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Published: August 11th 2008
NB. I should point out straight away that over my time in Tikal, I took over 200 photos and a fair few videos too. The ones I've put up are ones that I think provide a fairly good flavour of the place, but it you want to see more, send me a message and I'll try to e-mail you some. Gareth x Some history on Tikal Bear in mind that this is an overview so i'll try not to ramble on for too long! The earliest buildings at Tikal appear to lie within a time period called the pre-classic period (1000bc - 200bc) and were probebly built around 700bc. At this time, the people here (early mayans) were developing a form of sustainable agriculture, but that's quite boring and tedious so I'll skip most of that! Th main lot of building took place in the classic period, between 200bc and 400ad, where most of the temples still standing today were built. This was a golden age for the Mayans, as they developed an advanced writing system, calender and understanding of science. Contrary to previous belief, the Mayans were not the peaceful people that they were once thought to
Campsite at Tikal
my home for the next 3 nightsbe, with many stela (large stone tablets about 2m high) show carvings and text celebrating victories over rival cities. Each Mayan city was it's own state with a unique language and claimed control over a certain area of land. At it's peak, Tikal boasted over 90,000 inhabitants and controlled more or less 100 sqKm of land, containing lots of smaller towns and villages. Demand for space often sparked conflict between the maya, and was one of the main causes for warfare. Others were Ceremonial wars - to capture prisoners to be sacrificed to the gods; Territorial wars - for space, as was mentioned; and finally, the Star wars - no joke seriously! As the Greeks and romans had the planet mars for warfare, so the Mayans had Venus, and when it was read by astronomers to be in their favour, they would launch attacks on rivals.
Towards the start of the Post classic period (400ad) Tikal was begining to suffer and for some reason that is still unknown to archaologists, the city and the entire surrounding settlements were fully abandoned by 700ad and, by the time the Spanish conquitadors arrived in the 1500's, most of the city had become densly
overgrown by jungle where it remained lost until the 1960's when archaeological teams arrived to excavate the area.
Day 1
I'm writing this on a wee scrap of paper at the moment, having no access to a computer out here - well, in truth there are computers with internet out here in the hotels, but for $2 per 15 minutes, I'm happy using a book and pen. From the junction at El Remate, I waited a good 30 minutes for a bus to Tikal. One thing that guide books really ought to tell you is that there are plenty of buses heading through early in the morning (i.e. 4-6am) and more in the afternoon (3-6pm) but very few around midday and around the time I was there - roughly half 11. I was almost about to succumb to the lure of the taxis, all lined up, but which would have cost me Q150 for the half hour trip. Luckily, I mamaged to mflag down a minibus at the last minute though. The driver was actually planning to finish for the day - he'd already run 2 groups up therte at 4 and 6am - but he agreed to
drive me up there for Q30. We both cheerfully waved to the taxi drivers as we passed them!
After the first entrance to the park (a large gateway) you drive for about half an hour or so through dense tyropical rainforest towards Tikal. The whole area is called "La reserva Biosfera de Maya" and is one of the largest protected areas of rainforest in Central America (although illegal logging does still take place at on the fringes) with Tikal smack in the centre.
My driver pulled up outside the campsite in Tikal, where Iplan to stay for 3 nights until monday morning. The owner was an absolute legend, helping me set everything up including my mosquito net and hammock (which I'm "borrowing" from 2 friends of mine from the building project in Antigua - cheers Phil and Rachel!). I've got a pitch right next to the edge of the jungle, about 2m away, and can already hear loads of birds in the trees. After 3pm, I'll buy my ticket for the park, which means I can get in free the next day as well, and then on Sunday, I hope to join onto a tour group to watch the sunrise
over the forest and the ruins.
Day 2
Ah, woken this morning by a dawn chorus of Howler monkeys, which really is quite an experiance. mainly because it's not the fact that they're howling - more like the kind of roaring that you hear on jurassic park! Anyway, spebt most of today wandering around the park. You can pick up a fairly decent map by the entrance which recommends tours that you can do depending on whether you have a few hours, a whole day, or more. Wandering around the various complexes is pretty good - though it's really hard to imagine what the city was like with no trees covering it.
The main area to go in the park, however, is the central plaza. Here, you can see Temple 1, the Temple of the Great Jaguar. This is the most recognisable sight in Guatemala, as it appears on the back of all the bank notes! Although you can't climb it, you can climb Temple 2 which stands opposite it at the other end of the plaza. To the North and South sides of the plaza are a series of palaces and residential areas for the elite classes.
