Post 1 - The Mayan Nystery

Post 1 – The Mayan Mystery

Why did the ancient Mayans abandon their magnificent cities at the peak of their fabulous achievements and suddenly disappear?  This is Mayan Mystery, one of the most famous unsolved mysteries of history.  Nobody knows why this mighty empire collapsed without leaving a clue as to the reason, and nobody knows where the people went.  The only remains are the pyramids and the ruins of ancient cities.

(If you do not see a pyramid below, a photo will appear in a few seconds.)

Some of those Mayan cities were among the largest in the world at that time, with sturdy structures built to last a thousand years.  Why did the ancient people suddenly walk away from them, leaving behind even tools and valuables such as jade carvings and jewelry?

The cities in Belize were abandoned hundreds of years before the Spanish arrived, so the conquistadores were not the reason.  The most popular theories are disease, crop failure, natural disaster and war.  All of those theories are plagued by flaws severe enough they could not possibly provide the answer, so after decades of research by dedicated archeologists from many leading universities and museums, nobody yet knows what happened to those people.

This blog is for people interested in traveling to Belize, and for people interested in the famous Mayan Mystery.

This Mayan Mystery Tour takes you to ground zero of this puzzle, it takes you to Belize and to the same sites visited by the author of Mayan Mystery Unveiled, as he searched for the answer to the famous mystery. 

This tour also introduces you to a folklore legend discovered by the author, a tale that had been passed down from generation to generation in a Mayan village close to the ruins of an ancient city.  This bit of folklore was told to the author by a Mayan who lived in that village, and the author believes it originated with some traumatic event of long ago, probably when that city was abandoned.  According to the author, a folklore enthusiast, every folklore tale has hidden within it at least a scrap of truth, and for this tale that scrap of truth could reveal why the people fled the city.

Mayan Mystery Unveiled is a novel about the author’s search for that scrap of truth, it’s a lot like an Indiana Jones adventure.  The characters are fictitious, but the places are real and the events in the story were actually experienced by the author.

Read about it in the book, and you may want to take the Mayan Mystery Tour to experience this adventure for yourself.

Post 7 tells how to arrange for this tour.

In the following posts, the author tells the story of his visit to an ancient city and its pyramid.

Scroll down or Go to Post 2 to continue.

Post 2 -The Tour

This is Post 2.  To start at the beginning, go to Post 1 

At the Tourism Village in Belize City, we boarded a small bus with a driver and a tour guide, and it carried us westward on a paved road like I would expect in the rural United States.  Belize is not a primitive country, we find that parts of Belize are quite modern and the main roads are in great shape.

We crossed miles of flat lowlands, much like parts of our southern states that lie along the coast, sparsely populated and with mostly scrub vegetation and marsh grass.  Occasional trees stand tall on clumps of high ground, separated by tidal creeks.  When we left the lowlands, thick jungle lined each side of the road, and then we began to climb into the foothills of the mountains.  The bus stopped at a narrow river and waited for a small ferry to come from the other side to take us across. 

This hand-cranked ferry was the first I have ever been on or even seen, one of many new experiences in Belize.  It took our small bus across the river to a paved road that snaked its way up the side of a mountain. 

Our bus guide told us that we would soon arrive at the ancient city of Xunantunich, and she asked us to repeat the Mayan name.   We Americans could not pronounce it properly, so she told us that it sounds like ‘tuna sandwich.’  From then on, that’s what we called the city.  If someone tells you they went to Belize and visited a place that sounds like ‘Tuna Sandwich’, this is where they went.

The bus stopped on a gravel parking lot at the top of a mountain and when we stepped off, we were met by a brown-skinned man, a Mayan.  He told us he was a farmer from a nearby village so he knew this area well, and he also had completed a course and earned his license to be a guide.  He led us to a trail through the jungle that took us beside the ruins of an ancient palace, and then we followed him across a wide, grassy plaza.

Beyond that stood an enormous pyramid.

Go to Post 3 to see the pyramid.

Post 3 - The Pyramid

Post 3 -The Pyramid

               This is Post 3.  To start at the beginning, go to Post 1.

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That’s me wearing the sun glasses and my son-in-law is in front of me. 

We listened as our guide explained that the ancients leveled the top of this mountain and built this huge structure even though they did not have metal tools and they had not invented the wheel so every rock was carried by hand.  We cannot imagine the tremendous human effort involved in creating this structure. 

Those ancient Mayans were amazing people, this was an impressive achievement.

