Before our tour at Copán Ruinas to visit the Mayan archaeological ruins, we did some birding on the nearby grounds. I took this photograph of Joanne standing in front of the buttress roots of a 70-80 year old Ceiba tree amid the lush vegetation. The mythologies of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, such as the Mayan civilization, used a Ceiba tree trunk to represent the concept of a central world tree that connected the planes of the Underworld (Xibalba), the terrestrial realm, and the sky.