PHOTO ALBUMS: –>>
A Wonderful Trip to Tikal: https://photos.app.goo.gl/rBdqMrgxeauiEjU28
A Few Days around Flores: https://photos.app.goo.gl/C23eoZMZ211pzE8W6
John and I had previously visited Tikal, but we had 2 days where is just poured and so we had planned to return. Asking me what I wanted for my birthday, I responded to John, “to revisit Tikal”. And so the plan was formed to revisit along with our friends Pam and Don.
Traveling to Tikal can be arduous from Fronteras as the only bus usually arrives full, in fact over flowing and so there’s a 4hour journey of standing in in crowed bus – that was experienced last time. For this visit we were fortunate to be able to tag a ride on a private tour that was already headed there. So on November 11th at 7:00am we boarded a tourist bus at Mar Marina and headed off towards Tikal.
The journey was a pleasant one past lovely countryside and on relatively smooth roads. We stopped for a lunch break and then at the fork in the roads that lead to Tikal our driver let us off. Our driver had arranged with a taxi driver friend to meet us there to carry us onward to Tikal. Sure enough our driver was there, a big fellow called Sergio.
Once we reached the park gates we had to purchase our park tickets for the days we were to spend there. While doing that we met a tour guide who convinced us to let him do our sunrise tour, so we also purchased a ticket for the sunrise tour and secured his services. Now from the park gates it is 17 kilometers to the park and the few small hotels, this is a very large park.
Tikal National Park
Tikal National Park is said to be 575 square kilometers of jungle with thousands of ruined structures.The central part of the ancient city alone contains 3,000 buildings and covers about 16 square kilometers. There are many other temples and structures in the Tikal National Park area, it is estimated that only 30% of them are unearthed.
Tikal is also part of the one-million-hectare Maya Biosphere Reserve created in 1990 to protect the dense forests of the Peten, which started to disappear at an alarming rate due to population pressures, illegal logging and slash-and-burn agricultural practices.
Our hotel was the lovely Tikal Inn. It had for us absolutely everything we needed, nice room, good food, quiet atmosphere and location being in Tikal. We dropped off our bags and set off to see some of Tikal for a few hours.
A Quick Look around the grand Plaza
We headed straight down the main walkway towards the Grand Plaza. We were all just so impressed by the beauty of the trees towering above the sides of the lane. When wandering around Tikal you are surrounded by enormous trees which are home to toucans, parrots, wild turkeys, howler monkeys, raccoon-like coatimundis and countless other wild animals.
After about a 20 minute walk we were in the Grand Plaza where some of most impressive temples are found, The Grand Jaguar and Temple II plus the Acropolis Central and Acropolis Norte.
There in one of the trees were some really interesting birds, Crested guans. These were eating the ripe berries and not at all concerned by the humans nearby. Scurrying along the remains of Acropolis Central were a troop of spider monkeys. We wandered around enjoying it all and then headed back to the Tikal Inn to relax poolside and have a lovely dinner.
The first day in Tikal
The next morning we set out to cover as much of the Southside of the park as possible. Taking the left side pathway we walked for about 25 minutes till we reached Templo VI.
Estimated to have 1st been populated by the Maya in about 900 BC. Tikal grew into an important ceremonial, cultural, and commercial centre over the centuries. Most of the city’s huge temples were constructed during the eighth century AD when Tikal became the greatest city in the Maya world with a population of perhaps 100,000.
Tikal started to decline at the end of the ninth century and was virtually abandoned. The causes of the Maya empire’s collapse remain a mystery, but wars, famine, overpopulation and resource depletion have all been blamed. Our guide, Almando, (that we had for the sunrise) believes that it was over population which depleted the water supply, deforested and killed off the wildlife thus the whole city system failed. And we tended to agree with him, just looking at the world today…..
Templo VI is know as Temple of the inscriptions due to its hieroglyphics that cover the whole back of the shrine.
We then followed the Calzada Mendez pathway. Some scholars believe this is the original entrance roadway to the city. It led us to Palacio de las Acanaladuras – Grooved Palace otherwise known as G group.
The palace has proved walls representing grandeur and luxury at the time. There were many different chambers which again are unique. The entrance is through a tunnel which represented a mouth of the “witz monster”.
Next was the Plaza de los Siete Templos/Plaza of the Seven Temples. This is renowned for its triple ball court built by Yikin Chan Kawil.
From there we followed the path to Temple V which is very impressive at a height of 184ft. It is the earliest of the temples it had been decorated with the rain and sun gods, but most of these hieroglyphs have eroded with the ages.
