2015 Guatemala Trip Day Two - Miraflores Museum (Museo Miraflores) and Miraflores Mall

I had decided I'd try venturing out and around the city on my own instead of taking tours this time.  So, after sleeping in for a bit, I caught a taxi to the Museo Miraflores, which is about the Mayan ruins they found in Guatemala City called Kaminaljuyu.  Kaminaljuyu was one of the first important Mayan cities (peak 400 BC to 100 AD) and had the first literate upper class of all the Mayans cities.

Sadly, most of the ruins have been covered by the city itself.  The original city was abandoned when the lake it was built on dried up - archaelogists believe this occurred due to overusage for agricultural purposes.

The museum cost Q40 (about $5) for foreigners.  That is one thing that is very common in Guatemala - there is often a much cheaper rate for locals than tourists.  If you read all of the signs, this museum will take you about an hour.  Compared to Popol Vuh and Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, what this museum offers that is unique is the integration of the items you're seeing into how the people lived.  It was here that they noted it is possible to tell if a bowl was used for cooking or not by whether the bottom is blackened and where they had examples of the typical foods Mayans ate.  They also had a display talking about burial rituals and the division of labor between men and women.  If you skip it and see the others, you won't miss much in terms of the actual types of artifacts, but I did like the focus on the lifestyle that was given here.

This guy was found in Escuintla on the South Coast and would have been one of a pair of statues guarding the entrance to an important building.  He's from 700-900 AD.  This guy is unusual because he still shows signs of having red, black and yellow painting.

























I also found it interesting here how many items were out where somebody could touch them (I didn't), which is somewhat uncommon in the US.  Again, the stories here made the items interesting, such as learning that the statutes with big rounded bellies were made to represent obese men who made up a "cult" from Monte Alto, Escuintla that spread to other parts of Guatemala.  These statues were from 400 BC-250 AD.  You can see how intricate the carving is and how detailed given the limited tools they had.

There was a nice display of different items made using obsidian as well:

I found the mushroom carvings to be interesting.  At Museo Miraflores, it was noted that they are frequently found in agricultural fields and are thought to possibly be property boundary markers; however, there are other possibilities, including that they represent hallucinogenic mushrooms that the Maya are known to have eaten.

There were also example of ceramics from later periods with elaborate and colorful depictions on them:

If you're interested in reading more about how these items were used and the cultural significance, then visiting Museo Miraflores is a great idea!

Since the museum only took an hour and I'd asked the cab driver to come back in two hours, I went next door to the Miraflores Mall.  It was obvious pretty quickly that the mall was upscale, although largely full of Guatemalan people.  I don't know if it was the places I visited or that I just wasn't paying attention, but one of the first things I noticed was that the women were largely wearing skinny jeans and sweaters (low to mid 70s is sweater and coat weather here).  I also saw many women in traditional Mayan clothing even in a modern mall, which I thought was fantastic!  There were a small number of women wearing skirts at the knee or below, so short skirts are still not found here.  Neither are super tight or low-cut tops.  I saw them sold in the mall, but not a single person wearing them.

This mall was also extremely expensive compared to what I've seen other places in Guate - $15 for a basic baby outfit, $40 for jeans, $15 for a paperback book and $35 for a soccer ball.  Of course, I also had the $100 soccer ball fiasco.  There was a bin marked with items on sale, so I grabbed two soccer balls from it, even though the price was still around $20 each.  As it turned out, that price was "starting at" and I had selected a $100 Nike soccer ball.  When the clerk told me the price, there was fortunately a very nice bilingual lady nearby who was able to tell them to cancel the sale!  I'd read ahead that Q50-60 for taxi rides in the city was standard, but the driver charged me Q75 - apparently, you're supposed to barter with the white taxis, but that really isn't something I enjoy.

When I got back to the hotel, I decided that for the last two days after visiting my sponsored kids that I'd take tours after all.  I contacted the tour group inside the hotel and the group I went with before, Guatemalan Adventures,  The prices were better with Guatemalan Adventures, so I booked the tours with them again!