El Remate, Tikal, Yaxha

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I realize it has been awhile since I last wrote...and wow, so much has passed since then! I am now in Xela (my Guatemalan home town)!!!! The day after I wrote my last blog Pat and I spent the day exploring Tikal. That place is spectacular. I feel I was able to appreciate it much more than I would have if I had gone last summer, because I recognized a lot of things from my Anthropology class. We had a great guide who took us up every temple (or rather he waited at the bottom as we climbed) and described the most important as well as random details of the ancient Mayas. The views were unreal. Amongst thick vegetation and a variety of animals stands an entire city, its tallest temple towering over the trees. We saw a few spider monkeys, as well as howler monkeys, whose howl could be heard echoing throughout the park, giving the feeling of being in Jurassic Park surrounded by dinosaurs. We even climb down into a Chaltun (an underground storage hole in which the Mayas stored breadnuts), which was great until Pat saw a gigantic spider on the wall. I was out of there quickly.

While exploring the Peten region, we stayed in a little town called El Remate. Our hotel was across the road from the lake and was extremely quiet and peaceful. I had my first hammock lay of the trip in El Remate. The day after Tikal we relaxed on the dock and swam in the morning, then Pat, a girl from Seattle and I got a ride from the worker at our hotel up to Yaxha, another Maya site. Octavio walked with us around the park, which felt much different from Tikal, as we did not see one other tourist there, and most of the buildings of Yaxha still have yet to be unburied. There were a few temples, surrounded by many tree-covered hills, which were the rest of the buildings of the site. Yaxha is set right against a lake, which was a spectacular view from the top of the tallest temple right before sunset.

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