Ecoturismo Yucatán Bookstore
Maya Culture Today
Author: | Bruce Love |
Edition: | 1st. |
Publisher: | Unknown |
Price: | |
$ 5.50 USD, plus $ 5 per order |
Introduction
I am writing this book for you, the tourist, because you have an honest
curiosity about the Maya people of today but almost no access to
information about them. As an anthropologist who has worked among the
Maya people for some twenty years, I am often surprised by the
misconceptions that I overhear in conversations in hotel restaurants
and among tour groups at the ruins.
I am also impressed, in a positive way, with the new ecological and
cultural consciousness of tourists. It is no longer enough to simply
marvel at the ruins and go back to the hotel. You want and deserve
more. What about the people you see in the villages and towns along the
highway? How do the people live, especially the people deep in the
forest? Are they healthy and well fed? How do they make a living? What
are their religious beliefs and social customs? Is there a connection
between the ancient Maya who built the temple pyramids and the living
Maya of today?
This book will try to answer some of these questions and more. I know
you are curious and keen on learning, but there is an even more
important reason for writing this book. The Maya people deserve it.
They have a right to be recognized as a living, breathing social and
cultural force. They did not disappear with the collapse of the Classic
Maya civilization. They are here today all around you. Let me introduce
them to you.