The Mayan Trail: Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Belize, Spring 1992
The Mayans inhabited Central America with their civilization at its height from around AD300 to AD900. During that time they spread as far south as Honduras and as far north as the Yucatán in Mexico.
During the course of 5 weeks in the spring of ’92, we followed the Ruta Maya, crossing from the Yucatán in southeastern Mexico to Guatemala City on the west coast, and then back via Honduras to Belize on the east coast again.
The Mayans can be traced back as far as 1500BC. It was however during the ‘classical’ period, 3-900AD that the great ceremonial sites of Palenque, Tikal, and Copán were built.
After 900AD, the Mayans abandoned these sites for reasons still unknown, although theories abound. They worshipped a pantheon of Gods, including Chac, a god of rain, and Kukulcan, a creator god closely related to the Toltec and Aztec gods.