Guatemala - Relics of a fallen age

The beeping of Katy’s alarm awoke us a little over 5 hours later. Turning my head and refusing to awake immediately, I slowly came to consciousness. Still dark, I could hear the voices and bustling noises of others in the hotel who were also going on the tour. We chose the earliest tour because it had the best rate and provided transportation back to Flores where our bus would depart from. We dragged ourselves out of bed and made ourselves ready for the trip. We didn’t get breakfast because for one, it was incredibly early and two, we had eaten our one breakfast we were entitled to the previous morning. Instead, we ate sweet bread and bananas that we’d bought the evening before. 

Flashlights in hand and our daypacks equipped with water and some snacks, we piled into large vans and drove about 45 minutes to the park. It was still dark when we arrived. We got an introduction and began our hike, being watchful of the menacing roots creeping across our path in perfect position to trip us. As our group of about 15 people walked along the path through thick forest, daylight slowly began to appear. By the time we reached the first temple we no longer needed our flashlights. From the top of that temple, the tallest of five main temples, we were to watch the sunrise. Sadly, the temple had been shaken by a recent earthquake and was in poor condition, although in the process of being restored. We did not walk on the original steps, but rather a winding set of wooden stairs that wound upwards in a square-like fashion until we reached the top. We took our seats along with many more guests also taking the tour. Several other USAC students were there, having by chance chosen to do the tour on the same day. This wasn’t very surprising considering many students had planned to go to Guatemala over the break. After saying our hellos and “Hey, I didn’t know you were here!” several times, we all fell silent to await the sun. 

The view was breathtaking. The tops of the trees formed a thick blanket of greenery under a hovering fog from which rose the tops of three tall, proud stone temples. The sounds of birds grew more and more present as they awoke from their slumber. Everyone was taking pictures though it was difficult to capture the whole scene without perhaps a quality telephoto/wide lens camera. Katy took several pictures then we both just sat peacefully and took in the moment. Having lost my camera, I figured a good mental picture was the best I could do.

After a while our guides spoke up and told us the sun had already risen although it wasn’t visible through the overcast sky. How's that for anti-climatic? At that we split up into groups for the rest of the tour. There was an English-speaking guide and a Spanish-speaking guide. The English group was significantly large, so Katy and I decided to go with the other group, hoping we’d benefit from a smaller group. In the end I realized that the other guide was actually better and offered more information, but I still enjoyed myself quite a bit.

           

We wound our way through the grounds, in awe of their antiquity and the reality that we were walking in the footsteps of the ancient Mayan civilization. It was difficult to imagine how magnificent it all must have been in its prime. Our guide explained that by looking closely at the remains, archeologists know that at one time the buildings were painted and certain colors reflected varying levels of significance. For example, the temple’s bases were painted red while the temple itself, which is only the very top portion of the giant structures, was a golden color. Today the extremely faded paint is only visible on certain fragments of the ruins. It’s obvious how wind, rain, erosion and earthquakes have all taken a great toll on the buildings, wearing away surfaces and crumbling edges on all sides. One of the greatest destroyers has been plant and tree roots. We saw a row of temples named “The Seven Sisters” with three smaller temples on each side and a larger one in the center. They looked far more like mounds of rubble than temples. Some were topped by the trunk of a tree that had, over hundreds of years, engulfed the structure with its complex web of roots. Though strongly built, the stone had surrendered and been strangled by the force of nature. Every crack had been exploited and split open by the flourishing plant, leaving little but the crumbling remnants of something grand. The middle temple was under restoration and crews were working to rebuild it to resemble its original form. I felt a little conflicted about this. Though nice to see the temple in good shape, the construction seemed false, as if it were covering up the original handiwork, although decayed, of the ancient civilization.

Seven Sisters

Another mind-boggling reality ran through my head as I admired these buildings. They were constructed without the use of livestock or technology. They didn’t even have the wheel. These temples, towering hundreds of feet in the air, stand on giant stone pyramid that was constructed by no more than droves of men pouring all their strength into moving these blocks one by one into place and chiseling flights of stairs and religious figures into them. More than 100 years of constant physical human labor went into the construction of some of these temples. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, their alignment is exactly calculated north, south, east, and west, and the steps, with perfect 90 degree angles, serve as a faultless calendar, their numbers coordinating with the days and months of the year. Their ingenious construction is the only reason the ruins have survived so long.

I felt dwarfed as we climbed to the top of some of them (by way of wooden staircases since tripping on the steps, even if they were in good condition, could lead to a violent tumble). From the top, those below looked ant-like. Only the highest priests ever mounted these structures and I figured they must have been in great shape to mount such steep, seemingly endless staircases.

We also saw the ball courts, where teams would compete for the entertainment of others but more importantly, the right for the captain on the winning team to be sacrificed to the gods. This was actually a great honor rather than a punishment and the person was believed to be granted direct passage to the heavenly realms and was greatly celebrated thereafter by the Mayan people.

The royal homes were also very interesting. What was visible to the eye was only the latest layer to have been constructed. Similar to ancient Rome, these buildings were built in stages and through the ages of wars and destruction, new walls and ceilings were built on top of the originals. The first dated back as far as 500 B.C. The ruins were in such condition that it was difficult, without the help of a guide, to identify where one room ended and another began. Our guide didn’t offer us much information, but we climbed and explored and made our best guesses. Only the most royal lived in these spaces, the rest of the population lived in simple wooden houses and huts, long ago decayed and gone.

It is such a marvel to me how societies that existed so very long ago were so incredibly advanced in their organization and methods. If only we could borrow some of that genius today so we wouldn’t have to rebuild bridges after only 20 years and could perhaps have order and help each other to flourish without draining our central stores of finances and resources. I suppose that’s just another thing that has been subject to decay over the years.