IN: Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo consisting of singer-songwriter Paul Simon and singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music groups of the 1960s and became counterculture icons of the decade's social revolution, alongside artists such as the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and Bob Dylan. Their biggest hits--including "The Sound of Silence" (1964), "Mrs. Robinson" (1968), "The Boxer" (1969), and "Bridge over Troubled Water" (1970)--reached number one on singles charts worldwide. Their often rocky relationship led to artistic disagreements, which resulted in their breakup in 1970.

Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. sold only 3,000 copies upon its October release, and its poor sales led Simon to move to England where he had previously visited and played some gigs. He toured the small folk clubs, appearing on the same bill and befriending British folk artists such as Bert Jansch, Martin Carthy, Al Stewart, and Sandy Denny. He met Kathy Chitty, who became the object of his affection and is the Kathy in "Kathy's Song" and "America".  A small music publishing company, Lorna Music, licensed "Carlos Dominguez", a single Simon had cut two years prior as "Paul Kane", for a cover by Val Doonican that sold very well. Simon visited Lorna to thank them, and the meeting resulted in a publishing and recording contract. He signed to the Oriole label and released "He Was My Brother" as a single. Simon invited Garfunkel to stay for the summer of 1964. Near the end of the season, Garfunkel returned to Columbia for class, and Simon surprised his friends by saying that he would be returning to the States as well. He would resume his studies at Brooklyn Law School for one semester, partially at his parents' insistence. He returned to England in January 1965, now certain that music was his calling. In the meantime, his landlord, Judith Piepe, had compiled a tape from his work at Lorna and sent it to the BBC in hopes they would play it. The demos aired on the Five to Ten morning show, and were instantly successful. Oriole had folded into CBS by that point, and hoped to record a new Paul Simon album. The Paul Simon Songbook was recorded in June 1965 and featured multiple future Simon & Garfunkel staples, among them "I Am a Rock" and "April Come She Will". CBS flew Wilson over to produce the record, and he stayed at Simon's flat. The album saw release in August, and although sales were poor, Simon felt content with his future in England.  Meanwhile, in the United States, a late-night disc jockey at WBZ-FM in Boston played "The Sound of Silence", where it was popular with a college audience. It was picked up the next day along the East Coast of the United States, down to Cocoa Beach, Florida. Wilson, inspired by the folk rock sound of the Byrds' cover of "Turn! Turn! Turn!" and Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone", created a rock remix of the song using studio musicians. The remix of "The Sound of Silence" was issued in September 1965, where it reached the Billboard Hot 100. Wilson had not informed the duo of his intention to remix the track; as such, Simon was "horrified" when he first heard it. Garfunkel graduated in 1965, returning to Columbia University to do a master's degree in mathematics.
QUESTION: Did he make other friends while there?
IN: Popol Vuh (also Popol Wuj) is a cultural narrative that recounts the mythology and history of the K'iche' people who inhabit the Guatemalan Highlands northwest of present-day Guatemala City. The Popol Vuh is a creation narrative written by the K'iche' people before the Spanish conquest of Guatemala, originally preserved through oral tradition until approximately 1550 when it was written down. The survival of the Popol Vuh is credited to the 18th century Dominican friar Francisco Ximenez who made a copy of the original text in Spanish The name "Popol Vuh" translates as "Book of the Community", "Book of Counsel", or more literally as "Book of the People". The Popol Vuh includes the Mayan creation myth, beginning with the exploits of the Hero Twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque.

In 1701, Father Ximenez came to Santo Tomas Chichicastenango (also known as Santo Tomas Chuila). This town was in the Quiche territory and therefore is probably where Fr. Ximenez first redacted the mythistory. Ximenez transcribed and translated the manuscript in parallel K'iche' and Spanish columns (the K'iche' having been represented phonetically with Latin and Parra characters). In or around 1714, Ximenez incorporated the Spanish content in book one, chapters 2-21 of his Historia de la provincia de San Vicente de Chiapa y Guatemala de la orden de predicadores. Ximenez's manuscripts remained posthumously in the possession of the Dominican Order until General Francisco Morazan expelled the clerics from Guatemala in 1829-30 whereupon the Order's documents passed largely to the Universidad de San Carlos.  From 1852 to 1855, Moritz Wagner and Carl Scherzer traveled to Central America, arriving in Guatemala City in early May 1854. Scherzer found Ximenez's writings in the university library, noting that there was one particular item "del mayor interes" ('of the greatest interest'). With assistance from the Guatemalan historian and archivist Juan Gavarrete, Scherzer copied (or had a copy made) of the Spanish content from the last half of the manuscript, which he published upon his return to Europe. In 1855, French Abbot Charles Etienne Brasseur de Bourbourg also found Ximenez's writings in the university library. However, whereas Scherzer copied the manuscript, Brasseur apparently stole the university's volume and took it back to France. After Brasseur's death in 1874, the Mexico-Guatemalienne collection containing Popol Vuh passed to Alphonse Pinart through whom it was sold to Edward E. Ayer. In 1897, Ayer decided to donate his 17,000 pieces to The Newberry Library, a project that tarried until 1911. Father Ximenez's transcription-translation of "Popol Vuh" was among Ayer's donated items.  Father Ximenez's manuscript sank into obscurity until Adrian Recinos (re)discovered it at The Newberry in 1941. Generally speaking, Recinos receives credit for finding the manuscript and publishing the first direct edition since Scherzer. But Munro Edmonson and Carlos Lopez attribute the first (re)discovery to Walter Lehmann in 1928. Allen Christenson, Nestor Quiroa, Rosa Helena Chinchilla Mazariegos, John Woodruff, and Carlos Lopez all consider the Newberry's volume to be Ximenez's one and only "original."
QUESTION:
What was the significance of these manuscript?