Via Byway, My Way.

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. 

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

Gran Plaza area

View from one of the structures at Gran Plaza.

Acropolis del Norte.

View of Templo II in the background.

 View of Templo IV from the ground.

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.

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

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

View from the top of the pyramid

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.

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.

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

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.

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