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Quiriguá--July
22
Set amid banana
plantations, the Mayan site of Quiriguá is smaller but somewhat
similar to Copán. This is particularly true in regard to its
inhabitants’ skill and propensity in the carving of stelae.
It seems that all of the ruins we have visited have been known
for something rather unique, here at Quiriguá they have the
tallest stelae with some over thirty feet in height
This small area of Mayan ruins is not that far from Rio Dulce
and about 50 Kilometers from Copán as the macaw flies.
 We had
heard about the site from friends here at Mario’s Marina, so
when an announcement went up on the chalk board of another trip
to the site, Hank and Betsy jumped at the opportunity. We would leave the marina via launcha going to the town and
taking the marina van to the site. Our guide and driver would
be Jim, or el jefe.
We
were off to a great start, driving through the country side. I
think it took us about 2 hours to arrive at Quiriguá which is
situated at the 204 KM marker on route CA-9. When we arrived at
this spot there were banana trees all over the place. The
stalks of bananas were covered with blue plastic to keep out the
bugs. In the early 1900s the site and all the surrounding lands
became the property of United Fruit Company.
At
the entrance to the site are a ticket office, the museum and a
few simple soda stands. Jim got out and purchased our tickets
and then we drove into the parking lot. We were a
little concerned about the site being very muddy because the
ground is flat and we had had a lot of rain. Well it was a
little muddy in spots but nothing really bad.
Our group consisted of John and Sharon from Sunbow, John and
Kathy from Mystic Moon, Maggie and Don from Island Time, and
us. Excitedly we jumped out of the van with pamphlet in hand
and we were off to explore the site. Jim said that it would not
take more than an
 hour at the site and perhaps a half hour in
the museum. We could meet him at the van, and so we were off!!
The history of the site mirrors that of Copán, In 653 AD,
Copán’s very own king Smoke Jaguar erected Alter I in Quiriguá’s
Great Plaza. The stelae here were carved with help from Copán’s
artisans using beds of brown sandstone brought from the nearby
Motagua River. The sandstone was soft when first cut,
 allowing
the artisans to create the excellent quality carvings which have
hardened through time and are still standing in their original
place. In fact when they were found way after the Mayan people
had left Quiriguá they were thought to be old tree stumps.
As
we looked down the long rectangular area leading to the Great
Plaza we saw 10 stone stelae, standing tall and pretty straight,
covered by small palm leaf roofs. They were amazing!! The first
one we saw was stela C and it was not best of the lot, they were
to get more intricately carved as we walked down the courtyard.
Hank and Betsy had their picture taken in front of Stela E.
 This is the most impressive stela, standing almost 11 meters
high. This makes it the tallest known stela. Noteworthy
features in this stela include the bearded subjects with
elaborate headdresses, the staffs of authority clutched in their
hands, and the glyphs running up and down the monuments’ sides.
The intricate looking stelae almost could have been carved out
of ivory for they were so delicate, and were three dimensional
in places.
We
read that Quiriguá status was subservient to Copán but this
changed under the leadership of it King Cauac Sky who captured
and beheaded Copán’s ruler 18 Rabbit in 737AD. Cauac Sky
quickly embarked on his own plan to expand the greatness of
 Quiriguá, carving most of the stelae that are in evidence
today.
The last ruler was Jade Sky who embarked on his own grand-scale
reconstruction of the city’s Acropolis. What it looked like when John L Stephens tried
to buy it in 1840 and cart it off to New York City we can only
imagine. Luckily it was not sold or carted off and so
restoration of the site was by the University of Pennsylvania in
the 1930s
 Luckily for us Quiriguá managed to remain independent of Copán
for the remainder of it history until it own silent and
mysterious demise in the middle of the 9th century.
What remains for us to view are beautiful stone sculptures with
remarkable detail. We can’t show enough pictures for you to
realize how impressed we were, but we will add one more.
We
finished our trip with time in the museum. It was a very
interesting museum with some great displays. If our reading of
Spanish had been better we would have learned even more.
On
our trip back to the marina we stopped once for Betsy to
purchase a breadfruit for 5Q that she was going to experiment
making breadfruit chips.
1981 Quiriguá was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. |
