Tikal

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August 27, 2005
The ride into Guatamala is beautiful. Horses run free everywhere. People don´t fence them, they just go out and look for them when they are needed. Dogs are also plentiful. Somehow they have learned to look both ways before crossing the street. This is very good being that everyone drives like it´s the Indy 500. Our driver is doing 100 MPH on a dirt road. I´m not sure how, but we arrive safely to Tikal. He suggests we wait a few hours before entering the park. We are at the high tourist time and are more likely to see animals in the afternoon so we go zip lining first. We soar thru the tree tops at about 100 ft above ground secured only by a wire harness. Neither instructor speaks a lick of english so getting tips on how not to fall to our death is difficult. After my rock jumping scare I´m a little nervous but it turns out to be very cool. In the lost city, Ruben, our guide, demonstrated the accoustics of the first ruins we saw. The temples are strategically built where the faintest whisper can be heard from all corners. Dan climbs to the top of a pyramid and tests this out. I can hear him clear as a bell. Tik´Al (Tikal) means many voices. I finally get to see monkeys swinging thru the trees. The howler monkey sounds like a puma about to attack. Ruben says tourists who hear this at night and don´t know it´s a monkey come running full boar out of the jungle. We find many tarrantula holes. Ruben ¨tickles¨a female out of the hole with a piece of grass. We both get to hold it. It´s about the size of my hand. Walking thru the pathways, we almost step on a jumping viper snake. I wouldn´t have seen him at all if it weren´t for the crowd of people already gathered around checking him out. These are very deadly snakes. 2nd only, I think, to the Fer De Lance in the area. The temples and pyramids are all solid stone. I find it difficult to believe that they built these huge buildings and didn´t utilize the inner space for living quarters or something. The royal/upper class were buried under the temples but other than that, they were built solely as a way to be closer to the Gods. On our exit we see several Tucans and a baby alligator. At the restaurant we order burgers and get served some sort of mystery white meat. We ask our guide if it´s chicken and he just shrugs. Not very encouraging. We race back to Belize as the border patrol closes at 8PM. We barely make it.

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Photos

Mayan god cloud
A stand alone rain cloud that caught our fancy. Later our hosts at MET shared with us that they thought it looked like the shape of a Mayan god.

Guatemalan Lake
Crystal clear lake with an island on the right that looks like an alligator.

Top of the World
Ziplining on top of the rainforest

Sailing through the air
The only way to travel

Sailing through the air 2
It´s my turn.

National Tree
This is called the tree of life. It is the national tree of Guatemala

Spider Monkey
One of the many Spider Monkey´s we saw. No feces were flung. Monkey´s have been known to fling things including feces at unsuspecting people passing below.

Spider Monkey Jumping
Spider monkey showing off.

Howler Monkey
This is the type of monkey that has sent many a tourist running with it´s jaguar tupe howl.

Myan Temple size perspective
Here is a picture showing how gigantic these things were.

Offering to the gods
There were 9 sacrificial alters in front of the temples and there were 2 identical temples facing each other. One to the East and one to the West.

Tarantula
The 8 legged friend our guide coaxed out of her hole

8 legged friend
Lisa´s new friend

Jumping Viper
Here is the poisonous snake that we nearly stepped on in the middle of the path.

Mayan Plaza
Mayan Plaza where the whisper effect is demostrated

Royal Living Quarters
This is where the royalty lived

Downtown Tikal
Downtown where the Royal families lived

Mayan Calendar
A replica of a stone Mayan Calendar that was found at the site

Mayan Warrior
Another replica of a stone Myan warrior that was found.

Temple
Another huge temple. It´s hard to believe that only 15% has been unearthed.

Myan Temple
Hard to believe that these were solid stone.

Star Wars Temple
Temple used at the end of Star Wars.

On top of Star War´s Temple
This is the view from the temple used in Star Wars. For those of you that have seen it, this is from the last scene in the movie.

Soooo Tired
Exhausted after walking 5 hours around Tikal.

Comments

[Cindy]

LMAO
Okay, Lisa....I'm laughing so hard reading your notes. I have to say I'm proud of you though - don't know that I would have lasted even to this point with all the bugs. Really, it does sound beautiful though. You guys enjoy and be safe!

[Sanjoy]

Guatemalan-ness
So now we know where Chivo learnt to drive :-)