FEBRUARY, 2005
February 22 - 23, 2005
Flores is sort of an interesting place. Guatemala is clearly trying to promote it as a tourist destination, and its local is great as a fairly small charming island in the middle of a lake. However, the plan must be in the early stages, because short of its 2 hour proximity to Tikal, and the availability of boats for the lake, there is not a ton else to do. Having said that, it still was a nice place to spend a few hours walking around. The island has various artisan shops with some beautiful, and cheap, local clothing and wares. Plus, the town´s main square is on the highest point of the island, which affords some great views. Also, its worth mentioning, that in a bizarre example of how you never know what to expect from Central American internet connections, Flores, next to Antigua, had the fastest yet.
After a night and morning in Flores we headed to Tikal. Take note here if you make this trip, DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE 2 PM SHUTTLE TO GO TO TIKAL! Tikal closes at 6pm, and we were told that 3 hours was plenty of time, and that the shuttle would only take 1 hour. Wrong on both counts. The shuttle WILL BE LATE, and the ride is 2 hours. So, we got to Tikal, which as we will describe in a moment is un!&%¿!&%believable, with and hour and 1/2 to see everything. Suffice to say, we missed some stuff, but fortunately we´re in decent shape these days, so at a full speed walk we did get almost everything in, and even climbed the 3 must climb pyramids.
Alright, specifics. Tikal is commonly considered the heighth of Mayan civilization, at least from an architectural perspective, and prospered until about 700 AD. The site is huge, especially in comparison to Copan, which was clearly a smaller city. Also, in comparison to Copan, the pyramids at Tikal are huge. For example, El Gran Jaguar is probably over 250 feet tall. Five other temples are of comparable heights, and their tops rise above the surrounding forest canopy. Its almost indescribable to say how cool it was to climb these temples while imagining the original inhabitants of the city doing the same thing, and then to reach the top and have a view over a jungle canopy as far as the eye can see. However, if you can´t go, and want to cheat, watch the end of the original Star Wars, which gives exactly this perspective (it was filmed here) as the rebels are taking off to attack the Death Star.
Though it was unfortunate that we had to essentially run through the site, it was good excercise, and we made two new friends, Keri (who ran with us) and Susan from San Francisco and Seattle respectively, who we even ran into again together in Antigua, and then we ran into Susan again at Lake Atitlan. Definitely an unlikely occurance in places of those sizes. tikal really was a magical experience, and we can´t wait to go back one day and spend at least two full days touring the site.
