Explorer Albert Lin searches for the lost city of the Maya | Lost Cities With Albert Lin

2m read

·Nov 10, 2024

Maya guides, K'in and Bor, will lead us to the mountain. And Mexican archeologist and climber Arcelia García will help me explore it. That's got to be the Red Mountain. It looks like it. Chak Aktun. Chak Aktun, or Red Mountain, lies around two miles to the northwest of the archeological site of Noh K'uh.

I think I see some cormorants. Are those cormorants right there? Yeah. Just like in the glyphs. Can I pass you that rope? Yeah. Let's go. Okay. Looks like there's a little trail up here. To tell the mountain. Uh-huh. Oh, okay.

Okay. The ancient Maya believe that a powerful god split a mountain with an axe, releasing sacred seeds from which human life originated. This is a powerful place. I can feel it in my bones. What is this? What? You got to see this. What is this?

Wow. Hole into the mountain. Mountains are living, breathing things. Wow. I mean, a mountain with a hollow core. This has to be the symbol that's being referred to at Palenque. You think this is what this is? Sí. The split mountain. That's incredible. Let's go.

Wow! Hey, Albert? Yeah. There's another one over here. Another entrance. It's got to be a connected cave system, right? Right. If this is the hollow mountain, these tunnels could be the entry point. We'll take one each. You take those.

Yeah. You have a radio? When the ancient Maya discovered mountains, like those described in their origin myths, they became the center of their spiritual world. We're going into a place that's reserved for the gods or the souls of the dead. Hope the gods are with us.

You Don't Need Dopamine Detox

Charlie Munger: "I Got Rich When I Understood This" (Mental Models)

View All

Harpoon Heroes | Wicked Tuna

Right in the front, right down. Look, keep your head down, taking the right side of the pile. Going to come left a little. Still up, just up to the right. 1:00, we’ve got four fish in Hollywood. There are four fish. We’re neck and neck, and we’re hoping f…

Discussing Reincarnation in Hinduism | The Story of God

[Music] We think of Hinduism as having reincarnation and life after life after life. But there is really an end to that. That they’re hoping and seeking, which is to go to enlightenment. So once they’ve gone through enough, and I guess learned enough, th…

Khan for Educators: Our Content

Hi, I’m Megan from Khan Academy, and I’m here to share more about the content available on Khan Academy. When we talk about content on Khan Academy, what we really mean is all the videos, articles, and practice questions that learners interact with. We t…

Artist Designs Space for All | National Geographic

In the whole time that I’ve lived in Pakistan, I may have gone inside a mosque maybe five times, and it may have been only because of tourism. So, I’ve never actually gone inside a mosque to pray. That was a public space that could have been a world of cr…

Mapping a Mayan Crypt | Lost Cities with Albert Lin

I’m deep inside an ancient pyramid on the trail of a mysterious Maya dynasty called the Snake Kings. I’m so far into the heart of the pyramid my radio doesn’t work. Within these twisting tunnels, it’s impossible to know just how deep I am. But if my team …

When Ringling Bros. Retires Its Elephants, This is Where They Live | National Geographic

In March of 2015, we announced that we were going to transition all of the elephants on our three Ringling Brothers Touring units to the Center for Elephant Conservation. So, those 13 animals will come and live here. The reason it takes 3 years is we need…

Explorer Albert Lin searches for the lost city of the Maya | Lost Cities With Albert Lin

More Articles