The Yucatán Peninsula is a land unlike anywhere else on earth. To begin with, it has a unique geology. The entire peninsula is a flat slab of limestone that millions of years ago absorbed the force of a giant meteor (this is the same meteor that is thought to have extinguished the dinosaurs). The impact sent shock waves through the brittle limestone, fracturing it throughout, creating an immense network of fissures that drain all rainwater away from the surface. When driving through northern and central Yucatán, you'll notice no bridges, no rivers, lakes, or watercourses. The land has this surprising uniformity on the surface. The vast subterranean basin, which stretches for miles across the peninsula, is invisible but for the area's many cenotes -- sinkholes or natural wells that exist nowhere else. Many are perfectly round vertical shafts that look like nothing else in nature (such as the Grand Cenote at Chichén Itzá); others retain a partial roof, often perforated by tree roots -- quiet, dark, and cool, they are the opposite of the warm, brightly lit outside world. To the Maya, they were passageways to the underworld.
Those curious people, the Maya, are another fascinating part of this land. The ancients left behind elegant and mysterious ruins that, despite all that we now know, seem to defy interpretation. Almost every year, archaeological excavation leads to the discovery of more ruins, adding to a growing picture of an urban civilization that thrived in an area where only scantily populated jungle now exists. What can we make of such a civilization? What value do we accord the Maya among the other lost civilizations of the ancient world? Even this is unclear, but the art and architecture they left behind are stunning expressions of a rich and complex cosmological view.
Then there was the arrival of the Spaniards, in the early 1500s -- an event that in hindsight seems almost apocalyptic. Military conquest and old-world diseases decimated the native population. A new social order predicated on a starkly different religion rose in place of the old one. Through all of this, the Maya held on to their language but lost most of the living memory of their pre-Hispanic ways. What they retained they cloaked in the language of myth and legend that was worked into a rough synthesis of old and new. They selectively appropriated elements of the new religion that could help make sense of the world, and this process continues today in the many Maya communities that have native churches.
For these reasons and more, the Yucatán is a curious place; it may beckon you with its turquoise waters and tropical climate, but what will ultimately hold your attention is the unique character of the land and its people. There is no other place like it.
