From www.youtube.com - January 21, 2013 2:17 PM

National Geographic got Joshua Berman's firsthand report of staying overnight on Ca'ana at Caracol, for the Winter solstice, to celebrate the end of the long count Maya calendar.  Dr. Jaime Awe, director of the Belize Institute of Archaeology, was there to explain the history of Caracol.  Here's the video to go with the story that was released a few weeks ago.

 

"Sleeping under the stars on top of a Maya temple in the middle of one of Central America’s largest tropical forests is the stuff of dreams.  Especially in this day and age, when most major Maya sites are off limits outside daylight hours.  But tonight is different.  Another shooting star!  The forest canopy rustling in the night breeze below sounds like rain, but, amazingly, the December sky is clear.  Sometime around 3:30 a.m., a drum begins to beat.  Maya elders are leading a procession through the trees to perform the solstice ceremony.  I know I should go (I don’t want to miss anything!), but I also don’t want to miss the show above me.  So I remain in my sleeping bag, glued to the sky.  That, after all, is where it all began.  The sky."