BootsnAll Travel Network



Tikal Trip Report

Mid March, just before our El Mirador hike.  Kirk, Markus and I took the overnight bus from Guatemala City to Flores, and arrived at 8am to Tikal, probably THE most impressive restored Mayan site in Guatemala, Mexico and Belize.  It is a very large park, with huge pyramids, huge ceiba trees and wildlife galore.  Here’s the photo tour of our day…it was quite hot, and by mid day the hordes of tourists off the chartered buses arrived in mass, but despite the number of visitors, I would have to rank this attraction as the Number 1 site to see in all of Guatemala. 

 

IMG_5508.JPG 

Loading up on pancakes and fresh squeezed orange juice before we set out into the ruins.

 

IMG_5516.JPG 

Gran Plaza area

 

IMG_5526.JPG 

View from one of the structures at Gran Plaza.

 

IMG_5539.JPG 

Acropolis del Norte.

 

IMG_5544.JPG

View of Templo II in the background.

 

IMG_5560.JPG

 View of Templo IV from the ground.

 

IMG_5562.JPG

Templo IV, Tikal’s highest building at 64 meters.  Quite a bit of excerise to climb the steps and then the ladder to the top.

 

IMG_5564.JPG

 From the top of Templo IV we can see for miles above the jungle canopy, 360 degrees.

 

IMG_5580.JPG

Climbing the 32 meter high pyramid at El Mundo Perdido (the Lost World) 

 

IMG_5589.JPG 

View from the top of the pyramid

 

IMG_5593.JPG

Templo V, 58 meters high.  The restoration started in 1991 andwas just completed in 2004.  The before and after pictures were amazing–basically a huge covered hill of jungle, stripped down to reveal this temple, which has the hardest to climb because it was basically just a long, wooden ladder you had to ascend.

 

IMG_5603.JPG 

Markus and I in front of Templo I, the Templo de Gran Jaguar, which is closed to the public because of two too many people falling to their deaths.  It stands at 44 meters.  The picture was taken from atop Templo II, at 38 meters.

 

IMG_5604.JPG 

Another view of the Templo de Gran Jaguar and the structures to the left are called Acropolis del Norte.

 

IMG_5607.JPG

One last look at the Gran Plaza, before catching the shuttle back to Santa Elena/Flores to meet with our guide for our hike to El Mirador.



Tags:

One response to “Tikal Trip Report”

  1. Mike Jones says:

    AWSOME PICS…

    That stairway is massive………

    I bet the Acrop here in Portland is in worse condition than the one over there.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *