Tikal

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We got up at 6:30a to see what tour we were doing. The caves were closed because the rivers were too high, so we got ready to go to Tikal. We grabbed a piece of toast and got picked up around 7a and went to pick up two other couples. There were six of us total. The border to Guatemala isn't that far away, so it didn't take long to get there. We had to get our passports stamped and walk through the other side to get into a different van. The ride to TIkal was a out 1.5 hours and I got sleepy during the trip. Our guide, Hugo, was very knowledgeable and pointed out a lot of different things along the way. We got to Tikal around 10a, and started walking in. The sun was out and it looked like it was going to be a pretty nice day. We got to a temple and people could climb it if they wanted. I decided to save my strength for the big one at the end since my legs were still really sore from Lamanai. We walked around the Royal Court and a few other sites. Tikal is huge and beautiful. It was cool how the ruins poke out from the tops of the jungle and just how lush and green everything was. I also liked seeing the un-excavated ruins - which just looked like hills with plant life and trees growing all over them.
At one point Hugo stopped to say hello to one of the workers who was cleaning around a ruin, and the worker told us to come over. He had found a tarantula. We went over to look at it. It was a red rump tarantula. It was so big and hairy. Adam was brave enough to hold it, and it moved quickly over his hands. Creeeepy. After he held it one of the other guys in our group went over to hold it and was doing alright until he dropped it on the ground and moved quickly away from it. He said it was okay until he was sure the spider could see his soul and it freaked him out. Hilarious.
We got to this main area where there were two big temples and a few other ruins to look at. Hugo said we had 30 minutes or so to explore and grab a drink and take a break. We climbed to the top of one of them (I think it was the one that he said was dedicated to a woman) that had these super steep wooden stairs built to use. It was kind of scary, but we had a nice view from up there.
Then we walked over and saw this very large stone mask (for the wind god, I think) and some other altars/stones. We got something to drink and took a quick break before we moved on.
We were walking to our next stop and it started to rain. It was pretty hard rain, but the water felt good. We continued on and not too much later it started to pour. I thought it was raining hard before, but this was incredible! I don't think I've ever been in rain that hard. We tried to seek shelter under some trees, but we got pretty soaked. It let up a little bit and we kept walking. There were huge puddles everywhere. It's amazing how fast things got flooded. We were hiking through a jungled part and it started to pour again. We moved as fast as we could until we reached a palapa covering. We were all completely drenched. We hung out there for 15-20 minutes with some other groups while waiting for the rain to let up a bit. It did a little bit, but was still coming down. We walked by the big temple, but decided against climbing it because it would be really slippery and the chance of lightening. It was too bad to not get to climb it, but I'd rather be safe.
It seemed to take forever to hike back to the entrance. All the pathways were flooded, and there were unavoidable puddles everywhere! My feet got soaked, and everything was dripping.
We went to the restaurant and got some lunch - Fry chicken, some rice and french fries. I also got to try a pineapple flavored soda. We were hungry, so everything tasted good.
We got back to the van and uncomfortably sat wet and sticky in it. We stopped off at a small gift shop for a bit because the other people wanted to shop for trinkets. We just bought some wooden spoons to use up our Guatemalean money. Plus, we need salad spoons.
Both of us napped on the way back to the border so the trip didn't seem very long. Went back through immigration and customs and got a bunch of new stamps in our passport, which was soaked.
We switched back into the other van and it was a quick ride back dropping people off and finally getting back to our place. We took showers, which felt great, and put on dry clothes, which felt even better.
We hung out with everyone in the main area, swapping stories of our days, and then having some dinner. Dinner was chicken curry over rice, fried plantain and a salad. Some banana cake was for dessert. It was so much food I couldn't finish it all. We stayed up for a bit chatting with a few people and then got ready for bed after 10:30p.

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Photos

Tikal
view from top of temple - other temples in the distance

Tikal
red rump tarantula

Tikal
un-excavated part of ruin

Tikal
Hike through jungle

Tikal
so much rain!

Tikal
puddles

Tikal
more rain

Parrot Nest Lodge
another delicious dinner