Point South Mexico - Real Estate and Lifestyle Magazine

The ancient Maya achieved one of the highest levels of civilization of any native peoples in the Americas. Among their intellectual achievements was a form of hieroglyphic writing that enabled them to develop a highly sophisticated concept of time. While they were concerned more with matters of religion and politics than with purely scientific research, they developed a concept of time and space that contravenes the so-called "natural" laws of science. Their ideation was similar to recent scientific theories about time, space, and the creation of the universe. The problem was to discover what, if anything, exists, or can exist, outside of the known universe. The Maya came up with a rather unique solution: two separate but intermeshing calendars.

If asked to name the most important women in Mexican history, Malinche (the guide and translator for Cortez), the writer and poet Juana Inez de la Cruz and the insurgent Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez come readily to mind. But the names of the women who blazed the way for the feminist movement here in Mexico are more difficult to recall.

The traditional art forms of the Huichol Indians of Jalisco and Nayarit in western Mexico have a long and illustrious history. Around 1898 Carl Lumholtz, a Norwegian explorer and ethnographer, first described the symbolic and decorative art of the Huichols. From this early study and many others we can now compare Huichol art of today with that of 100 years ago. Today, thanks to new materials and improved techniques Huichol art is even more prolific and varied than it was in Lumholtz's day.

For centuries Indians have been leaving offerings of votive bowls and clay figurines in Lake Chapala for the deities of the waters. Today the Huichol Indians of Jalisco and Nayarit continue the tradition. But their story has a peculiar twist.

Without the Indian maiden, Malinche, the history of New Spain would have been entirely different. She smoothed the way for Hernan Cortes to conquer the Aztec Empire. She taught Cortes the ways of the Aztecs, and was at his side during all negotiations. Malinche was known in the New World as "the tongue of Cortes. "She was a diplomat, strategist and faithful to the new teachings of Christianity. A beautiful girl, she is depicted in the Codices (ancient picture writing) as dressed in the native huipil of the Mayas. Her hair was long and dark and worn loosely about her shoulders. There was an air of confidence and pride, as befitting a personage of royal lineage.