We arrived in San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas and were introduced to a famous Mayan king through a rather interesting play that may have caused us to giggle more than once. It was told in a local indigenous language with very few subtitles, which made the story quite challenging to follow.
Pakal, the king, lived till he was 80 and was very tall, he is an emblematic figure of Palenque, an archeological site close by. The play showed some of their rituals, such as piercing their genitals or thigh with a needle. The blood that came out was burnt and the smoke represented their offering to the gods. It felt a bit like a smoky room with people on drugs hallucinating. There are carvings in Palenque that explain this ritual.
We also got to see the famous ball game, they used light projections to show the trajectory of the ball. It would have been more exciting to see it with a real rubber ball but I believe it's quite complicated to play, especially on a small stage play.
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