I will apologize, today's post will be light on pictures. The explanation of why will come later....
Wednesday morning, we finally got to see what Casa del Caballo Blanco and grounds looked like in the
daylight. We woke up and got ourselves put together to go have breakfast. Walking out of our room we were able to see how spectacular the grounds around us looked. Outside our room were walkways with all sorts of tropical plants, and a huge grassy field that sloped down into the valley with palm trees dotted throughout and lined with various other trees at the far end of it. A mystical fog hung over the trees at the far end, making it feel like we were alone in our own little sanctuary in Belize.
We walked over to the large public house, and walked in. But no one was there. Hmm. I had told them we'd be down for breakfast at 7:00. So we waited for a few minutes. Kalyssa asked me if I was sure I was in the right place. A little irritated, I said "Yes I'm sure, I was just here with Ricky (the manager) last night. And that is why this room is full of tables. " Meanwhile Allie decided to go for a little walk while we were waiting, and came back a couple minutes later saying "Yep, we're in the wrong place, the dining room is over there."
Oops. So we walked a little further down the path, and into the dining room. It looked like Spanish royalty were expected. We sat down at the 3 place settings, and very quickly a Belizean woman came out of the kitchen with overflowing plates of fresh fruit. After the fruit she brought out bacon, refried beans, fresh squeezed lemonade, eggs, and little oval ring type things that she said were similar to croissants. (This morning I skipped the eggs.)
We ate our breakfast, and as we were almost done, she came out and talked to us a little bit. We are the only guests currently, though they had a few that left right before we got here. She mentioned that the girls reminded her of her own, as her's where the same ages. We didn't get to socialize too much, as we had to go pack our bags for our tour today. The plan for the whole day was a tour of Achtun Tunichil Muknal, (more commonly referred to as ATM). This tour warned that it was a strenuous hike, that hikers were required to be able to swim and that a change of clothes was required as well as socks, because part of the hike is done without shoes. Many people that I have talked to since getting here had said this is a "must do". Fortunately so did my guidebook and Trip Advisor.
A large conversion van picked us up, and warned us that he had to pick up our tour guide, as well as another couple that would be joining us on the tour, and then it was a long drive to ATM. He said we'd probably be in the van for an hour and a half or so.
This did give us a chance to see some of the countryside in Western Belize (known as the Cayo District). This part of the country was much more hilly than the Northern and Eastern parts of the country we've been in so far, and is similar to what I'm used to in the Nashville area in terms of topography. Except there are palm trees here... we don't have those in Nashville.
The final 7 miles were down a dirt road only big enough for one car. We passed through several farms of mahogany, Valencia oranges, corn, and other crops. The condition of the road was fairly terrible, and we couldn't go much over 20 mph the entire way. After 30-40 minutes we finally made it to the parking area where the hike was to begin. Jameel, our guide, told us we should leave everything in the car, except for the socks we needed, as nothing else is allowed into ATM. He did give us each a bottle of water, but even that he said we would be required to leave at the cave opening. Unfortunately cameras were not allowed into the cave, ever since an issue that occurred in 2012.
The hike consisted of a 30 minute hike through the jungle. As we entered the jungle he told us "Just about everything in the jungle has some sort of self defense. It is best if you do not touch anything. He specifically pointed out a few plants that had adapted some self defense mechanisms, including a bamboo plant that had large thorns with a stinger on the end that looked like a scorpions stinger. Not to mention the jungle is also full of jaguars, tapir, and howler monkeys. (Occasionally we could hear the howler monkey's faintly in the distance.) The hike did require us to cross the river back and forth 3 times. The first time we did this, the water was waste deep, and a little cool.
As we got to the mouth of the cave, a deep pool of water led into it. We stood next to this pool that emptied into the river outside, as Jameel told us the story of ATM. The cave was re-found in1989 by a spelunker named Thomas Miller who was simply looking to explore and map caves in Belize. When he entered into this one, he quickly realized this was not just an ordinary cave, as only a couple hundred meters inside, Mayan pottery could be found strewn about everywhere. Subsequent research on the cave by archeologists determined that this was a place that high priests would use for human sacrifice and blood letting ceremonies between 200 and 900AD. Before entering, the high priests would drink alcohol, consume mushrooms, and inebriate themselves with poisoned toads (they were aware that the toads destroyed the liver, so they found away to consume them without eating them that fixed that problem....yes, that is where they stuck them.) Jameel did apologize that today's tour would not be offering the full high priest experience, (but maybe for $500 more....). The ancient priests considered the cave to be the entryway into Xibalba, which meant "place of fear" and was where the gods of the underworld dwelt. It is also known that when the group was leaving the cave there were always less people than the number that went into the cave to start.
