Archaeology:

To this land came the men created from corn. Those who made a face of their own, so that the gods might recognize them? They came here to lift their spirit to the stars, enjoy their light and learn their movements and influences. In Guatemala, amid the scent of orchid and bromeliads, beside volcanoes, ceiba trees, lagoons, rivers, caves and cenotes, the Mayas built more than 3, 000 cities. They play a ritualistic ball game and took steam baths to clean their bodies and hearts. They deciphered Venus’s and the sun’s orbits and invented the digit zero.

They cut jade to perfection and created murals of transcendental and beautiful images. They gave a name to every rock, hill, tree and flower of this region.

The Maya lived peacefully with their environment and created one of the most refined civilizations in the history of the world. Tikal is the greatest monumental city of this ancestral culture.

Tikal

In Tikal, the Maya raised their pyramids to the sky. The temple of the Two-Headed Serpent reaches up to 70 meters, and from there you can hear the sounds of the jungle, more than 300 species of birds, howler monkeys, ocelots, jaguars, toucans, ocellated turkeys and more. Of such value is Tikal, that UNESCO has declared it a Natural and Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Daybreak in Tikal is like opening a mysterious door where the past seems to return and its glories can be perceived in the thousands of stone monuments in this center. The northern acropolis alone covers an area of 10,117 square meters and the total extension of this archaeological site is 16 square kilometers, with more than 3,000 structures, including temples, altars, pyramids, palaces and multiple-use dwellings. Because of its, geographical location Tikal was a major trading center. Though considered to be of the Classic Period, from 250 to 900 A.C., construction actually began in 600 B.C.

Ceibal

Among corozo palms, underbrush and behind the fragrant green curtain on the jungle, is the archeological site of Ceibal. Here the Maya built the finest steal from the Post Classic period, still in perfect condition.

To appreciate its beauty, take a walk along the alluring jungle paths. The small observatory here was designed to pinpoint the exact location of the planets, stars and galaxies. What did the ancient Maya see from Ceibal!

Yaxha

Rain forests are the offspring of a delirious union between water and hearth. From such a union came Yaxhá, “Green Water”, and the color of jade, precious and sacred water. This city is located amid the jungle, beside the sacred island of Topoxté, and divided by a placed lake. The island has ancient structures very similar to those Mayan cities of Yucatan, Mexico. Temple C, with its isolated columns, belongs architecturally to the Post-Classic Period.

At Yaxhá, the echeloned terraces, plazas and ceremonial causeways, come to life with the footsteps of the visitors, who delight themselves with the spirit of this ancient world. Yaxhá is one of the Mayan World’s most extensive constructions: a double acropolis on the south side surrounded by patios, plazas and monumental buildings.

Uaxactún

Mayan astronomers, mathematics and architects were extremely knowledgeable for their time. In fact, it was not until the beginning of this century that our modern calendar finally had the precision of the Mayan calendar. No wonder they had so many buildings specially constructed fro astronomical studies, like Building E-VII-B of this ceremonial center with steps on all four sliders, flanked by large stucco masks, used fro determining the dates of the equinoxes and solstices.

Uaxactun or “Eight Stones” is located 24 km. north of Tikal and is one of the most important archaeological sites in Guatemala. It flourished from the 4th until the 9th century A.D., during the Classic Period.

In the 19th -century, scientist began to explore the ruins of Old Mayan cities, and have since painstakingly deciphered hieroglyphic accounts of their histories. One of the milestones in this work was the discovery that some hieroglyphs are used as phonetic markers for words from a language similar to those spoken by contemporary Maya. Guatemala’s written history dates from the first century BC, when the Maya carved the earliest, dated inscription found so far in the century.

The history left to us by the Maya, carved on door lintels, stelars, and staircases of written on paper made of tree bark, records the rise and fall of kings, triumphs in war, and astronomical observations. Maya history is usually divided into Pre-Classic (600 BC - 250 AD), Classic (250 - 900 AD) and Post - Classic (from 900 AD). The city of Tikal, where cibtubyius cibstruction occurred for more than 1,000 years, began in Pre - Classic times, reached the height of its glory in the Classic era, and collapsed, for unknown reasons, in about 900 AD.

The Tikal National Park lies within the Maya Biosphere reserve, 3.9 million acres of protected forest and wetlands that comprise 19% of the Guatemala’s land area and 50% of its existing forests. The reserve contains the largest, intact, tropical forest in central America, as well as more than 200 archaeological sites, all Maya, including Tikal, el mirador, Yaxha, Uaxactun and Dos Pilas. Visitors to Tikal and the Maya Biosphere will see not only pyramids that tower above the forest canopy, but the wildlife that provided inspiration for Maya art and mythology’s Fifth-four mammal species, including howler and spider monkeys, anteaters, armadillos, coatis, kinkajous, pumas, jaguars and tapirs still inhabit the forest once inhabited by the Maya, as do 333 species of birds, including toucans, macaws and Ocellated Turkeys.

Tecpán and Iximché

The Maya-Cakchiquel town of Tecpan is located along the Pan - American highway about 90 minutes from Guatemala City. The principal attraction here are the Iximche ruins found jus a few kilometers away. The city of Iximche was founded by the Cakchiquels in 1463, about 80 years before the arrival of Spaniards. It was named for the ramon tree, which bears a nutritious, edible fruit that was ground by the Maya into flour and mixed with corn dough to make tortillas.

The ruins of Iximche, bounded by ravines and quiet pine forest, are an excellent place to contemplate the history of the Cackchiquel people and of the Spanish conquest, in which thet played an important role.