As I alluded to on William Lawson's Driving blog, yesterday I took some folks to Dzibilchaltun. I had told them about the site and it's small but well.put-together museum.
I was shocked at the state of the museum: it is literally falling apart around the exhibits. Not that you are going to get hit in the head with falling plaster, but you may stumble a bit on the floor, which is made of wooden slats which have either rotted or fallen prey to an insect invasion, known here as comejen, that make it sag and uneven. Some of the wooden slats have been crudely replaced by someone with about as much skill in carpentry as I have, using approximate-sized replacement unfinished wooden strips nailed down with the flair of an 8 year old backyard fort builder. Other slats are covered with pieces of carpeting; the sag you feel as you step on them makes you feel you are on the dance floor of the Mambo Café.
Looking up, it is evident that the finishing coat of cement has fallen off in places, leaving rebar and concrete roofing material exposed. Also, while you are gazing up that way, note that the illumination is at about 30% capacity ie. 70% of the lightbulbs are burnt out or off. In any case, they are not working, and many of the exhibits suffer from this lack of proper illumination.
It seems both a shame and a disgrace that the INAH does not or cannot maintain this building that must have hundreds of visitors each week, especially during this 'high' season (and the just finished Christmas holidays which saw Yucatan's attractions mobbed by tourists both national and international) and now that Dzibilchaltun is on the cruise ship excursion map.
Very embarrassing, and as a Yucatecan - according to the definition proposed by Tony in the Diario de Yucatan a few weeks ago, a Yucatecan is everyone that resides here and contributes, in one form or another, to the political, social or commercial life of the Yucatan - I find it unacceptable that our so-called authorities show such disdain towards this important showcase for Mayan and Yucatecan culture.
Showing posts with label INAH. Show all posts
Showing posts with label INAH. Show all posts
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Saturday, December 20, 2008
More on Tourism in the Yucatan
Staying on-theme with the tourism comments in the previous posts, I wanted to quickly give you my impressions on the state of the art facilities at Ek Balam.
Ek Balam is one of those Mayan archaeological sites that is not in the same league, promotion and money-invested wise, as say, Chichen Itza and Uxmal, it's more famous cousins. Along with Mayapan and places like Aké, it is a site seen by far fewer visitors and usually only on the itinerary of the more die-hard Yucatan explorer.
There is, however, some government involvement in the restoration and running of Ek Balam and so we have the caseta de cobro where all visitors must stop and pay their fee to enter the site. Presumably the entrance fee covers basic maintenance and the salary of the sour-faced employee who has no knowledge of basic math (addition and subtraction) and is allowed to have no change on hand for breaking anything larger than a 20 peso bill. Also, and in spite of being a government-run site, which should imply some sort of amiable exchange rate for the almighty dollar, the rate offered is considerably less than that provided by the banks.
The highlight of the awful, unpainted concrete monstrosity making up the entrance is - as is so often the case - the bathroom. Maybe I have a bathroom fetish but as a resident of the Yucatan and occasionally charged with the responsibility of ferrying relatives and friends to these 'touristic' places, I feel enormously embarrassed at the crude-ness of the facilities provided to the tourists our government is trying to woo.
Please look at the photos below. This is the welcome, as in the case of the previous post on Progreso, that tourists and visitors will have should they require the use of a bathroom. Next to the toilet, please note the traditional waste paper basket containing used toilet paper. Heaven forbid that they should make the effort to actually install a proper septic system that can handle toilet paper! And after your precarious hovering experience - note the absence of any toilet seat or something to hold onto when you are in fact, hovering - with the toilet, you can proceed to the modern 'sink' and dip your fingers into that charming little plastic dish of brown liquid soap, where unknown hands have dipped before you.
This primitive set-up would be fine if perhaps, I was camping, although I have seen campsites with outhouses that look more hygienic. Or visiting someone who was very poor.
But this is a federally (INAH) and state (Secretaria de Turismo or Cultura) run attraction. They spend all kinds of money, not so much the INAH but the Tourism people, on ads and campaigns and and and to get people to come here. Then, when they do, they offer them this.
Yes, the Mayan civilization was very advanced and has left a cultural legacy that has endured for thousands of years. Those days, however are gone.
In the absence of anyone in government building or doing ANYTHING these days to make the Yucatan more attractive or even a better place to live for its inhabitants, these Mayan sites are a cash cow for the mindless, unimaginative and self-serving bureaucrats that run them today. They should be turned over to the private sector and all the leeches living on the proceeds of the Mayans remains should be forced to get a real job.
Ek Balam is one of those Mayan archaeological sites that is not in the same league, promotion and money-invested wise, as say, Chichen Itza and Uxmal, it's more famous cousins. Along with Mayapan and places like Aké, it is a site seen by far fewer visitors and usually only on the itinerary of the more die-hard Yucatan explorer.
There is, however, some government involvement in the restoration and running of Ek Balam and so we have the caseta de cobro where all visitors must stop and pay their fee to enter the site. Presumably the entrance fee covers basic maintenance and the salary of the sour-faced employee who has no knowledge of basic math (addition and subtraction) and is allowed to have no change on hand for breaking anything larger than a 20 peso bill. Also, and in spite of being a government-run site, which should imply some sort of amiable exchange rate for the almighty dollar, the rate offered is considerably less than that provided by the banks.
The highlight of the awful, unpainted concrete monstrosity making up the entrance is - as is so often the case - the bathroom. Maybe I have a bathroom fetish but as a resident of the Yucatan and occasionally charged with the responsibility of ferrying relatives and friends to these 'touristic' places, I feel enormously embarrassed at the crude-ness of the facilities provided to the tourists our government is trying to woo.
Please look at the photos below. This is the welcome, as in the case of the previous post on Progreso, that tourists and visitors will have should they require the use of a bathroom. Next to the toilet, please note the traditional waste paper basket containing used toilet paper. Heaven forbid that they should make the effort to actually install a proper septic system that can handle toilet paper! And after your precarious hovering experience - note the absence of any toilet seat or something to hold onto when you are in fact, hovering - with the toilet, you can proceed to the modern 'sink' and dip your fingers into that charming little plastic dish of brown liquid soap, where unknown hands have dipped before you.
This primitive set-up would be fine if perhaps, I was camping, although I have seen campsites with outhouses that look more hygienic. Or visiting someone who was very poor.
But this is a federally (INAH) and state (Secretaria de Turismo or Cultura) run attraction. They spend all kinds of money, not so much the INAH but the Tourism people, on ads and campaigns and and and to get people to come here. Then, when they do, they offer them this.
Yes, the Mayan civilization was very advanced and has left a cultural legacy that has endured for thousands of years. Those days, however are gone.
In the absence of anyone in government building or doing ANYTHING these days to make the Yucatan more attractive or even a better place to live for its inhabitants, these Mayan sites are a cash cow for the mindless, unimaginative and self-serving bureaucrats that run them today. They should be turned over to the private sector and all the leeches living on the proceeds of the Mayans remains should be forced to get a real job.
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