So half term finally arrived, not before time! The 11 week first "half term" at the beginning of the year is pretty full on so we were ready for the break. As tempting as it was to not get up at 5.30, the first day of the hols we were actually up at 4.30 to hit road for first big stint up to Tikal in Guatemala. Leaving so early meant we missed a lot of mayhem on the roads, got to see sun coming up over the volcanoes and were in Guatemala by 7 am. Journey was all pretty straightforward and calm and we made it up to Tikal by the afternoon.
Tikal is the site of a Mayan settlement that has gradually been restored since the 50s, well I say settlement but in its heyday was more of a city with a population of up to 90,000 (no-one is really sure exactly) hard to believe really, it seems such a calm quiet place in the middle of the jungle...until the bus loads of visitors arrive! Although it's such a big site that pretty quickly you wonder off into to jungle again and seems like no one else is there.
It's very impressive, you walk through the jungle and suddenly you come to these immense pyramid structures and amaze at how back in the day they managed to build them and so deep in the jungle. The first day we wondered around in late afternoon saw the sunset from one of the larger/largest temple (also featured in Star Wars Episode 4 ) over the jungle and strolled and stumbled back through the dark jungle and wondered why I decided not to bring the torch! Luckily the guards were leaving too so made it all a bit easier, who also told us that contrary to what people think it's not the jaguars that are the night time danger but rather the snakes that can cross your path!
We stayed in the jungle at a hotel not too far from the site entrance- the whole area around the site is a protected National park. Was nice not to have to go far and just be in the jungle for the night. After the long day, we conked out pretty early. At some point before dawn Ben was awoken by a rather strange loud animal noise which sounded like was coming from the trees right above our cabana. When Ben woke me up to hear it I was amazed I'd managed to sleep through it! We later found out it was howler monkey/s... my new favourite wild animal. (the kittens are domestic) We woke up again shortly after dawn and went for an early morning stroll around a different part of the site, eyes peeled for jaguars. We finally spotted some spider monkeys playing around and having some breakfast, such interesting animals to watch. I think the kittens have increased my animal appreciation!
We found temple V, known for being the steep one, and somehow despite the vertigo I managed to get to the top via the pretty much vertical ladder. Photos don't really capture the height but was a case of don't look behind or down. The view from the top was amazing, above the mass of jungle treetops even if I was a little wobbly and had visions of having to be rescued from the top. After the initial turning round, going down the ladder was a little easier than going up. By 9am it was getting pretty hot and we were ready for breakfast in the jungle and carrying on with our trip to Belize. We by no means saw all of Tikal- its huge place and wouldn't want to try and see it all at once, especially in the heat of the day and also means we can go back again sometime (with any of you?!)
Photos here:
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