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Comment by briga | Hacker News Reader

If you go to see them in person it becomes clear why. The jungle foliage in this region is so thick that you could be standing 2 feet away from an ancient pyramid and not even realize that’s what you’re looking at. Besides that the area is very hot, difficult to navigate, and not particularly safe (full of narcos and rebel groups)

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"full of narcos and rebel groups"

This area is 60km into Balamkú ecological reserve. Are you familiar with that area? This state (Campeche) if famous for being one of the safest areas in Mexico. No, there are no narcos or rebels in these jungles. You would have to travel several hundreds of kilometers north in order to find any danger related to narcos. Everything else you said is true: Thick jungle, hot and difficult to navigate, but humans are the least dangerous things in that area.

Agreed. That area of the Yucatan is not exciting to drug cartels specifically because of its inaccessibility. By far the biggest risk is from disease which can be deadly due to the difficulty of getting back out of the jungle.

I’m referring to the Mayan civilization at large, which extends through Guatemala and Honduras. Which is certainly not safe by any first world standards (but also not as dangerous as one might think)

But “the area” in question is not that. Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras have serious challenges but you do those and the reader no favor by conflating them.

You’re being pedantic, the original comment referred to Mayan cities, not Mayan cities in Campeche

Are you suggesting there are undiscovered Mayan cities in the heavily trafficked areas of Honduras and El Salvador?

I went to Chichen Itza last year and went to a cenote. It felt incredibly safe the entire time. It was a fantastic experience.

Yucatan state is quite safe, it’s one of the few in Mexico without a US travel advisory. It’s also got to be the #1 attraction in the state and a major source of revenue judging by how much they charge to get in

Campeche also contains some of the most interesting ruins in Mexico, like Calakmul (close to this area in question, think) and a bunch of smaller sites.

Specifically, there are huge areas only accessible on foot or by helicopter. And good luck getting cell service. This means any injury you get can be life threatening since it may take days to get back to any kind of road.

true, I wonder we can continue improved use of 3d mapping and lidar technologies like in recent national geographic shows.

We do, but that still doesn't change the reality on the ground. The jungle is a pretty brutal and disorienting place. I've done a few walks in the jungle in Colombia and Panama and it is incredibly beautiful but you also quickly realize that without a guide you are going to be lost in 30 seconds. Foliage so dense you can't see more than a few meters ahead and behind of you, dense enough to obscure the sun to the point that you can no longer navigate, and sometimes dense enough to interfere with GPS unless you plan on staying in the same spot for a long time. It is also incredibly alive for want of a better word.

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