Miscellanea is Ric Hajovsky’s blog dealing with his research into aspects of history, natural history, ethnology, philology and other areas that do not appear in his “Cozumel History” blog.
Miscellanea also contains the occasional left turn; an abrupt deviation from his normal lines of inquiry when something else bright and shiny catches his attention.
Quintana Roo was named after Andrés Eligio Quintana Roo in 1902.
Andrés was born in Mérida in 1787 to José Matías Quintana and doña María Ana Roo de Quintana. José Matías founded and edited the pro-independence movement newspaper Clamores de la Fielidad Americana during 1813 and 1814. Considered a rebel-rouser by the Spanish Viceroy, José Matías Quintana was arrested and sent to prison in Fort San Juan de Ulúa.
In 1985, I took part in the “Tulum Lighthouse Project,” a project of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) which was underwritten by the National Geographic Society and the Kempner Fund. The project was the idea of Michael Creamer, an American who came up with the theory that the twin window/vent holes on the ocean-facing side of the building in Tulum known as “El Castillo” could act as a sort of range light system for Mayan canoes attempting to cross over the reef at night to land on the beach next to the building.