Tikal

Our journey to the ancient Mayan city began at 3 AM when we got picked up outside our hotel by our tour bus. We both dozed off on the hour and a half ride north into the national park. As we stepped off our bus into the misty darkness the eerie feeling of a once powerful empire was overwhelmingly apparent. We trudged our way through the twilight to climb the tallest temple for the sunrise. We sat at the spire of the temple in silence waiting for the first golden rays of sunlight. As the sun began to rise the calm of the jungle was pierced by the deep roar of a howler monkey. This seemed to trigger and entire orchestra of wildlife that persisted for over an hour.

Dozens of birds called in their native tongues, bringing the dead city back to life. After the sun was well into the sky we climbed down 212 foot temple to begin our tour of Tikal. About halfway down a couple devious spider monkeys thought it would be amusing to shake water from the trees and throw branches at the visitors of their claimed territory. At the bottom we immediately ran into a large family of local "raccoons" that looked much more like a cross between an anteater and a lemur. They were overly social and had no problem mingling with humans. We expected to see wildlife, but nothing could have prepared us for the abundance and variety we encountered.

After the fog lifted our tour guide, Manuel, finally could show us the beauty and intelligent design of the structures. The first temple we were led to was damaged in an unfortunate excavation accident about forty years ago. The bright side of it being damaged is that visitors are now allowed to climb and explore this particular site.

Directly beside the damaged temple was the one used for the Mayan calendar. The largest temple was surrounded by three smaller ones that used the exact angles of the sun to determine the month and time of year.

Saving the best for last, we were led into the most famous part of Tikal- the city center and sacrificial grounds. Surrounded on each side by ancient and exquisite architecture, we stood in awe. This central hub contained the most elaborate and completely excavated ruins in all of the city and we lost track of time while running through the maze of hallways and rooms that used to make up the residence of Tikal's royalty.

After an eight hour adventure (that began with us waking up at 3 in the morning) we had seen almost the entire exposed portion of Tikal and were both completely exhausted. But not so exhausted that we couldn't play a little Tarzan and Jane...

-Eric