At first glance, almost all of Tikal, a Mayan site in Northern Gautamela, is an ancient city buried beneath layers of jungle. And what stands visible feels like a teaser—a fraction of a civilisation ...

I've descended into the Mayan underworld, a sweating, calcifying maze built deep within the Lacandon Jungle, dark as obsidian and thick with tailless whip scorpions. "Keep moving!" Mildred Lucas ...