Yeah...Let's Take The "Interpretive Path"

He found his place in the Guatemalan world...at a pan dulce shop.

Once we FINALLY got into Guatemala officially, we headed straight for Tikal. That meant back to back Mayan ruins, but since we wanted to see them both, our route was the most logical. It would give us a chance to compare and contrast the cities, with little time in between to muffle our super judgy-judgement. We were, after all, quickly becoming experts.

We stopped at the entrance to the park and bought our tickets. A would-be guide briefly flashed us a map during the hard sell of a guided tour. We passed, but I liked the looks of the map, so we picked one up before we entered the ruins the next day.

We drove on through the jungle and the rain, the 17Km to the park entrance, and the Jaguar Inn, the place we would be staying for the next two nights. iOverlander had a boatload of good reviews on the place, including for tent campers. Now we have been there, I need to go back and see if any of those reviewers actually tent camped, or if they were all in overland rigs and just parking. For the most part, we really liked the Jaguar Inn, but I will say the space for the tents left a bit to be desired...

Never the less, while there, we had some really great experiences and met some new people. As soon as we rolled up, and American from Nevada came over to admire the bikes. He has a R1200GS, R1200RT, and a KTM1290. He also had a girlfriend with him from Crested Butte who rides a F650 Twin. We chatted with both of them for a while, and I remarked that at the slightly more than one month on the road point, that was the first whole conversation we had had with someone in English since crossing into Mexico.

Two other people we met, who we really liked, were two young people who worked at the Jaguar Inn. Yvon is a super sweet girl whose heart is in travel. She has started a Facebook page called GuaStreet, to make visits to places in her country and give people reviews on them. She is sweet and fun, and I encourage anyone to "like" her page, particularly if you think you might plan a trip here some day. The other person we met was a young man named Edwin. He had lived in Boston for a few years, and though he loves his country, he is looking forward to returning. We got to hear lots of stories from him, and talk about the United States with him. They were both sincerely kind and funny, and I feel very lucky for having met them.

After we got camp set up that afternoon, we headed to the patio for beers and some internet. The girl behind the counter handed us our beers and a piece of paper with the wi-if password on it, but said the Internet wasn't working very well that afternoon.

At dinner, we saw Edwin sit down at a computer and give it a whirl. Josh asked if the Internet was working and he shook his head.

Then he said, "Maybe Internet tomorrow."

I felt like I had heard that somewhere before...

It must be a Guatemala thing.

The sun rising over the Jaguar Temple. Considering how cloudy it was, we felt we didn't miss anything by skipping the "sunrise tour" which would have cost an additional 300Q.

The temple on the opposite side of the Gran Plaza from the Jaguar Temple.

Some of the still intact decoration on the above temple.

The next morning, we were up and at the entrance to the ruins at 6am. Although we saw a few other people that morning, we had the place to ourselves. It was pretty magical. After walking in and admiring the Gran Plaza in the low hanging, often drizzling clouds, we continued on deeper into the park and found ourselves at Temple IV. We didn't have a guide, so we didn't know what we were really looking at.

Coatis! Unlike the last ones we encountered in another city, these ones I am happy to say, we're not buttholes.

Look at that face!

Eventually we walked around the side of the temple, and saw a wooden staircase. These stone buildings have stood for more than 2000 years, and we had to climb a boat-load of steps on a rickety-ass, jungle rain-sodden set of wooden stairs (seriously, about a third of the way up, huffing and puffing, I mumbled, "This better effing be worth it..."). As it turned out, it was worth it. We had climbed probably about 50 meters, about the equivalent of sixteen floors. The view was spectacular, and we had it all to ourselves for forty-five minutes.

I'm only smiling this big because I made it to the top of Temple IV without dying.

We sat, high above the trees on the tallest Mayan temple in the world, and watched as the clouds lifted across the park. Then, they lifted from the jungle, miles away, and as we sat, I'm pretty sure we saw them lift from Belize. We could see for miles--it was breathtaking. A bit closer to us, we could look down on a canopy of trees inhabited by a family of spider monkeys. Eventually, another couple made the climb, and we left so they could have it all to themselves for a bit.

In each of these three pictures, you can see the clouds lift a little more, and a little more. You can also see that I can't take a decently straight picture to save my life.

Looking down on the jungle canopy is pretty spectacular. I can't really describe it, you should just go see it for yourself.

I really liked the Coatis. They were less impressed with me.

Sometimes, trees don't even need dirt to grow--they just cling to the stones of some ancient ruins.

About five hours after we entered the park that morning, we walked out to find lunch and rest our weary legs. We had walked miles. We had not seen even half of the ruins, but we needed a break, some lunch, and a few moments with the map to determine what we wanted to return for later that afternoon. I had constantly been on the lookout for Grupo G, because although it hadn't been labeled on the map, I had seen signs for it. We also hadn't seen Templo VI, so we determined we would head back in for those two sites. Luckily, they were in the same general area, so we would have plenty of time in that two hours to leisurely get to them, explore, and get out of the park.

