Restoring the Americas

Breaking: The Story of Life Released

Hey Y'all,

Some of you might have heard I was working on a book. The Story of Life is a bilingual, evolutionary creation story, written in an oral storytelling style. A fuller introduction is available on the website: http://sunrisebegins.blogspot.com/

The book is currently self published on Lulu (click here to see it) . You can check out a free pdf of the full text or get the paperback for $15. Either way, be sure to let me know what you think of it!

As part of the release of The Story of Life, I'm also announcing a sort of art contest. If you're inspired to paint, draw, doodle or even photograph something after reading, send it to me and we'll start compiling a collection that will eventually become an illustrated series. There's more info on that on the website as well.

Read it slowly - the world didn't create itself in a week.

Andon Olea Zebal

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Hola gentes,

Acabo de terminar un proyecto que nos ha tomado 4 billones de años. El Cuento de la Vida es una obra sobre nuestros orígenes evolucionarios escrita como historia oral. Hay mas información sobre el cuento en el sitio de web: http://cuentodelavida.blogspot.com/

El libro esta auto-publicado en Lulu (picale aqui para verlo). Puedes ver la historia completa gratis en un formato digital o obtener el libro por $15 (no estoy seguro si el systema funcione en Mexico).

Con el estreno del libro tambien annuncio un concursito de arte. Si El Cuento te anima a dibujar, pintar, o hacer una obra en cualquier medio visual, mandamela y empezaremos una collecion que terminara en una serie ilustrada de El Cuento de la Vida. Hay mas informacion sobre ello en el sitio de web.

Leelo lentamente - el mundo no se creo en una semana.

Andon Miguel Zebal Olea

Why haven't we risen up?

As we kept searching for a signal after the pyramids, I had a really interesting conversation with Ezequiel. It started off innocently enough, when Ezequiel asked me if I had any land in the US. I couldn't help but laugh and say, "No, its not like here... only the rich have land in the US."

He gave me a strange little "Hmm" that begged me to explain further.

As we walked on, I added "We never had Agrarian Reform in the US." Agrarian Reform is the term used in Mexico to describe the way land was taken from the rich and given to the (mostly indigenous) poor in the form of the Ejido system. About 70% of the land in Mexico is in ejidos. 20 de Noviembre, Ezequiel's ejido, is 25,000 hectares (61,770 acres) and is named for the date of the revolution.

A few minutes later, as we climbed a steep ravine, Ezequiel asked "But didn't the people get mad that they had no land?"

I tried my best, but there's no legitimate way to answer that question. I explained that we were capitalists, tried (delicately) to explain what we did, and still do, to the Native Americans, and mentioned the fact that Mexico's ejido system is very rare in the world.

"Well, we did have to fight a war for it."

"Yeah, I guess sometimes you have to fight a war."

I soon learned that Ezequiel was well versed in socio-economic literature, especially communism. Among the books he mentioned were in his library were Capital, several works by Marx and Lenin, biographies of Fidel Castro and Che Guevarra and others I can't remember.

We spent the rest of the day discussing the ideas in these books, and the way they had been smeared by dictators like Stalin and Mao.

We never did get more than a ghost signal from the King Vulture transmitter, though.

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Rio Bec: My first real Mayan Ruins

All day we've been searching for the signal that will tell us where our Mayan Condor (King Vulture) is, enjoying the breathtaking landscapes, lush vegetation, and the epicness that comes from an ancient civilization hiding beneath the roots.

Absolutely nothing, however, could have prepared me for our next stop. I've managed to miss all the touristy ruins from Cancun to here, so I'd never seen an excavated, "real" Mayan ruin. Or climbed on top of one for that matter. The site has been dubbed "Rio Bec A" by archaeologists. The generic name does no justice, but its true name is unknown and probably will remain so forever.

Again we got no signal but by this point I had regressed from Eco-VolunTourist to VolunTourist to just Tourist. I was entranced. Ezequiel had helped excavate the site, which was formerly just a tree covered mound like any other, and told us a bit about the dig as we ate lunch.

We headed to the other major site, Rio Bec B, which is larger than Rio Bec and was discovered earlier, but somehow still managed to get "B" as its designation. It consists of two sites, one with two towers that looked suspiciously like a Christian Church, another smaller, less preserved site that was a mound the last time Mauro was in town.

Ezequiel told me about the false steps adornign the front face of both towers (you can kind of see them on the right one). "No one can climb steps that steep," he said reverently, motioning to the almost vertical pattern of steps coming off the wall.

As the Sun came out, Ezequiel spotted a little raptor nesting atop one of the towers (can you find it?). Pointing to the pixelated plus sign carvings below the bird, he explained their significance.

"Each of the indentations was a different color, representing a different direction. East was red, West was black, North was White, and South was Yellow. East was the direction of the rising sun, while West was where night and death began, the direction of the Underworld. The center was painted green to represent life. For the Mayans, the most important number was not four but five, the four directions and the center."

Mauro had read a little bit about the significance of his study animal in ancient Mayan mythology. The King Vulture was the bird of death, while the Wild Turkey was the bird of life.