Tikal, Guatemala

Mayan temple ruins amidst a jungle in the Northern part of Guatemala.

I had different ideas about jungles before I came. I expected humid, hot, machete the crap out of greenery and shitloads of mosquitoes. Well, it was dry. The cutting down of shrubs had been done and I only got one mozzie bite. But it was hot. Hot as in you drink 2 litres of water before noon. Then you chill on a hammock until it’s cool enough to have dinner – at around 9 pm. Not complaining in the slightest!

Anyways, I got to the ruins at about 8:30 am and headed to this area recommended by this couple that I had met in Nicaragua and had run into in Flores. They showed me photos of animals they had seen at this one part of the ruins. I was looking forward to seeing animals, as they seem to avoid me, despite my best efforts. It took me 2 hours to walk there, as I was side tracked with the other temples on the way, and when I got there, the animals had already gone. On my way to the exit, I tailed a tour group and saw 2 spider monkeys. And this bird that made a most horrendous sound.

Two big temples stood in the main plaza. We are allowed to climb on of them, so I did. A quarter of the way up, my fear of heights hit. These are not stairs, you see. There is a rickety ladder attached to the side of the temple where you can see straight down. I gripped the handles on both sides and took the mofo on step by step. I go to the top, took necessary pics and headed down. Good thing it was still early, meaning: before tour groups; meaning: nobody else was on the steps shaking the thing by going up and down. I needed to sit for about 10 mins after to regroup my wits.

Despite my best efforts, I was not able to see all of the ruins, most of them but, not all. I spent six hours there. Good enough.

That same evening, I headed back to San Pedro on an overnight bus. The seats didn’t really recline and the big woman sitting next to me took up half my seat. This time it took 16 hours.