On and on we drove.... down this little one way dirt road full of bumps, and potholes, and kicking up horrendous amounts of dust in our wake. We drove and drove and drove. I felt a bit hesitant, thinking that we were driving a bit too far off the beaten path. All the horror stories of 'off the beaten trail entered my mind...'
We passed old non inhabited houses, we passed fields with stick fences, and meadows with donkeys and horses wandering around. I imagined a flat tire way out there, and pondered who in the world would help us? Yet, we continued on..... wondering what in the world would be at the end of such a forlorn and lonely country road? I couldn't imagine who would be living out here.... yet there was signs of life..... a little shack now and then. And, certainly someone must own those donkeys and horses..... they must be farmers? As the road continued to wind around little mounds here and there, we finally came around a bend and the most serene and mystical sight was before us. A beautiful Coconut grove, hung with a mist of some sort.... it looked like a scene right out of some sort of fairytale movie. We realized at that point that we were entering some sort of little village....... tucked back here in the Coconut groves........
I believe this is a temple ruin being uncovered....
The scenery that confronted our senses, stunned all three of us into a reverent quiet, as we slowly entered what was obviously becoming the village at the end of the dirt road. We felt ourselves transported back in time. way back, centuries back. And, perhaps that is a bit of the specialness of the moment. What we saw was a bit like the village that time forgot. After the splendor of Ixtapa and the abundance of riches and prosperity, here was a small village so unaffected by time.......dirt streets, horses left at the hitching post, children wandering around barefoot, running and laughing at some childish game they were playing...stopping only to observe the intruders in the funny blue car.
I truly felt like an outsider... and didn't want to invade this special village that had somehow evaded the current century.
We pulled up to a funny little casa, and turned off the engine. As we sat there a moment, a man with a broad smile came to the car window and welcomed us to Petatlan! He motioned for us to come and see his museum.... and that's all it took. We unbuckled the seatbelts, got out of the car, and followed him into the little building he called his museum. I would never have thought of it as such, from the outward appearance, but once I walked in, and noticed the glass cases full of artifacts and ancient stone figurines and jewelry, I had to rethink just exactly what was this place?
As we glanced around, the man obviously was used to this type of reaction from his infrequent visitors.... he launched right into his well learned spiel on the museum and its artifacts. He told us a story, how he had lived in this little village all of his life. How he used to play in the surrounding fields and Coconut groves..... and how he used to find 'little dolls' in the dirt, and would bring them home to his mother. He had been doing this kind of thing since he was 5 years old, and now, as a grown man, they had accumulated quite the collection of, what has turned out to be very VERY ancient artifacts. The Mexican government has given him the approval to keep the artifacts there in Petalan, in his little house museum, and he being the museum curator, watches over them and gives the tour around the glass cases, of his one room museum. It was simply amazing. Here was a collection of artifacts, usually only seen in a book, or exhibited in some large Museum..... I just was amazed.
Then, this man launched into a story in Spanish, that Chuy translated for us. Evidently, he has a dream. He dreams of creating a museum that will attract visitors and create tourism for his little village. He dreams of paving Petalan with cobblestones, and bringing in running water..... He dreams of a better school for the little kids............ and a few little stores for the visitors to buy things. He dreams.... of one day, making a difference in his little village, way out in the middle of no-where. He then took us outside and showed us a huge stone artifact that his aunt accidentally uncovered in the ground while she was sweeping the dirt one day. Apparently as she swept away, a stone started showing...and come to find out, it was the covering for a grave.
Well, our dreamer man took that stone, and stood it upright, and proudly shows it off as part of his 'tourist attraction. It has ancient engravings on it...... very pretty stone.......
As Chuy translated much of the conversation, I learned that the Mexican government has sent archaeologists to verify all the findings and their authenticity. They are some of the oldest artifacts found in Mexico.
Well, during this time, the name of the village; PETALAN was sounding familiar. I knew I had heard that name before...... then it dawned on me..... PETATES!! The Woven matts that the Mexican Indians sleep on! SO! This village actually was named for that....
And inside the museum I saw a picture depicting this village and its people in the late 1400's, about the time the Spanish Conquistadors invaded and scouted around most of Mexico.
This man and all of the village claim to be direct descendants of the original Indians of PETALAN. This was such a treat! Talking to this man was like experiencing living history, actually it was!
As we finished our tour around this little self made museum and its immediate surroundings, the man asked us to sign his guestbook...and that was when I was shocked again as I saw that visitors from as far away as France and Germany had been to this little forlorn village. What really surprised me and Julie, was the guest that said he was from Machias, Washington! Hmmm such a small world.
We wandered around the village a bit, Julie found a single 'Corona beer for sale, and a villager came up to us with a hand rolled cigar, made from home grown tobacco right there..... the cost, only $1 (one dollar).
We were entranced with this little village...and even though the man at the museum has big dreams for little Petalan, I sorta hope it stays just as it is.......
He did give us a little tidbit of information as we tipped him for his time, and made way to leave....he told us of an excavation going on nearby, where they believe they have found a temple ruin.
I took a picture of what I believe was this ruin, as we were driving out of the village, along the dirt road back to the hyway.
What a nice day we had....and such an unexpected surprise we found at the end of the little lonely dirt road/
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