Guatemala part III - Tikal

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Ruins, ruins and yet more ruins

If you don't like to look at pictures of ruins, then feel free to leave this particular blog entry and look at some other. There are a few pictures without ruins in them, two or three out of twenty, lurking around in this entry too but they are preciously few. If you decide to tap out now already I would like to point out that we have published well over a hundred other entries where most of them have no or very few pictures of ruins. Don't hesitate to look at one of them. You might enjoy them.



Since you are obviously still reading I suppose you like photos of ruins. Or, to paraphrase the character Tom in Four Weddings and a Funeral, "at least the look of them don't make you physically sick".



The ruins in question here are all located within the Maya site Tikal in Guatemala. Tikal is one of the largest of all Maya sites and was also one of the most important cities in the Maya civilization.



I am not going to write down a lot of facts and history about Tikal here. Anyone who wish to read more, follow this link to the Wikipedia article.



I arrived early in the morning because I knew that the site is huge and that I needed most of the day to see it the way I wanted. On the bus to Tikal I started talking to a Japanese guy. We soon realized that we had similar plans for the day so we decided to team up and roam around the ruins together. It was a wise decision because it would have been a bit lonely to do it on my own.



First we entered the site and looked up the main plaza where the most important and most picturesque temples are located. We had a quick look around there and then we moved on. We actually rushed through the main plaza and we also rushed through the rest of the sites and were finished already at noon. That was all part of the plan. By going very quickly we for starters beat all the crowds. Which means we could take photos of the temples without getting a Japanese tour group or two teenagers taking selfies while pouting their lips standing in front of it.



After lunch we went through the site again. This time around we went to all the minor sites we skipped the first time and we also took time to enjoy the major sites.



In the afternoon we were very satisfied with what we had seen and we also had a bunch of nice photos, almost totally cleared of people, with us home.



Like most Maya sites Tikal has for a long time been overgrown with dense forest and shrubbery and the vegetation in combination with neglect turned the monuments into ruins. The most important sites have been cleared from trees and have been at least partly restored. But even today hundreds of Tikal's smaller monuments and temples and even the occasional big one are in a similar state as they were before efforts were put into restoration and preservation of Tikal.



Although hundreds of monuments are not really visible other than as heaps of rocks or unusual looking hills the ones that have been restored are impressive enough to make Tikal a place not only worth visiting if you happen to be in the neighbourhood but a place so magical that it all on its own provides reason for anyone interested in ancient historical sites to make a visit to Guatemala just to see it.



I absolutely loved Tikal and believe me when I say that the ruins are much better in real life than they look on the photos. You can't in a photo capture the feeling you have when you after having walked for half a kilometre through the forest arrive at a clearing and you see a slender temple reaches up towards the sky with its top well above the trees. You have to see and feel that.



I wish I could make you all feel the feeling I had when I climbed one of the temples at the main plaza and looked out over the field in front of it, a field surrounded by some of the finest temples and monuments ever created by the Mayas. I was so overwhelmed by emotions that I just started laughing.



By the way, Tikal is a UNESCO world heritage site. But that really wasn't necessary to write here, was it? It would be more surprising if it wasn't, right?



Hope you enjoyed reading this blog entry and that I didn't deter you from returning here and read about other places we have visited or will visit in the future.

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Photos

Temple I
Tikal is one of the largest of all Maya sites

Temple I
Tikal was one of the most important cities in the Maya civilization.

One of the many temples at Tikal
I arrived early in the morning because I knew that the site is huge and that I needed most of the day to see it the way I wanted.

View over Tikal
Much of Tikal is covered with forest. To see the highest temples rising up through the canopy is very special

Me and Temple I
I don't usually want to be in the pictures myself. But Tikal is one of those places where I just have to have a Yes-I-have-been-there-picture

White-nosed coati
In this blog entry there are a few pictures without ruins in them. Here is the first. I think the animal is white-nosed coati. If it is not, don't hesitate to correct me

Forest
In this blog entry there are a few pictures without ruins in them. Here is the second. Like most Maya sites Tikal has for a long time been overgrown with dense forest and shrubbery and the vegetation

Temple I
Temple I is the apotheosis of all Maya ruins.

