Tikal

Sometimes a spur of the moment decision ends up being a good one.

Memories of a horror bus trip in India (sorry Malcolm) still fresh in my mind, I decide to take a short 45 minute flight with TAG air to Flores airport to visit the Mayan site of Tikal, instead of a long bus ride. I’m so glad I did.

It’s 11pm and I am back in Guatemala City after a really wonderful day. Tikal is in the jungle in North Guatemala. It is an archeologists’ and nature lovers’ dream, teeming with animals, birds and insects, over 4000 structures are contained in a 16 square kilometre area, most still to be properly excavated.   

It was a 4.55am pick up and a drive in the dark to the domestic airport to board a SAAB 340 with 29 other sleepy passengers, then a 40 minute drive to the National Park entrance and then a 10 km walk through and around the natural museum which is Tikal. My group is small (me and three other irreverent Aussies) and one serious but very competent guide, who brings out the naughty schoolchildren in us.

Erdo points out that contrary to popular belief, the Maya did not disappear. Many of their descendants still live in the area and throughout Guatemala. They simply abandoned sites like Tikal although the exact reasons are not known.

The walk through the jungle and up 2 of the tallest pyramids is enjoyable and interesting, notwithstanding the mosquitoes, humidity and various bugs we encounter along the way.

Erdo draws mud maps and tells us stories and urged to “use our imagination” we are soon in awe of these intelligent beings and the legacy they have left behind. As only a fraction of the site has been excavated, archeologists will have work for many years to come before all Tikal’s treasures are unearthed.

Erdo explains in great detail, many of the Mayan beliefs and rituals. One interesting thing is that the colours that they used for the cardinal points (Red for east, Black for South, Yellow for West and White for North (I think) are the same as those used by Indigenous Australians.

The flight back to Guatemala City is thankfully uneventful. In contrast to the spotless, new aircraft that we arrived in, the plane that awaits us for the return flight has seen better days. It is a 20 seater propeller driven aircraft, old, noisy and smelly it shudders for most of the time but gets us back safely to Guatemala City.

I am off to Chichi and Antigua tomorrow. A volcano awaits.

Hasta la vista

Mon x