The Jaguar Mask [antikvár]

Lacandon Forest Chiapas State Southern Mexico 12 November NoonThe pyramid seemed to roclc in the sunlight. Leo squinted his eyes and watched it regain balance. It was like a giant cardboard cutout, as fragile as glass, protected from the world by the dense rainforest that hemmed it in on every side. High up on its east flank, a sapodilla tree grew at an-angle. On its flat top, a long rectangular temple seemed to teeter.His pace quickened as he neared it, as it had quickened three times every day since his arrival. He still couldn't get over the thrill of having an untouched ruin of this quality under his own direction. He'd led the dig since day one, and for most of that time he'd been inside the pyramid itself, working with his hands. He'd been the one to find the tunnel that led from top to bottom of the structure, his hands had cleared away more rubble than anyone's.The great stone edifice was high at two hundred and twenty feet, almost as high as the tallest pyramid at Tikal. The steps on each of its four sides were vertiginously steep and potentially dangerous. Centuries ago, the wholeI