Cayo Scoop! The Ecology of Cayo Culture

Cayo is all over this video that Joshua Berman, who researches and writes the Moon Guide for Belize, put together on the Huffington Post.  He goes up the Macal River to check out the sites.  Barton Creek is also on there, although not mentioned.

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Joshua Berman, who writes the Moon Guide for Belize, added a little something to the Moon website: "If there's one thing I've learned this past year of reading books about the Maya, it is that the truth about the Maya is far more fascinating than the stories of crystal skulls. So I guess I've become a bit of a Maya truth junkie. That's why I did not hesitate to click away $8 for a copy of ARCHAEOLOGY MAGAZINE: THE MAYA. It is a "best of" collector's edition featuring articles on the latest discoveries, hundreds of photos, maps, timelines, and I'll find out what else when the magazine comes.

National Geographic got Joshua Berman's firsthand report of staying overnight on Ca'ana at Caracol, for the Winter solstice, to celebrate the end of the long count Maya calendar.  Dr. Jaime Awe, director of the Belize Institute of Archaeology, was there to explain the history of Caracol.  Here's the video to go with the story that was released a few weeks ago.

"Sleeping under the stars on top of a Maya temple in the middle of one of Central America’s largest tropical forests is the stuff of dreams.  Especially in this day and age, when most major Maya sites are off limits outside daylight hours.  But tonight is different.  Another shooting star!  The forest canopy rustling in the night breeze below sounds like rain, but, amazingly, the December sky is clear.  Sometime around 3:30 a.m., a drum begins to beat.  Maya elders are leading a procession through the trees to perform the solstice ceremony.  I know I should go (I don’t want to miss anything!), but I also don’t want to miss the show above me.  So I remain in my sleeping bag, glued to the sky.  That, after all, is where it all began.  The sky."