Our guide told us that we were looking at the sunrise side of the pyramid, symbolizing birth and life.  The band of symbols half way up the structure told the importance of the king, who was considered a god.  His people believed he connected them to the unseen spirits that protected them against their enemies and provided the annual rains they needed to grow their crops.

View From The Top

Our guide then led us to a trail that took us to the top.   From there, we looked out across a vast rainforest and above the surrounding ridges.  He told us that we were seeing Guatemala in the distance. 

Let me introduce you to Virginia, my wife.  She is on a platform at the top of the pyramid.     

                                                                

This is where ancient priests stood when they conducted their religious ceremonies to satisfy the unseen spirits that the people depended upon to defend and sustain them.  A huge crowd of commoners would have gathered in the plaza below to witness the ceremonies, and to worship their god and king.

Notice that the city behind Virginia is quite large and well planned, indicating the size of the population and the complexity of the society that thrived here for many hundreds of years.

Also notice the lush rainforest that surrounds us, and that it has been cleared from the center of city, which extends to the palace in the distance.  These ruins are now part of a national park set aside for archeological study, and an attraction for the million tourists that visit Belize every year to view the remains of the amazing achievements left behind by the ancient people who mysteriously abandoned this city a thousand years ago, giving it up for the jungle to strangle and to swallow.

Our guide then led us down the trail on the sunset side of the pyramid, the side of darkness and death, and to undisturbed mounds that cover what had been homes and shops of a thriving city a thousand years ago.  As we stood in what probably was a street, he explained the activities of the ancient people who lived here, and he also told us a folklore tale that had been passed down from generation to generation in his nearby village, perhaps for hundreds of years. 

That’s me in the back, my son-in-law is in front of me and my daughter (with the white shoes) stands beside him.

Someone asked the guide if he had ever come here as a young boy, since he grew up so close to these ruins.  I remember his exact words.

“No, never.  The old folks told us evil spirits live here.”

Go to Post 4 to read about the ‘evil spirits’ tale.

Posst 4 - Evil Spirits Live Here

Post 4 - Evil Spirits Live Here

This is Post 4.  To start at the beginning, go to Post 1.

This folklore tale explains why many of the current Mayan villagers do not go near the ancient city.  Could it also explain why their ancestors abandoned it?

I am familiar with folklore, love to collect tales told by the old oystermen of the Chesapeake Bay in the maritime town where I grew up.  I knew from experience that most folklore has a scrap of truth in it.

I suspected this ‘evil spirits’ tale began a long time ago, and it told me that something very traumatic happened to drive the ancient Mayans away from the city,  It had been retold as a warning for the many generations that followed, and is still being retold.

For a folklore tale to be retold hundreds of years is not unusual, if the event was important enough.  Perhaps I would find the scrap of truth in this ‘evil spirits’ tale.  If I did then it could reveal the secret to the famous unsolved mystery, it could tell me why the city was abandoned.  I would have loved to spend several hours, maybe days, talking to the Mayans of the village where our guide lived, perhaps they could tell me more about those ‘evil spirits’. 

But the excursion had ended, the bus driver needed to hurry us back to the cruise ship.  It would raise anchor and sail for Miami before dark. 

This Mayan Mystery fascinated me, especially the ‘evil spirits’ tale the guide told us.  I wanted to learn more, so when we returned home, I began to study Mayan history as intently as possible even though a great distance now separated me from where it all happened.  I looked for it on the internet, I watched for it on TV history channels, I read books and searched old National Geographic articles about it.  I tried to figure out why those ancient people abandoned their city.

 Several theories have been offered by researchers, but all of them have flaws, so nobody knows the answer.   We can be sure only that what happened there was sudden and unexpected, and it was complete.  When the ancients abandoned a city, they left behind cook pots and tools that are normally carried when people move, and also jewelry and even valuable jade carvings.  They must have left in a panic, and they never returned.

If none of the existing theories by researchers could possibly provide the answer to the mystery, what could?  Maybe the ‘evil spirits’ tale of the Mayan villagers would explain what the archeologists could not.  I wanted to return to Belize and learn what I could from those villagers.  If I could find the scrap of truth in that folklore tale, that could be the answer.

My Search for Evil Spirits

When we returned home, our son gave us airline tickets so we could go to Belize again.  This time we would stay long enough to visit additional historic sites and to talk with some of the people.  I especially wanted to learn what I could from the remote villagers who lived near the abandoned cities.  Many of these Mayans live in thatched homes similar to those of their ancestors.  These modern day Mayans grind their corn by hand, and they bake their bread in ovens made of dried mud and rocks and heated by burning sticks, and they still follow many of the same practices as a thousand years ago, when the city was abandoned.  I should learn much about the ancients by observing these people.

