Image of Beall descending from Pyramid taken this Saturday

Deep in the jungles of Meso-America lie the remains of ancient pyramids, pyramids on pyramids, some completely unexcavated, many more still undiscovered, abandoned by unknown builders at an unknown time for unknown reasons. In their secret places lie precious codices and hieroglyphic writings of celestial mathematics sculptured into geometric form on monuments known as stelae.

For my fortieth birthday, my own beloved esposita took me on an adventure into the jungle interior of the Yucatan Penninsula to further my studies of ancient cultures and technologies. We drove for nearly three hours (in two of which we saw barely a soul or a sign of civilization) until we reached Chichén Itzá — one of the great, previously lost, stone cities of sacrifice for one of the most barbarous and wicked civilizations in the annals of human history — the ancient Maya people.

Chichén Itzá is a city complex of more than three dozen enormous stone buildings. (A local man we hired to be our private guide explained that one can go into the brush of the jungle exterior to the city to find still more uncovered and unexcavated buildings.)

This image taken around 5:00 p.m., Saturday

The centerpiece of Chichén Itzá is the massive Pyramid “El Castillo,” dedicated to the serpent-god Kukulcan. The construction of the Kukulcan Pyramid was planned by the brilliant pagan mathematician-priests so that on each Vernal Equinox, the dying sun would cast a shadow of a serpent writhing down the steps of the pyramid to replenish life on earth.

Beall about to descend

Climbing and descending El Catillo is a surprising challenge. The precipitous ninety-one steps to the top are a doozy, but manageable even for the faint of heart if you don’t spend much time looking back. From the summit, Beall and I had a magnificent view of the city which is surrounded on every side by miles and miles of Mexican jungle.

My own trip inside the pyramid was less hospitable. Thanks to the help and counsel of our faithful guide, I had an opportunity to journey into the belly of the great pyramid, through its almost unbearably humid, dark, and treacherous corridors to an interior room where there was just enough light to see an ancient jewel-encrusted Jaguar throne — the seat of the Mayan priests who would cut and eat the beating hearts out of their living victims.