an adventure of a lifetime...: there and back again... a Tikal tale

Yesterday, Joseph Brubaker and I embarked on a journey to the Mayan Ruins of Tikal near Flores, Guatemala. It is a 45 minute plane ride away and we had to arrive at the airport at 5:30 a.m. We flew on a small plane and landed in Flores at about 7:15. After finding a shuttle for $13 round trip, we began hiking the ruins of Tikal at 8:30 a.m. It was an amazing day full of sunshine, huge temples and plenty of Mayan people. We happen to go to Tikal on the day that many Mayan tribes unite in front of the Gran Jaguar Temple in the Grand Plaza to... as told to me by one man... "unify the Mayans and not lose any more of their ancestors culture." We pretty much booked it through as many ruins as we could get to and we made it to see the entire park (minus the one spot about 20 km away from the rest). We packed our own lunch and stopped only for quick water breaks. Our food was eaten on the run and we climbed every last stair we could find. When our shuttle was departing at around 2 p.m. to take us back to the airport and fly home, we were not only satisfied with our decision to travel this great distance, but exhausted after seeing these incredible sites.

Our small airplane that allowed this journey to occur!! Thanks TAG for letting us book in less than 12 hours of departure!

From the top of Temple IV. You can see the smoke from the Mayan ceremony in the Gran Plaza and Temple V in the background. We thought this was the best, but little did we know....

This was our favorite temple... Temple V! Look at how incredible it is! And yes we did climb it... see below.

Yes, we were really high... and it was really steep... and my heart pounded a little bit when I looked down to the ground... and it was my favorite place to sit!