The trip to Tikal National Park located in Guatemala.

It has been over 18 years since I last visited the Tikal National Park in Guatemala, and today’s the day. What I remember of Tikal was the sheer size of the City and the amount of buildings and pyramids that made it up. I also remember being able to climb most of the pyramids and buildings and observe the spectacular views from the top of them.

Since Tikal is located in Guatemala, you really need to hire a tour group to assist you in crossing the border to / from Belize and Guatemala. Also because of the size of Tikal, you will need a guide to assist you in navigating this National Monument. As it was 18 years ago, there is still a lot of friction between the governments of Belize and Guatemala over ownership of the borders for each Country. As a foreigner to both countries, you do not want to make this crossing into Guatemala by yourself, or without a reputable tour company. Don’t forget to bring your passport!

Whatever tour group you book with, you will end up getting out, getting your passport stamped, paying an exit fee, and changing vans and drivers at the border. Apparently, only Guatemalan  vehicles and drivers are allowed to drive in the Country due to insurance and licensing regulations.

The tour company I signed up with picked me up at my Hotel around 8 am. and we were on our way to Tikal. The trip takes about 2.5 hours from San Ignacio, Belize to the Tikal National Park in Guatemala, including the stop at the border. The group I was with consisted of US, British, and Canadians for a total of 7 people in a van. The roads are paved and the ride is comfortable, considering that you are out in the middle of nowhere.

Along the way, we passed a few lakes, one of which there were many Guatemalans down at the waters edge washing clothing. We stopped to stretch, which gave me a chance to take a few pictures. According to our guide, this particular lake (Laguna Salpeten Macenche) contains a lot of mineral content and therefore has been found to really help in cleaning soil from clothing. Apparently, there are no gators in the water either.

Our next stop right before the Route 3 split from CA13 highway, we stopped at a gift shop / restaurant to order lunch for later when we return from our day at Tikal. The gift shop had lots of fine wood carvings and tourist stuff for visitors to / from the Mayan ruins. Note the intricate carvings and grain of the wood on the Mayan face mask shown below.

 

A few miles further and we came to yet another, a larger lake called Lago Peten Itza, which is the second largest lake in Guatemala.

We finally reached the entrance to the Tikal National Park, the first thing I noticed different from 18 years ago is that the parking and information center are now very close to where the monuments begin. In the past, you had to walk about a half a mile from the parking / information center to where the Mayan site began. This is great news since you will be walking and covering a lot of the territory while visiting the site. After unloading from the van, most of our passengers opted to go on their own to visit the Mayan city. Having been here before, I knew I wanted to go with the guide since he would know the best route and buildings to view while here. There are lots of informational boards posted around each of the structures that will give you good information on what the structure is and what it was used for by the Mayans.

               

It is just amazing that the Mayan civilization could build so many impressive structures and create such a complex city with over 3,000 structures, where estimates are that around 75,000 to 90,000 people lived at its height. The city is built on  limestone ridges that are surrounded by swamplands, and the only water they had was from a collection of rainwater into 10 reservoirs. They used a sophisticated ditch system to collect the rainwater and direct it into these reservoirs. All of the structures built here were made from the local limestone, and wood from the trees here. There are still wood beams that were used when these buildings were constructed that are still intact and have not been replaced or refurbished.

There is lots of fauna and wildlife roaming or flying around, so keep your eyes open and you might catch a glimpse of white-nosed coatis (see picture),

  

spider and howler monkeys (see picture),  harpy eagles, falcons, turkeys, guans, toucans, green parrots and leafcutter ants (everywhere). This whole city remained hidden under the rain forest for over 1,000 years before being re-discovered in the 1840’s.

     

The views from atop of some of these structures are impressive. Another thing I noticed different from my previous visit was that some of the structures have been closed to climbing, but they have now constructed stairways on some of the higher monuments so that it is much easier to get to the top, along with safer and less damage to the structure by those that choose to make the climb. My guide explained that recently a climber slipped and fell to their death while climbing on one of the pyramids that did not have wooden stairways built to assist in climbing. The original stone stairs / steps were very high and steep. This was because it was expected that whoever wanted to ascend these structures would have to use their knees to do so, which meant they would never be standing while ascending or descending the structures out of respect for the gods. I can tell you first hand that back in 1998 when I was first here, it was very difficult to climb any of these monuments, and hard on the knees to do.

 

You can spend days or weeks here exploring the site, but you will be exhausted after just a few hours of walking. So much to see and do while here at Tikal. Don’t forget to stop at the visitor center to get lots of great information on the Mayan civilization and the city. Of course there is also a souvenir shop at the parking area, but as usual, it is full of overpriced touristy stuff.

What a great day at Tikal, and now it was time for my return trip to the hotel back in San Ignacio, Belize. But first, we need to make a stop for lunch back at that shop we stopped at on the way to Tikal. Our lunch / dinner was good, and we had more time to watch a wood carver creating a new mask for sale in the shop out front. I also noticed and took some pictures of a cacao or cocoa tree with some ripe fruit on it. I had never seen one up close before.

 

After our stop for a late lunch / early dinner, we headed back to Belize and again stopped at the border to get our entrance visas and change vans and drivers again.

By the time I arrived back at my Hotel in San Ignacio, it was getting dark and I was exhausted. Tomorrow is another big day for the Turtle.

Coming up next will be my blog on a trip to Xunantunich, another Mayan Site located in Belize.