The cave has been left almost entirely as it was found. No excavation, and only a few items were removed to be studied/carbon dated, and then returned back to the cave where they were found.
Jameel explained that we will certainly be actually walking on Mayan artifacts even though we won't realize it, as all of the flowstone and calcification that occurs naturally in the cave has consumed much of it, and there is so much that had been broken that there are pieces everywhere.
After the history, we all turned on the lights on our helmets and jumped into the pool and swam the first 20 feet into the cave. After that point, we hiked for 500 meters, continuously in water that was sometimes only ankle deep, and other times shoulder deep. The terrain was sometimes course sand, and other times large boulders. Shortly after the enterance was a large, fairly round boulder, similar in size to the one in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I couldn't see where it connected to the roof, and I was envisioning at some point it would release and start chasing us out of the cave. As we got deeper we began to see some huge limestone and quarts formations all over the walls that I could certainly envision the Mayan Priests, stoned out of their mind, seeing these huge formations and considering them the chandeliers and wall hangings of the gods from Xibalba. Most of the caves during the water part of the hike where fairly spacious: 20-30 feet high if not more. A few points it narrowed to a size though where you had to twist in strange ways to get through.
The one part that certainly provided anyone with a bit of discomfort was while waist deep in water, there was a very narrow break between two rocks. A flat horizontal chunk of rock jutted out with a bit more room over it, and some room under it. Jameer showed us how to get through by angling one shoulder down, putting your chin over the flat piece of rock, and sliding through. It looked slightly uncomfortable, but he made it easy. When you tried it yourself however, you realized, that you are positioning yourself, looking at this piece of rock aimed right at your jugular, and you are intentionally wedging your body through this space. This unease spikes dramatically when as you are doing so, you realize that the space is just narrower than the width of a normal human neck, and the "blade" of the rock glides across your throat as you move your body through the crevice, covering your body in a cold chill at the reality of what you are doing.
Eventually, we got to the end of the water part of the hike. We had to climb up some rocks to a platform, and ascend further in the cave. At this point, Jameer asked us to remove our shoes, and leave them by the piles of shoes left by other travelers. He had our socks in a water proof bag, and handed them to us. The purpose of this was to protect the site as much as possible both from the heavy tread of shoes, and from the oils from our skin.
From this point on, there were broken vessels everywhere. (The vessels were broken as part of the rituals performed in here.) Most were starting to be consumed by the cave and were partially buried in the floor of the cave. Areas that clearly had vessels or other artifiacts had strips of orange ducttape on the ground to indicate not to cross into that area. But as you walked, your toes were literally going inches from all these ancient items. At one point, there was a clay pot that Jameer pointed out, had an insignia on it in the shape of a monkey. This item was one of only 4 that have been found anywhere with that matching insignia. This was just amazing.
The caverns that we were traversing now were increasing in size. Some had to have ceilings that were 60-70 feet high. Absolutely huge, with stunning flowstone formations all over. One very large curtain of stalactites draped all the way down to where we were. Jameer showed how knocking on them, they actually have a surprising musical sound like a xylophone, and each one plays a different note. Further into the cave, there was a skull of a teenage boy lying on (partially in) the floor. Again, we were close enough to touch it (which of course we did not). 15 feet further was a pile of several bones including a skull, part of a spine, a femur all piled up. (one theory is that the body was initially left further up, but a flood washed the bones down later into a pile)
Ahead of us though were two of the most amazing remains. In a much smaller room, that the 6 of us barely fit in was a skeleton. This was also a youth, but one that was deformed (either through illness or intentional skull modification during development) with a very large forehead and cranium. This body had its arms tied behind its back. In looking at the skeleton, it looked as if he had been bludgeoned in the forehead, as there was a 1 inch by 2 inch whole in the skull. And perhaps stabbed as well, as there was a one inch round hole in the temple.
Sameer asked what we thought caused the hole in the skull. A rock? (he had earlier said that was a common mode of sacrifice.) His answer was "No, this hole was caused by a Sony Camera in 2012." A tourist was attempting to take a close picture of this skull and dropped his camera. That small round hole is where another tourist put their hand on the wall to lean forward and take a picture, and knocked a small rock loose, that created that hole. This is why people are no longer able to bring cameras into ATM.
