Fri, 5 Mar - Tikal

Tikal Tikal was discovered in 1848 and opened to the public and declared a National Park in 1955. it was occupied from 1200BC to 925aD. it had 4,000 structures and 200 monuments with more than 100,000 occupants. as an aside, there were around 150,000 Mayas in Belize, which is more than the current population of Belize today. This gives you an idea of the size and layout of this settlement we walked through the forest for quite a while (since i was frequently distracted by photo opportunities as shown in my previous blog); before we saw Temple IV ... Temple IV or Temple of the Two Headed Snake is the highest temple at 195ft, 690,000 cubic feet of material was needed for it's construction. this was the first Temple we climbed ... they had nice wooden stairs up ... so you didn't climb up those steep stone steps. unfortunately, some of my pictures did not transfer to my computer, so i don't have a photo of Temple IV. hopefully Eddi has photos of whatever i don't, but they won't be included in this blog. the view from Temple IV was beautiful . you can see Temple I and Temple II far off in the distance on the right; and Temple V in the middle, Mundo Perdido is on the right. it gives you an idea of how large an area Tikal covered. you were allowed to climb on the stone steps of this temple at Mundo Perdido ... a good workout for the legs ! view from there .... we passed through more forest and came to Temple V which is 171ft. we came around the back side, this is a side view ... they had these nice wooden stairs to climb up this one .... but it was actually more like climbing a ladder because the steps were very close together and tall .... and you had to climbed down like you would climb down a ladder ... backwards. the view from up here was breath-taking. here you can see Temple I, the pointy one on the right ... and some people in the bottom left corner for perspective purposes. Eddi has a picture of me at the top, but i'm sure i'm not recognizable. from here we walked to the Grand Plaza Central ... it was here that i FINALLY felt like i was seeing the remnants of a civilization. so much of what i had seen, including Cahal Pech, was mostly just temples and very few other buildings that made much sense to me. here at the Grand Plaza Central, i could 'feel' how life must have been. i took a 360 degree video to give a better idea. still snapshots don't show it that well. the video is called "Tikal 360" and the web address for the You Tube video is : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_aZ5k53ZQs The Grand Plaza Central includes Temple I, Temple II, Acropolis Norte, and Acropolis Central, with a large grassy area in the center. Temple I, or Jaguar Temple is 135ft high . It sits at one end of the Grand Plaza Central, oriented to the west where the sunset occurs. you cannot climb this one. photo below of Acropolis Norte, ....it would be to the left of Temple I above photo of Acropolis Central, which would be to the right of Temple I Temple II or Temple of the Masks, 114ft high sits across from Temple I in the Grand Plaza Central. it is oriented to the east where the sun rises. i guess if you get there around 5am, it's a beautiful sight. Temple II is also one i don't have a photo of, ... but you can see it in the video. the photo below was taken from Acropolis Norte, looking towards Acropolis Central. you can see Temple II on the right side of the photo, ...and that is Temple V straight ahead in the background, not a part of Plaza Central. Eddi and i climbed to the top of Temple II and took some photos .... this is Temple I across the Plaza and Acropolis Norte taken from top of Temple II top of Acropolis Norte this 'guy' was in Acropolis Norte. they have it protected from the sun and elements and it is still down an enclosure. this photo was taken from Acropolis Central and shows Temple I and the Acropolis Norte in the background a few of my doorway, arch shots :) as we were leaving the main area and making our way to Temple VI, i turned around and took this parting shot of the back side of Temple I, .... we had planned on taking the last bus back to Flores; but the guide Eddi talked to advised us NOT to wait so late, because we would be traveling on the road when it was getting dark, and to leave by the 3:30pm bus because it would be safer. i never felt threatened in my travels; but it is important to keep in remember that intelligent safety should always be on your mind. it had been a long day, and now pm; we still had Temple VI to see and the map showed it down a long trail. we decided to quickly 'run' down there to see it. ....run ... me, with 2 somewhat mangled toes on one foot, and a torn big toe nail on the other ..... but off we went. we walked and walked .....and walked, through incredible rainforest with huge trees and enormous leaves. this temple was out in "B.F.E." i thought for sure we were going to be dinner for the jaguars :) but, we finally made it.... Temple VI or the Temple of the Inscriptions is 165ft tall and the only one with 3 front entrances; the hieroglyphic inscription is dated 765AD. we both would like to know why it was so remote from the rest of the buildings and temples. Eddi has made some contacts that might possibly have the answer, she said he would let me know if/when she finds out. after taking a few quick photos; we 'ran' again, to the exit. we had 15 min to spare before the bus left :) i'd like to mention that we did NOT see all of Tikal ... there is much more, but we did hit the highlights. we arrived back in Flores before sunset. a quick shower, ...cold of course, and a change of clothes and we're off to find a Mojito to watch the sunset. our 'guide friend' was going to join us, but he never showed .. but he did direct us to Captain Tortugas where we had both our Mojitos and our sunset overlooking a small island. it was a fun long day ...

