Visiting with the Maya

Sailfisher spent 7 weeks in the Bahia del Sol Marina and Resort in El Salvador. During the time at the dock we took advantage and did some inland trips. We first went into Guatemala, to see the sights of Antigua and to the Mayan Ruins of Tikal. Once we returned from that trip we went back to the boat for just enough time to do some laundry and pack to fly out to California for 2 weeks, which turned into 3 weeks instead. Upon our return from Los Angeles we took another trip into Honduras to visit the ruins of Copan.

The Maya settled in the Tikal area as early as 700 BC, by 250 AD ,by the beginning of the Classic period Tikal had become an important city, by the mid 6^th century, Tikal sprawled over 30 sq. km and had a population of over 100,000. The classic period ended in about 900 with the Maya beginning to suffer a mysterious collapse of their civilization. The Spanish missionaries who later came to the area are said to have destroyed much of what the Mayans had left behind. My guess is that they didn't like what they read; could be something to do with December 21, 2012. By about 1200 the site was all but abandoned; the jungle took over the site, burying the temples with a green lush foliage. Tikal was not rediscovered until 1848.

Copan is not as big a site, there are older and bigger Mayan cities but Copan was the most advanced in many arts, graced with stone carvings created by skilled artisans. The common phrase about TIkal and Copan is that, "Tikal, with it's tall temples is like New York and Copan with it's cultural riches is like Paris".