Travelogue
Exploring the ancient Mayan empire in Mexico After describing the great empires that impacted on the Silk Routes in Asia, I am now going to take you to an empire on the other side of the world: the Mayan Empire. Mayan archaeological remains have been dated back to 2,600 BCE, but the empire operated from around 250 CE until an unexplained collapse in the 9th century CE. Even though the Spanish conquered the area in the 16th Century CE there are remnants of the original Mayans still living in areas of Mexico, especially the Yucatan. My first encounter with Mayan territory in 1966 was a mind bending experience. I flew in from Florida, having spent the previous few days amongst the glamorous international jet set in Miami (not that I was one of them – I was backpacking!). The contrast couldn’t have been greater. In just two hours I was transported from opulence to subsistence poverty. From the airport, I had to hang onto the outside of a bus, occupied by locals with commodities for market, including their scrawny live chickens. I did return with the family to a resort at Cancun in the 1990s. The beach on which I had slept in the 1960s was now full of luxurious high-rise hotels, discos and bars (which delighted my teenage daughters!). The Mayan sites which I had visited by travelling on local buses, and which were almost deserted, were now full of international visitors arriving in their air-conditioned coaches. Both Chichen Itza and Palenque had lost some of their primitive charm, having become standard globalised tourist destinations. However, the local Mayan
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Above: El Castillo (pyramid of Kukulcán) in Chichén Itzá. Below King K’inich Kan Balam II of Palenque, Temple XVII panel.
