Ancient Mayan Ruins – Tikal & Eric's 31st

After an 11 hour overnight bus ride, we arrived in the steamy town of Flores, a popular island town for tourists seeking to visit the Tikal Mayan ruins. We found a place to stay with a pool to help beat the balmy heat, which which was quite a dramatic change from the cooler weather in the Western Highlands. On May 1^st, Eric's birthday, we awoke at 4:30 am to catch our 5:00 am shuttle to Tikal and arrived on-site just after opening at 6:00 am. Our enthusiastic guide took us and several other tourists on a 4 hour tour of the ancient Mayan ruins. The tour included information about the thousands of years old temples, the native plants including the Tree of Life, and wildlife including monkeys, hawks, and toucans.


Standing amidst ruins constructed by these ancient people for their gods, carrying each stone on their back or on their heads for the creation of a massive place of worship, was inspirational and a great way to spend a birthday. These structures were so tall, many of the temples peeked out above the treetops, one of which we climbed was over 60 meters (180 ft) high. Another temple we climbed had a beautiful hawk perched atop it.


The city layout of temples and a pyramid also have the unique feature of allowing the people to track the days of the year and identify the four equinoxes of the year with the shadows cast by these massive structures.

We wrapped up the evening with a delicious dinner and chocolate cake at La Luna restaurant in Flores.