Ancient Civilazations

They say that while us white folk over in Europe were eating mud the Mayan were tracking the stars. But then again, they were sacraficing virgins. To each their own.

Tikal is said to be the most cultrually important of the Mayan cities. It was discovered in the 1800s by explorers looking for the ¨chiclet¨ tree, the tree whose sap was originally used to make chewing gum. I can only imagine the shock and awe one must have felt stumbling onto a city such as this. There are several hundred buildings in a 16 square kilometer area, though at this point only some have been excavated. When the Mayan people mysteriously disappeared the jungle took the opportunity to reclaim its proper place. The building were all eventually grown over with tree, and only the tops of the tallest pyramids were left visible. The smaller buildings appear as small hills in the jungle, though quite unnatural looking. Most of the excavation work was completed earlier on by Western Universities, and the US currently pays the Guatemalan govt $14 millon a year to preserve the area. So to all you Americans, here´s something international we can finally feel good about. And down here in Central America, the US really doesn´t have much to feel good about, buts that for another day.
The Maya were an advanced civilization, with many similarities to the Egyptians.

I woke up early and left Flores, which is a town on an island in lake about an hours drive from the park. Sleeping most of the ride, I arrived, and joined a guided tour. The tour guide was Guatemalan, spoke wonderful english and loved his job. He told us that he had grown up in the jungle, and possesed a striking knowledge of the jungle environment as well as knowing the answer to everything we could think of to ask him concerning Mayan life.

We saw and climbed several tall large pyramids, offering views across the treetops and of the neighboring pyramids towering over the canopy. We saw several ball courts, where they played a sport in which only hips and elbows were legal, and the losers (or winners depending on which part of the Mayan empire you were in) were sacrificed.

After the tour several of us explored on our own, and got to see the park nearly empty torwards the end of the day which was extra special.

Having seen their former glory, I had a new apprecation for the many Maya still living in Gautemala today.