The Ewoks' planet (Tikal)

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  Tikal, Guatemala
Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Today we travelled to the location that Star Wars used for its Return of the Jedi planet location. It was an excellent choice, as the ruins combined with the jungle strike the imagination and somehow do feel like a different planet, especially when you're by yourself, as we were most everywhere except the Grand Plaza. Tikal was settled by the Maya around AD 700 and was probably chosen because it rests on a hilltop and has an abundance of flint for weapons and tools. Around this time the more grandiose and powerful El Mirador, 65 km farther into the Guatemalan jungle, had fallen into a decline. Shortly after the rise of Tikal, the tribes at Teotihuacan in Mexico and at Guatemala City destroyed Tikal's main rival, leaving Tikal to become the center of the Maya world until its mysterious end around AD 900. Kind of. There were ups and downs. Tikal was discovered again 1848. It was completely overgrown with jungle vegetation.

Upon arriving at the park, we decided to make the 20 minute trek through the jungle to Temple VI, also known as the Temple of the Inscriptions (because of the hieroglyphics on its 12 m roof comb)

Temple I

. This, I personally believe, was the best way to start our day because we got to trek through the jungle before coming upon our very own temple rising out of the earth. After admiring this temple for a few minutes (VI is not climbable) we decided to venture forth into the main attraction. Kind of.

The Grand Plaza is a wide open square that lies in the cultural heart of Tikal. On the east and west sides are Temples II and I, respectively. Temple I, also known as the Temple of the Jaguar, is the symbol of Tikal and is probably what we all think of when we think of Maya ruins. In its prime, it was painted in bright colors, but now it's plain limestone with some kind of green single-celled organisms growning on it. We were also unable to climb Temple I, but we did climb Temple II, the Temple of the Masks, to enjoy the view of the Grand Plaza. The other two sides of the Grand Plaza are home to the North Acropolis and the Central Acropolis. The North Acropolis consists of approximately 100 structures (according to the guidebook, when you're on it it seems more like one sprawling stone mass), parts of which are 2000 years old. The highlights of this structure are two giant stone masks built into the walls. Initially we had a hard time finding them, but when we did we were highly impressed. They're probably as tall as a somewhat short person, and nearly as wide because of earrings and headdresses. We both wish we had made the effort to find some of the other ones on the grounds, but by the time we got to thinking of it our feet were hurting something fierce. The Central Acropolis was apparently housing for the elite of Maya society, and these structures do look more like rooms than any other place we saw during the day. Some of the "houses" even had built-in stone furniture. I found a couch of some sort, but Travis didn't see it.

temples were really tall

Oh well.

After thoroughly enjoying the most tourist-oriented, tree-free Grand Plaza, we decided to make our way over to Temple V, which is climbable and has a rather good view of the jungle. Temple V was only done being restored in 2005, and it is not terribly fancy. We climbed a six-flight staircase that was actually more like a horrifying ladder to reach the top, but it was worth it for the view. Rather than being under or far above the trees, we were exactly aligned with the tops, the better to view animal activity. We were a little distracted by a roaring off in the distance, so didn't see anything in particular, but we did speculate as to what was making such horrible noises. I thought it might be a jaguar meeting, but it wasn't. I'll explain later, but, as usual, Travis was right. Interesting factoid about Temple V before we leave it - slaves worked on it for years and years, but the only chamber on it (the chambers of the temples are only a couple of rooms on the very top of the pyramid) is just a few square meters.

We then made our way to Temple IV, passing the as-yet unrestored Temple III, which was completely covered in vegetation except for the spectacular roof comb. Temple IV is 64 m tall, the tallest structure in Tikal, and is presently under restoration. This detracted in no way from the view, however, which towered above the jungle creating a spectacular picture of Temple I, II, and III's roof combs enveloped by jungle tree-tops. Travis used the telephoto to excellent effect. The photos are truly postcard worthy. Then it was definitely time for a victory Coke, which was all of 6 quetzales, the most expensive soda of all at still less than a dollar.

