We are at our second stop, and fourth day, of our trip to Guatemala. We left home at 3am for a 5:30 am flight to Miami, then on to Guatemala City for a several hour layover, then a one hour flight to Flores, and about an hour’s drive to Tikal. We waited at the airport with our driver for an hour and a half for some people due to arrive on a later flight, who never came. So all in all, a long day’s travel to arrive at The Posada de la Selva,or Jungle Inn, within the Tikal Park and National Preserve. It was about 9pm when we arrived, but despite the long day we were surprisingly not exhausted.
Tikal is one of the most renowned Maya sites. I can remember learning about it in an art history class eons ago, along with other pre-colonial sites like Machu Picchu, Teotihuican and Chichen Itza. I would never have imagined, so many decades ago, that I would eventually visit all of those sites and many other archeological sites in different parts of the world.
Coincidentally, BU is offering a course this semester on Pre Columbian archeology. I signed up, and attended the first class earlier this week, even thought I knew I ewould be missing the first month. The professor’s area of expertise is Peru, so I certainly look forward to learning from her when I get back. And she’s already asked me to make a presentation about Tikal.
Tikal is a massive site. It spreads out over 222 square miles, and it is said that at its height over 100,000 people lived there. There are plazas and areas with multiple structures and pyramids, and then a walk through the jungle of 15 minutes or more to the next area. One of the pyramids is either the tallest, or second tallest, Mayan structure in the world. ( two different sources.) Many of them can be climbed, through steep sets of deep steps, not an easy task. Many others are still overgrown and unexcavated, with signs saying do not climb. Even many of the excavated ones are still covered on one or more sides. And there are many additional mounds that are totally unexcavated, but where it is clear that there are pyramids within.
Most people visit Tikal from Flores, the town that we flew into, and go to the ruins for the day. We are in Flores now, having left Tikal this morning. We had decided to stay at the site for a few days, in order to spend more time in the ruins. The Posada de la Selva is adjacent to the ruins, within the park. It was originally the lodging for the archeologists in the 1950’s to 1970’s . Our room was rustic, but adequate, especially since we spent much of our time wandering through the ruins. And the public area was quite nice, with a lovely dining room, bar, even a swimming pool.
Between the two days we spent there, we covered every part of the ruins. Loring climbed three or four pyramids, I climbed two. We saw quite a bit of wildlife too, mostly monkeys and coatis. The coatis look like a cross between a monkey and a racoon. They were surprisingly unafraid, and came almost right up to us. But they didn’t seem to be begging for food. We also saw a number of spider monkeys roaming acrobatically through the trees. The other breed common in the park are howler monkeys. We didn’t actually see any, but we certainly heard plenty of them. The first night I had no idea what their almost unearthly sound was. It sounded like a combination of a low growl and a strong wind. Later, during the day in the ruins, we heard them from quite close, and actually recorded them. There is not any visual except for trees and jungle, to accompany the eerie sounds.
The entrance to the park is actually about 10 or 15 miles from the ruins, because they have made the whole area a protected one. That is good, but the way they administer it is a bit strange. You have to buy the entry tickets at the entrance to the park. The hotel did it for us when we arrived. What we didn’t know, though, is that the fee for the small museum on the site is separate, and the tickets need to be bought at the park entrance. So when we tried to visit the museum they wouldn’t let us in. The hotel hadn’t made clear to us that we also had to buy separate tickets if we wanted to visit the museum, and it was too late to do so because we were leaving the next day. Oh well, who knows how interesting the museum would have been. But it was frustrating and disappointing not to be able to find out. I would like to have seen some of the artifacts found at the site, although from my understanding, many of them are at the museum in Guatemala City, which we won’t be going to, and also I imagine, at many foreign museums. Perhaps there are some at the MFA.
We weren’t able to discover much information about the civilization, who lived there and what their lives were like. It would have taken an enormous amount of labor, presumably by slaves, to build the many structures, and it is hard to imagine the techniques. More research on my part, and maybe my class when I return, will hopefully providence some answers. There was information about the various rulers over time, but we didn’t ever figure out where and how the non noble inhabitants would have lived. The buildings we saw seemed mainly ceremonial. Perhaps they lived in small structures not of stone, that didn’t survive, in the areas between the many ceremonial sites. My initial google searches didn’t yield much info, but it’s got to be out there.
Early this morning we left Tikal for Flores, where we will spend the next several days. It’s a small touristed town, with a number of hotels, hostels, and restaurants. Our hotel, the Santa Barbara, is actually on a tiny island about a five minute boat ride from the town itself. You can see the island from the town, and vice versa. It was quite quiet when we wandered around the town this afternoon after getting settled in our cabin and having some breakfast. It was only about 6:15 am when we arrived here. The Tikal hotel has two shuttles a day, to meet the planes leaving for Guatemala City.
We assume the town picks up at night, especially since we can now hear music coming from one of the waterfront bars, and because most of them had signs indicating their happy hours. I am sure many people are staying in town, but are gone to Tikal during the day.
Our own hotel is quite quiet. There are only three cabins, and we think we are the only people staying here. The caretaker is the boatman, and his wife cooked us breakfast this morning, and will shortly be cooking our supper. They have a little boy. His name is Anderson.
I will stop now because there are insects starting to bite. I don’t know what they are, not mosquitos, something small. We have had very little in terms of insects, for which I am grateful. But the sun is setting, and it getting hard to see, so I will call it a day.
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