           
            The previous photo is of a thatched home recently built by a young Mayan family.  Their oven made of dried mud and rocks is behind the house, but does not show in this photo.

If I wanted to discover the scrap of truth behind that ‘evil spirits’ tale, I needed to discover what these rural Mayans know.  On this trip, we visited remote villages and caverns where ancient priests held sacred ceremonies, and we also explored additional abandoned cities.

I would stand in the plaza of an abandoned city, in front of the pyramid that was the center of their religious activities, and I would imagine the events of a thousand years ago, the time that great empire was at the peak of its achievements.   I gathered enough information that I could imagine the way those ancient Mayans lived. 

I could even visualize the way that ‘evil spirits’ tale started.  I had learned that those people worshiped spirit gods, so that explains the ‘spirits’ part of the tale.  But they depended on those spirits to protect them and make their crops grow, so why did they call the spirits ‘evil?’

They must have run away from the city because they feared those spirits.  With this scrap of truth, this knowledge of the spirits they worshiped yet feared, I began to develop a new theory for the abandonment.  However, I did not know why they feared the spirits so much they would flee the city in panic and never return.

My new theory would not dispute any of the discoveries of archeologists, in fact, it would use their findings but in a different way than the existing theories.  It would add to those findings the scrap of truth I had found in the ‘evil spirits’ folklore tale.

Go to Post 5 to learn about those ‘evil spirits.’

Post 5 - Telling the ‘Evil Spirits’ Story

This is Post 5.  To start at the heginning, go to Post 1.

What could I do with my new theory?  I could not present it in a research paper because I did not have the credentials necessary for it to be taken seriously.  I could write a novel, though.  I did not need a doctorate in archeology to write a work of fiction, all I needed was a good story.

This story is in the book, Mayan Mystery Unveiled, available from Amazon. The characters in the story experience adventures among ruins hidden away in a rainforest, the same adventures I had enjoyed, exciting and full of surprises.

The main character of the story is Kelli, an American nurse.  She volunteers to work at a medical clinic giving free care in a Mayan village in Belize.  She goes a week early for a vacation, to enjoy the natural beauty of this tropical country before her work begins.

Kelli asks a Mayan guide to show her around, and he introduces her to two other Americans who had already hired him.  They are retired teachers searching for the answer to the Mayan Mystery.  Kelli agrees to join them in their search, and the guide takes them to Mayan historic sites.  The teachers are elderly, cannot walk well enough to go to all the sites, so Kelli goes to some sites with the guide as the others rest.  Early in the story, the guide takes her to a deep crater with a mystical blue pool of water and a Mayan legend.  The following photo shows that blue pool of water, but that’s not Kelli entering it, she’s fictitious, you know.   That’s Virginia. 

As I said earlier, the characters are fictional but every place described is a place Virginia and I have been, and the scenes are mostly activities we experienced.

Kelli invites the guide to join her in the pool for a swim, and he does.  He then tells her the ancient legend that any couple who swim in the pool together will enjoy a happy life together.  She tells him to expect a short life, because she returns home in a few days.

The guide takes Kelli to climb pyramids and explore the ruins of ancient cities, such you see in the following photo.  Here we pass between an unexcavated palace mound on the left and an unexcavated pyramid on the right to reach the excavated pyramid in the distance.  This taller pyramid was the main temple of the ancient city.

            The guide also carries Kelli into a cavern where ancient priests conducted their sacred rituals, she slips and knocks the flashlight from his hand.  It breaks when it hits the floor, leaving them in total darkness.  He leads her out by the trickling sound of the stream that for more than a thousnd years had been carving the cavern through the mountain.  He also takes her to remote Mayan villages of thatched homes, and she learns Mayan ways that had been passed down for generations.

Go to Post 6 to pull the facts together for the theory.

Post 6 – Pulling the Facts Together

This is Post 6.  To start at the beginning, go to Post 1. 


Kelli and the other tourists stay at a small resort run by the guide, and many scenes of the story take place on its porch.  The following photo is of the porch I had in mind when I wrote these scenes.   

This flowering bougainvillea that covers the porch is typical for Belize.  Red is the most popular color, but some are white, yellow, orange, purple, or shades that combine several of those colors.. 

Finding the Scrap of Truth

Each day, Kelli and her friends discuss at their dinner table all they have learned, and they compare that with the current theories.  Their guide knows the ways of his ancestors, and he helps them understand what they have seen.  They recognize that none of the theories of the researchers can be correct.  The following photo shows an outdoor dining area such as the one where they ate at the end of each day. 

