What a complete change from seeing Guatemala City. I couldn't help but take big gulps of the fresh air and smell the rainforest. I could hear a soft russel of wind through the trees, birds singing their beautiful song and, once in a while, a howler monkey screech. Tikal used to be the largest Mayan city in the world. It's now a site of pyrimids ruined temples and many other stone structures. Thirty percent of the ruins have been excavated and almost completely restored. The rest lie under plants and dirt, which will preserve them for many more centuries. It was just as exciting to see the uncovered ruins as seeing the ones that are still covered by the plant
Pizote (coatamundi) looking at me.
growth. The guide told us to put our minds in the eyes of the old explorers seeing these ruins for the first time, and it made seeing the ruins even more amazing.
Sometimes it was difficult to keep my eyes on the ancient stone structures when the area around me was teeming with wildlife. I saw this sort
A wild turkey at Tikal
of raccoon-like pizote/ coatamundi animal. I was told it was one of the most loved animals among the visitors to Tikal. There is also commmonly seen a beautifully colored wild turkey. The less common ones which I had the pleasure to see were spider monkeys, howler monkeys, and loads of colorful birds. The guide told us people sometimes see jaguars ( I didn't) but I was still lucky enough to see all these amazing other creatures.
What a complete change from seeing Guatemala City. I couldn't help but take big gulps of the fresh air and smell the rainforest. I could hear a soft russel of wind through the trees, birds singing their beautiful song and, once in a while, a howler monkey screech. Tikal used to be the largest Mayan city in the world. It's now a site of pyrimids ruined temples and many other stone structures. Thirty percent of the ruins have been excavated and almost completely restored. The rest lie under plants and dirt, which will preserve them for many more centuries. It was just as exciting to see the uncovered ruins as seeing the ones that are still covered by the plant
Sometimes it was difficult to keep my eyes on the ancient stone structures when the area around me was teeming with wildlife. I saw this sort
Andersson, Eve A. Tikal. Ed. Eve A. Andersson. 17 May 2009 <http://www.eveandersson.com/guatemala/tikal>.