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Published: January 28th 2008
The Mopan River Resort took us to Tikal yesterday! It was a full day trip, as we had to travel into Guatemala.
There are definitely parts of Belize that are very poor, but travelling into Guatemala had a different feel to it. There seemed to be very poor people living at the sides of the highway, and some of the Guatemalans looked a bit intimidating. I think the reason the change seemed so drastic was because, in Belize, the Belizeans wave and smile to us. That wasn't the case in Guatemala. It's also more difficult to communicate to people because English is the main language in Belize, and Spanish is the language of Guatemala.
On the way to Tikal, which was about a two hour drive from the border, I started to feel like I really needed to pee. There was nowhere to stop for an hour! After about twenty minutes of holding it in, I knew I couldn't make it, and told our guide, Victor, that I'd need him to pull over so I could go. He did, but his word of caution to me was, "Be careful of the coral snakes." Great. Andrew used
Lake
The Mayan people were given a horse by the Spaniards and asked to take care of it. They didn't know how to care for a horse, and, after a while, it died. Worried about the implications of this, they carved a beautiful, life-sized horse of stone. They were going to tell the Spaniards that the gods turned their horse into stone. Well, on their way across this lake, the boat capsized, and the stone horse fell to the bottom. Tourists can take boats to this site and still see the life-sized, stone horse at the bottom of the lake.our umbrella to protect me as I peed at the edge of rainforest. So, now I can officially tell people that I have peed in the rainforest. Luckily, there were no coral snake spottings!
Because Guatemala wants (and deserves) to make money from their tourists, Victor was not allowed to be the one to guide us through Tikal. Instead, he found us an English-speaking guide, a man who has lived in Guatemala for his life. The guide was a bit pricy, but it ended up being worth it. Tikal is very large, and it's made up of many temples and pyramids. Apparently, many archaeologists do not believe you can see Tikal unless you go for two or three days. Our guide made sure we got to see the best parts of the ruins, and he also made it worth our while with his ability to spot wildlife!
You see, Tikal is situated in the middle of rainforest, and as you walk from one area to another, you walk through the forest. At one point, we were walking along a path after our first stop at a group of pyramids, and our guide stopped cold. He ran
in the other direction and turned at another path. He pointed out into the trees and said, "Look, Becky, Andre, look!" (He called Andrew 'Andre'). At first, I couldn't see anything, but the Scottish couple we were with spotted something brown in the forest. Coatimundi! I'd never even heard of coatimundi before, but they came out of the forest and walked down the path in front of us. One came as close as six feet from us! They're almost like racoons, and they have a fuzzy striped tail like a racoon, but their face almost looks like it has the nose of an ant eater or something. We learned that they'll hunt snakes and scorpions. Brave little suckers! And cute. Andrew commented that the price of the tour guide made it all worth it to see these little guys.
Our guide could mimic howler monkey calls (which sound like a lion's roar). No joke, he was able to call over a group of howler monkeys! I included a video of him and the monkeys with this blog. Unbelievable. We saw a male, a female, and a baby. It was fascinating to hear him call and the male howler
Ceiba Tree
This national tree of Guatemala isn't that old... but it's so big! (I think my eyes are closed in this picture). call back. In addition to the howler monkeys, we also spotted wild turkeys at the same time. They were in a tree near the monkeys. Woot!
We saw many Mayan pyramids and some of their temples (most of which you can climb up), and we also learned about how they alligned their buildings to the soltices. After a few hours of hiking and climbing and photography, our guide said, "And now, now I'm going to show you the best part of Tikal."
"The spider monkeys?" I joked.
He laughed, but then he stopped, and he said, "Becky, over there!" We ran to the edge of the forest, and he pointed deep within the trees. There were some branches shaking way in the distance, and he said that it was a group of spider monkeys. Now, I'm not sure how he could have possibly known that, but sure enough, a group of spider monkeys emerged, and they actually came fairly close. We saw them swinging from tree to tree and climbing and using their tails. We were able to get some good photographs of them because, whereever the first monkey went, the others would end
up following that same path. We would focus our camera on where the first spider monkey was, and then we'd snap a picture when the next one came through. It seriously was my favorite part of Tikal!
After the spider monkey adventure, we climbed through rough paths and emerged on some stone work. Our guide, Reuben, said he likes to hear everyone's exclamations when they see what's next. We turned a corner and emerged at the main plaza of Tikal. "Beautiful," I breathed. In front of us, there was a large courtyard in the middle of an area filled with trees and birds and people. We were the only ones up on the stone, looking down at the Plaza. On our left was a temple dedicated to one of the ruler's wives. His temple was on the other side, and the face of a god was carved on top. All around us were beautiful limestone buildings. It was stunning. I am so grateful we decided to pay the extra money for Reuben to take us around Tikal!
It was the perfect way to wrap up our Mayan vacation. It was basically the climax of the trip
Andrew at the Base of the Pyramid
He's standing next to a stela, which the Mayans would write on. The circle stone in front of the stela is an alter, where they Mayans would sacrifice animals. There were 9 stelas and alters, which is one of the Mayan holy numbers. and our learning.
Our motor boat is being packed with our luggage, and it's about time to head back to the airport. We're stopping in Miami on the way home before heading into Denver, so we have quite the travel day ahead of us. This was the perfect little trip, though, and I'm very sad to leave. Goodbye, Belize! Goodbye, Guatemala!
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