3-22-2015 Maya Day in Blue Creek

Yesterday we saw these iguana tracks on our beach.

This morning we saw him outside enjoying a banana peel.

Our Mayan friend, Victor, had told us about Maya Day, so we drove with him to his place and picked up his wife and two of his children and headed to Blue Creek for Maya Day.

On the Southern Highway you see signs for pedestrians...

Signs for bicyclists...

Signs for horse and buggies (Mennonites)...

And signs for tapirs - where else would you see all that but Belize!?

The nice map of the event location.

The event encompassed a huge area, and there were about 1,000 to 2,000 people in Blue Creek (ordinarily a village of 450).
The event brings Kekchi, Mopan and Yucatec Maya from across the country.

There were musicians playing traditional music, and dancers did traditional dances.

There was a presentation of a plaque to Florencio Mas for his musical contributions.

The line of stalls along one side had games for kids and informational booths.  A line of stalls on the other side were full of
food booths.

There was even a bounce house for the little ones.

There was a "fancy dress" contest, in which the contestants had to make their outfits from recycled materials.

Here you see a woman rocking her baby in this white sheet, which is hanging from her head.

There was a conch shell blowing contest, a cacao grinding contest, and much more!

Participants getting dressed for the Deer Dance.

Everybody gathered around to watch the Deer Dance.

The costumes are bright and colorful, and the masks are incredible.

One of the European looking dancers aiming his wooden rifle at a deer dancer.

Here is a video of part of the Deer Dance:

Last were dancers on stilts from the nearby cultural learning center.

Here you see a jaguar, a blue butterfly, and an owl.

There was also a toucan, a parrot, and a couple other beautifully dressed dancers that I could not identify.

It was a hot, sunny day, and lots of people were enjoying nearby Blue Creek.

It was a veritable traffic jam as people departed on the one road out of the village.