TIKAL GUATEMALA

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Hello friends...Its taking me a while to post new entries, I know I'm a bit behind I'm just having too much fun and keep forgeting to post.

Tikal is the largest excavated site in the American continent. It is Guatemala’s most famous cultural and natural preserve. Tikal possesses a certain magic... Like all puzzles without answers it fascinates everyone and we dare say... Tikal is so irresistible once you are here, you’ll find yourself wanting to stay just a little longer! .

Tikal remained a mystery for centuries, after being abruptly abandoned by the Maya over 1000 years ago and overgrown by a relentless jungle. Only a legend survived among the Indians of a lost city, where their ancestors had achieved a high cultural development. In 1848 the legend faded, giving way to an exciting era of discovery.It was a serendipitous discovery made by Ambrosio Tut, a gum collector or chiclero.

He saw the temple’s roof combs in the distance. He ran to tell Modesto Mendez, the Governor of the Petén Province. When they arrived at the site the impressive temples, the open plazas and the several-story buildings, where priests and kings once lived, stood in front of Governor Mendez’ and Ambrosio Tut’s very eyes... They visited the site with an artist who recorded some of the carvings at Tikal. Their findings were published by the Berlin Academy of Sciences in 1853. It was only a matter of a few years before curious scholars started traveling from the corners of the world to see for themselves what they had discovered.Allow us to take you on a journey through time as we explore the Tikal National Park. As you land in the Santa Elena Airport you will be offered transport to the park. Prepare for a one-hour drive and start getting your bearings. As soon as you enter the Park grounds, you’ll notice the forest becomes a deep green everywhere. Your shuttle-driver will leave you at the beginning of the trails over 12 miles from the entrance. First walk up to the giant ceiba, or kapok tree. The Ceiba was sacred to the Maya, its roots point in the direction of the four cardinal points. There you’ll find three trails.

Take the middle one, and continue until you see a sign that says Group F. Group F was a market place, and gives you an idea of how Tikal must have looked before early explorers and archaeologists arrived, as its structures are still mostly covered by dense jungle. Go straight through to the main plaza as this is where our journey will end, completing a full circle.Beyond the plaza is Temple III. This is the only temple whose lintel is still in place. Lintels were elegant thresholds on the temple’s doors. In Tikal, lintels were carved out of sapodilla, a hard wood, which is also the tree from which sap to make chewing gum is obtained. The Maya carved these magnificent wood-slabs over one thousand years ago, so each lintel is an authentic treasure. The one on Temple III may be better appreciated in the early morning light. The other lintels were removed in 1877, under Botanist Gustav Bernoulli’s orders and taken to Europe, to the Völkerkunde Museum in Basel, Switzerland. Two fragments of Temple I’s lintel, taken with permission by the English pioneering explorer Sir Alfred Percival Maudslay, are housed at the British Museum’s warehouse in London.In front of Temple III there is another interesting feature. You’ll see an altar in front of a stela and if you look carefully, you’ll see a long-nosed god which depicts an ancient ceremony on the left bottom side of it. Observe the mat carved next to it. This was a symbol of power among the Maya, whose kings sat on thrones covered with them.You’ll see two trails that originate at the base of the temple. Do you see one of them leads to the “Mundo Perdido” or Lost World? We’ll leave that for later, so carry on Tozzer’s Causeway, which connects Temples III and IV. One of its main features is the Bat Palace, also known as Structure 5C-13. The Bat Palace is a two-story palace full of stepped vaults and interconnecting rooms.

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