Our stop for lunch was near Mundo Perdido, aka Lost World and Plaza de la Gran Piramide, the great Pyramid plaza as it is known.
As we ate lunch we had Coatimundis all around, some even tried to sneak up behind us to get some tip bits.
We followed lunch by climbing the wooden stairs to the top of the Grand Pyramid. It is the oldest pyramid in Tikal and the Mundo Perdido, Lost World dates back to 400BC.
The next stop for us was Templo Talud- Tadlero followed by Palacio De Los Murcielagos – Bat Palace or Palace of the Windows where we could see wonderful stone carvings that still survive.
Our next stop was, Templo III the Great Priest Temple or Temple of the Jaguar Priest it remains unexcavated except for its “tower” which looms over the jungle at 180 feet.
Meanwhile the monkeys both spider and howler monkeys were active above us. Pam spotted a pregnant spider monkey swigging through the tree tops.
We then climbed the stairway to the top of Temple II. This massive temple looks out over the Grand Plaza giving a superb view across to Temple I the Grand Jaguar Temple and out over the jungle.
Our last exploration of the day was to the South Acropolis, it is gigantic. There is a central temple, platforms, terraces, and palaces all set up high looking down on the Central Plaza.
Here the highlight for me was getting a close up look at a Keel-Billed Toucan. I was exploring the rear of the complex and there it was searched beautifully in front of me.
Back at Tikal Inn we relaxed poolside, congratulated ourselves for walking just over 20,000 steps and enjoyed a lovely evening.
Day two around Tikal
In the early hours of the morning at the ungodly hour of 3:30 we had to arise to meet our guide Almado at 4:10am. He lead us through the jungle towards Temple IV for the sunrise. The problem was it was raining, which was quite disappointing, but nothing could be done about it….. While walking we chatted to our guide while he gave us more info about Tikal and the wildlife.
At the temple we climbed the stairs to the top, using the light from our flashlights we found seating at the very top, turned them off and awaited the dawn.
Dawn came slowly, the rain eased somewhat and we could hear the jungle awaken. The noisiest were the Howler Monkeys, they were roaring as only howlers can do.
Around 7:00am we made our way down and followed our guide. He knew we were interested in the wildlife and found for us Keel-Billed Toucans and Montezuma Oropendolas to watch as they dried off from the rain in the trees above us.
We all opted to return to Tikal Inn for breakfast and a nap.
After which we set off again this time to follow the pathways we had yet to explore.
Taking the right hand branch of the pathways we headed to Complex Q and R, known as the Twin Pyramid groups.
These again comprise of palaces, stelas, ball courts, altars and pyramids, but all distances from each other.
The pathway we were following was called Calzada Maler/Mendez, the original city roadway. It led us next to Zona Norte, Complex O, and P plus Group H. Many of these are still to be excavated, but comprise of platforms, buildings, a temple shrines and more. These were apparently finished around 751AD.
From there we had a 25 minute walk to reach Temple IV again. As it was now sunny I wanted to reclaim and see the view across the jungle in sunshine.
At the top it was a wonderful view across the jungle to all the other temples. Such a magical view!
Back down we had but one area to visit, Acropolis Norte, which dates back to 250BC.
It too is made up of many platforms, temples, rooms and altars. It faces the Central Plaza and is still under excavation and restoration.
By that time we were all truly tired, that day we walked over 21,000 steps. Back at the Tikal Inn we relaxed poolside, ate a delicious dinner and crashed out.
Flores
The following morning we had arranged for a taxi to collect us and take us to Flores. Our taxi driver stopped along the way for us to get views of the lake, Lake Peten Itza, the 3rd large lake in Guatemala.
It is a beautiful lake and looks just like the ocean with its colors.
In Flores we had booked the Los Amigos Hostel and Secret Garden for 2 nights. This is a wonderful place to stay as long as you do not mind hostels.
We each had a private room and bathroom, John and I were in the annexed building nearby. The decor is to my eye wonderfully colourful and the food is International and we found it excellent.
After a delicious lunch we set off to walk around Flores. Flores is an island which is joined by a causeway to the mainland.
It is jam packed with colourful buildings, tiny alleyways and loads of character so we were not disappointed.
Our final day we chose to visit the market on the mainland, – San Benito. The market is quite large and caters to the locals with no other tourists around you know it is authentic.
There is absolutely everything there you could think of needing, I managed to buy an unpicker for sewing, Pam the local apron she had been wanting, Don and John local shirts.
I just love wandering around markets and seeing everything on offer.
Our last day was traveling back to Rio Dulce on the tourist shuttle. It was a bit cramped but leaving early we were back at the boat by early afternoon. Oh what a wonderful few days we had in Tikal.
