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Published: November 5th 2007
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Sacred Mayan Tree
Bigger is better, we Americans can comprehend this culture:0) Well can you tell we've had a few days with good internet connection? Very soon we will be on the road again things may tail off a bit. In the meantime ...
All I can say about Tikal is Wow! What a treasure. The amazing thing I think is that the place is massive and they are still uncovering and restoring it. So if you return a few years later, as Natalie just did, you might still get to see new things. Despite that, it’s huge and Natalie still hasn’t seen all of it. We spent a good six or seven hours there and still only saw about two-thirds of it.
Upon arriving there you walk a short ways to a map at a junction and start planning your journey. I didn’t realize just how expansive Tikal was until we looked at this map and it had walking times posted. We took the slightly longer circuit to be sure and see all six big temples. The map said it would be about a 25 minute walk just to the second temple.
We started our walk and quickly learned that we’d made a terrible mistake. We forgot to bring
insect repellent. Boy were we walking fast and hurriedly snapping photos so as not to get too many bites while standing still. There was a lot of slapping going on during that first stretch of walking through the jungle. It was pretty much the worst stretch of the day for mosquitoes but they certainly didn’t go away. Now several days later we are still itching, ugghhh!
The jungle was cool though. Having never experienced true jungle I was delighted to get a taste of it. The sounds were all new and constant. Birds, frogs, monkeys (howler and spider,) and who knows what else was out there. The towering trees were awe inspiring with so many vines entangled among their limbs. We recorded many sounds and shot some videos of some animals; spider monkeys in the trees and anteaters on the path. Oh yeah, and Natalie spotted a Toucan flying by and I managed to track it and get a photo.
Our Videos on Natimilie Back to the ruins, I’m not going to bore you with a lesson on the Maya for this entry, we really didn’t get any input prior to going and haven’t done our follow up reading yet either. We
Temple V
First glimpse of one of the ancient beauties. did however read and excellent article in the August 2007 National Geographic. It’s well worth your time if you have a little time to hit up your neighbor or the library for a copy. There is some interesting “new” history being discovered these days on ancient Mayan culture. I just find it dumbfounding how much there is under jungle still and how many secrets of the past are yet to be revealed or will never be revealed.
One of the highlights of the visit for us was Temple VI which had a ladder like staircase all the way to the top. We were both a little queezy after that climb. The view from the top was well worth the climb though. All in all, even though I know I will read more on the site a guide might have been nice. I met a guide for another site that we did not enter a few days ago. He told me seeing a ruins site was like the old adage on Mexican women; “Kissing a girl without a mustache is like eating food without seasoning.” There might have been some truth in his words.
Here is a link to
a site that has a couple cool maps of Tikal and a bunch of information on the site. http://www.tikalpark.com/map.htm Check it out.
Follow up!!! Today was presidential election day here in Guatemala. Last night we couldn’t have beer with dinner because it was not allowed yesterday until the polls closed today. We went for a walk around town today and it was like a carnival atmosphere. People in their Sunday best and most everything was closed. The victor has been announced now and there is partying in the streets. Natalie is going to get a key to the hostel so we can go out and check it out. What I hear is: parades of cars, honking, firecrackers, loudspeakers, and lots of shouting. It is nothing like election day back home, that’s for sure. There is some serious civic pride being displayed on the streets as we speak. I’ll write more later! And maybe I’ll even have some pictures or video.
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lindsie
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tikal
Still beautiful as ever. It's cool to see pictures of places that I have been...makes me feel like I too traveled once as I sit here at work wishing I was off in some distant land. Thanks for the pictures guys and keep us updated! love ya, Lindsie