I sensed everyone shared the same sense of disgust, that all of these artifacts that have been here for over 1000 years, had been discovered and open to the public for only the last 12 or so, and already two people have done more damage than nature has in the last 1000.
Behind this skeleton in an attached adjoining room was the most impressive skeleton. One that has been debated back and forth if it was a girl or a boy, but the skeleton was lying in a bit of a "dancing" pose, its bones calcified into a sparkling white. It is unknown if the body sprawled into this pose after being killed or was intentionally placed into this pose.
There was certainly an eerie, evil feeling about this whole place, that saw such brutal murders of babies, children, adults... all to try to make gods happy that the Mayans thought must have been mad at them due to hurricanes and droughts and other disasters that fell before them, and the bodies of those left to get consumed by the cave over the next 1000 years.
A few images of some of the pottery as well as the Crystal Maiden can be seen here. Or of course a google images search will provide all sorts of pictures that I wasn't able to take.
After reaching this point, we turned around and retraced our steps to the entrance of the cave, at a much quicker pace. As we got to the deep pool at the mouth of the cave, there was another cave guide donning a snorkel mask. He emerged from the cave with us. It turns out another tourist had entered the cave and lost his wedding ring in the first pool. The guide was able to dive to the bottom and found it. I sure hope THAT guide received a good trip for his extra efforts!
This guide joined us for the walk back to where our van was, and it was interesting to hear a spirited discussion between him and our guide about Mayan dialects, and debates over items found in certain Mayan historical sites.
As we emerged from the jungle, we saw that several plastic storage containers were lying on the table
awaiting us to eat for lunch. Our guide also was kind enough to pull out some Belikin Beers for each of the adult travelers. We were surprised to see that it was already 2:30, and we were all absolutely starving. We all ate the traditional Belizean meals (stewed chicken, rice and beans, and a slice of fried banana) incredibly quickly and boarded the bus back to the guest house. I was now regretting that I had told them we'd be back for dinner at 5:00, as I was a bit worried we'd now not be hungry.
We arrived at our guest house shortly after 4:00, and talked a bit about the plans for the rest of the week. I mentioned that we would be staying at a Mayan Guest house later in the week. In a fairly "blonde" moment, Allie asked: "What is a Mayan Guest House....Is that like the Amish for Latinos?" This brought Kalyssa and I almost to tears with laughter.
We freshened up and made our way over to the dining room for dinner, and had another feast of tomato soup, avocado and cucumber salad, stewed chicken, and mashed potatoes followed by casaba pudding. It was all very good, and we surprised ourselves by eating just about all of it. We also had a bit more time to relax and talk to the woman who took care of all the meals, sharing stories of my girls getting into trouble and injuring themselves as they grew up, and our hosts stories about her daughters, as well as her and her sister. A great end to a great day.
After dinner, we did decide to get a little adventurous and go look for a night market in town to do some shopping. We had seen one when we drove in, but as we went out and walked around, many of the shops were closed, and no more tables set up with things for sale.
We did however get introduced to "the turtle man" who probably received the best tip he's ever gotten for 25 seconds of performance, and one picture, only because I had already pulled out my wallet, and I had a limited supply of the appropriate bills to tip him with.
After only a short time in town, we returned to our lodge. The girls retired to bed, and I went to the meeting room to blog. While I was working on it, Ricky came by and we started talking about our experiences today. He added some fascinating stories about the area saying that there are countless other Mayan sites that may be as impressive as ATM. Someone he knew had a dog that climbed into small hole. From the dogs barking, it was clear there was some sort of a cave. They pulled out some pick axes and found caves with shelves of huge Mayan jars. He also said that he would go on camping trips many months at a time when he was younger along the Belize/Guatemala border and found many sites that were yet to be charted. We also discussed the cycle of the rise and fall of civilizations such as the Mayans in Belize, which peaked at over 1 million people, resulting in over farming and over deforestation ultimately making the land unlivable, and causing their reign over the area to end.
Much of the learnings this week about the rise and fall of the Mayan civilization draws many parallels to the Angkor civilization, whose ruins we explored only 3 years ago. Both groups ascended to tremendous power but then both societies ultimately crumbled. It does make me wonder if we've learned enough about the fall of great civilizations that today's great civilizations are immune from such issues? Or in 1000 years will people be touring the ancient ruins of the great cities of the 21st century. Sounds far-fetched.... but look at the path Detroit has led: a population of 1.8M in 1950 is now 700k. Those that know me, know I've held strong concerns and opinions about the future of Chicago and that it is following in the footsteps of Detroit. Both are cities that have dealt with financial mismanagement for decades and now are collapsing under their own weight. They are not the only cities. Could an entire superpower country of 300+ million people have the same fate? "Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it."
