Day 15 June 6
The Dusty Road to Seibal




Leaving Tikal, we rode the jeep for two hours under a scorching sun. Our destination was Seibal, a little-visited site near the Pasión river.

Weary from the heat and the absence of fresh meat, Madjid could take it no longer. "Bring me to the nearest swimming pool!" he demanded. We were somewhat amused by his outburst, but it took us a long time to calm him down.

The towering rainforest of Tikal gave way to dryer country as we headed south. At several places, the jungle was cleared by "slash and burn" to provide farmland. Small plots of maize, beans, and other staple crops broke the primeval fastness. A few solitary huts showed us where some of the intruders lived. We passed one devastated clearing that was burnt black and still smoking from a recent blaze.

The Guatemalan government was encouraging settlement in the Petén by giving land to anyone willing to endure the difficult forest life. Thousands of the landless and impoverished from the highlands had already joined the free-for-all. Paradoxically, tropical soils are poor and soon become agriculturally unproductive. Slashing and burning, the quick and dirty way out for these people, has to be repeated every few years on newer tracts of land: a sure recipe for widespread deforestation. But with so many desperately poor settlers-- so many victims of Guatemala's unjust social system --the environment had few defenders here.

At the village of Sayaxché along the river, there was no bridge, but a ferry carried us, jeep and all, to the other side. I had read somewhere that this place was one of the earliest Maya settlements, but I saw more TV antennas over the roofs than indígenas on the road. (Apparently, the Maya collapse was so total in the lowlands that the great cities were almost completely depopulated.)

Well, Maya or not, we were very grateful to Sayaxché and, in particular, to the restaurant-store by the ferry crossing. Here we experienced pure heaven while slaking our thirst with some of the coldest cokes in the world. Invigorated and once more in full possession of his senses, Madjid rose to face the rest of his Seibal adventure.

Upon our arrival, Roberto parked the jeep close to a large steel drum which was being used to collect rainwater for the site's caretakers. Before walking to the ruins, we stopped by a small thatched-roof "museum" displaying a map of the ancient city, and artifacts, most notably a finely carved stone altar. We were the only visitors at Seibal. (In Spanish, "Ceibal", or a place were the ceiba trees grow. The ceiba tree is sacred to both ancient and modern-day Maya.) The jungle here is less profuse than the one at Tikal, but the place was less made up for tourists. Along the hastily-prepared paths, the trees often blocked our view of the sky. Bloodthirsty mosquitos swooped down, biting mercilessly through our shirt fabrics.

While I took this picture, a fierce growling came from the nearby forest. It certainly sounded like a jaguar, but it could have been a howler monkey, which makes a similar sound. "Wow! This is a real jungle!" exclaimed Madjid, redoubling his pace.




The main temple at Seibal is flanked by four stelae, one on each side. This temple exhibits several non-Maya architectural features. For example, it is set in the middle of the plaza, not, as with the Tikal pyramids, along the sides. Moreover, the "veneer masonry" of this structure, formed by putting flat stones over a rough core, is at odds with the traditional Maya "block masonry". The figures on the stelae bear costumes with many Mexican or non-Maya features. Currently, archaeologists believe that non-Maya or "Mexicanized Maya" had once penetrated and established ascendancy over this region.



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