Mayan Merchant-Sailors Traded Salt & Stingray Spines and Met Columbus

     On his last voyage in 1502, Christopher Columbus encountered a large canoe in the Bay Islands of the Gulf of Honduras which was full of Mayan trade goods, and presumably from the Yucatan. Its ~40 passengers included well dressed merchants, their families, and about 25 oarsmen. It was eight feet wide, 'as long as a galley' (~50ft), with a cabin in the middle. He compared it a Venetian gondola and was impressed with their seamanship. Mayan murals display boats with raised, curved bows and sterns.

     He described their fine textiles, weapons made of flint (probably actually obsidian), and copper goods including cups, bells and hatchets. The Mayan merchants carried a type of beer made from fermented corn, now called "Cheba", which young Fernando Columbus enjoyed. The Europeans also had their first exposure to chocolate.

  Maya trade routes on land & sea

The blue lines are commercial sea routes, red are commercial sea routes and grey are regional Mayan borders. Triangles are Mayan ports and circles are archeological zones. Products are: salt, jade, cacao, obsidian, feathers. basalt, ceramics, tools, skins & hides, and honey.

     Salt was one of the highly desired products traded by Mayan merchants & was mined in Isla Mujeres (by the Maya and commercially in the 1900's). Another important item supplied by the coastal Mayan merchants was stingray spines, which were used in bloodletting ceremonies. Other commodities included honey & beeswax, furs & hides, cotton textiles, feathers, jade, obsidian, amber, quartz, medicinal herbs, copal, farm animals, salted fish, grains, metals, cacao, and slaves.
     North American archaeologist Anthony P. Andrews said that of 400 pre-Hispanic sites located on the coasts of the Yucatan Peninsula and Belize, 150 are from the Postclassic period, and of these, 50 served as important ports for Mayan maritime commerce, including Ekab and El Meco, in the municipality of Isla Mujeres.
     Along the coast of what is now Quintana Roo, the Maya built a series of stone structures that look like simple shrines, but in fact, many of them are maritime markers indicating positions, distances, shelters, coves, lagoons, villages, dangerous points, and the correct places to pass through the barrier reefs. The Mayan ruin at Punta Sur is said to have nautical significance.
     Andrews says the Maya avoided going out into the open sea and preferred to navigate the quiet coastal lagoons, but this was not always possible, such as when they sailed to Isla Contoy. Scientific journalist Juan José Morales commented on the Mayan sailors knowledge of local winds and the sea conditions, noting, "When they sailed to Central America, they did it near the coast to take advantage of the counter-currents, but when they returned they traveled farther from the coast to take advantage of the Caribbean current that flows northward." At Cozumel, they used one port for traveling to the isle (Polé, now Xcaret) and another port to return (Xamanha, now Playa del Carmen). Archeologist Maria Eugenia Romero says their docks were made with conch shells.

         With the conquest of Mexico and the Yucatan, the Mayan maritime traditions were lost. For the past decade, a reenactment of a pilgrimage from the mainland to Isla Cozumel called the Travesia Sagrada Maya is held in May. They often do a 'practice event' circling Isla Mujeres.

  El Meco ruin, at Punta Sam in the mainland part of the municipality of Isla Mujeres, in 1909. From the book "American Egypt" by archeologists Arnold Channing & Frederick J. Tabor Frost.

El Meco now

      Our town historian, Fidel Villanueva Madrid, says there are more than 35 minor ruins that farmers have fortuitously found in the the Continental Zone of Isla Mujeres. Significant ruins in the municipality include the remains of a temple to Ixchel inside the Mundaca Hacienda, Punta Sur, Boca Iglesia, Rancho Viejo, Sosquilchak, Nohoch Mul, Nohoch Pich, Mi Ruina, El Ramonal, Ecab, Paso Poot, and Isla Contoy.
        The first explorers visiting the Yucatan coasts in 1517 commented on the impressive native buildings, comparing them to the fine architecture of Seville, Spain. In the following centuries, the Spanish focused on demolition and eliminating the "idolatry" of the natives.

In 1842, archeologist John Lloyd Stephens visited Isla Mujeres, with Frederick Catherwood, who made this engraving of the "Ruins of Punta Sur".

   
  Other archeologists who wrote about and photographed the isle include Augustus and Alice Le Plongeon in 1877; Teobert Maler in 1891; William Holmes in 1895; Raymond E. Marwin and J. Yde in 1913; Samuel K Lothrop in 1918, and Thomas Gann in 1924.

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 Kitchen in a large studio. (Sur & Norte are identical)

Kitchenette in small room, Medio. There's a table & chairs across from it & a double bed.

A large slider opens from each of the 3 rooms onto the patio where each has a table & chairs, hammock & clotheslines. The BBQ is behind the pole, and the outdoor shower is outa the pic at left.

Large studio (Norte), I'm standing in the kitchen. A queen & single bed.

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Large studio (Sur) with Queen & Single bed. Slider door & view are behind me.

Fine dining a few steps away at Da Luisa or try the traditional neighborhood eateries a couple blocks farther. Within ten minutes walk are the restaurants Mango Cafe, Brisas, Manolitos,  Green Verde, Kash Kechen Chuc, and the large department store-grocery Chedraui. Visit marinas, bars, & beach clubs that are minutes away by bike or on foot. Attend Yoga classes a couple villas away at hotelito Casa Ixchel. Fresh juice, produce & tortillas a few blocks away in the village, as well as a variety of other stores and small local restaurants. It takes 20-30  minutes to walk downtown.