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Published: March 29th 2008
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Steping Backwards in Time
Temple 1 stands big in the Main Plaza at Tikal. Crossing Borders
The Guatemalan border is just a short drive from San Ignacio, but getting across the border involved paying an exit tax for all of us and the car, getting the car sprayed with insecticide, paying for the spray, paying to get into Guatemala (both us and the car) and lastly paying to go across the bridge into Guatemala. It was about a 30 minute process with no signs anywhere. Some enterprising people were earning their money by leading us by the hand through the process (it was worth it to us because we didn’t have to stand in line at the cashier). John had to go from one counter to submit the papers, to another to pay and to another to pick up the paper along with the paid receipt. Thanks John.
Once we crossed the border into Guatemala, the roads went to hell. We were on dusty, washboard surface roads with deadly potholes everywhere. It looked like winter because everything was coated with white limestone dust from the nearby quarries. Do you remember in Apocalypto where the prisoners are being taken to the city and they walked through the quarry where slaves were cutting and carrying
big stones? That’s what it looked like. The potholes were really bad. Made even more dangerous because you couldn’t see them until you were right on top of them. For a good part of the drive we got behind one of the tourist buses (more like a van service for backpackers) and swerved when they swerved. Those drivers knew the road so we took advantage and let them drive point for us. This made the difference between going 20MPH and 50 MPH
Arriving in Tikal
It only took a few hours to arrive at the entrance to the National Park where Tikal is. Once we passed the gate we still had to drive about 30 minutes to reach the ruins area and our hotel. We decided to stay in one of the hotels at the ruins so we could take advantage of being there at sunrise and it was a great choice. There are 3 places to stay; The Jaguar Inn for the backpackers, The Jungle Lodge in mid range and Tikal Inn for the best. John/Joan stayed at the Jungle Lodge on their last trip to Tikal and felt the Tikal Inn was hands down a
Gazing at miles of Rain Forest
The temples of Tikal rise up through the thick forest. View from atop Temple 6. better place. The rooms, the food, the staff, everything was better and the prices are the same. We both got a room facing the nice, cool and clean swimming pool. The place is very clean and comfortable, and of course with the standard very firm beds. No A/C, just a small wall fan. All power is supplied by generators which are shut off from 10pm to 6am. So that means you need to get your shower taken and fall asleep while you still have the fan to keep you cool.
It was a little before noon when we arrived, and we planned on waiting until 3pm before going into the ruins. If you buy your Park Pass after 3pm, it is still good the next day. I discovered that there was a place right at the park gate with 8 platforms for a zip line through the canopy. They would come and pick you up at the hotel and it was only $30. So, while Mike and the others spent their afternoon relaxing in the cool waters of the pool, I headed off to try the zip-line. Both of us sisters have a limited fear of heights, yes it’s
true. But if I KNOW I can’t fall, I’m almost fearless, almost. Being outside the US, of course, there was no discussion of safety plus my Spanish didn’t go that far and their English didn’t go anywhere. They suited me up in my harness and they pointed up. We climbed up these skinny little metal ladders up the trees and to the platforms. The platforms I had seen in internet pictures of other places were much bigger. These were small, open platforms, no sides and not much to hold on to. Okay, ALMOST scared here. I didn’t look down much. My 2 keepers gave me a demonstration, asked how old I was, if I was married and where my husband was, gave a big grin and healthy shove to send me on my way. WWHHEEE!! There were 8 cables to ride climbing up at each platform. Some platforms smaller than others especially when there are 3 people on it. End of story, I lived to zipline another day. And I will too. When I returned, I had just 15 minutes to rest and then it was off to see the ruins.
Exploring the Mayan Ruins
As we
Lost World
First group of buildings to be discovered at Tikal. were heading into the park we passed a lot of tourists going out. Our timing was great as most of the visitors come in by bus and the buses usually leave around 3pm. We pretty much had the park to ourselves. After wandering around in awe, trying to take it all in, we ended up at the tallest temple away from the main plaza and started to climb, and climb, and climb. They were doing restoration and the very top of the temple was not open for access, so we settled on some steps near the top to get our breath back and watch the action in the canopy. We were still very high above the canopy and could see for miles. It was about 5pm and the sun was setting behind us so we were able to watch the temple’s shadow stretch over the canopy, see all the parrots, toucans and spider monkeys in the treetops and hear the howler monkeys sounding off. We stayed there until the guard/ranger herded us out for the 6pm closing. It was a warm, 20 minute walk back to the hotel and once there we all had one thing on our minds. Time
for a swim!
The next morning the hotel gave us a wake up knock at 5am for our sunrise hike into the park. The tour group met up in the lobby at 5:30 and once again our tour luck held. There were only 6 of us total; us 4 and an interesting couple we had met the day before who are on an extended trip through Mexico. Then when we met our tour guide it got even better. Roxy is an assistant manager at the hotel. She is also an archeologist and tour guide! She doesn’t make enough money as an archeologist so she adds the 2 other jobs which pay better. She was one of the best tour guides we have ever experienced. She was an ace at wildlife spotting and knew perfect history of everything we saw. We spotted a large group of spider monkeys scampering on the tops of the temples. We were hoping to experience a great sunrise from one of the temples but the overcast sky prevented it. On the positive side the overcast sky kept the rainforest cooler and the humidity bearable. After a 4 hour tour in the ruins we headed back
Long way up...
Stairs leading up to Temple 6. to the hotel for breakfast. As we were walking out we passed all the tourists heading in. From all the grey hair and black socks with sandals we guessed it was tour buses full of cruisers from the ships that dock in Belize City.
Tikal was a great experience and should be on everyone’s “must see” list. For us it was another check off our list of amazing places in the world. Hopefully our next check will be for Machu Picchu.
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