Tikal - Guatemala

In the densely forested Northeastern department of El Peten, Tikal, one of the biggest collection of ruins of the ancient Mayan civilization lays its claim. Once the capital of the entire Mayan empire -and where George Lucas set his rebel moon base scenes in Star Wars- this vast expanse of temples, game courts and limestone housing complexes is so big that you can´t see it all in one day. But, for all the fuss, this destination doesn´t really live up to the hype. With it´s perfectly manicured lawns, sign posts every couple hundred yards and bus loads of tourists it´s hard to feel like your are exploring ancient ruins and not an amusement park. Getting there was actually more exciting than seeing the park itself.

I left Coban with my new friends, two brothers from California, and a girl from Southern Germany. I was glad to have the company because, in opting for the local buses instead of the direct line, we had to make a lot of transfers on the sides of highways and in... less than ideal, bus terminals. In fact, upon arriving at the last bus station before Tikal, we were bum rushed by a group of taxi drivers wanting to take us to the park entrance. We started talking to one guy, but our previous driver told us he wasn´t very safe and recommended another guy instead. We took his recommdation and, in doing so, enraged the first guy. He started yelling at the second guy. They argued for a minute or so and then the first guy punched our driver in the chest. That did it. Our driver ran to his truck and returned with a machete waving it at the first guy and chased him out of the bus station. He returned and told us to get in to his truck. Not wanting to anger him any further, particularly since he was still holding the machete, we quickly stored our bags and took our seats and drove out of the station.

After a few minutes the diver calmed down and apologized for the whole thing becoming much more friendly. He even joked with us and stopped along the road so we could take pictures of a gorgeous sunset over Lake Izabal. As dusk descended on us, we entered the dense rain forest surrounding Tikal park. We could see many animals foraging alongthe roadside as we entered the park and stopped often to watch them. At open point we came to a halt as a large flock of wide turkeys pecked at some seeds on the opposite lanes shoulder. We snapped some photos as the driver described them to us. We were so mesmerized by the multi-colored plumage of these big birds that we didn´t see the car ripping down the road in the opposite direction. The diver did, and flashed his lights and honked his horn trying to caution the other driver, but he didn´t notice, or didnt´care, and actually started picking up speed. Then with our cameras in hand, the car raced past us and through the flock of turkeys and with a huge cracking sound, caught two birds in its fender and left a puff of feathers in its wake. Stunned, we sat there in our seats as the feathers settled to the ground and the lifeless bodies rolled to a stop 50 meters down the road. the other turkeys also sat there in stunned silence as the car drove on into the night, not breaking once. The driver, also stupefied, decided to drive on and dropped us off at our hotel. The poor guy had a hell of a day and I felt bad for him. I actually thought about walking back to see if I could help the birds, or, if not, cook one up. It was Thanksgiving after all. I guess turkeys arn´t safe anywhere on November 24th.

We spent the next few days exploring the ruins. Arriving early in the morning to watch the sunrise over the temples and listen to the Howler monkeys and macaws as they arose with the dawning sun. We hiked up and down countless limestone staircases, some almost vertical, to get panoramic views of the ruins and surrounding jungle. We returned in the evening for sunset, but the low lying fog prevented us from getting good views. At least the weather was cooler than normal, which usually is baking in the day, and makes for mosquito swarms in the evenings, all of which we managed to avert. All in all it was a little to clean cut for what I would expect from a ruin site, but still it was worth the visit. But, I will always remember the bus terminal machetes and Thanksgiving turkeys before the temples and ball courts.