Tikal is the ancient Mayan city in northern Guatemala. abandoned by the Mayans around 900 AD, it was more or less re-discovered in the mid 19th century.
In 1978 while I was living and teaching in Jamaica, I spent my Easter break on a trip to Panama and Guatemala. I visited my brother Jim, who was in the Peace Corps in Guatemala, and went up to see Tikal on my own. Spent three days there and it was an incredible, awesome experience. The NY Times article doesn’t do justice to it.
Here’s the article – and I have vivid memories of walking through the jungle the first morning I was there, and "discovering" a Temple, evoking feelings similar to those described in the excerpt below.
Tikal, Guatemala – Temples in the Mist – Travel – New York Times
Temple V is the most recently excavated major temple, a 150-foot behemoth that gives you no warning when you come upon it in the jungle. Kate Croucher, 28, of Aspen, Colo., was sitting on a wooden platform at its top when I was there, catching her breath after climbing its daunting, ladder-like steps. Over the trees, we could see Temples I and II squaring off in the Grand Plaza and the acropolis beyond. A cool breeze floated off the treetops, a welcome relief from the soupy jungle below. “I saw the Pyramids,” she said, comparing Tikal to Egypt. “I’d say this is on par with those.” Then she reconsidered, thinking of the Mayans. “This is better, because you can go on top of them, and see what they saw,” she said.
I would say I had an even more interesting experience. I entered the complex my first morning by a round-about route suggested by my guide-book, a path that would take me past the biggest Temple before entering the main complex. Temple IV was mostly still covered with jungle (It may still be). If I didn’t have a guide book map, which said something like "the Temple is to your right," I’d have just assumed it was a mound and walked right by. Luckily, I looked up into the jungle canopy, and there was the top of the Pyramid-Temple. It was amazing! It was awesome! To get to the top, I had to scramble up ropes and ladders going up the side of the mound. At the top of the pyramid, above the canopy, the view was incredible, incredible, incredible. Jungle everywhere, but with the tops of pyramids jutting above the canopy. That was my first view of the ruins.
Here is a picture of Temple IV that I found online –Temple IV , and here is a partial view from Temple IV. Tikal – Temple IV This is the tallest Temple in Tikal (212 ft.) and is "the highest standing Aboriginal New World Structure." However it is believed that the Aztec Pyramid of the Sun that stood near what is now Mexico City was higher.
To get to Tikal, I flew from Guatemala City to a town about 20 miles away. The flight was in an ancient DC-3, which was unpressurized and had holes in the floor. Flew over a couple of plane wrecks in the jungle – not a confidence-builder. From the town I took a very bumpy bus ride through the jungle, past thatched roof villages populated by the Mayan descendants. I arrived in the evening and spent the following three days exploring. I flew out at the end of that time, dierectly from the small airstrip in Tikal.
It was a great several days, and seeing the feature in the Times I’m now motivate to get my old slides of Guatemala scanned and maybe post them.
For more information on Tikal go here Tikal – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia , or here Travel to Tikal National Park in Guatemala, general info on Tikal tours, transportation to Tikal, Tikal hotels, flights to Ti…
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