Tikal

A lot of people had cautioned us that Flores wasn´t a "real" Guatemalan city, but we take everything people tell us with a grain of salt.  We didn´t actually DO much on Flores except swim in the lake, but we really enjoyed it.  We loved walking along the water in the evenings when everyone came out to enjoy the cool breeze off the lake.  We were also there for the Santa Semana procession.  The procession here isn´t as big as it is in some of the bigger cities, but the street murals made of colored sawdust and flowers and candles were still big and beautiful.

But we weren´t here to swim or to admire religious parades.  We were here to make a big check off our list of Places To See Before We Die.  And that place, of course, is Tikal.

You never know how it is going to go, when you visit a place you´ve been dreaming about going for years.  Will it be what you expected?  Will it live up to the hype?  Hype is the biggest enemy of all, leading you to be disappointed with something amazing just because you were expecting more.  Luckily for us, Tikal met and exceeded what we were hoping for.  (I´m still not sure if we were more excited about seeing the temples or at the wildlife.)

Our hotel, the Jaguar Inn, was located just outside the main gates, and was a good base for an overnight visit.  Most people to day trips to Tikal from Flores, but by staying overnight we got to visit the park in the evening when it is much less crowded.  The wildlife was surprisingly active, and we saw a pair of spider monkeys and a new kind of toucan before we´d even left the grounds of the hotel, playing in the trees right outside of our bungalow.

The ruins themselves were, as expected, big and spectacular.  We climbed sevearal of the temples for great views overlooking the tops of the trees in all directions.  One of the temples is accessed by climbing a "staircase" that is really more of a ladder.  I´m not terribly afraid of heights, but even so it was a pretty humbling experience for those that braved the ascent. (Heck, the descent was worse.)  It was so hot, that even with a bottle of water at my side I must have gotten a little dehydrated and I started to get cramps in my legs from all the climbing.  A nice rest in the shade with a tall drink of water fixed that though.

We wandered around the backs of most temples looking for animals, and did cross several agoutis.  At one point we cleared a corner and up ahead we saw the unmistakable profile of a coatamundi, which is sort of a cross between a racoon and a ferret, and has a ringed tail it sticks straight up in the air as it walks.  We slowly started walking towards it to get a better look, when it turned and ran.  We were surprised we could have scared it at that distance, but then we saw what it was really running from as a trio of tourists came around the corner running at it at full speed hooting and hollering.  I can´t imagine what they were thinking, I mean is chasing an animal into the bushes really that much of a thrill?  But they paid a price, as David and I proceeded to mock them for the rest of the afternoon.  I am sure they would be devastated if they only knew.

The next morning we were back at 6am.  By that point we had seen all of the main temples, but wandered around sort of looking at the more minor structures but really looking for more jungle creatures.  We were rewarded when a group of about two dozen coatamundi´s walked by us.  They are the most adorable little creatures, David was desperate to get one as a pet.  They were rather tame and got surprisingly close to us, obviously hoping we would feed them.  (We resisted the temptation, but it was hard, they were so darn cute! I even got a video of one of them sniffing at the camera, if only I had had a wide angle lens!)

Later on we were treated to the wild screams of the howler monkeys.  Signs warn that if you get too close they will throw their poop at you, but we were spared that behavior.  Still, pretty awesome to be standing in the jungle, a howler monkey screaming over your head, several spider monkeys jumping about the next tree over, and a group of coatis running around practically under your feet sniffing for dropped bits of cookie.  And I haven´t even talked about the birds.  (Three kinds of toucan, parrots, the wild oscillated turkey, and even the Woody Woodpecker woodpecker.)

Yes, Tikal was a success.