Part of the Grand Plaza
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Tikal, the world of the Mayans was our destination on Wednesday afternoon. A 45 minute road trip from Antigua to Guatemala City was followed by a 70 minute flight to Flores in the jungle. After the worst landing of our small 48 seater plane, we were shocked to be hit with cold winds as we left the plane.
We had expected hot and humid but soon found out that a storm had hit the area that afternoon, hence the terrific turbulence landing and the unexpected cold weather. The 75 minute trip out to Tikal National Park was on a very dark highway littered with fallen leaves, branches and even a tree ¾ of the way across the road.
We arrived tired and cold but excited to see this amazing archaeological site of the Mayan civilization. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, right now 13 temples and palaces are being restored. There are literally thousands of temples at this site. Some of the best archaeologists in the world have worked at the Tikal site.
We walked for 9 hours yesterday over miles of ground including climbing a few temples – one 14 stories high. Brenda, Adrian and I hired a fabulous guide for the morning and Francisco was a wealth of knowledge about the Mayans, plants, trees, animals, natural medicine and just about anything else we asked. At the end of over 4 hours with us, our heads were aching with all the knowledge he had imparted and our legs were already sore. But after a brief lunch break, we headed back out for another 5 hours of exploring on our own.
Like everything we have experienced in Guatemala, there were very few rules or restrictions as to what we could do in the park which made the experience even more incredible.
Despite the unseasonably cold temperatures (it had been 38 degrees Celsius the morning of the evening we arrived and yesterday as we toured it was 15 degrees Celsius) it was actually perfect for what we wanted to do, which was spend a full-on day walking and climbing temples. We also saw toucan birds, incredible parrots, a host of other birds, monkeys, and the fourth largest rodent in the world. It was amazing. After the coldest night ever, we left this morning for Rio Dulce where we arrived to fabulous blue skies and wonderfully warm weather.
Tomorrow we are off to explore the sites on the river and Livingston which is on the Caribbean side of Guatemala. We´ve hired a private boat and captain for the day which is starting at 7:30 tomorrow morning.
I just had to share at least a couple of amazing photos from yesterday´s trip to Tikal with you. I expect tomorrow will be spectacular as well.
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