Maya roads

Over thirty years, Mary Jo McConahay moved through the remote lands of Central America, and this book records what she saw there. Its focus is the rainforest, where the Maya first built their cities. McConahay writes about the wildlife and plant life of the jungle, the ancient ruins that archaeologists continue to uncover, and the people who have lived among them.

The book follows the changes that reshaped the region during her years there. It covers the transformation of the Lacandon community, the Zapatista rising of indigenous people in Mexico, and the spread of drug trafficking through remote routes. McConahay also describes her part in bringing to light a war crime, and she conveys both the wild beauty of the landscape and the brutality that accompanied these events.

At its heart is a personal account of one woman's journeys through the region and of the resilience of the people who adapted to its upheavals.