My question is.... have we?
Wednesday morning, we finally got to see what Casa del Caballo Blanco and grounds looked like in the daylight. We woke up and got ourselves put together to go have breakfast. Walking out of our room we were able to see how spectacular the grounds around us looked. Outside our room were walkways with all sorts of tropical plants, and a huge grassy field that sloped down into the valley with palm trees dotted throughout and lined with various other trees at the far end of it. A mystical fog hung over the trees at the far end, making it feel like we were alone in our own little sanctuary in Belize.
 |
| View from Outside Our House |
Oops. So we walked a little further down the path, and into the dining room. It looked like Spanish royalty were expected. We sat down at the 3 place settings, and very quickly a Belizean woman came out of the kitchen with overflowing plates of fresh fruit. After the fruit she brought out bacon, refried beans, fresh squeezed lemonade, eggs, and little oval ring type things that she said were similar to croissants. (This morning I skipped the eggs.)
 |
| Walking to Breakfast |
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| The Dining Room |
We ate our breakfast, and as we were almost done, she came out and talked to us a little bit. We are the only guests currently, though they had a few that left right before we got here. She mentioned that the girls reminded her of her own, as her's where the same ages. We didn't get to socialize too much, as we had to go pack our bags for our tour today. The plan for the whole day was a tour of Achtun Tunichil Muknal, (more commonly referred to as ATM). This tour warned that it was a strenuous hike, that hikers were required to be able to swim and that a change of clothes was required as well as socks, because part of the hike is done without shoes. Many people that I have talked to since getting here had said this is a "must do". Fortunately so did my guidebook and Trip Advisor.
A large conversion van picked us up, and warned us that he had to pick up our tour guide, as well as another couple that would be joining us on the tour, and then it was a long drive to ATM. He said we'd probably be in the van for an hour and a half or so.
This did give us a chance to see some of the countryside in Western Belize (known as the Cayo District). This part of the country was much more hilly than the Northern and Eastern parts of the country we've been in so far, and is similar to what I'm used to in the Nashville area in terms of topography. Except there are palm trees here... we don't have those in Nashville.
The final 7 miles were down a dirt road only big enough for one car. We passed through several farms of mahogany, Valencia oranges, corn, and other crops. The condition of the road was fairly terrible, and we couldn't go much over 20 mph the entire way. After 30-40 minutes we finally made it to the parking area where the hike was to begin. Jameel, our guide, told us we should leave everything in the car, except for the socks we needed, as nothing else is allowed into ATM. He did give us each a bottle of water, but even that he said we would be required to leave at the cave opening. Unfortunately cameras were not allowed into the cave, ever since an issue that occurred in 2012.
 |
| Achtun Tunichil Mukal Hike Begins |
The hike consisted of a 30 minute hike through the jungle. As we entered the jungle he told us "Just about everything in the jungle has some sort of self defense. It is best if you do not touch anything. He specifically pointed out a few plants that had adapted some self defense mechanisms, including a bamboo plant that had large thorns with a stinger on the end that looked like a scorpions stinger. Not to mention the jungle is also full of jaguars, tapir, and howler monkeys. (Occasionally we could hear the howler monkey's faintly in the distance.) The hike did require us to cross the river back and forth 3 times. The first time we did this, the water was waste deep, and a little cool.
As we got to the mouth of the cave, a deep pool of water led into it. We stood next to this pool that emptied into the river outside, as Jameel told us the story of ATM. The cave was re-found in1989 by a spelunker named Thomas Miller who was simply looking to explore and map caves in Belize. When he entered into this one, he quickly realized this was not just an ordinary cave, as only a couple hundred meters inside, Mayan pottery could be found strewn about everywhere. Subsequent research on the cave by archeologists determined that this was a place that high priests would use for human sacrifice and blood letting ceremonies between 200 and 900AD. Before entering, the high priests would drink alcohol, consume mushrooms, and inebriate themselves with poisoned toads (they were aware that the toads destroyed the liver, so they found away to consume them without eating them that fixed that problem....yes, that is where they stuck them.) Jameel did apologize that today's tour would not be offering the full high priest experience, (but maybe for $500 more....). The ancient priests considered the cave to be the entryway into Xibalba, which meant "place of fear" and was where the gods of the underworld dwelt. It is also known that when the group was leaving the cave there were always less people than the number that went into the cave to start.
