Tikal
Trip Start
Aug 01, 2007
1
13
39
Trip End
Sep 16, 2007
Tikal,
Guatemala
Sunday, August 12, 2007
arrived around 900 BC and for the next
several hundreds of years the village started to grow and prosper. In
time, Tikal became a superpower of the Mayan region, along with El
Mirador and Nakbe. The ruins have 5 enormous temples and thousands of
other structures. Approximately, 75% of the ruins have yet to be
discovered and remain unearthed. The ruins are surrounded by the Parque
Nacional Tikal, which is a protected area of about 575 square
kilometers. The trees are home to howler and spider monkeys, toucans,
parakeets and hundereds of other species, including the jaguar
Tiakl 17
. Saturay afternoon Matt and I hired a tour guide to take up around the park. We both wanted to practice our understanding of Spanish, so we hired a Spanish speaking tour guide. I understood most of the stuff, but had some a gaps in understanding. We each spent about $20 for a guide and that was an expensive was to practice Spanish. He was really good though and spoke slowly.
During the tour, the most bizzare thing happened. I saw somebody that looked really familiar and I sort of stared at him for a a minute from the sides of my eye. Then it dawns on me. I know him from work at ZS! I yell out, 'Niraj, is that you? It's Susheela.' It was Niraji Patel from work! He is traveling Guatemala for three weeks before starting med school at UCSD and I run into him in the middle of the jungle in Guatemala!
The tour through Tikal took about 4 hours and then Matt and I wondered among the central plaza for another hour or so. It was around 5 PM when we left the park and returned to our respective hotels to shower up. We meet up with a girl from Australia, Jema, and we had the worlds best meal at the Jaguar Inn. For the first time since I got toGuatemala, I had chicken and a plate full of fresh fruit! It was so good. I was also talked into sharing dessert, we all know how much i love dessert! The three of us talked until the electricity went out and then headed to bed. (The park only gets electricity for a few hours in the morning and at night.)
However, to get to my room
Tiakl 18
. I needed to walk from the Jaguar Inn to Hotel Tikal. They are both next to each other, but in the pitch dark, one's mine can play games with you (especially when you know that you are in Jaguar territory). Luckily Matt and Jema walked me home. My room was the farthest from the hotel and I swear a monkey santuary was back there! At night all you could here where the howler monkeys. No need for an alarm in the morning, the monkeys will wake you up, if the excessive heat and humidity doesn't.The humid weather in the jungle region is very very different than the cold wather in Xela. It is so humid that it taked forever for thins to dry. I washed a quick dry sport bra and socks in the sink and a day later, the items are still wet! The nights are ungodly hot and the bugs seem to get through the window screens. I have bites all over my body in weird patterns and such. I've slathered on the sunblack and bug spray, but it doens't seem to help that much. I take my Maleria meds and hope that I don't get it...
Comments
pictures
Sushee! The pictures of the forests and ruins are beautiful! I'm glad you're having such a good time. Your enteries are very amusing. -JAH