Day 34 Tikal

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FOUR O'CLOCK IS NOT A FUN TIME!!! Arose at stupid o'clock to catch the shuttle to Tikal for 'sunrise'. This is what we were promised with our tickets, which stupidly is actually impossible so we were lured by false advertising! we actually witnessed the sunrise while still in the bus on the way, and then when we arrived it was obvious the park wasnt even open until 6am, so there was no way you could climb a temple and watch the sun!! a good start...

However, once we got inside the park and the tour started it was FABULOUS. Our guide had brill english and had such an incredible knowledge of the area and park (luckily we suppose seeing as we're paying him). We stopped every couple of minutes for the rest of the group to oohh and ahhh at various trees/bugs/animals. Not that we're not grateful to see natures wonderments, but we felt a little 'been there, done that' as this was about our 5th nature reserve! The local park crocodile in the lake was suspisciously plastic looking with smooth motorised movements so we may have been fooled into that viewing... There were a couple of oldies in the group who were amazed at everything possible which wasvery nice, but quite irritating when we wanted to get on. a HILARIOUS japenese couple took pictures/videos of everything possible on the route..why the man didnt just keep the camera running for 6 hours is anyones guess. The highlight of this couple was DEFINATELY the japenese lady trying to impersonate (badly) the guide who was inpersonating (quite well) the howler monkeys. It's only possible to image this if you've heard a howler money and then compare it to a 61 year old japenese lady in a white floppy hat and pink blouse doing her best to bark and hoot like a monkey. We actually had to walk away stifling giggles..

ANYWAY, i guess we were here for the temples not the amusement, so best mention those. They were amazing. We first reached temple IV which towered above the trees spectacularly. We climbed the manmade staircase to the top and had breathtaking views of three other temples poking out of the rainforest while the morning clouds lifted. Further walks through the jungle trook us to the next pyramid, one of which you could walk - it was BIG! once again, fab views from the top after a relatively tiring walk...these mayan people must have been a fit race!! After this we saw a good few altars and buildings that you used to be able to go into but unfortunately cant now, due to graffiti/ Behind the entire plaza area there are so many other buildings that still havnt been uncovered but you can see that where ever there are hilly mounds, underneath it lies another ruin. We could never have the patience to leave some ruins for a few years - we'd want to see them now! but the revealing process is so painstakingly slow, that everything must take its time. we always imagined explorers to have stumbled across Tikal in the jungle one day, temples and all. but in fact, all they would have seen were mound after mound with a few stones poking out...only archaelogical digging has revealed their true styles! We learnt some fascinating facts about mayan life, their amazing calenders and precise astrological mapping...the temples are all build in unison across the entire area so that at certian points in march and december, the line of the setting sun connects each temple (obviously a little more complicated than that), but its clear they were an amazing culture of incredibly clever people!

(n.b. watch out 2012, when the mayan calender predicted the end of the world...they were right about most other things, so maybe we should look out!!!)

Tasha climbed temple V which was enormous, but had a ladder up the side with 103 steps (Ems wobbly legs couldnt handle this), so tasha climbed up on her own and got to a very narrow ledge at the top that tourists were all sharing. FUN! down she came quite quickly... Eventully we arrived at the main plaza which was surrounded by temples and buildings on all sides. Our guide stood us in the middle of the plaza then clapped really loud...the sound echoed off the temples and sounded just like a Quetzal (Guatemalas national bird) which was amazing, hence the name Tikal: 'City of sounds'. It was so easy to imagine a treeless plaza, filled with busy life, bright colours, and the occasional mystery ball game (did they play with the heads of previous losers?)

Back at the hostel we rested (much needed) then bumped into the couples we'd previously met and had some dinner out, then a well deserved sleep!!

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