Tikal

Salimos de Rio Dulce rumbo a la selva Peten. Paramos mas o menos en la mitad del camino en un lugar que se llama Finca Ixobal (cerca de Poptun) que nos contaron que era un buen lugar para descansar y comer almuerzo. Las ensaladas estaban muy buenas porque crecen sus verduras alli, y Ariel se comio una hamburguesa vegetariana riquisima con berengena y queso. Tambien hacen pan casero, y nos compramos un pan de banana para llevar. Mientras almorzabamos llovia torrencialmente, pero despues salimos a recorrer un poco la finca que tienen una piscina natural y algunos animalitos. Siguimos camino a la isla de Flores que esta en el lago Peten-Itza, y que para los Mayas era un lugar sagrado. Cuando llegaron los Espanioles habian muchos templos y altares alli, pero lo destruyaron todo y ahora no queda nigun razgo de esa historia, solo hoteles. No nos gusto para quedarnos alli, y seguimos hacia Tikal y encontramos un pueblo divino en el lago que se llama el Remate. A la orilla del lago hay una playa publica, frente a una reserva natural que se llama el Cerro Cahui, y alli nos dijieron que podiamos acampar. Cuando llegamos tuvimos la sorpresa de encontrarnos con los amigos de Tulum, Tibu y familia! Ellos habian ido a Belice y estaban entrando a Guatemala recien. Pasamos muy lindo baniandonos en el lago y escuchando los monos ahullar por la noche. Al otro dia, pasamos tranquilos en la playa (que estaba muy alta por la lluvia) y a las cuatro de la tarde salimos para Tikal porque si llegas a esa hora podes entrar con el mismo boleto al otro dia tambien. Cuando llegamos dejamos la camioneta en el camping debajo de un arbol con monos, y fuimos a ver el atardecer en la Plaza Mayor de las ruinas. Vimos un tepescuintle y muchos pavos Peten, y por supuesto los monos que los escuchamos gritar toda la noche. Al otro dia nos levantamos muy temprano para disfrutar de las ruinas. Al amanacer, Ariel salio a caminar y se encontro con: dos venados, un pisote (coati), un monton de pavos, un cocodrilo, un tucan, una gallineta y otros aves interesantes. Las ruinas son impresionantes, grandes y hay muchos edificios. Pasamos todo el dia recorriendo! Casi mas interesante que las ruinas es la cantidad de animales que hay en la selva. Vimos un monton de monos arania y ahulladores, cuatro pisotes (coaties), dos pajaros trogon (que son de la familia del Quetzal), muchos colibri es y pajaros carpinteros, mariposas, cotorritas, muchos montezuma orapendolas (un tipo de pajaro), una viborita y muchos mas! La verdad es que Tikal es impresionante: subimos a varios templos pero nada se compara con el numero cinco, donde tenes que subir una escalerita de madera vertical y cuando llegas pensas que estas en las nubes. Nos dimos cuenta que estabamos muy altos porque nos temblaban las piernas y se nos hizo medio dificil bajar de nuevo! Un guia nos comento que mas de un turista se cayo, y por eso cerraron un par de templos al publico. Luego de recorrer las ruinas (que nos llevo unas 4 horas) fuimos a caminar hasta un mirador bastante rustico que esta en la cima de un arbol. De alli ves las ruinas desde otra punta de vista. Terminamos mas que cansados, pero contentos. Fuimos a dormir de nuevo en la playa de el Remate, e hicimos una comida compartida con nuestros amigos. Mateo y Tibu se pasaron con su amigo guatemalteco Adonias, buscando piedras y cristales en las rocas y encontraron un par de piedras lindas, incluyendo cristales y jade. Ayer de noche dejamos la olla con arroz y frijoles afuera, y en medio de la noche aparecio un caballo y se lo comio todo! Los dias que estuvimos alli, paso un americano que esta viviendo en Guatemala conocido en el pueblo como el panadero gringo, y le compramos uns ricos panes caseros. Paramos a comer la rica comida de la Finca Ixobal (de nuevo), y llegamos a Rio Dulce con tiempo para ver el atardecer.
