TIKAL A MOCKINGBIRD

I know its not a mockingbird but the title works


above, view from temple 4 , temple of the jaguar

above temple 3 in the main plaza

10-28-06

As I pulled out of the tiny airport in Flores I looked in my mirrors to find no one, no one in front either, it was a little spooky. Jay was catching a morning flight back to Vail to await surgery. We had shipped his bike to Miami earlier that morning. As I drove the hour or so to Tikal it just didn’t seem right like I had forgotten something. I am sure I will get used to traveling alone, but I may take a while.
I spent the late morning and afternoon exploring the ruins of Tikal. The ancient city that peaked about 1400 years ago had a population of over 100,000 souls. It was mysteriously abandoned about 900 A.D. It is very different than Tolum and Palenque, the size of Tikal is amazing. It covers several square miles with over a 100 excavated buildings an temples, it is believed there are over 3000 building sites still unearthed. The buildings are not in an open area like Palenque or Tolum but scattered through out the thick jungle. The day was overcast and partly rainy; this gave the deserted ancient city a surreal feel, low hanging clouds partially obscured my views. Paths are cut through the jungle that bring you to various clusters of temples, alters and buildings. It is very easy to get lost or disoriented do to the thick growth between the clusters of buildings. The jungle is thriving with wildlife, monkeys swing form tree to tree and howl at you from above, scarlet macaws and toucans screech out warnings of your arrival, the brush is constantly rustling from beasts that elude your sight and description. The magnitude and size of the many pyramids is unbelievable, the pyramids stretch over 130 feet towards the heavens. As you walk through the jungle you can see numerous pyramids tops above the jungle canopy long before you arrive to their bases. After exploring the ruins for about six hours I was exhausted. I climbed up just about every pyramid and temple I could.


above, pyramid at Mundo Perdido, below view from top of pyramid looking to main plaza




The park closes at 6:30 shortly after sunset. I asked one of the guards if it was possible to spend the night in the park. The guard told me that it was illegal, but than gave me the expression that he could possibly look the other way. We negotiated on a bribe of 50 quetzals or about seven dollars that I happily forked over to him, he than gave me his Guatemalan Sergeant Shultz impression as he said “Yo nada miro” or “I see nothing”. He did tell me not to sleep in the main plaza if anyone spotted me both of us would get in trouble. During my days adventure I remember climbing a pyramid in the far section of the city called Mundo Perdido, or lost world. So I grabbed my hammock and my sleeping bag off my bike and back into the jungle I went. I waited for all the people to exit the park before setting up my hammock at the base of the pyramid. The weather was fairly pleasant, not very hot due to the cloudy day and surprisingly the mosquitoes were not to bad. I climbed the pyramid to watch the last of the sun disappear over the horizon and it felt wonderful to have the city to myself as the darkness fell, I climbed back down to my hammock before darkness completely engulfed the city. At around 4:00 a.m. I woke to a huge commotion, the spider monkeys high up in the canopy of the trees were jumping from limb to limb creating a racket, the howler monkeys were making an eerie screaming noise and several large cats were roaring possibly fighting with each other or something else. Something was crashing through the underbrush not to far out in the darkness. After about half hour of this continuing racket I thought it best to seek higher ground, if something was coming for me it would have to climb the pyramid after me. I wrapped my sleeping bag around my neck and scurried up the 100 or so stone stairs as fast as the darkness would permit, to the top of the pyramid. Atop the pyramid, there is about a 30 square foot platform were I set up my new bed, I felt safe enough to fall back to sleep. I woke several hours later as the sun was peaking up over the dense jungle canopy. The morning light resulted in the tops of the facades atop of the other pyramids and temples that dotted the landscape above the tree tops to emit a warm yellow glow. It was amazing to wake to such a glorious sight. I soon realized my camera was still at the base of the pyramid, I had left it there when I retreated to my now current position earlier in the night. I debated weather to enjoy the sunrise or scurry down and retrieve my camera and climb back up. The sunlight was about to give way to incoming clouds so I remained on top of my lost word and enjoyed the view.
Jay I wish you could have been there with me, especially during the late night chaos, I could of used some marine support. As an army veteran my motto has always been send in the marines first Well at least enjoy the pictures..

They got some crazy stuff crossing the roads down here.