Tales From The Yucatan Jungle

Where would you go if you needed to get away from it all? What would happen if you never came back? Your life would change forever as it does for Kristine Ellingson in Mexico. She left her life in the U.S. and moved to the vibrant land of the ancient Maya. Kristine Ellingson was a successful American jewelry designer with two grown children and a marriage on the rocks. Because she needed some time to find direction and meaning in her life, Kristine left her home in Oregon for a trip to Yucatan that she believed would be a stopover on her way to Portugal. Much to her surprise, her stop in Yucatan was not only longer than expected, it was permanent. She found that taking a leap of faith can lead to a life full of adventure and meaning. Join Kristine as she recounts her journey in finding a new home and family in a peaceful village near the Mayan ruins of Uxmal. From Spanish flash cards to falling in love with a Mayan hotel desk clerk, a transformation occurs both with Kristine and the village. In spite of being an outsider and looking nothing like the Mayas she is tall and blonde she is accepted by the village and becomes an integral part of their community. Kristine creates multiple businesses in her village, fusing two cultures, two beliefs, two ways of life. Twenty years later, and still married to the Mayan hotel clerk who is now her business partner, Kristine shares her real life stories of love, pain, loss, and learning Overcoming the typical expat story of frustration with another culture, Tales from the Yucatan Jungle: Life in a Mayan Village brings two worlds together and shares glimpses into a sacred, rich Mayan way of life. Kristine allows readers to glimpse a world seldom seen by tourists. Some of the experiences she shares are: Being brought back from the brink of blood poisoning death with the help of a curandero (a traditional healer)

Born and raised in London, David Lindo's passionate interest in the natural world, especially birds, began at an early age. His thriving curiosity opened a door for him into an unexplored world of urban birding. Years later he decided to champion the delights of birding in cities and reinvented himself as the Urban Birder. Using this illustrious alias David Lindo has brought urban birding back into the public consciousness, promoting its virtues at every opportunity and writing about it in the birding press. He urges people to look up when walking around in cities, or to stop and close your eyes in a busy street just to listen to the birds that may be singing. In his second book, David visits some of the world's most unnatural environments, revealing the astonishingly diverse range of wildlife that can be found when you take the time to look. Much more than a compendium of birding sites, each tale follows the Urban Birder in his enthralling pursuit of city birding. Accompanied by dedicated local conservationists and renowned birders, David gives a deeper insight into the true nature of each city. Featuring 70 locations to explore, Tales from Concrete Jungles is the perfect book to dip in to when on the move, or to hide away with on a rainy afternoon. Join David in his celebration of nature, pick up travel inspiration, and immerse yourself in his captivating quest for urban birding.

Lonely Planet Cancun, Cozumel & the Yucatan is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Marvel at Chichen Itza's massive El Castilo pyramid, swim in a cenote, and party in a steamy Caribbean cantina in Merida; all with your trusted travel companion.

"The Quintana Roo is a real and very strange place. It is the long, wild easternmost shore of the Yucatan Peninsula, officially but not psychologically part of Mexico. A diary of daily life on its jungly beaches could sometimes be taken for a log of life on an alien planet, " writes James Tiptree, Jr., in the preface to this new collection of three talismanic tales of the supernatural. During the late 1970s, Tiptree -- one of the greatest American authors of short imaginative fiction -- lived for months on the eerie windswept shore of the Yucatan, and the true protagonist of this book is neither the Tiptree narrator nor the manifestations of ancient Maya civilization, but rather the Quintana Roo itself as a living, pulsating entity that envelops the reader within a uniquely alien ambience. Following Tiptree's introduction are these unforgettable nouvelles of weird fantasy: "What Came Ashore at Lirios, " "The Boy Who Waterskied to Forever, " and "Beyond the Dead Reef."

Intended to help students explore ethnic identity—one of the most important issues of the 21st century—this concise, one-stop reference presents rigorously researched content on the national groups and ethnicities of North America, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Combining up-to-date information with extensive historical and cultural background, the encyclopedia covers approximately 150 groups arranged alphabetically. Each engaging entry offers a short introduction detailing names, population estimates, language, and religion. This is followed by a history of the group through the turn of the 19th century, with background on societal organization and culture and expanded information on language and religious beliefs. The last section of each entry discusses the group in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, including information on its present situation. Readers will also learn about demographic trends and major population centers, parallels with other groups, typical ways of life, and relations with neighbors. Major events and notable challenges are documented, as are key figures who played a significant political or cultural role in the group's history. Each entry also provides a list for further reading and research.

Honoring Jane Buikstra's pioneering work in the development of bioarchaeological research, the essays in this volume stem from a symposium held at the annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Multiple generations of Buikstra's former doctoral students and other colleagues gathered to discuss the impact of her mentorship. The essays are remarkable for their breadth, in terms of both the topics discussed and the geographical range they cover. The contributions highlight the dynamism of bioarchaeology, which owes so much to the strong foundations laid down over the last few decades. The volume documents the degree to which bioarchaeological approaches have become normalized and integrated into anthropological research: bioarchaeology has moved out of the appendix and into the interpretation of archaeological data. New perspectives have emerged, partly in response to theoretical changes within anthropology, but also as a result of the engagement of the broader discipline with bioarchaeology.

Telling Maya Tales offers an experimental ethnographic portrait of the San Juan Chamula, the largest and most influential Maya community of Highland Chiapas, in the late twentieth century--the era of the Zapatistas. In this collection of essays, the author, whose field work in the area spans two generations of anthropological thought, explores several expressions of Tzotzil ethnic affirmation, ranging from oral narrative to ritual drama and political action. His work covers the current era, when the Chamula Tzotzils mingle chaotically and sometimes violently with the social and political space of modern Mexico--most recently, in the context of the Maya Zapatista movement of 1994.

Presented here in English, Tzotzil, and Spanish are forty-two stories told to Robert Laughlin in Tzotzil by the only speaker of Tzotzil left in the village of San Felipe Ecatepec in Chiapas, Mexico. The stories range from mythological sacred stories to historical accounts of life in the twentieth century.