Pictures here
Tikal is the most famous Mayan site in Guatemala. There are something like four thousand buildings there and while only fifteen percent of them have been excavated. At the height of the civilization which dates back twenty five hundreds years, more than one hundred thousand people live there. Tikal dates back before the other Mayan sites. But just like other Mayan civilizations, Tikal faltered and by the time the Spanish conquerors came, Tikal laid in ruins. It was discovered again in the mid-1800s, but archeological studies of the site didn’t begin until the mid-1900s by UPenn. Naturally, many artifacts were moved to the US and other museums. If the temples could be moved, they probably would have been moved too.
           Unlike Chichen Itza or Uxmal in Mexico, Tikal sits in the middle of a thick jungle. The temples have not been scrubbed and prettified. A few climbing structures have been built on the temple so visitors can climb to the top without risking their lives. I started the trip at three O’clock in the morning, taking one and half hour to get to the site by shuttle. Howler monkeys howled and they howled hard and loud. They hopping from tree to tree and swung freely. At one point in the walk, the guide told us about a temple a bit higher up from where we were that has not been excavated yet. From looking at the surrounding areas and trees, I could not tell at all that a temple sat above me. Many wild animals roamed in their natural habitats. We men are intruders into this jungle that is their home.
Even though I have already been to a few other Mayan ruins and heard the stories of their lives, I still enjoyed Tikal immensely. I was there early before the arrival of the balk of the tourists. Of the three guides there, two spoke English and one spoke Spanish. I went with the Spanish guide. I understood maybe sixty percent of what he said. Midday sun set in. The jungle heat began to cook. After six hours at the ruins, I hopped back in the van back to Flores.