Tikal

Central America Caribbean » Guatemala » Petén Region » Flores
November 19th 2008

Published: December 1st 2008

Edit Blog Post

frequentflyer

Flores

Lake Peten Itza

Today was the day to visit Tikal, the famous Mayan ruin deep in the jungle of Guatemala. I was disappointed that we could no longer see sunrise or sunset at Tikal because of recent rule changes. I’ve heard that it’s either for fairness or that some guides abused their privileges and took more than the allowed 15 people up the temple at one time.

We chose to go to Tikal in the afternoon to avoid the crowds. It was indeed relatively quiet, other than the occasional sound of howler monkeys and various birds. This was probably the hottest place so far on the trip and despite wearing pants I still got bitten on exposed areas: hands, fingers, neck and face. Both Benzacaine and toothpaste had some soothing effect on the mosquito bites.

Our guide Jose was again excellent, but by this time I wasn’t paying attention anymore. We had an interesting discussion about the end of the Mayan calendar on Dec 21 2012 and what may happen then. Temples differ from pyramids in that they have a roof comb and that pyramids are symmetrical structures. The Tikal ruins cover an area of approximately 16 square km with more than

Flores

4000 structures. Temple I, of the Grand Jaguar, is 44m in height but was closed to climbing after some people fell and died. Temple II faces Temple I and is 38m high without the roof comb. At the north end of the Great Plaza is the North Acropolis where there is a well preserved carving of the rain god Chac. The south end houses the necropolis. Temples II, IV (64m) and V (58m) are open to climbing but the climb and view are probably the best on Temple IV. The way up to the top of temples are now via wooden stairs on the side and the one to go up Temple IV are super steep. However, the view on top of Temple IV was very rewarding. It was amazing to look into the vast expanse of jungle and see the tops of Temples I and II above the tree tops, while listening to a cacophony of sounds from the jungle. Serenity now! There were other minor structures, some paired complexes including N, P, Q and R. Many of them offer great acoustics, with clapping supposedly mimicking the sound of the quetzal and there were many stellas in front of

Flores

the many structures. One set of them was in an 8 + 1 configuration, apparently related to workers moving them when they were first excavated.

Animals and birds abound in Tikal, including wild turkeys, coatimundis, howler and spider monkeys. It was too bad we didn’t get to see any toucans.

The shower at this hotel really sucked. Everyone was taking a shower at the same time after we got back from Tikal and being on the top floor my hot water was just a trickle, even worse than a weak urine stream! I ended up taking a cold shower instead. Tonight I did something I normally would not have done, at the encouragement of my roommate. I stripped down into my boxers and jumped into the hotel pool. I have to thank T. for jumping in with me afterward for moral support! Good times!

Additional photos below

Photos: 23, Displayed: 23