Actually, this is a small restaurant.  I enjoyed places like this where the locals eat, I preferred them to the air conditioned restaurants that American tourists frequently choose.

Kelli and her friends had previously decided that none of the current theories could provide the answer to the mystery, so they discuss all they have learned, especially the ‘evil spirits’ tale, and they pretend they are at the city a thousand years ago when it was abandoned, the same as I had done. 

They realize that the priests had been using the threat of ‘evil spirits’ like the Caribbean witch doctors used their ‘boogie man,’ to intimidate the common people and keep them in submission.  Kelli and her friends figure out that those ancient commoners had been repressed cruelly, and they valiantly chose to live free or die, just as other people have done throughout history when their rulers became unbearable.  They did something the priests had warned them against, and then they fled the city in panic because they feared the vengeance of the priest’s ‘evil spirits,’ the spirits that lived at the temple.  Kelli and her friends believe they have discovered the secret to the Mayan Mystery.

At the beginning of the story, I gave Kelli and her friends my purpose and when they reviewed everything they had learned, they discovered what had eluded me.  They discovered the reason the ancient people abandoned their city, even though I had not.  When my fictional characters achieved their purpose, I achieved mine.  I had a reasonable answer to the riddle of the Mayan Mystery.

 To me, this search has been an exciting adventure, and I took it twice.  I took it with Virginia, and I took it again with Kelli and her friends.

Can you figure out the clue that led Kelli and her friends to discover the secret to the mystery?

If not, I’m not going to tell you.  That would ruin the story if you decide to read the book, Mayan Mystery Unveiled.  You can order it from Amazon.com, and you can experience the adventure from the comfort of your own home. 

It’s a lot cheaper than flying to Belize, but be warned.  Reading it may make you want to go there and see the places it describes.  Those places are real, you know, like the pyramid at the ancient city we called Tuna Sandwich, shown in the following photo.

            I hope you enjoyed my little story about my adventures in Belize.  If you did, please share this with someone.  I do not have a big publisher promoting the book, so the only way others will hear about it is if someone tells them.

            Will you do that for me?

            I plan to take at least one more trip to Belize, maybe more.  Maybe I will go there for their ‘End of the world festival,’ on the date given by the Mayan prophesy.  I’ll put it on my credit card, not have to pay for the trip for a month., if I have to pay for it at all.

 If you would like to accompany me, on my next trip, go to Post 5.  I will announce events there.  Thank you for reading this blog.

Go to Post 7 for interesting information about Belize.

Post 7 - Links to Belize info

Post 7 - Links to Belize information

This is Post 7.  To start at the beginning of this blog, go to Post 1.

Post 7 contains links to information about Belize that you may find interesting.

Links

LINK 1:  You can review, at no cost, excerpts of the book, Mayan Mystery Unveiled, or order either the paper copy or the Kindle version.  (These will cost you, of course, but the price is reasonable).  Go to:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=mayan+mystery+unveiled

LINK 2:  To take an e-tour of Belize, go to:

www.travelbelize.org

This is the official website of Belize Tourism Board.  Highly recommend you look at this.  Contains history, description of each region of the country, lists of activities and places to visit, no advertisements.  You can go to this website and, if you want, spend hours on an e-tour of the country.  This website is kept up to date by Belize Tourism Board.

LINK 3:  For planning information about a trip to Belize, go to:

www.belizenet.com

          This is the website for Naturalight of Belize, recommend you visit this commercial and educational source of information about the country.  Contains maps, photo gallery, also links to help with your travel planning.  Links include tour operators, hotels, vacation rentals, cruise excursions, car rentals, places to eat, many others.  This website provides lists, do not expect this website to evaluate quality.

LINK 4:  For information about parks in Belize, go to:

www.belizeaudubon.org

This is the website for the Audubon Society that manages many of the Belize national parks. 

LINK 5:  To view thousands of photos, including the Mayan ruins mentioned in the book, go to:

www.dreamstime.com

This website allows you to search for a topic that interests you.  You can search for photos of ancient Mayan cities such as Xunantunich or Lamanai, or search for parrots (Belize has many types of parrots), or search for the gentle nurse shark described in the book.

             This is the end of the Mayan Mystery Tour blog.  If you have found this blog interesting, please click on the ‘comment’ command following this and tell me so, I am especially interested in learning if it has helped you or someone you know.  If you liked it, please pass it on.  That’s my only way of reaching others. 

Thanks, I appreciate it.

          Glenn Lawson, Storyteller