Tikal and El Remate

Trip Start Mar 22, 2005
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Trip End Sep 09, 2005


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Flag of Guatemala  ,
Thursday, May 26, 2005

A night in Antigua, and the four of us get up at about 3:40 the next morning to get a 6:30am flight to Flores, the closest airport to Tikal. The benefit of getting up that early is there's no traffic on the way to Guatemala city. The downside is, obviously, you have to get up that early. And, of course, our little tiny plane is delayed and we don't even get off the ground until about 8:30.

We meet our guide at the airport, drive about an hour to Tikal, put our stuff down and head out to the temples. By now, its about the hottest point of the day and we're treking through jungles on our way into the park. Sweaty, but really exhilarating. And, climbing temples is a great workout... especially in 95 degree heat.

Tikal is one of my favorite places on earth 01 cieba tree at park entrance
01 cieba tree at park entrance
 . My sister and I visited the site about 3 years ago -- a sidetrip for a couple days from Belize -- and I thought the park was absolutely magical then. I still do. Its the largest Mayan ruin site in all of Central America, and surrounded by thick jungles overflowing with birds, monkeys, and apparently jaguars, although we never saw the later. Why and how the mayans abandoned this site (before the spaniards came) is not really understood. When it was "discovered" just the last 100 years or so, the jungle had completely taken over the city and was covering all of the temples. The structures we see now had to be excavated and rebuilt and the jungle is constantly trying to take over again.

We saw sunset and sunrise from on top of the temples, then heading to a nearby town, El Remate, for one night.

In El Remate we discovered some of the best pizza I've ever tasted (which happened to be down a long, pitch black road -- so dark, we almost ran into a group of horses that were standing in the middle of the road) as well as one of the largest spiders I've ever seen -- a tarantula, discovered by Zach, in our hotel room.

One night was plenty there, and we went back to home base, Antigua, before heading out the next day to Lake Atitlan and one of my other favorite spots, Casa del Mundo.
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