In the southeast of Mexico you will find the Yucatan Peninsula, an area rich in luxurious vegetation and tropical forests, and bound on either side by the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. In the southern part of Yucatan (which borders on Guatemala and Belize) the climate is hot and humid almost year round, a condition that produces a lush and tropical vegetation. This is very different from the northern part where it is quite hot and dry, similar to the climate of a desert, like Arizona in the U.S.A.

Cancún, located a the very tip of the peninsula, is a popular destination for tourists from all over the world, and Mérida is another modern city that has also become important for the Mexican economy. In between these two cities, in the northern part of Yucatan, in the middle of a tropical forest, lie the ancient ruins of Chichen Itza, the most important city for the Maya in Mexico.

The Mayan people were a civilization of both warriors and farmers that have been living in Mexico and Central America for the last 3,000 years. The Maya believed in different gods who created all that there was, and they also revered several animals as being sacred too, such as Gucumatz who was half snake and half quetzal (exotic bird). Their most important religious symbol was the ceiba—“tree of life.” They grew tomatoes, beans and corn. The priests were very important in Mayan society and it was they who created the precise Mayan calendars, similar to those of the Aztecs. Like the ancient Egyptians, the Maya wrote in hieroglyphics and built their own kind of pyramids. Don’t you think it’s interesting that these two cultures, so far apart, share these very particular customs?

Nowadays there are five million Maya who live in Mexico and Central America, mainly in the southern part of Mexico and in Guatemala. They still maintain their traditions and speak some of their native languages, such as Yucateca and Quechua.

To read more about the Maya and Chichen Itza, go to our Suitcase Sleuths web site!