玛雅文化主要在危地马拉,不是墨西哥。
危地马拉一定要去。危地马拉 Guatemala 是中美洲最有特色的国家,历史很悠久,到处都是玛雅遗址,最大的金字塔群都在那里。墨西哥的那些金字塔比较新,是玛雅后期的。另外有很多漂亮的火山,有世界上最美丽的湖,有山里的文化,有高山有丛林。。。应有尽有的人文和自然景观。不过现在那里政府非常腐败,十分贫穷,治安也不好。
洪都拉斯 Honduras 有一些玛雅遗址,有一处非常精美。另外比较值得看的是海里的珊瑚礁和热带鱼,价格便宜。去他们国家的国际航班都是停 San Pedro Sula 的国际机场。
萨尔瓦多 El Salvador 小国,好像值得看的不多。
尼加拉瓜 Nicaragua 没有玛雅遗址,但有火山。据说现在正在开发,山里有很多便宜的去处。
哥斯达黎加 Costa Rica 十分西化,自然景观很美,但比较贵,没有太多中美洲的文化。
巴拿马 Panama 也很西化了。有运河。伯利兹 Belize 我去过,虽在中美洲,但文化与景观接近于加勒比海。以前是英国殖民地,所以生活条件很富裕。有玛雅遗址以及海滩,珊瑚礁。
去 Lake Atitlan 可以先到 Guatamala City 然后乘汽车过去。据说很多嬉皮士和艺术家买了房地产住在湖边。危地马拉已经几乎没有火车了。我抄段赫胥黎(Huxley)的话,是说,Lake Atitlan 比意大利的 Lake Como 还美。
Lake Como, it seems to me, touches the limit of the permissibly picturesque; but Atitlán is Como with the additional embellishments of several immense volcanoes. It is really too much of a good thing. After a few days of this impossible landscape one finds oneself thinking nostalgically of the English Home Counties.-- Aldous Huxley, Beyond the Mexique Bay (1934)
In 1841 John Stephens was so impressed with the ruins at Quiriguá that he planned to take them home, using the Río Motagua to float the stones to the Caribbean so that "the city might be transported bodily and set up in New York". Fortunately, the asking price was beyond his means and the ruins remained buried in the rainforest until 1909, when the land was bought by the United Fruit Company.“Of one thing there is no doubt; a large city once stood there; its name is lost, its history unknown; and no account of its existence has ever before been published. For centuries it has lain as completely buried as if covered with the lava of Vesuvius. Every traveller from Yzabal to Guatimala has passed within three hours of it; we ourselves had done the same; and yet there it lay, like the rock-built city of Edom, unvisited, unsought, and utterly unknown.”-- John Lloyd Stephens (1884)
中国护照去危地马拉很难拿到签证。我就被拒签了。:(
我到芝加哥和纽约(亲身)的危地马拉领事馆,都说要审查三个月。他们问我有没有绿卡,我说没有,他们就说要审查。我用特区护照,他们问香港若是台湾就不用审查。我说香港不是台湾,但也跟共产中国不同,他们不知道香港在哪里,致电回总部后说也算中国。后来我到伯利兹的首都那里的危地马拉大使馆,向他们求情,他们也说要审查三个月,让我到边境试试运气。我到边境,伯利兹很通情达理,没收我出境费,准许我跨国询问。到了危地马拉海关,我说只去一天,跟旅行团看看金字塔。海关的人看了我的护照,说要审查三个月才能知道批不批准。我语言不同,不懂行贿。简直太气人了。不过他们的供词倒很一致。