We have attractions here unmatched anywhere in the world. Among them are at least a thousand Mayan archeological sites, only a handful of which have been studied and restored. The new program aims to change this. By funding the restoration of other major ruins and supporting projects to improve access and small-scale tourism infrastructure, visitors will come to see Tikal, but stay to go on archeological safaris that combine visits to other sites with tours of the forest. Perils of neglect.
Work is already underway at several sites.
One is Aguateca, a one-hour boat ride up the R o Petexbat n. There, archeologist Erick Ponciano leads visitors up a slippery hillside, past a camp of blue polytarps, to a vast plaza shaded by giant trees and ringed with pyramidal hills. He pauses at a fallen stella, a slab of stone with bas relief figures bordered with hieroglyphics, and points to a thin cut. This was the work of a thief, whose efforts to divide the stone into transportable pieces had been interrupted, at least for the time being. The theft probably had been commissioned by a wealthy collector who wanted this specific stella.