2014-10-03

【Aiden in English】

        The only thing worse than a long, boring, dreadful plane ride is a long, boring, dreadful bus ride that Mom and I took to the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. The Yucatan Peninsula is located in the Central America where the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico meet. It is literally one flat plate. I could stare in one direction and see endless bushes and jungles for miles on and on. In fact, the highest point in the Yucatan Peninsula is probably the ramp onto the highway. So Mom and I watched the vegetation and land roll by on a coach bus for 3 hours straight. It was miserable for 3 hours straight. I was far too busy playing Pokémon to even study the landscape. Whatever we were going to do, it'd better be worthwhile.

        Mom seemed pretty excited, which was always a bad sign when it came to our tours. That meant the tour would be educational as always, tiring and memorable. Additionally, Mom's way of memorable is much different from the regular good memories. In another words, she'll be taking pictures every moment, which ruined the otherwise perfect tour.

        Today's educational trip took Mom and me to Chichen Itza at the edge of the Itza's well, one of the new seven wonders on the UNESCO World Heritage list. These Mayan ruins were taken apart by the Spanish conquerors and were used to build houses. But now, thanks to technology and archeologists, the ruins were restored.

        The Mayan culture seemed very complex especially when it remained little scripts and literacy writing. Unlike ancient Chinese, we learned about the Mayans history mainly derived from interpretations and speculations. However, the civilization had much more advanced science back to 1400 years ago. The geometry, astronomy, solar calendar, sound, and cosmovision reflected in Kukulkan Pyramid, Great Ball Court, Temple of the Jaguars, Tempe of the Warriors, Thousand Columns Market, Venus Platform, and the Observatory. Interestingly, the Mayans believed in many dimensions and their "heavens" had 13 dimensions. To enter it, they needed to reach something called an eagle. Then if fate was with you, you may become a Feathered Serpent, the highest level of all kinds.

        The Mayan's religion was intervened with science in astronomy. On the equinoxes of spring and fall, the sun shines the Kukulkan Pyramid at a perfect position for 20 minutes at sunset and sundown. During this brief period of time, the sunlight casts shadows on the northwest corner of the pyramid, forming 7 triangles of light. These triangles consist of the serpent in 98 feet/30 meters coming from Heaven down to Earth as the sun moves, and this brings goodness to the Mayans.

        Not only did the Mayans have the knowledge of astronomy, they knew about mechanism of the sound. How did I know that? Because the tour guide showed us a huge wonder that was a amazing. By clapping his hands in front of the Kukulkan Pyramid for 3 times, the sound echoed off the pyramid, making a high pitched noise of ku-kul-kan. This was something I had never heard of, and it was so cool.

        As much as the Yucatan Peninsula is flat, there are many sink holes or cenotes due to the collapse of limestone bedrock. One particular cenote created a gigantic well full of fresh water about 150 feet/46 meters deep in Ik Kil. Fish were darting up and down inside. As soon as the tour took Mom and me there, I was anxious to take a dip. The only thing I didn't expect was going down 93 steps into a circular area like a pool with people swimming. I thought the cenote was like a pool on the surface not underground. Nevertheless, the sight looked spectacular. The pool was a natural well of fresh water, and just as awesome as the pool was the diving platform. There were 3 platforms in total and each was at a different height. Knowing me, you all figure out what I was going to do. I rushed to the top platform, feeling brave and courageous. All of a sudden, when I reached the platform, the platform looked a lot higher than I thought. My courageous act evaporated as I stepped up. Doubts jammed my brain. Finally, I set my thoughts aside, and took a heap of faith. The water flew at me faster than my mind could register, then kapow! I hit the water hard, but in a moment, the memory was over. Sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith, just like I did.

        The Yucatan Peninsula has so much to explore. I am sure that we'll come back soon.

