Not all cultures are severed from their past. Ancient societies still exist on this planet. Yes, they may change and adapt, no longer existing fully as they once were. But for them, ancestral traditions walk as silent ghosts weaving intricately into modern lives.
Through these people, you can experience a connection to a living past that is unavailable in most of our lives. Walk back into time while supporting a historic legacy that lives on through native people with ancient roots.
No Map Nomads brings you this series of living cultures that still harbor ancient traditions. There is in this world still people that have not forgotten they ways of their ancestors. They still exist. If you can find them.
Maya Center Mayan Museum
What happened to the Mayans when they left their villages pursued by Conquistadors? They did not merely evaporate into the jungle like the smoke from Pacaya. Scattered like chaff in a strong wind, the Maya spread across the land keeping their history alive as they passed down traditions to their descendants.
Within the boundaries of the Jaguar Reserve in Belize, one group of modern Mayans has recreated the image of their past with a living history museum. The Maya Center Mayan Museum does not just reproduce a culture buried in time but seeks to keep alive a historic legacy.
Julio Saqui, the owner and manager of the Maya Center Mayan Museum has endeavored to create a site that not teaches about the Mayan culture and history but that “revives the Mayan culture and takes this same culture and offers it to our eco-cultural tourists and finally to be able to create employment in the Maya village, so that the villagers can really begin to see what cultural tourism can do in a positive and sustainable manner.”
Julio says that “Visitors can immerse themselves into this real Mayan culture by taking part in the hands on experience rather than just taking pictures from a vehicle window.” He relates the most memorable experience for guests is being able to learn by doing, joining in with the activities as they occur.
The center has a recreated traditional Mayan house. Visitors are not only taught how Mayans grind corn and make tortillas, they are invited to join in. In addition, guests learn to crush sugar cane, make a chocolate flavored drink, and roast coffee. Traditional music and dances as well as embroidery are exhibited.
The Maya are more than the ruins of stone pyramids, pictographic writings, and carved scenes of gruesome sacrifices. The people that made up the villages around Chichen Itza, Tikal, and the many other ancient Mayan sites were something more. What is more, the Mayan people still exist. At the Maya Culture Mayan Museum you can walk among the proud descendants of a people who stood against the conquistadors in an effort to save their way of life. Come and learn what they still have to teach.
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For tips on visiting and other things you can see at the Jaguar Reserve see the Maya Culture Mayan Museum website. Julio suggests that the best time to visit is starting in November to March as this time is out of the rainy season and between Hurricane seasons. However, the site is open year around. All you need to do is give Julio a days notice via telephone or email so he knows to expect you.
