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Published: April 15th 2010
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Monja Blanca (White Nun Orchid)
national flower of Guatemala. If you look inside you can actually see the nun We found ourselves in the town of Coban where we enjoyed some nice coffee and a wander around a really cool orchard nursery. See the pics from some of the highlights of these odd, but beautiful plants. With Jen resting her leg (i.e. drinking more coffee and reading books) for another day in Coban I booked myself in for a day trip out to the limestone pools of
Semuc Champey.
After having done everything together everyday for the best part of a year, the prospect of a day off from each other was quite exciting! I might even make some new friends of my own today, I thought! And so when the tour van filled up mostly with gorgeous, young European ladies, I was counting my lucky stars. But then one of the few people who didn't quite fit this demographic decided to take the seat next to me. Friendly as she was, the old Polish lady's game of 'lets tell Jeff the Polish word for EVERYTHING that we see today' became a bit tiresome after the first 5 minutes, let alone the next 2 hours! Serves me right I guess...
I was always going to like Semuc Champey,
as it is essentially two wetlands in one! How can that be, I hear you ask? Well, at ground level there are a series of of gorgeous limestone pools, under which an a raging river has cut out its own tunnel to flow through. A climb up to the lookout gave amazing views over the pools, and a long swim in them afterwards was very refreshing. All in all a very picturesque site! We also stopped at very impressive Languin Caves. A bit like those at Jenolan, these caves consisted of some really grand impressive 'halls' and 'cathedrals', followed by tight tunnels through to more and more stunning openings. Then back to town to tell Jen all about it over some St Patricks Day beers with Canadian Brad. We had invited an Irish couple out with us, just to make it more authentic, but they stood us up!
The next morning a tough minivan ride took us to Flores, once a culturally important island in the middle of a lake, but now a culturally unimportant tourist centre for visitors about to embark on a trip to the famous ruins of
Tikal. We decided against the 4.30am wakeup involved when
booking a day trip to Tikal, and instead enjoyed a sleep in, got our tent together and took an afternoon bus out to the site. After setting up our tent we began walking through the jungle path towards the ruins. Past coatis and monkeys and giant caoba trees, and all of a sudden there was a massive stone structure jumping out of the forest canopy! With just minutes before the sun set for the day we had come across the main plaza of Tikal, and in the beautiful fading light we had this magnificent plaza just about to ourselves! Jen wandered around at ground level while I climbed up Temple 2, with its great view over the plaza and opposite to Temple 1. Proud of our decision to leave the morning rush for everyone else, and instead have the sunset to ourselves we wandered on some more. Then it was getting a bit dark, so we headed back through the jungle paths (well after the closing time of 6pm), as the fireflies came out to join our torchlight. That night we were entertained by the sight of the moon and stars, and the sound of the jungle around us. One
of our fellow campers even reported hearing something which 'sounded a hell of a lot like a Jaguar' in the wee hours of the morning!
The History of Tikal
Tikal is probably the most famous of the many ancient Mayan cities which have been rediscovered in recent centuries. Thought to be a capital of a conquest statem, Tikal was spread over 16 square kilometres, supporting a population of many 10s of thousands. Within the city around 3000 structures have since been discovered. Interesting, many of these have not yet been uncovered from underneath the thick jungle which has grown over them. Though some of the buildings can be dated back as far as the 4th century BC, Tikal is thought to have really hit its stride during the 'Classic Period' from 200-900 AD. But then what happened?? Well, like most other lowland Mayan cities Tikal underwent a dramatic decline or collapse. There are many theories as to why this occurred - deforestation and erosion; an extended period of drought; and increased fighting, amongst others. (Jared Diamond's book 'Collapse' comes recommended if such gloom and doom scenarios interest you!)
Another leisurely morning let the majority of the tour
groups come and go from Tikal, and with the majority of the ruin trails being under dense jungle shading the midday heat was quite tolerable. We walked (Jen hobbled) out to some fairly remote ruins which were designed symetrically along the cardinal points - twin pyramids at the north and south ends, smaller temples at the east and west. In several of these layouts only one or two of the structures had been uncovered from under the regrown jungle, while large hills and mounds covered in trees and birds and monkeys gave away the others. Other highlights were climbing up Temple 4, the tallest of those at Tikal, which gave awesome view over the jungles of El Peten, with uncovered temples (such as those of the main plaza) poking out from the forests. Sci-Fi nerds would instantly recognise this view as the ‘Massassi Outpost on the fourth moon of Yavin’ in the original Star Wars movies. All in all, a fantastic ruin experience thanks not only to the grand scale and importance of this ancient city, but also thanks to its present day mixture with an awesome network of jungle trails. Not a bad way to say goodbye to Guatemala,
Semuc Champey
the river goes under the pools either.
Next we're heading back to the Caribbean for some more snorkelling, reggae, English-speaking and to pay our allegiance to Queen Lizzy. The Commonwealth of Belize awaits!
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