【紅霞譯文】

        乘坐飛機冗長乏味，令人心煩，但世上還有比這更糟糕的，那就是我和媽媽前往墨西哥尤卡坦半島的大巴旅行。尤卡坦半島位於中美洲加勒比海與墨西哥灣交匯處，地勢平坦。放眼遠眺，無邊無際的灌木叢林綿亙數百里，高速公路轉彎處幾近原始荒原的制高點。莽莽林海，萋萋野草，前後足足陪伴了我們長達三個鐘頭之久，有點逼人抓狂。一路上，我專心致志地玩《神奇寶貝》，根本沒有功夫留意身外景致。的確，在這種情況下，手頭最好要有點事做，否則會白白浪費寶貴時光。

        媽媽看上去情緒高昂，對我來說，這可不是什麼好兆頭，尤其在旅途上更是如此。言外之意，本次旅遊將跟往常沒什麼兩樣，仍然重在教育。教育性旅遊雖記憶深刻，但奔波起來實在辛苦。美中不足的還有，媽媽始終保持其獨特方式，絕不輕易放棄任何拍照機會，直接影響到我遊玩的心境。

        今天的教育之旅將帶我們去奇琴伊察，本意為“伊察水井口”，它與埃及的金字塔、中國的長城、約旦的特培拉古城、巴西里約熱內盧的基督像、秘魯的馬丘比丘、意大利的古羅馬競技場、印度的泰姬馬哈陵齊名，同為世界新七大奇蹟，被聯合國教科文組織列為《世界遺產名錄》。西班牙殖民時期，當地瑪雅遺址慘遭破壞，被拆毀修築其它房屋。感謝現代科技和考古學家的不懈努力，目前廢墟已恢復原狀。

        瑪雅文化錯綜複雜，文字記錄極其有限，有別於中國古代遺產，我們對瑪雅的了解大多依賴於各種猜測與推斷。儘管如此，早在1400年前，伊察瑪雅人通過建築羽蛇神金字塔-大球場-美洲虎廟-鬥士廟-千柱市場-金星平台-天文台，就已經在幾何、天文、日曆、聲音以及宇宙觀方面充分表現出與眾不同的聰明才智。有趣的是，瑪雅人篤信空間維度，認為天堂由“13”維組成，如若人命升天，必須先變成所謂的雄鷹，然後再視運氣而定，運氣好的可以榮升至最高級別的羽蛇。

        瑪雅人的宗教意識滲透着天文學思想。每年夏至和冬至晝夜均等的兩天日落時，夕陽斜射築羽蛇神金字塔，前後持續廿分鐘。在如此短暫的光照時間裡，建築物西北角反射出七個三角形，這些三角形上下聯成一串形成羽蛇狀投影長達98英尺／30米，隨着太陽的運行，投影由上而下移動，預示着羽蛇神下凡世間，為瑪雅人帶來福祉。

        瑪雅人不僅具有淵博的天文知識，而且掌握聲學原理。我怎麼知道的呢？導遊向我們揭示其奧秘。他站在羽蛇神金字塔前，雙手有節奏地連擊三下，掌聲迴蕩在金字塔四周，發出“庫-庫爾-坎”清脆回音，我從未聽說過這種奇蹟，真夠神的。

        如前所述，儘管尤卡坦半島地勢平坦，但由石灰石構成的地質容易崩陷，因此隨處形成很多深坑，當地人慣稱“天坑”。益基爾的天坑好像一個超級天井，地下河床的泉水流經此地久積成池，深達150英尺/46米，五彩魚兒遊樂歡暢。當與媽媽隨大隊人馬抵達目的地時，我恨不能一頭扎入水中。通往天坑的石路由93級石階組成，我原以為其圓形水池突出地面而非埋在地下，天坑為人提供了一個休閒場所，整個地貌景致渾然天成蔚為壯觀。益基爾天坑池水為自然泉水，非常適於游泳和跳水，內部因高度而異共設有三個跳水台。了解我的人都知道下面將要發生的事情。我急匆匆朝跳台最高處走去，一副毫無畏懼的樣子。可就在踏上跳台之際，我內心突然發虛，方才意識到自己從未上過這麼高的跳台，離跳台越來越近，我的勇氣逐漸喪失殆盡，腦袋開始發懵。我努力鎮定情緒，重新鼓足信心，看準水流走向順勢而下，撲通！我猛然重力擊水入池，頃刻間腦袋出現一片空白，記不清眼前閃現的場景。看來有時幹事不能猶豫，就應該像我剛才那樣當機立斷，有一股天不怕地不怕的大無畏氣概。

        尤卡坦半島還有很多地方值得探索，相信不久的將來，我們會再度踏上這片土地。