Post 1 - The Adventure Tour

 

Let’s go on an adventure tour.  We’ll go to Belize, near the center of the once mighty Mayan Empire.  We’ll try to discover for ourselves the answer to the famous Mayan Mystery, the reason those ancient people abruptly abandoned their cities at the peak of their fabulous achievements and disappeared from history, leaving behind empty buildings and pyramids to be overgrown and swallowed by the tropical jungle. 

These were not remote villages of a few families living in bamboo huts, these were magnificant cities that had existed for hundreds of years. Some of those deserted Mayan cities were among the largest in the world at that time, with sturdy structures built to last a thousand years..

                      

 

Why did the ancient Mayans abandon their magnificent cities and suddenly disappear? Researchers have offered theories, the most popular are disease, crop failure, a natural disaster and war. All of those theories are plagued by flaws, so after decades of research by dedicated archeologists from many leading universities and museums, nobody yet knows.
 

The book, Mayan Mystery Unveiled, gives us another look at this puzzle. The story in this book is based on an oral history tale that was passed down from generation to generation in a Mayan village near one of the abandoned cities, and was told to a tourist who was an author with an interest in folklore.
 

This author, knowing that most folklore has at least a scrap of truth in it, spent years searching for the truth hidden in that tale, and he wrote this book based on what he discovered. Could it provide us with the answer to this famous mystery after so many other theories by researchers failed?  After all, archeologists had been diligently studying this mystery for years, could this folklore tale possibly provide a clue they had missed?
 

Perhaps, archeologists look for their clues by excavating ancient sites, they wouldn’t discover a folklore tale like this by digging holes in the dirt around a pyramid. The novel, Mayan Mystery Unveiled, is a story of an American nurse who volunteers to provide medical care for two weeks in an impoverished village near an abandoned city, and it describes her search for the answer that had eluded researchers for decades. This is a work of fiction, the characters are fictional, but it is really the author’s story.  He visited every place mentioned and he lived the experiences described for the characters.

It’s a lot like an Indiana Jones adventure, but without the snakes.

This blog describes the book, and includes:

Post 1 – The adventure tour.  You are now reading Post 1.

Post 2 – The author’s purpose.

Post 3 – The ‘evil spirits’ folklore tale.

Post 4 – The story.

Post 5 – Review of the story.

Post 6 – The rest of the story. 

            Post 7 – A photo tour of Beliae and the ancient Mayan cities.
 

Let’s look at the story, and at the author’s theory for the answer to the famous Mayan Mystery.  We’ll let the author tell us about it, we’ll let him tell us how he found this folklore tale, and how he arrived at his explanation of why these ancient people mysteriously abandoned their magnificent cities a thousand years ago.
 

The author, Glenn Lawson, tells the story in this blog.  You are now reading Post 1.  For the rest of his story, scroll down or click on Post 2 of the blog archives.

            To order the hook, Mayan Mystery Unveiled, and join the author on this adventure in tropical Belize searching for the answer to the famous mystery, click on Post 7 of the blog archives.