Many years ago, when Mexico was safer than the USA, I hitch hiked and back packed from Cali to Cozumel and back. Took 4 1/2 months, learned Spanish along the way. Stayed in a hotel one night/week to clean up. The other days camped out. Usually I traveled by myself, but sometimes I would go with another backpacker for a week or so.
After 2-3 months I was down in the Yucatan, and traveled with an English guy for a week. He told me about trips through Afghanistan that are as deadly as the stories you may have heard. He said, let's go to Palenque, which was about 6 miles off a paved road. Palenque was a large Maya city when the civilization ended around 800 AD. They did ritual human sacrificing on a regular basis in Palenque.
We after walking much of the way down the dirt road we come to the ruins. This area is 99% covered in Jungle, but one pyramid and a few buildings were uncovered and in very good condition. Like the other tourists who came in buses, we walked all over the open area and read about the Maya in the area. About 4 pm, all six of the tourist buses left, and we had the place to ourselves. We planned on camping off to the side of the dirt parking lot. So, we are standing there, taking in the view of what village that was uncovered, and it got really, really weird.
I could see, like a watermark on a piece of paper, a large group of Mayans that were there. However they were up in the air, maybe 15' off the ground. About five of them were close to us, perhaps 50' away. The main guy has his arms outstretched saying "get out of here, get out of here". I could partly see it, and partly hear it, like a watermark in the background. I stared into the jungle, could so nothing. No leaves were rustling, no birds were flying, the jungle was totally quiet.
I kept staring into this group of semi-visible persons, probably 200 total in the background. Most were just milling around, except for the front ones were were yelling the "get out of here". I said to the English guy, let's camp somewhere else, and he said "Yes!". We walked a quarter mile or so to the west, and camped. No more apparitions bothered us again, but we never spoke a word about it.
It appeared to me that perhaps some of the Mayans willingly sacrificed themselves because they believed in a phony story spun by their religious leaders. Now they were trapped their for eternity, contemplating their life choices. That is the best conclusion I have been able to develop. I am sure that neither of us had any expectations other than having a quiet place to camp after the tourist buses had left, but the experience was fully real.
After 2-3 months I was down in the Yucatan, and traveled with an English guy for a week. He told me about trips through Afghanistan that are as deadly as the stories you may have heard. He said, let's go to Palenque, which was about 6 miles off a paved road. Palenque was a large Maya city when the civilization ended around 800 AD. They did ritual human sacrificing on a regular basis in Palenque.
We after walking much of the way down the dirt road we come to the ruins. This area is 99% covered in Jungle, but one pyramid and a few buildings were uncovered and in very good condition. Like the other tourists who came in buses, we walked all over the open area and read about the Maya in the area. About 4 pm, all six of the tourist buses left, and we had the place to ourselves. We planned on camping off to the side of the dirt parking lot. So, we are standing there, taking in the view of what village that was uncovered, and it got really, really weird.
I could see, like a watermark on a piece of paper, a large group of Mayans that were there. However they were up in the air, maybe 15' off the ground. About five of them were close to us, perhaps 50' away. The main guy has his arms outstretched saying "get out of here, get out of here". I could partly see it, and partly hear it, like a watermark in the background. I stared into the jungle, could so nothing. No leaves were rustling, no birds were flying, the jungle was totally quiet.
I kept staring into this group of semi-visible persons, probably 200 total in the background. Most were just milling around, except for the front ones were were yelling the "get out of here". I said to the English guy, let's camp somewhere else, and he said "Yes!". We walked a quarter mile or so to the west, and camped. No more apparitions bothered us again, but we never spoke a word about it.
It appeared to me that perhaps some of the Mayans willingly sacrificed themselves because they believed in a phony story spun by their religious leaders. Now they were trapped their for eternity, contemplating their life choices. That is the best conclusion I have been able to develop. I am sure that neither of us had any expectations other than having a quiet place to camp after the tourist buses had left, but the experience was fully real.
