Flores-Tikal-San Ignacio

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Got up bright and early leaving for Tikal with our guide at 6am. The ride was quite long, but the last part was within the jungle/rain forest. Our guide was great, although his english wasn't quite as good as the one at Copan. I found it hard to believe they have only excavated 20% of the buildings! There were so many buildings and temples! One temple was the one they used in Star Wars for the rebel base. We both climbed that one. Although many of the buildings weren't fully excavated and lacked for the most part the decorations and statues of Copan, the size was impressive. Soon after we entered the ticket gate, we spotted two foxes, and saw several spider monkeys along the way. While exploring the central acropolis, a cottamundi (sp) ran across the plaza area. Near the end, eventhough it had started to rain, I had to climb the one temple they allowed you to climb the actual steps of. The rest you had to use the wooden stairways. The view from the top was amazing. You could see 6 or 7 other temples sticking up out of the surrounding jungle. After we returned to the parking lot, we ate a picnic lunch that Lisa and the driver prepared. It was pretty good, eventhough we were all pretty wet by then. After lunch we headed to San Ignacio, Belize. The road was absolutely terrible. We paid our 10 Quetzals each to leave Guatemala, then passed easily thru Belize customs. 15 or 20 minutes later we entered San Ignacio, drove thru town and out the other side to our hotel, Motel and Restaurant Aguada. The "motel" is quite nice, being family-owned and operated, neat and clean. We had an "options" briefing at 6pm to explain what excursions wre available tomorrow. I wanted to do the Actun Ticunil Maklan (sp) tour, where they take you thru some cool mayan caves with artifacts just sitting around , but Manoli didn't think she'd deal well with the caves. She insisted I go without here though, so I signed up ($80). At 7:30pm we had a leisurely group dinner together in the motel's restaurant. I had rice & beans with Belize stewed chicken and a salad. Manoli had barbeque winds with fries and cole slaw. The food was very good. Afterwards, we watched satelitte TV in english in our room. Tomorrow, the caves!

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Photos

Tikal Central Acropolis
This is one of the major groups of buildings in Tikal...the central acropolis I think.

Tikal Map
A map of the ruins of Tikal, Guatemala, near the entrance.

Star Wars Tikal
This is close to the view they used from one of the temples in Star Wars, the rebel base I think, of oourse Manoli wasn't in that pic!

Tikal Spider Monkey
Just one of the many spider monkeys we saw at Tikal.

Tikal Cottamundi
Here is that little cottamundi running across the plaza in Tikal.

Tikal Temple Climb
One of the taller temples and one of only a few you could actually climb the steps of...which I did..thats me (J.C.) at the top.

Tikal Stairway
Most of the temples you had to use their "stairways" to climb up. Tasha is coming down one of them.

The Aguada Hotel/Resort
A photo of the entrance to the Aquada Hotel in San Ignacio, Belize.

The Aguada Hotel Pool
A photo from our balcony at the Aquada Hotel in San Ignacio, Belize.

Comments

[Doc]

Good Times
Hey, sounds like you are having a pretty good time. I've enjioyed your photos. How come no photos of the temples? Looking forward to some shots form the caves. Have fun Doc

[Jen]

Cottamundi?
Hi, I saw your photo of the cottamundi(?)- I just got back from Mexico where I spotted one of these animals, but had never known anything about them. Do you know much about what they are? Thanks - Jen