“Were the strangers Maya?” I asked.
“Maybe one or two. But some were white with yellow hair. Some were in nightgowns. Some were dressed in—I can’t remember the word.” He paused and spoke in Spanish to his friend who did not seem to understand what he was trying to say.
“Were they wearing work clothes, formal clothes like evening gowns, school clothes…?” I asked.
“Yes. Fancy clothes.”
“And others?”
“Different clothes. It was like they were all taken in the middle of something else. Like going to bed, or working, or out for the evening.”
“And from your description, would you say they were all from Mexico?” I asked.
“I don’t think so. Too many blondes. Maybe all over the world. None of them saw me. No emotion, no fight. They just sat there. No movement. No life in them. I tried to talk to one man but he did not react. The short ones saw me trying to talk to the others, and they forcibly removed me to a room away from everyone.” He paused and looked at Mario. “They forced me to drink some kind of a liquid that tasted of dirt. It was thick and slimy and I almost threw up. After a few minutes they put me inside a machine and turned me upside down. I stayed there for several minutes. I could not move. I felt numb, except I was wide awake. My head felt like it was going to explode. I don’t know how long they kept me there, but the next thing I remember, Lorenzo and me were standing alone on the dark road and the craft was disappear [sic].”
“Can you describe the craft?” I asked.
“It was a long cylinder. It had a lot of bright lights but the whole craft seemed to glow from a bright red to an orange. Once it settled to the ground, it was a light orange. But the colors were like some kind of glowing lights. I never figured that out.”
“Can you describe the beings that captured you?”
“Not well. They were short and powerful. They never spoke but I understood what they wanted.”
“Do you remember any other features of your abductors?”
“Señora, I think they drugged me because I fought so much. So everything was blurry to me.”
“Where was your friend Lorenzo while you were enduring their experiments?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I have no memory of seeing him until we found ourselves on the road together.”
“Is Lorenzo here tonight?” I asked.
“Lorenzo lives in Cancun. I can give you the address of the hotel where he works. Perhaps you can look him up. Maybe he remembers more.”
“I had a different experience,” Gabriel said. I looked at the middle-aged man who broke the silence. He was a small man, but the muscles in his arms revealed a man who worked hard all of his life. He came closer and Mario and Tohil slid over, and he sat down in front of me. When he smiled, I saw that he only had one tooth.” I worked at the Palenque ruins until my legs wore out. I got arthritis in my knees real bad,” he explained. “The park officials like young men who can climb the pyramids and look after the tourists. I could no longer do that.” I saw a sadness in his face representative of men who had lost their jobs due to physical conditions.
“I am so sorry,” I said. “I would have hired you. I like guides who walk slower and allow me to enjoy the city,” I said. I heard the other men mumble in agreement.
“You make an old man feel happy, Señora. I will tell you my story. It happened one night. I was picking up papers, water bottles, cans that were thrown around by the tourists.”
“Is this a job required of all the tour guides?”
“Not anymore. In the old days we did everything. Mostly they hire women now. But in the old days, they expected us to keep the place clean.”
“What time was it?”
“Late in the evening. Before dark, but all the tourists were gone. I found myself over a mile from the entrance when the sky became dark and a lightning storm came up. Taking cover in one of the structures, I decided to wait out the storm. It lasted much longer than I expected. Darkness came and I was still inside the ruins. As the rain eased, I decided to head home. That’s when a circular craft came out of the clouds and settled in the plaza. Three men, covered in light, came out of the craft. They stopped in front of the Temple of Inscriptions and turned themselves into balls of light. I watched as they floated upward to the top of the entrance and then they disappeared.” He paused for a moment and lit a cigarette. “I ran across the plaza, keeping to the edges and out of sight. Before leaving the plaza, I looked back, but the craft was still there. As I walked down the hill toward the town, I saw the craft move above the trees and head south, and then in a second it was gone.”
“Do you have any idea what they wanted?” I asked.
“None. I was afraid. I wanted to get out of there. I didn’t stay to find out.”
“I have seen the lights many times,” Vincente said. Everyone turned in the direction of an elder who sat at the end of the table. Pax had introduced him to me earlier as one of his closest friends. They could have passed for brothers. “Anyone who has spent time outside at night has seen the lights. Sometimes they come from a craft; sometimes they just appear. I have seen the Sky People turn into balls of light in front of my eyes. I have also seen them disappear. They have great powers. I always try to stay away from them. They are dangerous.”
“Why do you believe they are dangerous?” I asked.
“Power destroys people. Look at the people of Earth. Those with power are destructive. These Sky Men have power much greater than the Earth men. They must be dangerous.”
“Have you ever seen them do anything destructive?” I asked.
“No. But I still believe they are dangerous.”
“I agree with Vincente,” Xaman, a full-blood Maya who described himself as a university graduate, spoke up. “I think Vincente is right. I think they are checking out the Earth. Maybe they want to take it over. Maybe they are like the Spaniards who invaded our lands. Anyone with power has the potential to destroy those who are perceived as weaker, less intelligent, or unable to defend themselves. If you do not have power, you are doomed in this universe. It is the law of the cosmos. At one time, the Maya had the power. Our ancestors chose not to pass along those powers to their children. Now we are like the others. We are at the mercy of the power people. It has been that way for centuries.” All the men nodded in agreement.
