i made it to Tikal today – the ruins in the middle of the jungle with tall temples rising up high, visible above the canopy from above. It was quiet there, few people on the grey day (which thankfully kept it cool) – the sounds of birds and the rare howler money could be heard as i and then with the people i met strolled the forest paths from group to group. Even the central plaza was quiet and empty as i climbed the temples to observe the scene below. It was wonderful but also made it hard to imagine the city in its prime – full of people, probably mainly deforested, and noisy i am sure. The life that exists there now is different from what was before, over a thousand years of existence, and now only partially reclaimed from the forest. The temples large, but with little decoration or sculpture – at least that remains.
The area that spoke to me the most was the Mundo Perdido, the lost world, with its large pyramid (rather than temple that were in the other groups) dating back to 500 bc. I came from the backside, seeing a hill, and a bit of exposed stonework at the top, ¨hey, this must be a pyramid¨ i said, i climbed down from my perch and walked around, and on the other sides it was exposed, it was. And it made me think of the pyramid shaped hills i has been seeing over the past few days. And as we walked around the main excavated area, we saw many more hills, which were structures, still unearthed, and others partially exposed.
And i began to think about how many sites of previous people there are, as yet Undiscovered and unknown to us. There are so many smaller sites, and so much of even Tikal that needs to be explored. And how rich is this land, not only in Guate, but all around the americas and elsewhere in the world, discoveries of previous cities, found, and how many have been built over, and what secrets does the earth hold. What have we forgotten, and what has existed before, only to be covered over and forgotten, only to be called up from the jungle or forest or lands again, and what knowledge and spirits and memories are enclosed in the land. And what does it mean that we have ¨found¨them again, and what are we calling forth in reclaiming them.
In Lanquin, where the land felt dear to me, a special edenesque feeling, i noticed that the lower hills in the valley reminded my of pyramids, so many of them, with a special feel, mainly uninhabited, and i wondered if they were in fact ruins, and i think it is more and more possible that they could have been. There was a feel to the place. And in the river, near Semuc Champay stood a stone with a face, and it looked so much like the stella in these sites.
And it is possible that people lived and built so many more places than we know now, for after all, what is known today is different that 100 or 200 years ago. And on the long bus ride here, between coban and sayaxhe, there were more of these hills, not only in the mountains but going into the lowlands, and i sat staring out the window wondering what lay beneath.
For what we know is only partial. and at tikal, with many partially reconstructed temples and buildings, we have made interpretations based on what we have found and know. And likewise with the sculptures. We dont really know what was there for sure, we can only imagine as far as our imaginations will stretch – Tikals heyday was at least 500 years from 400-900 ad, though it existed for so much longer with new structures built upon old, and changes made. And it was only known to the outside world in 1848.
And what will people make of our ruins, a discussion of north american homes with the large ornate bathrooms and kitchens, toilets as fountains or home temples, and the eco-construction in a few in guate – with plastic bottles filled with plastic garbage used as filler in concrete walls etc.
The land is rich with what is not known and there is so much that has not come into our vision or consciousness. What is really hidden below.
I walked the site with some others, in the jungle, nature reclaims and all changes, the natural and human (or beyond human as some will say) lives both, an interplay, and i climbed up the temples to look below at the jungle stood below looking up, different perspectives, and looked onto the central plaza from the north and south, and from the highest temple, number 4, only the peaks of the other main temples were visible, but was once afforded a view of the entire city.
And it is an amazing site – but still today was the first dat is over 6 weeks that i have not been surrounded by the mayan women in native dress who live today, only saw 2 – with families as tourists, snapping photos as well, all is change and so much is unknown – how many civilizations are still lost and how many of those hills are buried structures. I wonder if a piramid really exists under lake atitlan (see previous entry) I will stretch my mind forward and past and now.
(photos to come)
Energies of Place 