Bush and other occidental tourists

Posted by Mark Silva at 3:35 pm CST

Who says President Bush has no appreciation for the finer, cultural attractions of the foreign countries that he visits? So what if he went to India and never stopped to see the Taj Mahal?

Today, Bush took a little – and we mean, little – tour of the ancient Mayan ruins at Chichen-Itza on his way to a trilateral summit meeting with the leaders of Mexico and Canada at Cancun.

This was not only a trilateral, but also a trilingual event, as Bush, Mexican President Vicente Fox and new Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper met at the ruins outside Cancun.

“This is a good start to a very important series of discussions,’’ said Bush, getting ready for talks with Mexico about immigration and talks with Canada about softwood exports and devoting about an hour to some tourism. “Thank you for letting us begin our very important meetings at this very significant historical site. And I congratulate our guide, and I want to thank those who have worked hard to make sure this important part of history is accessible and is available for people to understand the past, so we can better understand the future.’’

The president arrived in business casual: a crisp white tropical short-sleeved shirt, khaki slacks and rough-soled hiking shoes. Harper, who accompanied Bush in the motorcade from their hotel and aboard the president’s Marine One helicopter for a ride to the ruins, wore a blue short-sleeved shirt, green hiking vest and brown slacks.

At the ruins of the ancient city, a four-square mile complex that stands as testament to an extinct culture and Mexico’s most extensively restored archaeological site, Bush and Harper met Fox, waiting in his Panama-styled hat, long-sleeved tropical shirt and brown slacks.

The three leaders stood in the shadow of El Castillo, a massive Kukulcan pyramid roughly at the center of the site. The construction of El Castillo was planned so that at each Vernal Equinox the setting sun would cast a shadow of a serpent writhing down the steps of the pyramid – though some 40,000 people a year go to see the appearance of the shadowy snake, Bush and company were gone by noon.

It’s unknown if the modern-day North American triumvirate stayed long enough to learn that the Mayan culture had originated in the Yucatan around 2600 B.C. and rose to prominence around 250 A.D. in present-day Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras, or that it had developed sophisticated astronomy, calendars and hieroglyphic writing and by 300 BC had adopted a hier-archical system of government featuring nobles and kings.

For those interested in learning about the past to better understand the future, it was probably worth noting here that the Mayan society had consisted of many states, each with large urban centers built around ceremonial sites, and started to decline around 900 A.D. The southern Maya abandoned their cities and the northern Maya were assimilated into the Toltec society by 1200 A.D.

Federica Sodi, lead archaeologist at Chichen-Itza, did offer Bush, Fox and Harper an explanation of what they were seeing, and the leaders stopped to watch a band perform a Yucatan song and dance called Jarana. Bush smiled and swayed some as the band and dancers went through their paces, according to our intrepid pool-reporter at the pyramid today, Bill Douglas of Knight-Ridder Newspapers.

At the steep-sided pyramid, Bush, Fox and Harper could see their own security forces standing atop the structure carrying weapons and binoculars. The three climbed up just three of the pyramid’s 365 steps before moving on a temple, the walls inside adorned with murals of the gods – according to the tour guide.

“I think we stand here in a historic site,’’ Harper said after the tour, speaking in French, “a symbol here of our determination to to build a new future for all inhabitants of North America.’’

And that was about it for this day’s one adventure outside the bubble of the summit. Back to the helicopters, and back to Cancun.