Tikal - photos 1

Tikal ruins:

From El Remate, we took a collectivo at 5.20am to be on site by 6am for the sunrise over the ruins. Unfortunately, it was very cloudy and only a couple of sun rays were filtering through the clouds but it was also nice. Then we spent the day walking in the ruins which were surrounded by tropical forest and having a kip mid-morning as we were tired (we woke up at 4.45am!). Very very impressive!!!

Some history about Tikal:
Tikal is one of the largest archeological sites of the Maya civilization situated in the Peten region. In 1979, it was declared Unesco world heritage site. Tikal was one of the major mayan cultural and population centers, dominating in all domains the Maya region during 200 to 900AD (called the Classic Period). Due to many wars with other Maya states, the site declined and by the end of the 10th Century it was abandoned but the knowledge of the site was never completely lost...in the 19th Century, Stephens an American explorer reported the existence of a "lost city" and mid-19th Century, the site was visited the first time by explorers Mendez and Tut.

- View of the front summit of the Temple I and the back summit of the Temple II (left); view of the back summit of Temple V. This picture, and the next one, were taken from Temple IV, 70m high (or 230 feet). It was around 6.45am when we reached Temple IV which is the Northern of the Temple (see photo of the site). Grey sky with lots of clouds...
- Summit of the lost world Pyramid, 30m high,
- Map of Tikal site. Schematically, the trails have a form like a bird. On the top end, it is Temple IV, at the end of the left wing, Temple VI. The main plaza with Temple I and II is situated at the face of the bird,
- Temple V,
- A system of stairs allowed visitors to reach the summit of the Temple. Lee, who does not suffer from altitude sickness, went up. We can distinguish him in the middle of the stairs system (with a red top and a black bag). I was waiting at the bottom of the pyramid. No, it is not because I am not comfortable with the altitude, somebody needed to stay down to take the pictures!!!