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| "Swingin' in a hammock in the palm tree shade..." |
When
we first moved to Isla six years ago, I jokingly asked a Mexican
friend, “So, how do you have sex in a hammock?”
His face turned
bright red in embarrassment, and he chuckled. “If you sleep every
night for one year in a hammock, I'll tell you,” he replied.
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| Bright colours |
Hammocks
are common in local homes, strung across the main room, maximizing space in a limited-size home, and providing comfort for the entire
family. They were originally developed in Central and South America
as a portable method of keeping the sleeping person cool and
reasonably safe from venomous snakes, scorpions and disease-carrying insects.
These useful accessories eventually made their way into the
Yucatán Peninsula area of Mexico a couple of hundred years before
the arrival of the Spanish explorers.
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| Manuel Jesus Pech Pat - in his Isla store |
Around
1590, many European naval sailing ships were using the idea of a
canvas sling hammock to accommodate more sleeping spaces in cramped
quarters and to prevent the sailors from being injured by rolling out
of their bunk beds during rough weather.
Many sailors became so
accustomed to this way of sleeping that they brought their hammocks with
them while on shore leave.
In recent years, during the Apollo Space
program, the Lunar Capsule was equipped with hammocks for the captain
and the lunar module pilot to sleep in, between space walks.
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| Julian Cauih |
Originally
made from tree bark and sisal modern-day tropical hammocks are
typically woven from either cotton or nylon yarns. Several villages
like Ek Balam and Tixkokob near the City of Mérida specialize in
making hammocks for sale in Mexico or around the world. They are
hand-woven by men, women and children, while the larger hammocks
might be made on a loom.
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| Located inside the Mercado del Artesano |
On
Isla Mujeres, a display of colourful hammocks caught my eye as I walked past the Mercado del Artesano in centro on Isla Mujeres. I
stopped to chat with the vendor, Manuel Jesus Pech Pat. He was born
in his family village in the Yucatán, and has now lived on Isla for
forty-two years.
Manuel told me that the average chair hammock takes
about sixteen hours to create, while the larger two-person hammocks
take up to thirty-two hours to weave. A good hammock will have the
knots in the twine at the ends, not in the middle of the sleeping
area. The weave will be reasonably tight and even.
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| Manuel weaving a hammock |
Chatting
as he demonstrated the hand-weaving method of making hammocks, he
hardly looked at what his hands were doing - muscle memory performing the intricate stitches. He and his uncle Julian Cauih share the
little bodega. On
sunny days, you can see Manuel walking the beaches selling his
hammocks to tourists and Cancun day-trippers, while his uncle minds
the store. Stop in for a visit at their store and check out their
supply of hammocks, blankets and handwoven jackets. Their store is
in the Mercado del Artesano on Abasolo Street, facing the Poc-Na
hostel.
As
for the original question to my now very good friend, well, Lawrie and I didn't fulfill
our part of the bargain by sleeping in a hammock every night for one
year, so I never did learn the answer to the question. More
research is required!
Hasta
luego
Lawrie, Lynda, Thomas, and Sparky
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