Tikal

On July 16 we drove to see the ruins of Tikal with the people in this photo (left to right): Bro. and Sis. Tilley, Sis. Barney, and Sis. Thibault. After 8 hours of driving (and our stop to see the ruins at Quirigua) we stopped in the town of Santa Elena on Lake Atitlan to stay at Hotel Casona
del Lago for two nights. It was a very lovely hotel looking out over Lake Atitlan and out toward the picturesque town of Flores.

This is a "close-up" view of the tourist town of Flores just across the lake from where we were staying. Flores is a very unique and colorful little town on an island connected by a causeway to Santa Elena. Many tourists like to stay in Flores and there are plenty of tour and adventure companies that use Flores as their base.

On the 17th we drove from Santa Elena toward Tikal National Park. Once we paid our entrance fee we started seeing these signs along the road. Can you figure out what kinds of animals these signs were warning us to watch for??

You probably can tell that this photo was taken from our van as we arrived at Tikal. (We were in a van where the doors opened on both sides, so we just drove along in the park with the doors open. It was great!)

Yes, there are still Mayans wandering around the ruins of Tikal---getting their pictures taken!
Well, maybe he wasn't quite as old as the ruins, but he looked pretty authentic to us!

We were very fortunate to have the luxury of a ride in a truck to the farthest part of the ruins---Temple IV. It is still under restoration, but there are wooden stairs on the other side where people can walk up to the top of the main steps. The view from there is incredible! Some of you may remember the shot in one of the older Star Wars movies where they were looking out over the jungle and the tops of the ruins of Tikal could be seen.

This is Temple I at the Great Plaza. The ruins at Tikal are extensive and are undergoing constant excavation and restoration. The original settling of Tikal took place between 900 - 700 b.c. The temples, palaces, and other buildings at Tikal today are dated at about 670 a.d. and were built on top of the earlier civilizations. By the end of the 10th century a.d. Tikal had been abandoned and the jungle began to reclaim it. It was not discovered again until 1848.
This photo gives you an idea of just how steep the steps are on the temple and how hard it would have been to climb them. We loved our time in Tikal and found it hard to go home again.