After Antigua, we had our driver take us to Guatemala City Airport where we flew in a small plane to the ruins of Tikal, in Northern Guatemala. We stayed overnight on the grounds of the park in the Jungle lodge. Here Dan and I are having yet another drink outside the restaurant after the harrowing plane ride! Not sure what happened to Lorraine...I think a nap was in order for her! We all probably should have had naps as we listened to howler monkeys through the night. They make an unbelievable noise and sound like some VERY LARGE carnivor!
We had "duplex cabins". This is the view from the cabin to the restaurant.
This is inside our cabin. We had this mosquito netting, but didn't ever see many bugs...except for...see below!
On the pathway was this, thankfully, very dead tarantula.
We arrived a little later than hoped for and missed the tour that day, so we scouted around on our own. As it turned out, that was great as most of the tourists had left and we had great lighting.
One of the great pyramids called the Pyramid of the Jaguar.
Dan and Lorraine are dwarfed by the size of these monuments.
Us in front of the same pyramid. You are not allowed to climb this one, but others had stairs on the side. No one is allowed to climb the "real" stairs.
In the plaza, there were these birds nests. They are built by a type of oreal (barely visible in the centre). They were beautiful birds with a lovely yellow tail. The had a very long and distinctive call.
Lorraine has a thing about heights...but somehow forgot that before she climbed the stairs???
At the top, she was very happy to have arrived safely!
At one point, we thought we'd have to leave her there, overnight, and pick her up the next day when we had the real tour! Here, she breathes a big sigh of relief!!!!!!!!!!
A view of the highest pyramid on the site. The site is quite large and you'd be walking at least 10K to see it all. Some of the ruins have been reconstructed, to some extent, but they are no longer doing that.
This is the view from the top of the previous pyramid.
As you can see, it was a high one! The pyramids to the left are the ones in the main plaza.
We did a lot of looking up!!
More neck craning!! This time, I think we're all looking at those hanging bird's nests.
Although a bit difficult to see, there is a monkey in there somewhere!
And yet another one! On the way back from our own tour, we saw many swinging through the trees. Quite a lot of fun to watch.
We also ran into this pack of Coati Mundis. Quite a funny looking lot, related to wolverines and raccoons.
This guy is licking his chops after finding and eating a tarantula! Needless to say, I wasn't all that keen on wandering off the paths in this park!!!!!
The last morning, as well as having the real tour, we also managed to find a toucan. It was far in the distance, but our camera has a great zoom!
This is one of the better preserved carvings.
Another interesting one.
A view of the main plaza from the acropolis.
Ralph is quite interested in all the ruins...me, not so much! However, I really enjoyed seeing the jungle and most of it's inhabitants. The tarantulas, hmnn, again, not so much!!
A final view across the plaza.
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