5 Mar--Tikal

Fri, 5 Mar we booked the 7am bus to Tikal, which picked us up at 7:30, ..... and had a flat tire on the way .... it is about an hour ride, so we were walking the grounds by 9:30am. the first thing we saw were these tails ... it was the White Nosed Coatimundi, a relative to our raccoon. their tail is 75-100% the size of it's body and head. they sleep in treetops at night, are omniviorous and forage during the day. they were cute ... but i understand, about as desirable to have around your home as our raccoons ! the next thing we saw were the Howler Monkeys ... i was very excited about this because i wanted to see them while at Chaa Creek and did not ... so ... now i've seen them ... still have not heard them though ... i showed you a photo of the Ceiba (say-ba) Tree, the Maya Sacred Tree of Life, when we were in Chaa Creek ... we'll the one they have here, dwarfs the one at Chaa Creek .... at 210ft and more than 6ft in diameter, which does not count the extensive and wide buttresses it has for stability... it's a monster. it definitely commands your attention when you see it. however, i haven't seen one that you can drive your car through, like the Redwoods. 'we' have them beat there :) i continue to be fascinated with the Leaf Cutter Ant. unfortunately i never saw another procession like i did the first night at Chaa Creek; but several times i've noticed their 'trails' while walking through the rain forest. this was another 'trail' that i noticed. and ... there was one lonely ant, trying his best to carry something, ...it wasn't a leaf, but looked kind of like the top of an acorn ... you know, that little 'hat' that is has on it ... anyway, this was not a Leaf Cutter Ant, because they are red and this guy was black. he struggled and struggled and of course, i watched him for awhile ... until i could tell that Eddi was losing her patience with me :) in the photo, you can also see a lot of pieces of leaves that had been cut by the ants and left on the trail. i love the nature stuff ... i would have been happy to watch the ants, birds, coatimundi, and monkeys all day long ... but that wasn't why we were there :) these beautiful bromeliads were everywhere in the trees ... their light green foliage and pink flowers were striking with the dark green leaves of the rain forest trees. they were covering a lot of the branches at the top of the Ceiba Tree .... monkeys? did someone mention monkeys? this is a Spider Monkey ... he was very happy just hanging by his huge tail and eating his breakfast. i watched him for a long time too :) i will also put some video on You Tube, will let you know when that's finished they had few 'concession stands' at Tikal because of it's size. a guide was there with a group and Eddi started talking to him, i joined in, and challenged him to find me a tarantula .... a few minutes later he returned ... the same guide showed us this Peanut Head Moth, he was about 4" long. i had seen a photo at the Nature Center at Chaa Creek. they really do look like someone stuck a peanut on their head ! after leaving here i saw more Spider Monkeys ... this is the Montezuma Oropendola bird. they were making a lot of noise in one of the trees in the Grand Plaza at Tikal. When we climbed Temple II we saw their the nests hang from the top of a tree. the nests from 2-6ft long, and there can be as many as 50-150 nests in a colony; and each colony has only one dominate male .. how you like those odds ????

these beautiful turkeys were walking and feeding on the grounds here. they are called Ocellated Turkey, deriving it's name from the peacock-like ocelli (eyes) on the tail feathers. it is good tasting and popular with hunters and are increasingly rare in the area. it is found only in Central America, Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico ok, so i'm at Tikal, one of the largest and most famous Maya civilization sights in the world .. and i haven't shown you one photograph of a temple yet ..... sorry, ... i'll put them in another blog ...

