Let’s Get Wild
I went to Tikal, Guatemala after Lake Atitlan and had a fantastic couple of days exploring the Mayan ruins and surrounding jungle. I flew from Guatemala City to Flores early one morning and did the return flight the following day in the late afternoon. Numerous people suggested staying overnight in the park rather than Flores area which is about one hour away and they were absolutely right. Most of the visitors to the park come by bus and they are only there from 9-10 AM until 3 PM. By staying in the park for a night, you get to explore after the crowds leave the first day and before they arrive the next. I also found that the crowds follow the normal herd mentality and the park is quite quiet outside of the central plaza during the peak hours.
After arriving the first day, we had a guided tour of the park by a modern Mayan who shared a lot of knowledge about the ancient Mayans and their city. The city had been lost due to being swallowed by the rainforest until “hills” were cleared to show the underlying pyramids and other buildings. This was all very fascinating and a wonderful contrast to Zapotec ruins that I saw in Oaxaca’s mountain-top city of Monte Alban. We climbed the extremely steep pyramids which presented amazing views of the jungle with other pyramids poking out of the top of the canopy.
The surprising thing about Tikal to me is the wildlife that is in the park. I enjoyed this a lot the first day, but it was even better the following morning when I started walking on my own just after sunrise. Toucans, white-tailed deer, crocodile, hummingbirds including one with a long tail, coati (raccoon-like) and spider monkeys were spotted. But the highlight was my first encounter with howler monkeys. I knew they would make quite a lot of noise, but I was not prepared for their scary sound. When I heard their first howl, I was convinced that a large cat such as a jaguar was nearby. Once they started howling regularly, I figured out that I was close to monkeys and not a cat. I watched the howlers above my head once I found them for at least a half hour. If you get to Tikal be sure to take advantage of its wild side and great hiking trails as well as the more civilized ancient city.
After Guatemala, I had five days in Costa Rica. I didn’t want to be in gringo-land Costa Rica so I listened to my friend John who pointed me towards Osa Peninsula in the southwest corner. This is an area which is still very wild. I stayed at Bosque del Rio Tigre near Puerto Jimenez and Corcovado National Park. This is a birders paradise and during the three days of hiking I saw at least a hundred different bird species including scarlet macaws, toucans, many of the seventeen hummingbirds in this area, black vultures, different raptors, etc. Liz and Abraham, owners of this wilderness lodge, do some amazing guiding on their property and surrounding area. We enjoyed seeing and learning about the rainforest including many plants, mammals (sloths and white-face monkeys!!!), reptiles, amphibians (poison dart frogs!!!), mushrooms as well as the birds. The property has a beautiful river which we enjoyed swimming in below a cascade. I really enjoyed getting back into the rainforest since leaving the Congo and I can’t wait to see more in the Amazon during the upcoming months. I finished the Osa Peninsula by kayaking for a couple of hours in the gulf and mangrove area. It got me excited about the upcoming kayaking trip in Panama.
Things are getting wilder and faster on this leg of the trip after the slow-motion start in Mexico. You’ll hear very little from me over the next three weeks. I will be in Panama’s San Blas Islands on a kayak trip with no means to communicate and then I will fly to Buca for twelve days of travel where I assume internet connectivity will not be so common. After flying back to Panama, I will continue on to Colombia (Bogota and Cartagena) for about a week before joining my sister and friends, John and Jean, in Ecuador where we will enjoy a kayak trip through the Galapagos. Ecuador and Peru will follow with my niece, Jillian. That takes me out to mid-February so the next eight weeks are quite full and exciting. Depending on what Jillian and I fit in, I will see more of Peru before heading on to Bolivia via Lake Titicaca. My guess is that I will then drop straight down to Patagonia to catch it before summer passes and then work my way back north to see more of Chile before heading east to Argentina. My head spins just thinking about all of this and it almost pops off when I contemplate Brazil. One adventure at a time… bring on the San Blas Islands…
Tags: Central America, costa rica, guatemala, panama, south america, Travel
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