November 29, 1990 - Future Thoughts From Mexico's PastNovehiber 29, 1990 • The 'Suftolk -filmes 6fi
Future Thoughts From Mexico's Past
By Paul Stoutenburgh
I'm flying over the Caribbean and my
thoughts swing back to when I was in
the service aboard ship heading for the
Pacific over these same waters. The wa-
ter below seems just as green, the
clouds just as puffy white and I'm sure
flying fish are still skimming over the
surface as they did 45 years ago. Of
course, the big difference is that I'm
now comfortably seated high above
looking down at what appears to be a
picture- perfect world.
Then my eye catches a ship heading
east in the same azure sea below but
here the picture changes. Trailing for
miles and miles behind it is an ever -
widening slick of oil. It could only be a
tanker or some other sort of ship pump-
ing its bilges. Here, away from every-
one's eyes, a dirty deed is being done.
Ships often do this but with the prob-
lems of pollution and the awareness of
our fragile environment one would hope
that ship captains would prohibit it, but
no. Evidently this ship's captain
thought the rules were made for every-
one but him.
Fines don't seem to work. It's like
the person who throws his empty 7-
Eleven cup out the window of his car
when no one's around. He, too, doesn't
think he'll be caught for who's to see?
These discouraging habits are hard to
break. Some say the only true way is to
start with the new generations coming
up and educate them. There's some hope
in that for I know the young children
can be taught. When they get in a car
they automatically put on their safety
belts and often have to remind us to do
the same. And when they finish with
their candy wrapper the paper seems au-
tomatically to go into a container, not
out the window. So there's hope.
Ruins Hold Mystery
Our destination is Mexico, where I
hope to see some of the ancient ruins of
the Mayan civilization. The occasion
for our trip is our 40th anniversary. As
we approach the Yucatan peninsula,
which is only a few hours flight from
Texas, I see a great land mass of green
to our west. This tropical low jungle
spreads out across the flat land.
Occasionally there's a long straight
road, or at least I think it's a road,
seemingly going to nowhere. As we
approach our destination roads and
winding trails become more common.
Groups of huts and smoke start to
appear. Some areas seem as if the
jungle is afire. Later it will be revealed
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Focus on
Nature
to us that this is the slash- and -burn
method of farming practiced in this
jungle land of Mexico.
The slash is the cutting of trees and
bushes on a particular piece of land. The
burning is the way they get rid of the
trees and cut brush. The farming is the
irregular planting of corn and other
crops wherever the rocky limestone land
will permit. We saw no cultivated fields
as we know them. Rather, wherever a
bit of soil was to be found between the
coarse and rocky land, seeds were
planted. Surprisingly healthy - looking
corn came up along with an accumula-
tion of new weeds and vines. Surely not
what we think of as a true corn field.
This practice is followed for a few years
until the soil is depleted and then the
natives move on to a new area where
slash- and -burn starts anew.
Famous Beach Is Gone
Our airport was modern and our hotel
plush with swimming pool and all. It
was situated on the edge of the blue -
green sea of the Caribbean. There was
little left of their famous white beach
for a few years ago a hurricane passed
through and took it away. What
happens the next time no one knows.
Besides the sea to the east, this
particular hotel had a lagoon with sea
turtles and fish in it for the pleasure of
its guests. I was particularly pleased one
morning when I looked up and saw an
osprey hovering over the lagoon. It was
like seeing an old friend. Could it be
one of our ospreys? Perhaps one that
was reared on one of the platforms
we've put up for them here on the East
End?
No matter. It was an osprey in its
true form. Within minutes it plunged
into the lagoon and arose with — yes,
you guessed it — one of the prize fish
the hotel had imported for the
enjoyment of all. I'm not sure the
management included the osprey in the
"all" but nevertheless it rose, shook
itself and alighted on top of the hotel
Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
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for breakfast.
As I sat and watched the beautiful
Caribbean that morning large Caspian
terns with their big reddish -orange bills
drifted back and forth along the water's
edge along with brown pelicans that
would occasionally drop with an unbe-
lievable splash into the waters below in
pursuit of some unsuspecting fish.
Then, soaring high above in a
silhouette that once seen is not
forgotten, was the magnificent frigate
bird. This handsome sea bird is found
throughout the tropical Gulf area. I
remembered it most vividly from years
back swooping down to pick up small
fish that were being forced to the surface
by larger predators below. It was nature
once again in that never - ending struggle
of survival.
There was .so much to see and our
stay was much too short. We visited the
ancient ruins I had wanted to see ever
since I read about their unearthing from
the jungle in an old National Geo-
graphic magazine. We were completely
captured by their mystery and magnifi-
cence. Here was a civilization that had
flourished for thousands of years with
its own pictorial language, which is
still being deciphered today. They had
their own calendar that was as accurate
or better than our own. They could
build and carve in stone without the aid
of metal tools. They knew astronomy
and built their own observatory. They
created a science of farming that would
amaze agriculturists even today.
Yet with all they had going for them
their civilization collapsed. Why? The
experts are still trying to figure it out.
Of course, the march of the Spanish
when they conquered Mexico didn't
help. But today when we traveled along
the roads leading to the ruins we could
still see the familiar Mayan characteris-
tics in many of the natives: beautiful
jet -black hair, heavy faces with Mayan
noses, dark skins. All told us we were
seeing the remnants of a once, powerful
nation.
Later we would snorkel in the crystal -
clear waters amongst brilliantly colored
tropical fish that have to be seen to ap-
preciate their color. But our holiday had
to come to an end. Our trip home was
perfect and as we neared our civilization
the maze of buildings, roads, etc.,
spread out before us as far as the eye
could see. I pondered where our world
would be in a thousand years. Would it
too crumble in time and have strange
people walking about wondering why it
collapsed?
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