On Saturday, we traveled to Tikal, the mother of all Mayan cities. The trip itself, in an over-crowded, under-powered "chicken" bus is nothing to write home about—since you don't get the elbow room to write anyway. Fortunately, this was an overcast day with occasional showers, so we were more wet from rain than sweat.

Tikal is a large park, that is unique not only in the sheer size of the compound and the individual ruins, but also because it is located in the heart of a rain forest. The flora and fauna of the jungle can be seen between, around, and sometimes on top of the ruins, and are just as interesting. Among the animals we've seen (or heard) were coatis ( see picture below), many colorful birds, howler monkeys, and a million varieties of bugs. The jaguars remain a rumor and a warning road sign at this point.


This site contains not one, not two, but many pyramids (following the Mayan way of counting), as well as palaces, temples, residential buildings, and your average run-of-the-mill human sacrifice altars. Unlike the rest of North America, the term "liability" hasn't made it this far south, so tourists who should know better are actually allowed to climb on most of the pyramids. Since only one of us know better, the worse half climbed three of these pyramids and brought a few pictures back. Climbing these steep pyramids is really not that bad, all things considered, until you realize you actually have to climb down as well. Oh well, it's excellent step exercise, and the view of the jungle from above is quite impressive.


Today we walked the streets of the neighboring metropolis, Santa Elena. Santa Elena has several interesting organization features: The grid-like streets aren't parallel, and they're pretty much all called Calle 4a (sometimes even 4a Z. for variety). Street name signs are rare, and point at conflicting directions. Traffic, whether pedestrian or motorized, takes the same space and time as everything else, contradicting western physics. But that's ok, since no other rules regarding traffic seem to exist anyway. The worst of this chaos is the town market, where we mixed in easily with the mud, the chicken buses, the endless peddlers, and the numerous "Rolexes". Too bad we are abstaining from raw fruits and vegetables on this trip: some of those in the market were actually quite appealing.

We ended the day having dinner at a youth hostel. A piece of advice for all the progressively-aged people among you: youth hostels are called this way for a reason. We felt absolutely old there.


Coatis in Tikal



Tikal - Pyramid I


Tikal - View from on top of Pyramid V


Santa Elena's market