“I agree that they have great power, but I think the danger is that they can take us onboard their craft and make us do whatever they want and the Mexican military cannot protect us,” the elder Vicente said. “I don’t think they are the Sky Gods of our grandfathers. The visitors today are others from the universe. The ones who brought us here looked like us. The ones we have seen are taller than us, shorter than us, and none of them look like us.” The other men nodded in agreement.
“Does anyone else have a story to share with the Doctora?” Pax asked.
“I have a story,” a woman called from the doorway. When I asked Pax to invite the women to tell their stories, three came forth. The men immediately stood and disappeared. The women sat down at the table. They were all related to Pax, either by marriage or bloodlines. Pax stayed behind to translate.
“I cannot tell this story in front of the other men,” Isabella, Pax’s sister, said. “Pax is okay. He is our priest, our father, our confessor, our relative. I do not tell this story to many people, but I like you,” she declared. She walked to the table and sat across from me. “I was taken onboard a space ship and they took samples of my hair and I think they examined me. I was about fifteen at the time. I could not remember much of what happened to me, but later, I was in front of my house. I had my clothes in my hand. I was naked.”
“Did you notice anything different about your body?” I asked.
“My time of the month had started. I became a woman overnight.”
“Did you have any marks on your body?” I asked.
“None that I remember,” she said. “But I never felt the same after that. I felt that someo
ne was always watching me.”
“I have the same feeling. I had an encounter when I was seventeen,” Elena, Pax’s mother-in-law, said. “I was alone at home. My parents had gone to a parade. It was the Day of the Dead. I was sick and decided to stay home. I was asleep when something woke me. I opened my eyes and saw two strangers standing over me. Before I could scream, I became paralyzed.” She paused and looked at the two other women in the room. “The next thing I remember, I was in a room with other people. Most were strangers, but I saw my cousin, Yax, and his cousin, Eduardo. They were sitting in the corner on a bench. I sat next to them, but they did not recognize me. I think they were under a spell.”
“Did you try to wake them?” I asked.
“I tried. I shook my cousin, and I reached over and pinched Eduardo, but neither of them responded. After that, I remember nothing.”
“Do you remember going into another room or being separated from the group?” I asked.
“Nothing. I have no memory. When my parents came home, I woke. I thought I was dreaming, but when I got up to greet them, I realized I was naked. I looked around and found my clothes in the corner next to my hammock. I quickly dressed but I never told anyone about that night. I don’t think I dreamed it.”
“Do you remember anything about the people who took you?” I asked.
“I don’t remember seeing them,” she said.
“I think they have been making us have their babies for a long time,” Camilla, Pax’s wife, said. I looked at the short, round woman with two missing front teeth. Her salt and pepper hair was wound into a bun at the base of her neck and made her round face appear even rounder. “I have no proof, but once when I was about thirteen, I thought I was pregnant, and yet I had never been with a boy. I had all the symptoms of pregnancy. I told myself it was like the Blessed Mother Mary. I was impregnated by God. It was at the same time I saw a spaceship. Then several weeks later, I saw another spacecraft. The next day, I did not feel pregnant and my time of the month had started.”
“Are you telling me that you believe you have had a half-human, half-alien baby?” I asked.
“I’m not sure, but it felt that way to me. When I realized I was not pregnant, I was very sad. For some reason, I convinced myself that I was pregnant and even if I did not know the father, I was going to keep and protect this baby. Afterward, I felt like part of me was gone. Even today, I think of that baby. I was sure I was pregnant and I still do not know how that happened.”
As the other women listened to Camilla, they all demonstrated empathy toward her. Each of them had lost a baby during their child-bearing years and they could relate to the emptiness of her feelings. After listening to them for about a half hour, I asked them if they had any questions for me. Most of them were surprised to see me traveling alone. We talked about my culture and the matriarchal societies and agreed that Maya women once held greater prominence than modern Maya women. “It’s the machismo of the Spanish that ruined our men,” Elena said. They all agreed. I wondered how Pax could be regarded in such a fashion. He was outnumbered almost fifteen to one.
Every time I returned to Palenque, I visited Pax and his family. While still surrounded by women, he was hopeful that his pregnant daughter would bring him a grandson in the spring. He told me if the child is a boy, he wanted me to give him a name. True to his word, a grandson was born, and I named the boy: Geronimo after the great Apache warrior.
Chapter 34
They Walk Among Us
When Stephens and Catherwood visited Palenque, the Maya refused to spend the night in Palenque with them. They believed the place to be haunted by the ancestors. It was in Palenque that I first heard of the invisible Star People.
In this chapter you will read about this phenomenon from a Lacandon Indian who chose to straddle two cultures to support his family.
There are Lacandon Indians who work at the entrance to the Palenque Archeological Park selling handmade bows and arrows to tourists. They attract attention from the tourists because of their unusual dress: a simple white, homespun-cotton gown that falls between their knees and ankles. The dress is the same for the Lacandon Indian men, women, and children. I had the good fortune to be accompanied by Hernando, who was friends with one of the Lacandon vendors. When I was introduced to Alom, he told me the Star People still walked on their land.
“When I was a boy, my grandfather told me about the Star People. He said if we could go to our place of birth, where our ancestors live, we would see the Maya culture and language is the same there as it was once in our great cities. That is the reason the Maya can communicate freely with the People from the Stars. They speak our language.”
“Have you heard about the Star People who come to Earth and take people or animals to their spacecraft and conduct experiments?” I asked.
“Intrusos. They are the—how you say, interlop…?”
“Interlopers?”
“Yes. Interlopers. They are not the Star People who guided us here. These Star People are from other stars. They are not friends. They are intrusos. Invaders.”
“What can you tell me about the Star People?” I asked.
“The Star People are invisible to most people on Earth. They do not see them. People have forgotten to look beyond what the eyes can see. At one time every human had this ability. But they got lazy and lost the power. They are not aware the Star People walk among us. They are invisible to their eyes.”
“Are they with us now?” I asked.
“They always come to Palenque. The elders say Palenque was a star base in the ancient days. They come here to cry for the Earth. They knew it when it was untouched.”
“Do the Star People participate in your ceremonies?” I asked. “Or maybe I should ask, do they ever give you messages in your ceremonies?”
“We still practice the old ceremonies. In my village, there is a ceremony that is performed for all things visible and all things not visible. Sometimes they appear at our ceremonies.”
“How do they show themselves?” I asked.
“Many people have seen the balls of light but not all have seen the humanoid appearance of the invisibles. The trouble with the people today is that they do not see the invisible. To see the invisible, you have to look inside yourself. The modern-day people are ruled by law, not by heart.”
“Does this apply to the Maya as well as others?”
“The Maya are the guiltiest. They were the first to receive the gift, but now that they have been influenced by the Ladinos. Many have lost the gift. We are the Hach Winik, the real people. When our children forget that, there will be no one who will be able to see the Star People.”
“Are any of your children able to see the Star People?”
“A few. There are children from traditional families who are taught to see, but so many have chosen the modern ways. They are no longer interested.” He paused for a moment and looked at the tourist buses leaving Palenque. “If you go into Palenque today, find a place away from the crowds and sit quietly. You will feel the Star People trying to communicate with you.”
Before heading north to Merida and the ruins of Uxmal, Stephens tried to buy Palenque. The asking price for the 6,000 acres with a deduction for all the clutter of stone palaces and pyramids was $1,500. There was another obstacle, however, very unlike that he had encountered in Honduras: A foreigner in Mexico could not purchase property unless married to a Mexican. Stephens desperately wanted the ruins and briefly romanced the Bravo sisters, two local beauties who lived in Palenque. In the end he departed, still single.
I didn’t try to buy Palenque, but I must admit the site held a spell over me. I have visited Palenque eight times, each time staying longer than before. I am convinced that Alom was right. You can feel the Star People in Palenque, but you must be open to the possibility. There is a spirituality in the ancient city that is difficult to dismiss, and at night it is not unusual to see the balls of light. As Alom counseled, you have to be able to see the invisible.
The Space-Traveling Maya
On more than one occasion, I met elders who explained that the temples at each site were the dwelling places of the gods on Earth. The Lacandon Indians, who live in the jungles of the Chiapas, along the Mexican side of the Usumacinta River and its tributaries, believed that the gods once lived in the great pyramids, but a time came when the gods returned to the sky and built dwelling places on other planets.
The Lacandon are the most isolated and culturally conservative of Mexico’s indigenous population, and have been the harbingers of the ancient spiritual practices, traditions, and the original stories of the Maya. Today, the Lacandon presence is visible at Bonampak, an ancient Maya city that borders Guatemala.
Stephens and Catherwood never made it to Bonampak, and even today, although some tourists do make it to Bonampak, it is a rather difficult and distant journey.
In this chapter, you will meet a Lacandon elder who added another dimension to the space-traveling Maya: a star map of the solar system.
After meeting the Lacandon father and son at Casa Na Bolom, I decided to spend a day at Bonampak, where reportedly Lacandon Indians played a pivotal role in the maintenance of the ancient site. Hernando told me he knew a Lacandon elder named Canek who knew the old stories about the Maya and if he were at the site, he would encourage Canek to talk to me about the old ways.
We had not been at the site for more than a few minutes when Canek approached us. “I understand you are looking for me, old friend,” he said in perfect English, addressing my driver.
“I told the Doctora that I would ask you to tell her about the Maya connection with the Sky People.” The elder smiled and sat down between the two of us. He smelled of herbs that I was unable to identify. Dressed in the traditional gown of his people, he appeared much cooler than those of us dressed in Western clothing. When he noticed that the hot sun was making me uncomfortable, he suggested we moved to a log that was shaded by an ancient structure.
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