Temple II
Temple II stands opposite Temple and together with the North Acropolis they surround the main plaza. If you visit Tikal, stop and try to imagine what it would have been like to see it all before the fall of the Maya Civilization

Corridor/tunnel
Pictures of corridors/tunnels is my trademark. Here is one, the only one, I found at Tikal

Temple
One of the main temples

Ball court?
It looks very small but it might have been a ball court once

Ruin
Ruin, one of a great many that dots the area

Partly restored temple
The most important sites have been cleared from trees and have been at least partly restored.

Structure
I throw this one in just to state the fact that most of the structures at Tikal are smaller ones

I think this is Temple VI
Hundreds of Tikal's smaller monuments and temples, and in this case even a big one, are in a similar state as they were before efforts were put into restoration and preservation of Tikal.

All over there are smaller structures
All over Tikal there are smaller structures. It is just that there are so many absolutely breathtaking temples around that you as a visitor barely see them

Peacock
In this blog entry there are a few pictures without ruins in them. Here is the third

Comments

[Harvey Follender]

Pictures of corridors/tunnels
Great shots of Tikal. I especially like the picture of the corridor/tunnel. You wrote that pictures of corridors/tunnels is your trademark. Where else did you see corridors/tunnels that you especially liked?

[Ake Och Emma]

Corridors and tunnels
There are a few corridors/tunnels I have taken photos of that were better than average. I remember one in Oman that came out very nice and I have a good photo from Indonesia (at least I think it was Indonesia. It is on a slide so you can't find it on Internet) where the light came in from above in an interesting way. I remember one of my friends when she saw it said "you know, the rest of us can't take such good photos in those light conditions". In truth, neither can I. I was just very lucky. Bologna is a city where there are lots of arcades. I don't remember if any of the photos I took came out good but it sure was a good place to hunt for tunnel photos. /Ake

[Rainyb]

ahhhhhhhhh now I have a face to comment to ;o)

[Rainyb]

Your pix are crisp & clear ;o)

[Rainyb]

wow colorful! It looks damaged? Were there a few feathers missing?

[Ake Och Emma]

Perhaps
You say you are not a ruin type. Well, I am not a bird type so I really can't tell if the peacock was OK or not. If he had displayed his feathers I might have been able to tell but he never did. /Ake

[Rainyb]

I'm a non-ruin type but like looking at your pix anyway. They're educational ;o)

[Rainyb]

aha, got curious, I think it's a turkey peacock hybrid.

[Ake Och Emma]

Interesting
You are apparently more or a bird type than I am. Nice you found it interesting. /Ake

[taracloud]

Love the ruins!
Brilliant plan of attack to get photos before the hordes arrived! This is such an evocative photo of endless jungle with the tops of major temples poking out. Part of what I loved about Tikal was how isolated it is and the adventure getting there. Since Tikal was a big city, lots of the administrative and residential buildings were small/normal size. I worked with archaeologists outside Tikal in the jungle where the structures were completely hidden by a thousand years of vegetation. We'd know there was a building only because of a mound and a certain tree that grew out of the structures because they loved the limestone. Love your photo of the little rascal coati.

[Ake Och Emma]

So you have actually worked in Tikal
So you have actually worked in Tikal. That must have been interesting. A long time ago I wanted to become an archaeologist but I later ended up studying science. /Ake

[Dancing Dave]

There is something about Ruins
I recall the Romans destroyed Caperneum "so that no stone was on another." The Taliban blew up those giant twin buddhas in Afghanistan. Tragedies no ruins in those places...nothing survived. The wonderful thing about restoration works is that in some places their are ruins discovered that are brought back to life ensuring they continue to survive. Ancient histories and cultures can thus be appreciated with the awe they deserve. Many sites are thus revived to endure. Tikal looks like a jewel of the Mayan World and the restored ruins should be celebrated as such...no apologies! Great pics Ake.

[D MJ Binkley]

Temples and ruins
We love them so we looked at all the photos. Nice.