Tikal

I'm barely awake enough to write this entry. After the tiring, eternal bus ride yesterday (13h instead of the 8h this distance usually takes, thanks to a completely unnecessary ferry for a 50m wide river we had to wait 3 1/2h for), I had only four hours before I had to get up for the sunrise tour at the Mayan ruins of Tikal. The bus left at 3 am since it takes 1 1/2 hours to get there from Flores and another hour to reach templo IV, the highest Mayan temple in the world (parts of the first Star Wars movie have been shot here). It definitely was a special feeling to walk through that 3000 years old town with no more than flashlights and almost on your one, since the park hadn't officially opened yet.
We climbed templo IV and waited for the sunrise, listening to the noise of the surrounding jungle, the birds, monkeys and even pumas, otcelots and jaguars. The sunrise itself wasn't spectacular as it was pretty cloudy, but still it was a unique experience.
At 6.30, the tour continued to other temples, palaces and pyramids. Despite the higher entrance fee, it was good that we came so early, since there were barely any other people and it wasn't that hot yet. We had enough time to walk around the huge site, where surprisingly almost all the buildings are still open to climb them.Read more