Photo: Calakmul High Point

The distance is all jungle. It stretches as far as the eye can see, 360 degrees. On the clearest day, the local workers excavating the ruin say you can see all the way to Guatemala's Tikal. But none of the workers have seen Tikal. The workers cannot understand why the foreigners come here to climb the steep steps. It's hot, it's hot. And what is so special about this place, they shrug. plenty more ruins in the jungle. Where? They wave without conviction: In the ground, en la selva. Too much work to get them out.