The cave has been left almost entirely as it was found. No excavation, and only a few items were removed to be studied/carbon dated, and then returned back to the cave where they were found.
Jameel explained that we will certainly be actually walking on Mayan artifacts even though we won't realize it, as all of the flowstone and calcification that occurs naturally in the cave has consumed much of it, and there is so much that had been broken that there are pieces everywhere.
After the history, we all turned on the lights on our helmets and jumped into the pool and swam the first 20 feet into the cave. After that point, we hiked for 500 meters, continuously in water that was sometimes only ankle deep, and other times shoulder deep. The terrain was sometimes course sand, and other times large boulders. Shortly after the enterance was a large, fairly round boulder, similar in size to the one in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I couldn't see where it connected to the roof, and I was envisioning at some point it would release and start chasing us out of the cave. As we got deeper we began to see some huge limestone and quarts formations all over the walls that I could certainly envision the Mayan Priests, stoned out of their mind, seeing these huge formations and considering them the chandeliers and wall hangings of the gods from Xibalba. Most of the caves during the water part of the hike where fairly spacious: 20-30 feet high if not more. A few points it narrowed to a size though where you had to twist in strange ways to get through.
The one part that certainly provided anyone with a bit of discomfort was while waist deep in water, there was a very narrow break between two rocks. A flat horizontal chunk of rock jutted out with a bit more room over it, and some room under it. Jameer showed us how to get through by angling one shoulder down, putting your chin over the flat piece of rock, and sliding through. It looked slightly uncomfortable, but he made it easy. When you tried it yourself however, you realized, that you are positioning yourself, looking at this piece of rock aimed right at your jugular, and you are intentionally wedging your body through this space. This unease spikes dramatically when as you are doing so, you realize that the space is just narrower than the width of a normal human neck, and the "blade" of the rock glides across your throat as you move your body through the crevice, covering your body in a cold chill at the reality of what you are doing.
Eventually, we got to the end of the water part of the hike. We had to climb up some rocks to a platform, and ascend further in the cave. At this point, Jameer asked us to remove our shoes, and leave them by the piles of shoes left by other travelers. He had our socks in a water proof bag, and handed them to us. The purpose of this was to protect the site as much as possible both from the heavy tread of shoes, and from the oils from our skin.
From this point on, there were broken vessels everywhere. (The vessels were broken as part of the rituals performed in here.) Most were starting to be consumed by the cave and were partially buried in the floor of the cave. Areas that clearly had vessels or other artifiacts had strips of orange ducttape on the ground to indicate not to cross into that area. But as you walked, your toes were literally going inches from all these ancient items. At one point, there was a clay pot that Jameer pointed out, had an insignia on it in the shape of a monkey. This item was one of only 4 that have been found anywhere with that matching insignia. This was just amazing.
The caverns that we were traversing now were increasing in size. Some had to have ceilings that were 60-70 feet high. Absolutely huge, with stunning flowstone formations all over. One very large curtain of stalactites draped all the way down to where we were. Jameer showed how knocking on them, they actually have a surprising musical sound like a xylophone, and each one plays a different note. Further into the cave, there was a skull of a teenage boy lying on (partially in) the floor. Again, we were close enough to touch it (which of course we did not). 15 feet further was a pile of several bones including a skull, part of a spine, a femur all piled up. (one theory is that the body was initially left further up, but a flood washed the bones down later into a pile)
Ahead of us though were two of the most amazing remains. In a much smaller room, that the 6 of us barely fit in was a skeleton. This was also a youth, but one that was deformed (either through illness or intentional skull modification during development) with a very large forehead and cranium. This body had its arms tied behind its back. In looking at the skeleton, it looked as if he had been bludgeoned in the forehead, as there was a 1 inch by 2 inch whole in the skull. And perhaps stabbed as well, as there was a one inch round hole in the temple.
Sameer asked what we thought caused the hole in the skull. A rock? (he had earlier said that was a common mode of sacrifice.) His answer was "No, this hole was caused by a Sony Camera in 2012." A tourist was attempting to take a close picture of this skull and dropped his camera. That small round hole is where another tourist put their hand on the wall to lean forward and take a picture, and knocked a small rock loose, that created that hole. This is why people are no longer able to bring cameras into ATM.
