, marital status, and various other aspects of her life. In that sense it’s a deeply personalized possession, you might say it’s akin to a Mayan Facebook page in cloth (OK, well, I might say that).

As a gringo visitor, of course, the huipiles available to you for purchase will largely stick to the more generalized motifs of Mayan culture. But these are beautiful enough, and few are the souvenirs you could bring back from your Yucatan vacation that are more meaningful and attractive – or make more of a conversation piece – than a Mayan huipil.

Photo | Wikipedia

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The Ceiba: Latin America’s Most Storied Tree?

marzo 23rd, 2012 | Posted by Iberostar Hotels & Resorts in Snapshots - (0 Comments)

I have this kinda funny (as in funky, not ha-ha) tree growing right smack in the middle of my front yard in Miami. It’s admittedly not a particularly cuddly or friendly looking bit of botany, its trunk prickling all over as it is with conical thorns. But for me it’s all about the mystique, being as it is a ceiba (English names include “kapok,” “silk cotton,” and “silk floss”). This is a genus of tropical tree I’ve come across constantly on my travels through Latin America and the Caribbean – and so might you, if you’re staying at one of the Iberostar resorts in Mexico’s Yucatan, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, or Brazil (it’s the official tree of Puerto Rico and Guatemala, has a city in Honduras named after it, and found as far afield as Asia and Africa).  The one in my yard is still practically a sapling, still skinny and maybe 20 or so feet (6 meters) tall. But ceibas can grow to be giants, with heights of more than 200 feet (61 meters) and dramatically gnarled trunk bases nearly as wide as small houses.

Ceibas play a central role in the lore of Mexico’s and Central America’s Mayan cultures – in fact, they are depicted in Mayan mythology as the “world tree,” linking the underworld, the terrestrial world, and the heavens  (doesn’t get more central than that, right?), and you may come across representations of ceibas at Mayan archaeological sites and museums, especially in items like incense holders and burial urns.

But it wasn’t so much in Mexico that I first became aware of the cultural impact of the ceiba, but in Cuba, at a landmark called El Templete (pictured above). It’s a small neoclassical temple-type structure, built in 1828 on Havana’s oldest square, the Plaza de Armas, which I learned marks the site of where a ceiba once stood – a legendary tree under which the Catholic mass was celebrated to mark the founding of San Cristóbal de la Habana in 1519. That long-gone original tree is represented by a marble column, but another large one grows out in front, and it’s venerated particularly by the followers of the afro-Cuban religion santería (the ceiba is also held sacred in West Africa, where this religion has its roots). It’s the focus of an annual tradition on November 16, the date of the city’s founding, in which Cubans of all ages and beliefs make three circles around the tree and throw throw down coins before it while making three wishes.

Photo | Steven Colebourne

Wherever the ceiba grows, it seems, it has long cast a spell on the local peoples, providing them over the centuries not just with practical products like oils, stuffing for pillows and mattresses, and medicinal substances, but spiritual inspiration as well.  Next time you stay at an Iberostar resort in Mexico’s Yucatan, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, or Brazil you might see one!

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The Mystique of the Quetzal

marzo 21st, 2012 | Posted by Iberostar Hotels & Resorts in Snapshots - (0 Comments)

There are few animals – and offhand I can’t really think of any birds – with quite the mystique of the iridescent emerald-green denizen of southern Mexico and Central America known as the resplendent quetzal. Since they’re fairly rare (officially “near threatened”) and even more elusive, you’re very unlikely to spot one if you go birding in the scrub forests of the Yucatan or the highlands of Chiapas (they’re somewhat easier to spot further south, in places like Costa Rica and Guatemala). But if you delve into local indigenous culture and history a bit by visiting Mexican archaological sites and museums, will certainly notice evidence of pharomachrus mocinno’s dramatic impact on Maya and Aztec culture (a connection recognized by Iberostar in naming one of its resorts in Playa del Carmen the Iberostar Quetzal).

One of the most important and recognizable figures in Mesoamerican mythology is Quetzalcoatl, the “feathered snake” (known by other names such as Kukulkan by the Maya), who became associated, depending on the culture, with learning, the sky, fertility, the martial arts, even creation itself. The quetzal, meanwhile, according to an old Maya folk tale was chosen king of the birds because of its brilliant plumage. So it’s hardly surprising that Mesoamerican warriors, priests, kings, and emperors sought to adorn themselves in quetzal-feather headdresses, capes, and other verdantly plumed finery. It was a crime to kill the birds for their plumage, so they were caught, plucked, and released. You can imagine how tricky that little feat usually was.

So if you get to climb the Temple of Kukulkan at Chichen Itza, or get to see some of the wonderful bas reliefs of Quetzalcoatl at the National Archaeological Museum in Mexico City, or get to witness a Maya quetzal feather dance in Chiapas, you’ll be struck by how much this shy, retiring bird of the highland forests has shaped one of the world’s great civilizations.

Photo |  Fabio Bretto

The Quetzal Dance is one of the most colorful folkloric dances in Mexico. Next time you visit one of the Iberostar hotel in Mexico, you just might see the Maya quetzal feather dance.

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Cancun’s Very Own Mayan Ruins

marzo 8th, 2012 | Posted by Iberostar Hotels & Resorts in Snapshots - (0 Comments)


You’ve no doubt been to or at least have heard about the Yucatan Peninsula’s wondrous Maya archaeological sites like Tulum, Chichen Itza, and Uxmal. But did you know that Mexico’s most famous beach resort, Cancun, boasts a mini-me version of these mighty sites? Las Ruinas del Rey (the Ruins of the King) are easily accessible right off the hotel zone’s main drag, Boulevard Kukulkan, just south of the new Iberostar Cancun on the way to the airport.

Dating to around 300 BC and now open daily during daylight hours, this little complex seems to have had a focus mixing fishing, coastal commerce, and astronomy, as well as served as a royal burial ground. There are two main avenues and two main plazas, and it’s actually pretty cool – I see echoes of many other Mayan sites I’ve visited – except that instead of a heart-thumper of a workout by climbing a few stories up a pyramid in the Yucatan’s sultry heat, there’s pretty much nothing here that’s higher than two stories. What’s more, whenever I’ve visited the place has always been delightfully peaceful; you may very well find yourselves literally the only visitors. And honestly, as someone who’s dodged congestion, tour groups, and occasional floating junk at some of Mexico’s other more popular archaeological sites (especially Tulum, a favorite with cruise day trips) for me this is totally part of this site’s charm.

So…if you’re vacationing in Cancun and want a low-key, bite-size intro to Maya archaeology, or don’t have time or (Kukulkan forbid) are just too lazy to make the trek down the coast to Tulum or inland to the truly mighty Maya sites, “El Rey “is an absolute must.

If you’re vacationing at the Iberostar hotel in Cancun, El Rey Archaeological Ruins – is an absolute must! It’s populated by hundreds of Iguanas and has a great museum.

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