First things first.
My reading material tells me that the Maya took hallucinogenic enemas. Amongst the materials found at digs and matched to images on walls or codexes were leather and/or rubber tubing and narrow bone funnels for inserting up the bum. Through these would flow pulque (a fermented agave brew) or chih (dunno what this drink is)…or hallucinogenic teas. The Huichol (central Mexico) still do this with infusions made from Peyote buttons. No pictures available.
25 years ago I seem to remember that the roads other than the main Merida-Cancún highway were mostly dirt tracks trough the forest. Cabanas existed around Tulum, but not the hotels that are going up now. Highways and road improvement proceed rapidly. In fact, many of the newer nice paved roads that interlace the peninsula are not on any of the maps. They can't make new maps fast enough to keep up with progress.
Backstory
The Maya were possibly the last large “civilized” group of indigenous people in the new world to capitulate to the European invaders. Yes, there are still small scattered groups in the Amazon, and the Lacondon (a Mayan subsidy) in Chiapas have preserved some of their way of life, but the Maya were still fairly organized in large cites when the Spanish arrived — though their massive empire had dwindled a lot. (It's estimated there were millions in the larger empire, which may have been part of the problem.) They were still worshipping at the pyramids in 1930 when the Mexican government took control of some of the sites and instituted tourism and conservation programs. That makes 5,000 years (at least) of continuous culture — some kind of record.
When the Spanish moved in they created a series of race-based “castes” based on the various racial mixtures that occurred in the New World (results of interbreeding between European, Indigenous and African peoples.) The castes have curious names — Lobo (wolf), Tentenelayre (have you up in the air) and Saltapatras (a jump backwards.)
The Maya rose up against the invaders a number of times. They fought guerilla style — so the Spanish could never fight them on open ground or in broad daylight. The Spanish, for decades, took terrible losses…there was no central head to cut off as there had been with the Aztecs. In 1847 the Mayan uprising was called the Caste War and a cult of talking crosses arose simultaneously. The rebel bases were at Carrillo Puerto and Tulum. When Carrillo Puerto fell it was left to Tulum, which was ruled by Maria Uicab, the Queen of Tulum, to defend the remaining Mayan forces.
These forces were not militarily subdued by the Mexicans until the early 20th century. Whether they were ever culturally subdued is doubtful.
The tiny Maya endure. The civilization is in the people, embedded and quiet. The temples have crumbled, only 5 codexes remain in all the world out of thousands, the roads between pyramids are overgrown, but the little people who were always there are still there. Living life not so different that what they always did. The kings and priests are gone, but the people remain.
Coe suggests that much about a culture can be explained by geology and agricultural science. This is a bit the Guns, Germs and Steel school of analysis. The upper Yucatan peninsula has no rivers. No rivers! Where on Earth are there NO rivers? So, after the rainy season, there is no fresh water. It has all sunk into the earth or evaporated. Yes, there are giant ceramic jars in abundance, but how many months of dry season will that last?
The peninsula is a limestone plateau, heaved up from the seabed where the limestone was created and deposited. It's flat as a pancake. The rainwater seeps down into the porous stone and eventually etches out caves, as often happens in limestone-rich areas. In the Yucatan this is where the water goes — it ends up in underground lakes, ponds and aquifers. Occasionally the roof of one of these caves in, and a way becomes available to the fresh water below. The Spanish called these cenotes. Here's one:
It's hard to see, but in the lower left corner there is a wooden stand with a mattress propped up vertically at the back left. A kid has rigged a zip line that runs from the far right earth surface down into the hole — if you can't stop, the mattress will cushion your impact. For a small fee you can try your luck.
Here's a painting of how the ancient Maya got water:
Like something out of Myst or some work of 19th century imaginative fiction….like those on which the Indiana Jones series was based.
Nowadays many of the cenotes are tourist attractions. We descended into one near the Coba site (many former cites were build to include cenotes or with ones very nearby.) From the surface one can see a hole in the ground about as big as a child's wading pool. Inside is a spiral stairway that goes down about 4 stories. At the bottom was a Mexican man making sure no one broke off any stalagmites, and a crystal clear pond. Clear fresh filtered water. I went swimming. In other cenotes one can go scuba diving through various underground chambers.
