Chapter Nine
Tres let me off his jet at Carmelita Airport in El Petén, which was in the north of Guatemala. Our arrival caused quite the uproar at the tree-lined airport. I supposed that not many private jets carrying billionaire businessmen flew onto the small strip.
Scholars once called this area full of savages and a low point in human civilization. That’s because those smarty-pants in breeches came to see this haven after the jungle had reclaimed it. Before nine hundred years ago, before the collapse of the Mayan way of life, Petén had been a veritable metropolis.
The powerful cities of Tikal and Calakmul were within this area. By the seventh century, the region had become the heartland of the Mayan empire, with several million people thriving within the borders, making it one of th
