When drought hit the ancient Mayan civilisation, they turned to their gods for help. First they offered gifts like food, but the rain didn't come. Then they cut parts of their body and offered blood, but still it didn't rain. In desperation, they turned to human sacrifice - voluntary and forced. But the drought continued.
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What the ancient Maya didn't realise was that even if their gods could hear them, they wouldn't have been able to help. It was the people who were causing this severe climate change.
By cutting down the jungle to expand and decorate their sprawling metropolises, the Maya were changing the environment. In the end, with no rain and infertile soil, the people had little choice but to abandon these cities and find food elsewhere. Over time, the jungle grew back and took them over.
When I arrive in the lands of the ancient Maya - eastern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize - it's with a sense of discovery. Partly it's about discovering the legends of this famed civilisation that rose in power from about the 4th century BC until it mysteriously disappeared about 1500 years later. But it's also about discovering the archaeological sites for myself, feeling like an explorer, pushing through jungle to reveal enormous pyramids and temples.
As I journey from ancient city to city, I realise there are new discoveries at each one, every city unique in its architecture and environment.
The ruins of Chichen Itza, famous because of their proximity to the Mexican tourist resorts of Cancun and Playa del Carmen, have remarkable structures but feel unnaturally clean.
Not too far away, the ruins at Uxmal are less crowded and give me my first taste of the intricate art the Maya would carve into the stone.
And it's at Palenque that I start to get a real sense of how nature has reclaimed these cities, with dense green jungle seemingly hugging the impressive stone temples.
Although it's sometimes described as the 'Mayan Empire', it's actually more accurate to think of the civilisation as a collection of independent city-states that ebbed and flowed between war and peace, with a complicated network of trade and fealty.
Two of the most powerful Mayan states were at Tikal in Guatemala and Calakmul in Mexico. When you visit today, it's impossible not to be amazed at the huge temples that were built here, rising like stone skyscrapers above the treetops.
At Tikal, I climb up the tallest temple - almost 70 metres high - and look across the top of the jungle (which, incidentally, is the same view that was used for a scene in the first Star Wars movie, A New Hope). It's quite incredible to think this is the third-largest structure built in the pre-Columbian Americas.
At Calakmul, the tall temples are just as impressive but what really strikes me is how empty the site is. The ruins are not near any major town, meaning it's quite an effort to reach them, so only a handful of people visit each day. When I stand in the central square almost completely alone, temples rising up through the trees on every side of me, and a howler monkey's screams fill the air, I truly find my sense of discovery.
When many people think of the Mayan civilisation, they think of the Hollywood version - a mystical calendar that predicted the end of the world in 2012 and bloodthirsty ceremonies with human sacrifices.
In reality, the Ancient Maya were not too dissimilar to us. They were the most advanced American people of their time, with a sophisticated understanding of mathematics and astronomy. They had a complex writing system and created beautifully detailed art.
But they also let their hubris get the better of them. In their quest to grow their cities, they devastated the environment around them and, consequently, destroyed the civilisation they were trying to enhance.
Travelling to the Ancient Mayan world opened my eyes to a collection of incredible historical sites that I realise I knew very little about. But it's also given me a greater clarity of where we may be heading ourselves.
You can fly to Cancun from Australia via Los Angeles or Dallas Fort Worth. A budget hotel room is about $50 a night and you can get 5 stars from about $150. A local meal costs from $5.
The writer travelled as a guest of G Adventures.
Michael Turtle is a journalist who has been travelling the world full-time for the past eight years. Read more about his travel adventures at timetravelturtle.com
Michael Turtle
Michael Turtle is an Australian journalist who left his job in television to travel the world forever. He'll show you how to find the lesser-known places, get involved in the culture, learn the history, and meet locals along the way.
Michael Turtle is an Australian journalist who left his job in television to travel the world forever. He'll show you how to find the lesser-known places, get involved in the culture, learn the history, and meet locals along the way.
