Nearly 30 years ago, Mike and I found ourselves in Tikal, an ancient Mayan city in the Guatemalan highlands.

The country was immersed in civil war, we spoke little Spanish, and we were in waaay over our heads. Talk about “accidental tourists”!

Howler monkeys, giant insects, oppressive jungle … what an adventure!

While visiting the “Maya” exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, we got to relive memories of our first real travel adventure.

In the exhibit, an interactive kiosk invites you to choose 2 words for your name, then spits out 2 Mayan glyphs.

I selected my Maya name: FIRE JAGUAR

The word sign version: K’ahk’ Bahlam            The sound sign version: K’a-K'(a) Ba-la-m(a)

Highlights from NOVA’s “Cracking the Maya Code”:

1958: Tatiana Proskouriakoff, a Russian-born American and architect by trade, took work drawing reconstructions of the ruins at Piedras Negras, a Classic Maya site on the border between Mexico and Guatemala. Later, while examining photographs of the stelae, or commemorative stone slabs, she convincingly proved the markings on the stelae depicted a king’s life from birth to death … the glyphs told the stories of the Maya.

1981: It had been thought that the Maya wrote in rebus, in which symbols are used for whole words. (For example, “I can see” would be an eye, a tin can, and the sea.) Astonishingly, 15-year-old David Stuart discovered that individual Maya words could be written in multiple ways, using different symbols for the same sounds, as in “faze” and “phase.” His revelation enabled scholars to read many glyphs once considered indecipherable.

Learn more at the NOVA web page, “Cracking the Maya Code.”

Tikal nearly 30 years ago
(photo by Michael Baum & Patrice Rhoades-Baum)

Thanks to roving gangs of ravenous deer, we never see tulips – the harbinger of spring for most folks.

Instead, we are greeted by wild-growing Pasque flowers. There’s something special about these first blooms of spring, bobbing their heads along mountain trails, after a Colorado winter!

Quick research on the Internet reveals that the lavender petals of Pasque flower were once used to dye Easter eggs. (I would take that “fact” with a grain of salt.)

A common name for Pasque flower is Easter flower. I learned that pasque is related to paschal, an adjective meaning “of or pertaining to Easter” – the time of year this spring plant blooms.

During last weekend’s hike, I was a shutterbug, taking multiple pictures of these lavender beauties. Here’s my favorite photo …

An erratic fellow, Old Man Winter has been coming and going in extremes this season. Here in Manitou Springs, Colorado, we have been on a rollercoaster ride for months. We’ll bask in a warm and pleasant spell – then, just a few days later, plummet to record-breaking cold temps.

As an example, today is bitterly cold and snowing. Last Sunday, our hiking group enjoyed an exceptionally warm, sunny day punctuated by Colorado’s striking blue sky.

To add adventure to our hike, Erica led us down a side trail to a rope swing she had recently discovered. Mike and I gave it a whirl. He had a bit of trouble disembarking!

Pikes Peak photo by Michael Baum
Above photos by Michael Baum and Patrice Rhoades-Baum