One of the interesting things about the plaza is that, in the centre lies a large stone altar filled, when I was there, with ashes. This was used by the ancients to perform sacrifices, including captured prisoners, to the gods and nowadays, indiginous people can still enter the park for free to perform religious ceremonies (though as to whether they still do human sacrifices I don't know).
Further through the trees lies temple 3. Still mainly covered by jungle at the base, it can't be climbed but it's still quite a nice sight to see. Watch the canopy overhead to for marauding Spyder and Howler monkeys. Next, onto temple 4. this is the highest temple in Tikal, standing at roughly 165m tall and climbing it is a git and a half! Once you get to the top though, you get a great view of the park and the jungle. Occasionally you can see Toucans here and we were treated to a shouting match by two troops of howler monkeys that got too close to each other - it probebly didn't help too much that one of the park's security guards, that was at the top of the pyramid, was shouting
Complex G
Residential Palace back at them - he was mimicking the cry, not just being a moody begger!
Next on the list, Temple 5, which lies to the North of the central Plaza. In order to reach the top, you have to climb a seriously steep staircase, but the views are worth it. You can clearly see temples 1 and 2, whilst hamks soar on thermals overhead. I've happily claimed this as my own, having climbed it in the pouring rain - which, in retrospect prbebly wasn't a good idea - and generally spent so much time up there. You get a nice cooling breeze, whichg is always welcome, and although plenty of tour groups come by, most never stop for long as they continue onto the main plaza, leaving you in silence.
Temple 6 is the most recently discovered (I think!), back in the 1990's. It's off the main track and so is usually quite quiet, and it's the only temple with three entrances on the front!!!! That is
the distinguishing feature, but it's stiull nice to wander around. On the way back from here, I saw a toucan perched in the trees, but only managed to get one photoi of it
before my camera died on me. Git!
Went up to Temple 4 that evening to watch the sunset, which should intheory cast shadows over the entire park. Unfortunatly, the clouds rolled in as the sun was just about to set, but it was still a nice view.
That night, was woken by a scream from some people who'd moved in during the day. No real cause for alarm; they'd just found a tarantula by outside by their things! Though for some reason, they kept wanting to poke it with sticks - surely not a smart thing to do!
Day 3
Got up early this morning to watch sunrise over the ruins. There are loads of tours that you can join, and I just turned up about 4.45am to where all of the groups were meeeting. Somehow, though, I was ushered along with one group and enetered the park without paying (in all fairness, its about Q100 to get in to the tour). We passed temple 1 shrouded in early morning mist and headed to temple 4, where I'd watched the sunset the previous evening. We found seats on the top of the steps and settled down to
wait. Although a heavy layer of mist was present and we couldn't see the sunrise over the horizon, we saw a dazzling display of pastel coplours as the sun came up behing the clouds. Most tour groups left at this point, but I decided to stay a bit longer. Blatantly the better option. With only a few of us left up there, the sun appeared as a pale orb throughthe mist, and you could see the clouds and the mist wash away like water, revealing the hidden summits of Temples 1,2,3, part of 5 and a square topped pyramid from a section called the "Mundo perdido" or "the lost World" where the oldest buildings in tikal are found. We also saw dozens of parakeets wheeling over the top of the forest canopy and a few more toucans, sitting like sentinels overlooking the forest.
After midday or so, I went to have a look in the museum of Tikal, which is just outside the entrance. It it, you can see a variety of artifacts and photos, charting the development of the excavations of various sites. Also, you can see a reconstruction of the tomb found underneath temple 1, filled with
Temple 5, Tikal
The main staircase down! jade, pottery and the bones of the ruler "Ah Cacao", one of Tikal's most striking rulers.
Day 4
This morning, I was forced to pack up my things and get ready to leave. Not before disturbing a small scorpion that was hiding in my shoe, and yes, it is the smaller ones that you have to be wary of as their venom can kill you! After that, I caught a bus back to flores, where I've spent the day, and I'll leave to catch a flight to guat city later on this afternoon. From there, a chicken bus to Antigua, where I'll pick up my stuff that I left there, and afterwards, back to Guat city to stay in a hostel over night, before flying back to the UK on Tuesday morning, via Miami.
I hope that you've enjoyed reading this travel blog - I've certainly enjoyed being here and writing it, and so, from flores and Guatemala, I say goodbye and sign off.
Gareth
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