Richard L. Thornton, Architect & City Planner
One Summer in Mexico – Part 54
20° 21′ 34″ N, 89° 46′ 17″ W
Once upon at time in a land that seemed faraway, three fair French Canadian school teachers, a Maya guide and myself ventured together into the heart of the Yucatan Peninsula to reach the then little known Maya city of Uxmal. This fantasy journey almost ended in tragedy, when a giant, fearsome dragon revealed its foul corpulence, pounced out from the ancient rocks of a Maya temple and breathed fire at the face of this young architecture student. Alas, the three concurrent shrieks of “Mon Dieu” by the lovely damsels from Montreal frightened the evil beast and caused it to return . . . a cowardly monster . . . to its hidden cave.
Well, that’s not quite how it happened, but you will definitely enjoy this photographic tour of a Late Classic Period Maya city that represents the peak sophistication of Mayan architecture and urban planning. Until preparing this documentary, I had not looked at these fascinating color slides in over 50 years! The video lasts 30 minutes.
The Americas Revealed 