TODOS SANTOS, BAJA CALIFORNIA

In the early Spring of '95, after a winter in the Quintana Roo and Chiapas States of Mexico, and in Panajachel, Guatemala, we crossed from mainland Mexico over the Sea of Cortez - from Los Mochis to LaPaz, Baja California - and spent several weeks in a primitive, hide-a-way campground near Todos Santos. Considerable time was spent in conversing with a strange Bolivian 'mystic' named Milton of whom we had heard from other trekkers going in the opposite direction several months earlier and 2,000 miles distant in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapis State.

The first night we had a big bonfire; now picture this, gentle readers: Ten or so of us campers and a half dozen of Milton's perros de playa (beach dogs) listening to Milton translate, from Spanish to English, the Mayan Popul Vuh - by camp-firelight, with the stars pulsing in the clear Baja night air, and the fluorescent Pacific surf pounding its never-ending beat a hundred meters distant. 

The 'campground' itself was very primitive indeed. At one time the sea-frontage and hinterland had been part of a flourishing, good size sugar plantation owned by one of Mexico's former Presidents. The plantation fields had been nourished from several artesian wells - until a large earthquake had shifted subterranean ground strata in the late '40's, and diverted the underground watercourse. The plantation had quickly dried up and reverted to sage and cactus. Now, the only potable water for miles around was a fresh spring that gushed out of the beach near the low tide mark.  The few campers that could tolerate this little paradise (with its lack of facilities) could shovel out a hole in the sand and collect the cold fresh water that arose.

Every morning at break of dawn, Milton could be seen running naked on the mile long beach with his dogs (Marnie is normally a later sleeper, but when I told her of this phenomenon she acquired an interest in early morning Mexican flora and fauna). Later in the day Milton would visit the campers and collect - from those who could afford it - the equivalent of $1US per person that he said was remitted to the daughter of the former Mexican President, but we wondered amongst ourselves if the main benefactors weren't his canine disciples.  

By day, looking eastward in the clear, dry Baja sky, we could see the multi-hued purple 'steps' of the Sierra de la Giganta mountain range rising in the distance.           

P.S. subsequent addendum re The Popul Vuh:

[The Popul Vuh creation story of the Quiche Maya begins with only sea and sky existing. There are two creator gods, Tepeu and Gucumatz, hidden "under green and blue feathers" in the ocean. They confer and meditate upon the primordial situation and conclude that "when dawn would break, man must appear." Again, the water is caused to recede in order to "let the earth appear and become solid."

One aspect of the Popul Vuh that distinguishes it from many other Amerindian creation stories is the Gods' insistence upon creating a creature who will be able to speak the names of its creators. The Gods of the Popul Vuh are very conscious of language. "Then came the word" is what is written just before Tepeu and Gucumatz come together in the darkness of night. In their "discussing and deliberating, they agreed, they united their words and their thoughts." The Gods’ obsession to create beings able to speak the names of their creators is the driving plot behind the Mayan concept of creation itself, the intention behind the eventual creation of humanity.

The Gods made several attempts at achieving this end. First, they created the animals of the forest and then beseeched their creation to, "Speak, then, our names, praise us, your mother, your father." Since their creation was only able to hiss and scream and cackle, the Gods decided that these creatures should have their "flesh torn to pieces" and told them to accept this as their fate since they could not speak the Gods’ names. The Gods then attempted to create humankind from clay and then wood. Both experiments failed since the man of clay "at first . . . spoke, but had no mind. Quickly it soaked in the water and could not stand," and the figures made of wood were capable of multiplying, "but they did not have souls, nor minds; they did not remember their Creator, their Maker; they walked on all fours, aimlessly."

It is feasible to conclude that in making the Gods in their own image, the Quiché Maya required literate progenitors. Conversely,  the other Amerindians -in lacking a written language - did not put as much emphasis on the word in their origin myths as did their southern counterparts.]

In closing this story, we include this 'cut' directly from The Popul Vuh translation, concerning the latest model of mankind – created, incidentally, from yellow corn, white corn and water:

“- - - by genius alone, they were made, they were modeled by the Maker, Modeler, Bearer, Begetter, Sovereign Plumed Serpent. And when they came to fruition, they were human:

They talked and they made words.
They looked and they listened.
They walked, they worked.”

They were good people, handsome, with looks of the male kind. Thoughts came into existence and they gazed, their vision came all at once. Perfectly they saw, perfectly they knew every thing under the sky, whenever they looked. The moment they turned around and looked around, everything in the sky and on the earth was seen without obstruction. They did not have to walk before they could see anything which was under the sky; they just stayed where they were - and as they looked, their knowledge became intense. Their sight passed though trees, through rocks, through lakes, through seas, through mountains, through plants. They were truly gifted people.
And then they were asked by the Builder and Mason:
"What do you know about your being? Don't you look, don't you listen? Is not your speech good and your walk? So you must look to see out under the sky. Do not you see the mountain plain clearly? So try it."
And then they saw everything under the sky perfectly. After that, they thanked their Maker, Modeler:

“Truly now, double thanks, triple thanks,
 that we have been formed, we have been given our mouths and our faces;
         we speak, we listen, we wonder, we move, our knowledge is good, we have understood what is far and near;
     and we have seen what is great and small under the sky, on the earth.
               Thanks to you - our grandmother and grandfather –

we have been formed, we have come to be made and modeled"

-- they said when they gave thanks for having been made and modeled. The creations understood everything perfectly; they sighted the four sides, the four corners in the sky, on the earth. 

But this did not sound good to the Builder and Sculptor:
    "What our works and designs have said is not good: they understood too much. They say they have understood everything great and small.”
And so the Bearer, Begetter took back their creatures’ knowledge:
"What should we do with them now? Their vision should at least reach nearby, they should see at least a small part of the face of the earth, but what they were saying was not good. Are they not merely 'works' and 'designs' in their very names? Yet they will become as great as gods unless they procreate, proliferate at the sowing, the dawning, unless they increase."
"So let it be this way: now we will take them apart just a little. What we have found is not good. Their deeds would become equal to ours, just as their knowledge reaches so far. They see everything" said the Maker, Modeler.

And so the gods changed the nature of their works, their designs: it was enough that man's eyes be marred by the Heart of Sky. They were blinded as the face of a mirror is breathed upon. Their eyes were weakened. Now it was only when they looked nearby that things were clear.

And such was the loss of the means of understanding, along with the means of knowing everything; such was the making, modeling of our first grandfather by the Heart of Sky, Heart of Earth.

And then the grandfathers’ wives and women came into being. Again, the same gods thought of it. It was if they were asleep when they received them, truly beautiful women were there with our grandfathers. With their women they became more wide awake. Right away they were happy in the heart again, because of their wives. (- - - from the Popul Vuh)

Keith and Marnie Elliott’s “REMEDY” Site

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