Colour supplement

I had a nice relaxing day today and took in a few museums and sights in Campeche. Here, in no particular order, are some photographs.

This little statue (which dates from, I think, the fifth century BC) speaks volumes about the pride of the Mayan rulers. The head is only the size of a gobstopper, but the detail is incredible.
I think I´ve mentioned before that the Mayans practised skull binding to make sure their children grew up with lovely pointy heads. Here are a few examples of the craft. I still can´t help but regret the passing of this tradition. After all, in the kingdom of the pointy-skulled, the round-headed man is king, or something like that.
I wouldn´t mess with this fella. Most of their depictions of poeple are very formulaic and cartoon-like (the creator of the Simpsons based his style on Meso-American art - the yellow colour is taken directly from their paintings) but sometimes they can be incredibly naturalistic, as below.
Why has every culture in the world arrived at exactly the same depiction of dragons? (it ain´t a crocodile, they did them quite accurately)
This is a cast of the tomb of Pacal, a Mayan king of Palenque. It´s still there, but currently closed to visitors due to unseasonal flooding (I´m told), so I was lucky to see its replica here in Campeche. This is the image that excites the God-was-an-extraterrestrial theorists; they say it clearly shows a man operating a spaceship. That theory was blown out of the water when they deciphered the heiroglyphs that surrround the image. But you can still see their point. This is a brilliant fat bloke. The way he´s grabbing his gut makes me think that the ancient Mayans did have a sense of humour after all.
This is the roof of Fuerte de San Miguel, an old Spanish fort designed to ward off pirates and now home to el Museo de la Cultura Maya - a small-time sort of place, but home to some of the fantastic artifacts above.
This bloke seems to embody all that´s great about English comedy - he´s got Kenneth Williams´sneer and Old Man Steptoe´s leer, all at the same time.
A former church in the town (Ex Temple de San José) is hosting a temporary display of jade funereal masks. In Spanish a mask is called a máscara - bit of etymology for you there (have I got that right, or am I accidently talking about the study of insects rather than words?) .
Finally, I had to take these pictures. This poor fisherman was obviously lacking female company, so he christened his boat ´Solo Para Mujeres´- ´Only For Women´. And there it is; all lonely and blue floating in an empty ocean. The next fisherman was perhaps more forthright.