Mike in the Wild

The hotel outside Chichen Itza epitomized the entire region in a way.  Mayaland Hotel was indeed within the home of the Maya, but it was closed indefinitely.   Until the Covid pandemic shuttered the adjacent entrance to the archaeology park, Mayaland was just a short walk away for overnight tourists.  Now, like the ancient city and towering temples it looked out upon, its best days were most likely behind it.    The Maya are an indigenous people that have inhabited southeast Mexico and northern Central America for millennia.  Their pre-Hispanic civilization was renowned for its large cities and towering temples that remain today as archaeological sites in various states of excavation, preservation, and reconstruction.  While these cities each have their own unique histories, all the Maya ultimately shared the same fate at the hands of sixteenth century Spanish invaders and missionaries: conquest and subjugation.  Nevertheless the people ...