First Ruins

I've been anticipating seeing ruins this whole time. I finally got the chance yesterday. I went with Kyle to some ruins that aren't usually visited by American tourists. They're a bit out-of-the-way, especially if you don't have a car.

I was a little unimpressed, at least visually. I was expecting the high towers of Tikal. What we saw was mostly mounds and rocks. See, the thing about ruins is... the further you go back, the less technologically advanced the civilization was. It sounds simple, but one doesn't think of stone buildings as being technologically advanced. Pre-300BC Mayan culture would create mortar out of mud, and two and a half thousand years in a volcano-based jungle is a bit rough on mud. It's a wonder anything is left at all.

This fertility altar had been used by Mayans earlier that day.
I thought that was neat.

I like Mayan art. It has a... "happy cartoon" feel to it. This is a frog.

An unexpected but welcome surprise was the little zoo they had in the back.
This monkey really wanted Kyle's notebook for some reason.