Tikal Ruins

We got up at the ungodly time of 3 in the morning to get on the 4 o clock bus to go to Tikal. I am not made for rising before the sun! I mean seriously how good company can one be at that time of the middle of the night anyway!!! We walked down to the bus stop and waited patiently (you need plenty of patience if you are travelling in Latin America). One bus passé (full), another one came, stopped and left without us (full), so we were told a third one would arrive, and it did an hour later. This meaning that the sunrise we had looked forward to watching at the Tikal ruins had to be enjoyed from the backseat of an over packed bus instead. Not quite the same I may add.

We arrived at the entrance of Tikal hungry, thirsty, and tired (extremely). We found a breakfast buffet at the hotel there and to my lovely surprise the “buffet” consisted of one scrambled egg, 2 piece of toast, 1 tea or coffee, and 1 orange juice made of concentrated orange and added water. And all for the nice price of 10 dollars!!!!!!!!! You said what????? I was still hungry after breakfast and anyone who knows me, knows that I need to have a full tummy to be in a good mood!

Maria and I paid our entrance fee and started on our journey around the large maze of dirt tracks leading to the ruins. We could hear the howler monkeys trying to scare the tourists with their petrifying howls, and the birds chirping away as their day had started. I was great being there so early to see the forest wake to life. The paths surrounded by tall Ceiba trees, made the perfect playground to all the monkeys. So it became quite a normal sight seeing the monkeys swinging from one tree to another just above us. I have to admit that after the Iguana pooped on me in Puerto Rico I kept crossing my fingers the whole day that I would not have a reoccurring incident here.

We walked to one ruin after the other and every time we laid our eyes on the new ruin for the first time we both let out a sigh. A sigh of amazement, admiration and happiness that we were fortunate enough to be here to see it all. We climbed every pyramid, even the one I never thought we would get down from alive. Maria almost ran up it, and she seemed to be fine standing on top of the world looking over the jungle tree tops without a thought to the possibility of falling down of the little and crowded ledge we were standing on. Brave! Getting up was one thing, but getting down….. Oh dear. My heart raced at every step I took, and I am pretty sure I actually stopped breathing on various occasions. I can’t ever remembering being that scared before. Having said that though, the view from the top was impressive, unforgettable, breathtaking, and this in itself made every drop of sweat and fear worth it in the end (as in hindsight) hahahaha

It was amazing seeing the many ruins and pyramids so well kept and maintained for generations to enjoy and admire for years to come. Walking around Tikal you almost felt like you were in a different world (well, apart from the obvious tourist you kept bumping into and of course all the flashing cameras). The lush green nature creating a shelter for the ruins made it almost impossible to see some of them before you were suddenly standing right in front of them. They kind of crept up on you, or did I creep up on them perhaps….. Standing on top of the pyramids, and seeing the tops of many of the other ruins and pyramids stand tall over the tree line was stunning. Words can not describe it and unfortunately neither will my photos as they all got deleted by the kind man at the computer store trying to fix my memory card! And what about Maria’s you might think….. Well the sad truth is she deleted hers all by herself!

If you want to see some great photos of Tikal just search in Google for TIKAL RUINS, and you will have plenty to choose from!

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