My Way Is The Highway

THE MAYAN RUINS OF COPAN

This blog post is part of of our trip to Guatemala and Honduras in Dec 2012 amidst the evocative Mayan ruins in a lush jungle, a quaint lazy colonial town and a tropical Caribbean beach. Other articles in this series: Tikal Sunrise and Sunset Spots for Photographers | Astronomical Observatory of Uaxactun |Smoking Frog of Uaxactun | Following Frederick Catherwood | The Mayan Ruins of Copán |The Modern Town of Copán |

December 2012

I sit on a boulder besides a dusty single lane road not too far from the Guatemala-Honduras border. A centuries old grotesque statue of an old man lies half buried a couple of feet away. Rio Copán happily gurgles somewhere behind me. In front lies a lush verdant valley with dotted with fields of tobacco and plantation. From a nearby tree, a macaw suddenly takes flight, spreading its colorful wings luxuriously gliding over an unfelt air current drifting away silently into the horizon. A howler monkey crashes through the tree falling freely, hurtling to certain death towards the ground when at the very last moment it pulls itself up by the thinnest of a branch and swings away nonchalantly.

The landscape is shrouded by mist that swirls over two towns within half a mile of each other. On my right, the modern town of Copán is deep in slumber after the late night spent in Christmas revelry. It will wake up in a few hours. But not the ancient town of Copán on my left because it has been asleep for the last thirteen centuries.

But make no mistake. Copán is far from dead. Having witnessed its peak in the eighth century, it rapidly diminished in power sometime after that and was lost to the undergrowth until it was discovered by a dynamic duo of adventurers in the mid-nineteenth century. Befitting the ancient Mayan traditional belief in afterlife, today it lives a another life.

Japanese willow resplendent in fall colors, Kubota Garden, Seattle

I got a couple of good shots during my last visit to Kubota garden, but I was not satisfied. That day was overcast and I did not get to capture what I had started out for - fall colors backlit by the sun.

The next few days, Seattle was shrouded in a heavy cloak of fog and clouds. Not a ray of sunlight escaped the seize. I did my part. I kept the camera ready in the boot of my car just to take advantage of the vagaries of nature, if such a chance came my way.

Coming out of a meeting, I realized that the sky heavily overcast an hour ago had cleared and a soft sunset was on its way. I ran to my car and pointed it across the bridge to Kubota garden. As I reached the garden, the sun had already started dipping behind the tall fir trees and I rushed to the east most part of the garden.

There, just for under five minutes, a Japanese maple was bathed in the most glorious light. Now I am satisfied.

Seattle Fall Colors @ Kubota

Three years ago while wandering through the farmers market, I was drawn to a stall exhibiting a photo of a massive tree resplendent in fall colors bending over a water body. After praising the image lavishly I innocently asked the lady where it was taken. Hesitatingly she confessed that it was taken at the Kubota Garden in Seattle.

“But don’t fool yourselves in believing that you can go there and come back with a photo like this.” 

I was taken aback by the attitude. I silently paid $3.99 to buy a postcard of her photo and have been keeping it on my desk ever since.

Finally I got to shoot it.

What I thought was a massive tree is no more than 3 feet tall! No wonder she did not mind challenging me. Now I can’t wait for the farmers market to open next year so that I can go show it to her.