Click on picture to see slide-show.
Away from the main tourist circuit, the Mayan ruins of Calakmul, Becan and Chicanna (and other smaller ones which we have not visited) are less notorious with the common traveler, although well appreciated by the archaeological community. This actually makes a visit to these sites also more rewarding; having the whole place for yourself, with tree-canopied paths to follow and gigantic temples to climb, would give you a sudden feeling of how eerie and out-of-this-world these buildings are, surrounded by jungle, of how incredibly majestic these cities may have looked at the peak of their glory.
Click on picture to see slide-show.
No amount of photography or CGI processing can replace what your own imagination can wring out of the sight that you get when you are climbing up a pyramid and then for a few seconds you stop to catch your breath and then you take a look around and grasp the unfamiliar beauty that surrounds you. For a second, you could even imagine yourself on those steep stairs, a thousand years ago, attending to some mundane matter like trading precious stones for grains or to some more spiritually-elevated activity, like preparing all the necessities for the upcoming sacrificial ritual that will appease the gods and bring the much expected rainy season. For an instant you may feel like a Mayan. Then you raise your photo camera and the illusion disappears…
There is little else I can tell you about them, you have to see for yourself. You could also read the National Geographic account from 1990 which talks about the hardships of getting to Calakmul on an almost impracticable muddy road (the road has considerably improved since, but it’s still dangerous) and about the enthusiasm of the first archaeologists to dig in the area.
If you want to find out more about Calakmul look at the “Friends of Calakmul” web site http://www.calakmul.org/
3 comments:
That's what excites me the most about ruins - imagining what it would be like first discovering them or seeing them during the civilizations peak. I'm surprised there haven't been more Mayan adventure movies because it's such a fascinating culture; I mean Hollywood has totally tapped Egypt and Rome, but only Mel Gibson has tried to dramatize the Mayans.
Or, perhaps that's for the best - like you said, no CGI can compete with the imagination.
Katie and I both preferred the more rural and less touristy ruins, though, because they gave more of that illusion of discovery - especially compared to the huge ruins like Tikal where they're surrounded by mowed lawns instead of jungle.
It made me want to see Mel Gibson's movie though. Although it seems to be historically quite innacurate - the Mayans didn't sacrifice hundreds of people every day. But hey, Mel's speciality is gore; that, we know alrerady.
For how much attention to detail he put into Passion, I was surprised at just how inaccurate the movie was. It was completely contrary to almost everything I know about the Mayans. It's still a fun film, though, and it's a neat visualization of what the pyramids might have looked like during the height of the civilizations.
After returning from Guatemala Katie and I had talked about writing a Mayan screenplay, but, you know, Mel beat us to it. Not that either Katie or I can write worth a damned.
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