Dusk and Sunrise Over Tikal by Sarah

September 20 and 21, 2008 Tikal (former capital of the Mayan empire), Guatemala

On Saturday afternoon we fell asleep and overslept in a hotel in Tikal, northern Guatemala. We had an overnight 11 hour bus ride (total travel time from Xela to Tikal was 22 hours in buses)and were trying to catch a quick nap before heading into the ruins. Instead we slept until 5:30. The park closes at 6 p.m. and the ticket booth is one half hour from the ruins.

We decided to purchase our tickets for the next morning because we were going to do the sunrise tour at 4:30 a.m., which is technically bef0re the park opens at 7 a.m. As long as you have a guide, visitors are allowed to view the sunrise from Templo IV. When we approached the ticket office I asked the official whether we could still get into the ruins and park on Saturday although it was late. He stated that it was not allowed without a guide, but that we could get a guide for very cheap because of the late hour. The ticket official located our guide for us.

Our guide "Juan" was very nice and borrowed a flashlight for the tour. We headed through the jungle straight to Templo IV and climbed up as dusk was falling. We were the only visitors on Templo IV and it was a magnificent view of the ancient Mayan temples and the jungle. Templo IV is the highest temple in the park and rises above the jungle. Birds and monkeys were squawking as the jungle settled down for night.

As we were descending Templo IV, I turned on my flashlight to view the path down. The guide told me to turn off the light. When I asked, "Why?" He said, "It´s better.¨ It was actually better because we could see the black outlines of the ruins at night and our eyes were adjusted to the dark. We could barely make out the back of our guide as he took a shortcut through the jungle back to the hotel area. We passed a watering hole with an alligator in it which was very cool!!

Sunday, September 21, 2008

The next morning we met a group for the sunrise tour which began at 4:30 and lasted until 9:30 in the morning. The group began walking at about 5 and reached the top of Temple 4 at 5:30 a.m. This was a very different view of the temples as a thick fog hung low over the jungle and it appeared that the temples were rising from a body of water toward the sky. The sun rose pink and orange over the jungle. I was spellbound.

Our guide, Luis, was more knowledgeable about the flora and fauna of the area than the architectural ruins. We spotted various monkeys, an anteater, toucans, a tarantula, and many ants -- and suffered some ant bites as well! Their poison really stings! I hope to read a book about Mayan rituals and the city of Tikal at some point to learn more about the history, although I think in general there are many different theories among archeologists/historians and a lot of guesswork.

Later we climbed Templo V and I looked with surprise as I spotted "Juan" our guide from the day before. He was at Templo V holding some kind of large and intimidating gun, definitely a guard at the park. I stated the equivalent of "Hey, Juan, what´s up?" Juan clearly wanted to fade into the jungle and ignore my recognition. Slowly, slowly, it dawned on me that Juan was not a guide and our tour of the park the night before had most likely been under the table and not officially allowed by park authorities. This would explain the lack of use of flashlights and our "shortcut" through the jungle. But how could we tell as the ticket booth operator had arranged the guide for us! There were also similar tours of the park at 4:30 before the park officially opened that were "apparently" allowed. Our Sunday morning guide, Luis, did tell us that within months or a year the park is going to stop offering the sunrise tours, so if you want to see the sunrise from Templo IV, best get to Tikal in a hurry.

I really enjoyed Tikal, both seeing a tropical jungle, which I have never seen before, and seeing the impressive Mayan ruins.