I sensed everyone shared the same sense of disgust, that all of these artifacts that have been here for over 1000 years, had been discovered and open to the public for only the last 12 or so, and already two people have done more damage than nature has in the last 1000.
Behind this skeleton in an attached adjoining room was the most impressive skeleton. One that has been debated back and forth if it was a girl or a boy, but the skeleton was lying in a bit of a "dancing" pose, its bones calcified into a sparkling white. It is unknown if the body sprawled into this pose after being killed or was intentionally placed into this pose.
There was certainly an eerie, evil feeling about this whole place, that saw such brutal murders of babies, children, adults... all to try to make gods happy that the Mayans thought must have been mad at them due to hurricanes and droughts and other disasters that fell before them, and the bodies of those left to get consumed by the cave over the next 1000 years.
A few images of some of the pottery as well as the Crystal Maiden can be seen here. Or of course a google images search will provide all sorts of pictures that I wasn't able to take.
After reaching this point, we turned around and retraced our steps to the entrance of the cave, at a much quicker pace. As we got to the deep pool at the mouth of the cave, there was another cave guide donning a snorkel mask. He emerged from the cave with us. It turns out another tourist had entered the cave and lost his wedding ring in the first pool. The guide was able to dive to the bottom and found it. I sure hope THAT guide received a good trip for his extra efforts!
This guide joined us for the walk back to where our van was, and it was interesting to hear a spirited discussion between him and our guide about Mayan dialects, and debates over items found in certain Mayan historical sites.
As we emerged from the jungle, we saw that several plastic storage containers were lying on the table
We arrived at our guest house shortly after 4:00, and talked a bit about the plans for the rest of the week. I mentioned that we would be staying at a Mayan Guest house later in the week. In a fairly "blonde" moment, Allie asked: "What is a Mayan Guest House....Is that like the Amish for Latinos?" This brought Kalyssa and I almost to tears with laughter.
 |
| Afternoon view of Guatemala from our Guest House |
We freshened up and made our way over to the dining room for dinner, and had another feast of tomato soup, avocado and cucumber salad, stewed chicken, and mashed potatoes followed by casaba pudding. It was all very good, and we surprised ourselves by eating just about all of it. We also had a bit more time to relax and talk to the woman who took care of all the meals, sharing stories of my girls getting into trouble and injuring themselves as they grew up, and our hosts stories about her daughters, as well as her and her sister. A great end to a great day.
 |
| Afternoon view of San Ignacio from our Guest House |
After dinner, we did decide to get a little adventurous and go look for a night market in town to do some shopping. We had seen one when we drove in, but as we went out and walked around, many of the shops were closed, and no more tables set up with things for sale.
 |
| Shopping in San Ignacio |
We did however get introduced to "the turtle man" who probably received the best tip he's ever gotten for 25 seconds of performance, and one picture, only because I had already pulled out my wallet, and I had a limited supply of the appropriate bills to tip him with.
 |
| The Turtle Man |
After only a short time in town, we returned to our lodge. The girls retired to bed, and I went to the meeting room to blog. While I was working on it, Ricky came by and we started talking about our experiences today. He added some fascinating stories about the area saying that there are countless other Mayan sites that may be as impressive as ATM. Someone he knew had a dog that climbed into small hole. From the dogs barking, it was clear there was some sort of a cave. They pulled out some pick axes and found caves with shelves of huge Mayan jars. He also said that he would go on camping trips many months at a time when he was younger along the Belize/Guatemala border and found many sites that were yet to be charted. We also discussed the cycle of the rise and fall of civilizations such as the Mayans in Belize, which peaked at over 1 million people, resulting in over farming and over deforestation ultimately making the land unlivable, and causing their reign over the area to end.
Much of the learnings this week about the rise and fall of the Mayan civilization draws many parallels to the Angkor civilization, whose ruins we explored only 3 years ago. Both groups ascended to tremendous power but then both societies ultimately crumbled. It does make me wonder if we've learned enough about the fall of great civilizations that today's great civilizations are immune from such issues? Or in 1000 years will people be touring the ancient ruins of the great cities of the 21st century. Sounds far-fetched.... but look at the path Detroit has led: a population of 1.8M in 1950 is now 700k. Those that know me, know I've held strong concerns and opinions about the future of Chicago and that it is following in the footsteps of Detroit. Both are cities that have dealt with financial mismanagement for decades and now are collapsing under their own weight. They are not the only cities. Could an entire superpower country of 300+ million people have the same fate? "Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it."
My question is.... have we?
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