We got back into the ruins and headed for the area where I had last seen signs for Grupo G. We turned and not long after, also saw signs for Templo VI. Yes! We were going the right way--we were 950 meters from the templo. Another 300 meters or so in, the path split. I knew if we stayed on that direct path, we would get to the templo, and could find Grupo G from there. But, there was a sign, with an arrow, pointing down a much narrower path saying "Interpretive Path".

Josh was all for it. The sign claimed it took about 25 minutes to walk, and though I had no idea where it would end, we probably would be nearer to our destination.

So, I agreed.

We walked on for a while, and came across the first sign.

"Oh, great. The signs are all in Spanish."

Almost every other sign in the park was written in both English and Spanish, and though I could read these fairly well enough, the thought of having to translate every sign on the path at the end of the day made my brain hurt.

We kept on.

A couple more signs further in, and one was written in both English and Spanish. Yay! It talked about the tree and its specific use in the Mayan world. When I looked up for the tree, I realized the sign had been put in front of no fewer than eight different trees, and there was no photo or even line drawing of said tree on the sign. I had no idea which tree they were referring to. Epic failure, Tikal!

(At this point, I need to say that I wonder who does the translating for these signs. My Spanish is not great, but even I know "alimony" is NOT a translation for "alimentos")

Anyway, we kept on.

That was pretty much the pattern. Some signs would be only in Spanish, some would be in English and Spanish, and everyone of them would be placed in front of 4-8 different species of trees. So, I might read a sign about a tree which holds a good reserve of drinking water, and thinking I'm dying of thirst, might actually die from toxic sap because I drank from the wrong tree.

He doesn't look that big, but he was the size of my hand.

Eventually, the trail got narrower. Then, the spider webs got lower. I'm not talking about your run-of-the-mill, everyday North American spiders. I'm talking about big-as-your-face spiders. Or maybe eat-your-face spiders. Josh casually pointed out they were just as afraid of me as I was of them, and I can well guarantee you that I didn't give a shit.

So, here I was, every time we passed one of these ludicrous signs, saying in a high-pitched sarcastic voice, "Oh, I know, let's take the 'interpretive trail'" and walking around flapping my arms over my head like a lunatic, trying to hit the spider webs with my hands rather than my face. Then, things got interesting.

There was a fork in the trail, with a sign clearly labeling which way to go to follow the trail. But, in my crazed jungle brain, I could just imagine someone running in, unscrewing the sign, and flipping it over to send someone on a wild goose chase. And as it turned out, we walked on for another couple hundred meters, and the trail disappeared.

A tree had split, falling across a long section of the trail. A massive tree. It wasn't that we couldn't get there from here. It was that I knew how many enormous, face-eating spiders there could be. And no, I still didn't care that they were probably more afraid of me than I was of them.

This is the reason people carry machetes here, and I am seriously thinking of buying one. We ducked under and climbed over a about twenty trail feet of down tree, and I was certain a spider was waiting for me at every turn. Or a snake. There could have been a snake, because you know, the most dangerous snake in Central America lives in the jungles. Yaaaaayyyyy....

Inside that doorway lived bats. I went in and said "Hey."

Spoiler alert: We made it out just fine. And eventually, we even made it to Grupo G and Templo VI. Although I had loved the view from Temple IV so much earlier in the day, Grupo G was my favorite set of ruins. They contained 29 living spaces, giving great insight into the everyday Mayan's life. Temples, palaces, and Gran Plazas did not pertain much to most Mayans' lives, but this building did. Also, it had a cool tunnel, and is one of the sleeping quarters that was still pretty well intact with a roof and all its sides, there was now a small cluster of bats sleeping on the ceiling. That made my day.

Just an FYI: I am approximately and inch and a half taller than the average Mayan was. Think about that when you see me walking down some of their stairs...

We managed to barely make it out of the park by 6pm. By that time, it was dark, bats were flying around, starting their evenings of eating all the flying insects I hate so much, and I was ready for a shower and some dinner.

Of course, the excitement wouldn't end there. Nor would the surprises of the eight-legged variety. There were no spiders in the showers (unlike the night before), but as Josh went to step away from the tent, he took half a step, jumped back, and may or may not have yelled like a little girl.

In all fairness, he had every right too. A tarantula in the 5" range skittered out from beneath his foot. I mean, it kind of looked like a kitten, really. It was black-ish brown and all fuzzy. It just had twice the required number of legs, and a thousand times the "ick" factor. I know my father used to catch them when he was an elementary school teacher, and take them in for the kids, but that's just not my thing.

The tarantula and I went out separate ways, and the next morning I motored out of Tikal really happy I hadn't seen another.

 

Posted with Blogsy