We had seen all the temples, so it was time for some real exploring

Erin and Temple I

. We left Flores at 5, and I had no idea how we were going to amuse ourselves until the return buses started leaving at noon, but we definitely did. First we wandered into the Mundo Perdido, or the Lost World. While we were at the top of Temple IV we heard more of the ruckus in the trees, and I thought it might be a recording, because I really didn't think any animal in the area would make that much noise in such an angry fashion for so long. Travis pointed out that it would be extremely irresponsible to be playing a recording like that, which is very true. As we approached the Lost World the noise got louder and louder and I wondered exactly what we were walking into. Finally the screaming roaring was right overhead, but we couldn't see what was making it. Then it stopped, probably because we disturbed the animals making it. For the record, they were monkeys, which is what Travis had asserted from the very first. I hate it when he's right. We did get a picture of them on our way out of the Mundo Perdido.

A group of workers at the Mundo Perdido had captured a tarantula in a pail, and delighted in showing it to us. While I was taking pictures of monkeys, one man picked it up and held it out to me. Tarantulas have really big fangs, just so you know. I decided to take a picture from a little distance. The man thought I was silly. From this point we actually went exploring

Grand Plaza

. The Lost World is the older part of Tikal, and before the advent of the temples it was apparently the most impressive archipelago of buildings in Mesoamerica. Next to the Lost World is the Plaza of the Seven Temples, which is currently under complete renovation. They have a miniature of what the temples are supposed to look like, and they presently don't look like much. After the renovation the temples will be completely rebuilt, which will look cool, but I think will take some of the charm away from the fact that they're ruins. It's like the painting over the Sistine Chapel to preserve a masterpiece, but in so doing you're actually ruining the integrity of the masterpiece.

This was also the place where we found the monkeys up in the trees. After a great deal of tracking and effort, we followed a mom and her baby to a place with yummy leaves, so it was much easier to take pictures, in a manner of speaking. After about 20 shots, Travis managed to get about three decent pictures of the monkeys. I got a short video of them hopping around. It was totally amazing to see the spider monkeys in their native habitat rather than in the zoo. For the record, while we are discussing animals, Travis managed to spot a toucan at Temple VI, whereas I did not. He was very pleased with himself. We also spotted some coati on our way out of the park. They are very strange looking creatures - like a cross between a cat and a fox, but long and narrow like a weasel

Travis and Temple I

.

The guidebook recommended that we take a look at Complexes O, Q, and R. So we did. O and Q were not much to look at, I must say, and I was wholly annoyed by the fact because in order to get to O we had to walk over about a billion ants, which crawled up our pants and started biting. Now we really know what it's like to have ants in your pants and to do a little dance. These complexes were built to have two small temples facing one another over a square. In O and Q, the temples were completely overgrown by trees, so there wasn't much to see, and I think we went backward because there was a sign explaining the situation at Complex R, but we went there last, so I had no idea what we were looking at. Only one of the temples at Complex R had been uncovered, so the mirror effect was not complete, but at least we finally figured out that we were seeing a rather cool structure situation.

By this time our feet hurt like crazy and my toe blisters were acting up (I have spectacularly large ones on my pinky toes because of my shoes, but I have been training them to become callouses and it's kind of working), so we decided to make our way back to the visitor center. There was supposedly a museum free of charge here, but we didn't go in. It probably would have been interesting, and we really should have gone to see the masks at Groupo G. Keep this in mind if you go yourself. Instead we decided to catch the 2 o'clock bus back to Flores, the better to put up our feet and have some yummy food. Los Amigos hostel is a really nice place to stay, and the proprietor makes a concerted effort to keep it extremely safe.

After an interminable bus ride back to Guatemala City, we'll return to Antigua before scurrying out of Guatemala to continue our journey in Honduras.

Erin

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

North Acropolis with Temple I	North Acropolis	a funny face	view from the Acropolis
Temple I	Temples I and II	Travis hiding in Central Acropolis	built-in couch
Travis and stela	altar (very big)	nice tarantula	roof comb of Temple III
a favorite of mine	the Great Plaza	from Temple V	towards the Great Plaza
a wonderful view	long way down from Temple V	from Temple IV	monkeys in the trees
coatis (we think)

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