We left Rio Dulce around noon after our last post, and stopped for lunch at Finca Ixobal, about halfway there in Poptun, because we had heard that they had really good food there – especially homemade baked goods and nice salads because they grow their own veggies. The drive through the Peten area was beautiful, with rolling hills and lots of cattle (unfortunately, deforestation comes with the relatively new “development” of this jungle area of Guatemala). We headed for Flores, a small island in the middle of lake Peten Itza that used to be an important ceremonial site for the Maya, and was covered in temples and altars when the Spanish arrived. Of course, they destroyed everything (what else is new) and now the only things on the island are pretty much hotels and tour companies. We decided to keep driving to a little town across the lake, closer to the ruins, called El Remate, where we had heard we could camp on the beach. It is a sweet little town, apparently known for its wood carving families, and we found a public beach right in front of the Cerro Cahui nature reserve to camp for the night. When we arrived, we were pleasantly surprised to find our friends from Tulum, Tibu and family, camped out at the same spot! They had gone to Tikal that day and were headed south after spending a couple of weeks in Belize. After getting caught up with them, we slept to the sound of howler monkeys in the distance, and woke up to the birds chattering all around us. That day we spent hanging out and swimming in the lake, until around four when we decided to head to Tikal. We had heard that if you arrive after four your ticket is also good for the next day, so after the drive to the site we parked our vehicle at the campground (right under a tree with a family of howlers in it!) and walked in to the Central Plaza area to watch the sunset. That evening we saw and heard lots of wildlife – this is the thing about Tikal, that you are not only exploring a huge Mayan site, but that it is deep in the jungle and they work really hard to protect the animals here. That night we had the howlers screaming in our ears and the kids got up at the crack of dawn to do some bird and animal watching. Ariel saw two deer, a coati, a Peten crocodile (!), lots of wild turkeys, a toucan, a gallinule, and lots of other birds! That day we saw too many spider and howler monkeys to count, coatis, a piliated woodpecker, some trogons (related to the resplendent quetzal),
We set off early to explore the ruins and spent about four hours walking around the site. The temples themselves are pretty impressive, partially uncovered and covered in green moss. The most exciting one to climb was Temple 5, which you had to climb using these steep wooden stairs (which was more like a steep ladder). Once we got to the top our knees started to shake, and then we realized that climbing up was the easy part! But we made it back down, and one of the guides that we spoke to told us that more than one tourist has plummeted to their deaths from the tops of the temples here, and that is why some of them are closed to the public. We also found out that Temple 4 was used as a vantage point to film one of the rebel base scenes in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (anyone recognize it?). In this area there are many different Mayan ruins, Tikal are just the most well-known and impressive. Every mound/pyramid-shaped mountain is probably a Mayan ruin around here, there are so many that are still uncovered! We wanted to go on a 5-day trek to a place called El Mirador (it is actually just across from Calakmul!) which they think are actually even bigger and more important than the ones at Tikal, but it was going to be too expensive (and arduous) so we decided against it. That night we went back to El Remate and enjoyed one more collaborative dinner and a fire with our European friends before parting ways the next day. Mateo and Tibu enjoyed playing with their Guatemalan friend Adonias, who stayed and ate dinner with us. In the middle of the night we woke up to the sound of some wild animal eating the leftover rice and beans that we left outside the westy – when we shined the flashlight out the window there was a big horse looking back at us, and I think he enjoyed the rice because he cleaned the pot! We stopped at Finca Ixobel again for lunch on our way to Rio Dulce, and ended up by the pool once again at Nana Juana. Now we are trying to decide our next move, which is going to be south to the border with El Slavador, which hopefully we will cross in the next couple of days.