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Published: February 5th 2013
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Tikal is one of the greatest archaological sites in Central America, most people put it in the top three on the American continents altogether, along with Chichen Itza in Mexico and Machu Picchu in Peru. Our time there was certainly memorable.
After spending another night in San Ignacio, we packed our bags, said our goodbyes to the new friends, and got a cab for the border. Turns out the money-changers are lying when they tell you that you get a better rate in town than at the border, and an even better one once you're in the next country. I ended up sacrificing about 7 American dollars on that particular altar of experience. Belize owes me a beer now.
We did the stampy stamp thing at the border station and got a collectivo bus (private shuttle) to El Ramate, a lake town half an hour south of the entrance to the Tikal park. Flores was the other option, but it is a big city and we avoid those unless we need to shop.
El Ramate was a little slice of paradise, and a great way to break us into the new Spanish-centric lifestyle (Belize speaks English and Creol,
which is like Ebonics). We spend a night recovering from our travels and meeting the local hippy community, who are on their way to the "Rainbow Festival" in Mexico. I was very surprised to find several of the men (and a girl or two) swiming nude or topless in a conservative Catholic country. We took a dip in the gorgeous Lago Peten Itza, with its soft muddy sand and cabanas.
After a dinner of local fare, we hit the hay to prepare for Tikal. Our bus left the hotel at around 5:50, only 20 minutes late. We're in the jungle now, baby. A short ride later and we're at the gate, money in hand to pay the park fare, which is not included in the shuttle ride. A couple from Spain we met the night before is making cell phone calls outside the gate. I believe they were missing a guide they had already paid for and were rather irritated he hadn't shown up yet since he had their tickets.
We get to the park and begin walking around. There is a Scottish couple, also rainbow people, who join us in a quest to find a working restroom.
We succeed! And the true touring can begin. I was sad to have left my kilt in the backpack for this meeting.
The park itself is best described in pictures. The large temples are mostly roped off from climbing, but there is one (temple VI) that can be scaled via a series of switchbacked staircases. I am stunned at the manpower that went into the creation of all these temples. There are many mounds of dirt, covered in trees, that suggest maybe excavation should continue. Some of the temples have trees that must be older than the Mayflower, it's odd to think of cities pulling the 'ashes to ashes, dust to dust' routine on the same continent, at the same time, as the seeds of manifest destiny are starting up on the U.S. east coast.
We hear howler monkies constantly hooting/roaring over the canpoy. Spider monkies tinker above us, we even got a decent video, which I cannot get transferred from Facebook to this site via tablet. There is a small herd of odd anteater-creatures called coatimundis, who we will aso encounter in later countries.
There are ruins of an astrological observatory that is a ways off
from the main tour of the ruins, which we attempted to find but were unable to reach before having to turn back for the bus to the hotel. We discovered that there is a town past the ruins, along with a dirt road, where locals can drive past for free instead of paying to enter the park.
We get back to the hotel and go for another swim, to discover that the rainbows are back in fuller force. I am surprised that seven or eight local boys are swimming along with nearly twenty nude men and women, in full view of the road through town. It was not a busy road, but it struck me as something that could never happen in the U.S. For context, there was a car maybe every ten minutes and a bike twice as often. There are only two buildings which can view their area, a workshop with no windows and the hostel where many of the hippies are staying. A team of men were working to repair a dock in their swiming area, but had a long period of confusion (admiration?) staring at the rainbows and deciding whether to take action about their
nudity, or the presence of the local children. We left around sunset, and on the walk back to the hotel, noticed a couple of police squadrons driving past us, towards the swimmers. I'm actually a bit curious how that played out.
Next stop, Chemuc Shampay, a gorgeous national park.
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