Quirigua

On July 16 Neil and I went with some of the other senior missionaries on a trip to see the ruins
of Tikal. We didn't know that they were going to stop at some other ruins on the way. These
ruins were called, "Quirigua" and they were amazing.




Quirigua is one of only 3 Unesco World Heritage Sites in Guatemala. It is a small site nestled among miles and miles of banana plantations and was built up about the same time as Copan
(about 100 a.d.) just over the border in Honduras.

There are several stelas that were carved by artisans sent from Copan. The stelas are incredibly tall with wonderful carvings of faces and animals on them. It was amazing to see how well-
preserved they were.

I know that some of our "blog viewers" have mentioned that they never see Neil in any of the
photos----well, here he is. This gives you a idea of just how tall the carved stelas are.



This beautiful, huge tree was in the middle of the site at Quirigua. One of the caretakers was
working with a weed trimmer to cut the grass (he is just to the right of the base of the tree).


The carvings were so very well done. There were about 7 or 8 stelas at Quirigua to be studied
and admired by all of us. As we continued walking through the site we came to some large
ruins as can be seen in the photo below. There is continuous excavation and restoration going on---and only part of it has been uncovered.