Tikal National Park, A great Mayan Wonder

Well it has been almost three weeks since I crossed the border from Mexico into Guatemala. Beginning with a very long bus journey I finally arrived in the charming and quaint village of Isla De Flores. This charming and colorful town is the gateway to Tikal National Park, one of the great Mayan Cities. My first morning after I arrived, I was picked up by a tour guide at 4:30 a.m. along with several other very sleepy tourists for the hour's drive to Tikal. Presumably this was to see the sunrise, however on this day it was raining heavily, so no sunrise for us. The driver had to overcome several obstacles in the road as the storm had downed many trees along the way, so kudos to him for navigating so well. We arrived at the Jaguar Inn, one of the few places to stay inside the park and met by our guide Ceasar. Tikal is a huge park, with a large trail system leading you to the different temples and plazas. It was really amazing that this area is so preserved, considering how many thousands of years ago it was built. Some of the temples you can still climb the stairs, although my knees are not what they use to be,so I didn't attempt anything too dangerous. It was the coming down that was scary. The one exception was Temple four towards the end of the day, where you climb 70 meters of man made stairs to the top. Once you reach the top the view commands acres and acres of sites and you can see forever practically. It is also a great perch for Birdwatchers as you see over the treetops well. I spotted some new birds to add to my list, one being the Brown Jay, and another colorful fella that I have yet to Identify. If you have a chance to visit any of the ancient Mayan Cities I definitely recommend Tikal. Having already visited Palenque, which was also impressive, Tikal was even more impressive. Set in the jungle, with dense forest around you, it really takes you back in time. You could easily spend more than a day here, and we had 6 hours which in a way did not seem like enough time. After a rainy day for the most part, the sun finally began to peak out around noon giving away to the heat of the day, so in a way the rain was a welcome relief for all the hiking we did. As we continued our way back towards the Jaguar Inn, a young woman from New Zealand who knew that I was very anxious to see a wild Toucan, pointed one out to me just before the lodge. This was the perfect conclusion to a very exciting experience in the jungles of Northern Guatemala.