Today is election day in Belize and it is a holiday. So we take an educational trip to Tikal National Park in Guatemala. The first plazas were built 1500 years ago and the culture thrived until 900 AD. The temples each house one individual. They were built by the labor of the peasants without benefit of metal implements, wheels or beasts of burden. With the expenditure of so much labor the economy may have collapsed under the burden. It took about 100 years for the royalty to leave and the commoners left over a period of time thereafter. It is one of the worlds first UNESCO sites and is an amazing feat of engineering. Much of the stonework remains covered by jungle in order to preserve it. Stairs were added recently to prevent further deaths of tourists by sudden impact with the ground after falling from the heights.
No comments:
Post a Comment