Guatemala
Tikal
With our time in Guatemala ticking to a close, we finally made the trip to the north-eastern district of the Peten, to visit Tikal, the famous, formidable Mayan ruins deep amidst the jungle.
We reached Tikal by bus -- a four hour ride from Rio Dulce to the pretty island pueblo of Flores, in Lago Petén Itzá, where we spent one night. The next morning we took a microbus the last 80 kilometers to Tikal itself. The ruins of the great ancient city -- it's buildings, causeways, and artifacts -- date from as early as 1000 B.C. through 900 A.D., when the Mayan empire mysteriously declined. The majority of the great temples of Tikal, and many of its richest artifacts (carvings, pottery, jade, and tools) are circa 700 A.D., the height of Mayan civilization, when Tikal's population numbered in the hundreds of thousands.
Tikal's beauty is the more remarkable and mysterious because the ruins are still surrounded by miles of thick, wild jungle, and many of the temples remain unexcavated, so that it is still possible to see them just as they were found by "modern" explorers in the mid-19th Century.
We found Tikal surprisingly quiet, with far fewer tourists than expected. We walked for miles each day on serene jungle paths. We rarely met another person, but we saw lots of spider monkeys, howler monkeys, wild parrots, owls, ocellated turkeys, and even a giant toad the size of a kitten.
We stayed one night at the Tikal Inn, a hotel within the park grounds, so that we could explore the ruins at dusk and first light, and best see birds and wildlife.
This awe-inspiring Ceiba tree marks the trail entrance to the ruins.
On Horseback
In October, we went riding in the Cayo Quemado district of Rio Dulce, with M&M of Gertruide, and Natasha from Frodo. The lush land we rode through during the four hour horseback ride is the private ranch of our guide, Renato's, family. We felt privileged to have the chance to see this beautiful slice of Guatemalan life, beyond the water's edge.
We rode through grassy foothills with palm trees and maize crops, while wary, grazing cows watched us over eye-high grass. Our sturdy horses carried us over steep muddy paths, and ran us (as fast as we dared) through the wide fields. We dismounted to walk the horses over rough footbridges that span the creeks.
It was Ulf's first time on a horse. Here he is, looking slightly large for his horse, along with Miguel, our second guide.
At the boundary to a neighbor's land, two boys met us and began to run alongside. They ran easily over the rough terrain, and kept pace with the horses, which were cantering by that point. The boys ran along for a kilometer or two, over and down hills, leading us to a lookout point on their family's land behind Texan Bay, where our boats were anchored. When we reached the lookout, two younger boys joined. These four brothers, between the ages of seven and thirteen, are from a family of twelve surviving children.
Coming back to our starting point along the river, a football game between two different villages was in progress. A crowd was gathered to watch the players, and one of Renato's horses, freed from it's saddle, decided to take a trot through the playing field.
Mohawk
On a slow day in Cayo Quemado, feeling bored and antsy, we took out the clippers and gave Ulf a mohawk. It's quiet here. Sometimes you have to make your own fun.
Fall Migration
Now that Autumn has come to the Rio, we're feeling and seeing some of those familiar "fally" things that we know from up north. For one thing, the air has been cool -- wonderfully cool and fresh. We're even wearing long sleeves, sometimes! And for one week near the end of October, we began to see big flocks of birds alighting, then leaving, on the river. Here are some of those southbound travelers one early morning, along with a fisherman in a cayuco, as seen from under Sea Quill's sun tarp. Soon we'll be southbound again too.
