Ironically, even as he set out to destroy the "pagan" culture, de Landa helped to preserve it. When he returned to Spain, near the end of his life, he wrote in great detail about the Mayan culture.

He described the calendar and farming methods. And de Landa also wrote about the Mayan alphabet. He had sat with Maya who could still read the old language, and he had translated some of the hieroglyphics. De Landa didn't understand how the language worked, but he preserved a key, nonetheless.

Several guides on the Mayan sites credit a Siberian-born archaeologist, Tatiana Proskouriakoff, with unlocking the secret of the hieroglyphics. In 1960, she was able to read the stelae and explain to the world that these were histories.

Other archaeologists credit Yuri Knorosov with laying the foundation for her work. In 1952, Knorosov figured out that the Mayan hieroglyphics were made up partly of sounds and partly of ideas. He discovered that some of the 300 symbols were syllables.

From different guides, you can hear different theories on why Mayan civilization declined. Some talk about invasions of Mexicans. Many say the Mayan cities outgrew their resources. There were signs of malnutrition in the skeletons of even the nobility in the later years. In his book, "The Lords of Tikal," University of Pennsylvania's Peter Harrison says that, in the last days, "the suggestion of cannibalism is strong."

But while Guatemalan and Belizean guides blame overpopulation — and guidebook author Janson agrees that resources were being depleted — Janson says overpopulation would have led to a gradual decline in the civilization. Instead, the large Mayan cities were abandoned practically overnight.

So Janson suggests that drought, plague, war or peasant revolt may have ended Tikal. No one claims to know for sure.

So you end your tour of Tikal knowing lots of details. Still, in some essential way, the Mayans' lives remain a mystery.

This is why it is good to save a climb to the top of a temple for the last part of your visit. Sitting atop a massive stone pyramid, looking out over a seemingly endless rainforest, is the best way to revel in mystery.

Only after our group left Tikal, headed back to Belize, did we learn that if we had stayed at one of the hotels at the site, we would have been allowed to wander the grounds at sunrise or sunset. We mourned, realizing the only thing better than seeing it by daylight would be to walk among the ruins of Tikal on the night of a full moon.

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E-mail: susan@desnews.com

Sources: "The Lords of Tikal," by Peter D. Harrison, 1999, Thames and Hudson. "The Magnificent Maya," a Time-Life Book, 1993. "Tikal National Park, A Visitor's Guide," by Thor Janson, Editorial Laura Lee, 1966.