They are empty and silent now; pale spectres of cities that teemed with life and seethed with color. Once priestly processions moved in solemn splendor across those wide plazas and climbed the steep stairways to make their bloody offerings to the gods while hushed crowds of worshippers looked on in awe and wonder…and fear?
     On happier occasions there might be shouts and cheers from excited spectators at the sacred ball court or the sound of bells,drums and rattles accompanying the ritual dancing.
Some were not cities at all. Only the gods and the priests and acolytes who ministered to them lived there. These were ceremonial centers, often serving wide areas, where the faithful came to worship and appease their sometimes terrible deities. They might also be administrative centers but, since Kings were usually High Priests, it amounted to the same thing.
     Today, only small groups of tourists move about the vast courtyards. The voices of guides and the roar of tour buses raise brief echoes among the ancient stones and are quickly gone.
     Only the ghosts remain.....
More....