Just to the north of the burial place above was a much older part. The next two pictures are not colorful either, but this section seemed to be abandoned. What I found interesting was the stone, limestone with embedded sea creatures, with which some of the tombs and the wall was built and the way it has weathered.
We found the grave below remarkable because of the turbaned figure. The occupant had a Spanish name and the script was Spanish and we had no notion why there was a figure in addition to Christ. It wasn't a statue commonly seen in the area. We did see Arabic script (or at least I think it was Arabic) in the other part, but it wasn't present here.
There are workmen at the edges of the burial grounds who will repair or maintain the graves on a job by job basis. These fellows have found a new use for abandoned tombs--janitor's closets.
An amazing tree growing right out of some one's last resting place.
I call this one the tomb raider.
This tree, and the one above, are seen a lot in the cemeteries. Kent and I wondered if it was because it must go through a remarkable resurrection at some point in its life. Even on these bare limbs it produces a bouquet of a blossom and those banana-like seed pods.
Pam going native near the Mayan house tombs. I finally ditched my black hat for the cheapest straw one I could buy and some light, white cotton clothes. I hope the Mexicans don't know about the old Saturday Night Live Coneheads. Or maybe I wish they did know and then provide me with six packs of beer while I tour the cemeteries.
These angels with one finger to their lips and one pointing at heaven are everyplace.
1902 was the date on this grave.
The picture below is of the union plot. I wonder what the SDSU faculty plot might look like.
And the bones I promised. I don't know whether this was vandalized or not, but there were several graves in which one could see human remains. Apparently no one minds or cleans them up. In some instances people are buried and then a number of years later, after the body has become nothing but bone, the grave is dug up and the bones are placed in a small tin ossuary. There are at least two tin boxes in this grave.
A detail of above. Yes, there are two skulls, broken. Perhaps I should have posed this picture better, but I was reluctant to disturb anything. The plaster leg is from a statue that probably used to decorate the tomb.
I don't think the leg bones used to have those tennis shoes at the end of them. This is probably just a place a groundskeeper has thrust some trash. At first I didn't notice the bone, just the shoes.
And finally, an odd fellow, lightened from his deep shadow in Photoshop so that you can see the Spanish colonial character of the statue. I wonder if the family who erected this monument had some ancient claim to a noble name and wanted it commemorated forever.
