Tikal

July 23, 2005

The day started early as we set out for an adventure in the Guatemalan jungles. We took a plane into the jungle to tour the ancient temples of Tikal.  (We were unable to take Bowen on the plane or so far away so we left him with his nanny for the day knowing that this would be an experience of a life time that we couldn't miss).

Once one of the greatest cities in the world, Tikal was an important Mayan settlement for over 1500 years.  Starting about 700 BC this civilization suffered in mysterious collapse after 900 AD when the cities became deserted and the jungle took over.  Below is a picture of a temple of Tikal covered with earth and trees...

The lost city of the Maya was rediscovered by

European explorers in the 1840's and became

a focus for archeological research.

We spent the day climbing the temples and hiking

through the jungle listening and seeing howler

monkeys in the trees (kind of freaky, they sound

like big jaguars or tigers growling).  This was

an incredible experience.

The people of Tikal...

The temples were very steep to climb...

After spending most of the day hiking and walking

through the jungle, we decided to see it from

a different view...from the tops of the trees...

We took a canapy tour where we climbed a tall

tower, hooked onto a rope and rode a zip line

from platform to platform on the top of the trees.

This was incredible, even Sophie did it and other

than the stunned look on her face, I think she

actually enjoyed it!  Wow, what an amazing day!

After a LONG and HOT wait at the very small

airport near Tikal, we encountered some plane

problems, (another story in itself) We said a

prayer and had faith that we would make it

back to Guatemala City! Soon after take

off we were able to relax - or at least the kids

did and we made it back to the city very late!