As the guide walked us through the structures and explaining customs and uses from what has been discovered about Mayan culture, I kept being struck by the juxtaposition of natural structures (trees, vines and grasses) and structures built by men--both the physical ones such as roads and buildings and the societal ones of hierarchies and classes.
We walked through a city where most of the buildings had toppled but a few temples stood erect. What had once been cleared by urbanity was now overgrown. As the guide talked about the complexities of Mayan culture, he mentioned that the part we were standing in was the place where only the elite were allowed.
It hit me how those rules no longer mattered and that the birds, bats and other animals who crossed our path were oblivious to them. It seemed such a glaring contrast how the things that men created were now only guessed at by anthropologists and yet the birds, bats and trees were still following the same patterns they had for thousands of years. Natural rhythms without artificial structures laid on top. I'm curious that wherever man goes these things follow. And I wonder what is it in us that needs them?
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