Thomas’s Thoughts on Iximche

So I volunteered to post something on the ruins at Iximche since I seemed to the find the history a bit more engaging than Jill. And now that I am going back to the top of this post to write this quick intro, I apparently wrote way too much for my “audience” but I believe someone out there will appreciate it. And if not, at least I’ll be able to remember the highlights of what our wonderful guide Marvin taught us. Marvin is the “adopted” son of my Emphasis project mentor (who I have even more respect for after chatting with Marvin), grew up fascinated by the ruins and reading history books there nearly every day, played semi-pro soccer for a few years, and is now a 29 year old who is about to finish up his archeology thesis while working at a call center in the evenings. He will be the first male Kaqchikel archeologist on top of being a well-accomplished athlete who now competes internationally in running and triathlons. Marvin lives in Guatemala City and made the trip out to Tecpan to personally teach us about the ruins where he has spent a good chunk of his life exploring. Needless to say, we were very fortunate to have such a knowledgeable and genuinely personable individual teach us about the ruins at Iximche. It’s because of Marvin that I am so excited to introduce you to the Kaqchikel Mayan history. His enthusiasm for his own indigenous roots and its rich history is truly contagious. Without him, Iximche would have just been another set of ruins.

Though Tecpan is little known to tourists in Guatemala, some do happen to find their way to the underemphasized (though historically very significant) ruins at Iximche just a couple kilometers from Tecpan. When the Spanish explorers lead by Pedro Alvarado descended from Mexico into Central America in 1524, they found their way to the Kaqchikel Mayan capital now referred to as Iximche—though not the true name of the capital. Translated into English, Iximche means “corn tree” and refers to a tree thought to have been of particular value to the Kaqchikel Mayans during seasons of drought when corn did not grow well. During these tough times, the Mayans would grind up the dried beans from these trees to make flour for their tortillas.

When the Spanish arrived, the Kaqchikel Mayans embraced the Spaniards for their white skin and horses. At first, the Kaqchikel Mayans thought that the never-before-seen horses were just oversized deer. Therefore, to this day the word for horse and deer is the same in the Kaqchikel language. Upon arrival into the capital surrounded by a canyon on three sides, Pedro Alvarado formed a strategic alliance with the Kaqchikel Mayans against their rivals, the Quiche Mayans from whom they had separated about 50 years prior. As we all expect, the alliance between the Spaniards and the Kaqchikel Mayans would be short lived as Pedro Alvarado formed alliances against other Mayan ethnicities against the Kaqchikel kingdom. The relationship between the two nations became increasingly tense as Pedro Alvarado demanded that the Kaqchikel provide him gold after seeing the gold crowns and necklaces that the royalty wore. Interestingly enough, Guatemala does not have easily accessible gold and it is believed that the limited gold found in the Mayan ruins were imported from South America.

When the Spaniards arrived to Iximche, they founded Tecpan, which was the first capital of Guatemala. However, in that period all of Central America was called Guatemala and therefore this easily overlooked town is actually the first capital of Central America. To add a little more detail, the name Guatemala is based on an Aztec word Quauhtemallan, meaning forest land. The use of this name originated at Iximche. Adding to the relationship between the Mayans from Central America and the Aztecs from Mexico is the fact that their drawings are incredibly similar. As a result, many archeologists believe that Central Americans come from Mexico.

We were very fortunate to have Marvin show us around the ruins as he told us things that even the locals so easily overlook when studying the ruins. Most surprising, Marvin refuted the idea that is so often taught in grade school (and even college) that the losers of the ball games were sacrificed. Marvin noted that this idea emerged from the well-known Mexican ruins in Chichen Itza due to the proximity between a ball court and a sacrificial area. However, the proximity does not exist in other Mayan ruins. Additionally, Marvin and his mentors have realized that those who played the ball game were very well respected individuals within the Mayan culture. Instead of being a game of life or death, the Mayan ball game is now believed to be a religious event since it would not make any sense to kill such respected and socially beneficial participants.

To complement the sacred serenity of the Mayan ruins, we finished our tour with observing some Guatemalan motorcycle drag racing that finished at the park entrance. Of course, no Latin American sporting event would be authentic without tall models wearing excessively tight yellow pants and a bikini top. In actuality, watching the drag race was more of a chance to kill the time since the drag race closed down the street and prevented us from catching a microbus ride home. During the moments we didn’t worry about the drag racers having to break quickly before potentially crashing into a line of cars trying to leave the park, we patiently supplemented the time chatting about strategies Marvin could use to someday attract more tourism to Tecpan to bolster the local economy by getting tourists to spend more time in the Tecpan area rather than quickly passing through Iximche en route to Antigua or Panajachel (hippie-town Guatemala). We finished the day having a long conversation at a restaurant, which was a great chance to learn about his own personal history as an indigenous student trying to move up the unstable Guatemalan social ladder and his experiences growing up during the Guatemalan civil war.

Enough said. Hope I didn’t bore you too much with all the history. If so, I don’t blame you. I’ve never been much of a history buff either except in unique cases such as this.