unfettered

On Sunday morning at 4am, my friend Ester and I left for our trip to Tikal. We had a flight out of Guatemala City at 6:30 am and we arrived in the town of Flores at about 7:30, which is about an hour drive from Tikal. We were fortunate to have chosen a low-traffic day to visit the park and we were a tour group unto ourselves. The previous day our guide had a group of 32, which means they are as slow as the slowest person, which would have been quite frustrating for an impatient girl, like myself. After we arrived at the hotel, we dropped off our stuff and proceeded to to the park for a 4.5 hour walking tour. Antigua was inundated with rain and we were so glad to see that Tikal was sunny, although that meant it was really hot and humid. The humidity added a nice shimmer to my skin to complement the double layer of DEET I wore since the mosquitos are even more plentiful in the jungle during the rainy season, as you can imagine. Our tour guide spoke English very well and knew a lot of slang from having worked with the crew of Survivor: Guatemala. I don't know how recent that season was, but every Tikal gift shop has an assortment of Survivor:Guatemala hats and tee shirts.











We walked the trail for about 25 minutes to get to the first stop, the grand plaza where there is an assortment of impressive pyramid configurations and some still half-buried stone carved images of faces. At this point the park was fairly crowded and Ester and I decided to return the following morning at 7am when the park opened to get photos of the pyramids that weren't flecked with people. We spent about half an hour here, climbing the stairs and admiring the Mayan handiwork, although I honestly only needed about 15 minutes. I appreciate such things, but I guess I don't need to spend a lot of time admiring them in order for it to make an impression on me. Besides, it was really hot and I made the mistake of wearing a black tank top. When I left Antigua it was chilly and had already been raining for 2 days, so the thought of sunlight had not occurred to me. Fortunately there are places to buy water at various points of the park. Although there are some steep points in the trail, it's the climbing of all those stairs to get to the top that is the most physically draining. I also climb stairs very carefully as they are steep and uneven and always lead with my left. 3 days later my right quads are still really sore from bearing the weight of steadying myself going down those pyramid steps. I suppose I don't feel bad about not getting to the gym this weekend. We visited all the main temples and climbed the one with 72 steps (I think it was 72) to see the tops of the pyramids that peek through the vegetation. There are still a large number of temples and structures that remain unexcavated. I think the Guatemalan government ran out of money, so the University of PA and other such organizations are involved in carrying on the excavations. Aside from the heat and humidity, it was a startlingly beautiful place to see and I enjoyed the hiking aspect. The entire tour was a little over 4 hours and then we had to rush back to the hotel by 2pm for Ester to see Holland play (and lose) to Portugal in the World Cup. Our hotel didn't actually have a TV, so we went to the hotel next door to watch. Also, our hotel only runs their electricity between 7pm-10pm and again from 6am-8am. If you need to charge any electronics or want to take a hot shower, you better time it well. I also found it funny that one of the selling points of the hotel rooms was the ceiling fans, but they really only operate in the evenings when you are out at dinner anyway, so what's the point. Regardless, the room was really comfortable and I really enjoyed sleeping with a backdrop of jungle noises. Fortunately we both brought our ipods so we had a source of light to get around since there was no electricity and it's pitch black outside. The hotel also had a nice pool, so after we watched Holland lose, we got to hang out by the pool and feel like we were really on vacation. It was lovely. (I have to run to a salsa lesson, so I'll post more photos & details tomorrow...)

posted by Angie @ 5:26 PM