4 Mar--Flores--SantaElena-Zoo

Thurs, 4 Mar early morning i had to pee ... our bathroom door was locked, so i had to go outside to the bathroom in the kitchen. upon returning, in the dark, without my contacts lense, and half asleep, i missed the 2 steps to the house and went flying through the night, landing in a heap and hitting my head on the house. ...class act! ......upon investigation, i saw the flesh around my left big toe was torn away from th nail ... and the toes on my right foot hurt as well. nice injury to have the day before leaving for Guatemala and spending 2 days on my feet touring the Tikal Maya civilization site!!!!! i was really disgusted with myself. i cleaned my toe up the best i could, elevated it, put ice on both feet and tried to go back to bed... unsuccessfully. it was almost time to get up anyway. i hobbled around and got my stuff packed and was ready to leave by 7am. we left most of our 'stuff' in our room at Chaa Creek, so we could travel light, just a backpack. we got a ride with Luciano again out to the main road; and immediately got picked up by a taxi that took us to the Belize border town of Benque. walked out of Belize and into Guatemala, where we got into a mini-bus and headed south 2 hr to Flores. Actually the bus stop is in Santa Elena, so we got a taxi into Flores .... remember that in Caye Caulker all the taxis are golf carts ... well down here in Guatemala ... they have their own variation .... they were so cute ! Flores is on an island ... just across the bridge from Santa Elena ... we were told that Santa Elena would be cheaper but less safe ... we chose to stay in Flores. our cab driver took us to his sister's place to see if we wanted to stay there .... at 30quetzales each per night (US$4) ...we thought it was a pretty good deal ... back to cold showers again ... view from our balcony overall, Guatemala is WAY cheaper than Belize ! Flores is very pretty with lots of pretty colored buildings .... there were not many people there. we wondered how they were making a living ... we wanted to go to the Petencito Zoo. i guess you can get there by taxi, but a better-funner way is by boat. we got a ride in this cute little boat with a guy who waited for us while we toured the zoo... once at the 'zoo' we walked across this bridge t and saw our first Tucan, the Belize Country Bird an ocelot, also native to Belize and the Margays ..... the most nocturnal cat of Belize ... which is probably why they were both sleeping when we saw them, ..... just like our domestic cats sleep ! it is the most accomplished climber of all its fellow cats. ... it has specially adapted claws and ankle joints which can move through 180 degrees, enabling it to move with almost monkey like ease amongst the tree tops. Its agility is demonstrated by the apparent ease at which the cat can scamper down the trunks of trees head first and run upside down beneath branches. they have noticeably bigger eyes and rounded ears .... and .... what we REALLY came to see .... the Jaguar !!!!!!! i have video of the Jaguar on You Tube ... go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TSOI5RMydg the Jaguar is WAY larger than i thought it was going to be ! Magnificent creature. of course, Eddi and i were sad that he was in a 'zoo' .... but we won't go into a debate over that now. it was wonderful to be able to see him. there is a lot of mystery and superstition about the jaguar. the Maya peoples just called him Baalum, 'King', ...and it's likeness is carved in stone on many monuments in the ruins. their numbers have declined to only a few hundred. the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary in southern Belize is the only designated jaguar preserve in the world. we were hungry and stopped at El Tucan for some nachos .. they were very good, ... i used the 'food' setting on my camera to take this picture and we really liked the green walls and the masks ... i also want to mention that the rum and cokes here are 10quetzales = US$1.33 .... now that is a dangerous situation ! :) streets of Flores this little parrot was sitting outside the restaurant ... you see a lot of them flying in flocks around Chaa Creek ... i didn't realize until i took my shoes off at the end of the day that my toes didn't look so good, ... i wonder if they are broken ? Walking around the uneven stones and roads at Tikal will be slow going tomorrow .....