Tikal (Guatemala)

...amongst the ferns. At Tikal you find yourself surrounded not only by ancient history, but also by the crazy, thriving beauty of the natural world at its most forceful and vibrant.

The Tikal ruins were first seen by Europeans in the late 19th century, lead here by rubber farmers. What these first tourists saw were only great humps in the jungle and the occasional protruding stone. The excavation work (well documented in the visitor’s ...
...systems and the fact that Tikal has no natural water source nearby might convince you. Whatever you believe, the mighty society that crafted this immense city had disappeared by the 10th century, leaving nothing but jungle choked stone in its silent wake.

The Tikal ruins are actually set in the centre of a giant nature reserve and so the beasts you see are wild – free to roam the 576 square kilometres of the reserve. As you wander ... more

Far north in Guatemala’s El Petén State you will find this country’s must see attraction. Immense Mayan ruins that in 750 AD were once home to perhaps 100,000 people thrust up from the jungle floor and tower high above the steaming canopy. Toucans and parrots flicker through the twisted trees, monkeys bellow and battle and race, and daring coatis rush about in packs circling the day-trippers, eyeing up their picnics for a raid. Fat Petén Turkeys blunder along like drunk peacock gluttons, strutting and squealing amongst the ferns. At Tikal you find yourself surrounded not only by ancient history, but also by the crazy, thriving beauty of the natural world at its most forceful and vibrant.

The Tikal ruins were first seen by Europeans in the late 19th century, lead here by rubber farmers. What these first tourists saw were only great humps in the jungle and the occasional protruding stone. The excavation work (well documented in the visitor’s centre which shows step by step photographs of ruins being uncovered) has now cleared for view a good number of temples, ball courts and residential areas, while leaving the brooding jungle just as impressive, glowering on the doorstep.

There were people here before Christ was born, and the booming civilisation reached it's peak in the mid 8th century. What happened to this supremely powerful civilisation is a mystery. Some offer simple explanations such as conquest and war, others offer stranger theories. The most convincing of these suggests a prolonged drought made life impossible here. Surrounded by the lush jungle this seems unthinkable, but studies of ancient weather systems and the fact that Tikal has no natural water source nearby might convince you. Whatever you believe, the mighty society that crafted this immense city had disappeared by the 10th century, leaving nothing but jungle choked stone in its silent wake.

The Tikal ruins are actually set in the centre of a giant nature reserve and so the beasts you see are wild – free to roam the 576 square kilometres of the reserve. As you wander about the giant site, it is stunning to think that for every building you see another ten lie hidden beneath the leaves, and that as far as you wander, the jungle always stretches further still, gloom shrouding the secrets of the impenetrable distance.

How do you get here then? The options are many. Those flush of money but short of time might choose to fly. For around $140 you can arrange a two day fly in trip from just about anywhere in the region. San Cristobal, Palanque, Chetumal, Antigua, Guatemala City, Panajacel and Belize City are all places where this would be possible. Single ticket airtrips can be as low as $80. Organising a shuttle bus to Flores from one of these places is also an option. Flores is a beautiful town on an island in a great cool lake, about 50 miles south west of Tikal, and a great base from which to see Tikal. Expect to pay somewhere between $20-$40 depending where you are coming from. From Belize City or Antigua it should be about $25.

From Flores early minibuses (arrange them at your hotel or at one of the many obvious travel agents and tour organisers) will shuttle you to the ruins before dawn for as little as $6 depending on your bargaining skills and the current demand. Several buses leave daily and you can choose just how early you want to go.

Hotels at Tikal are very expensive and the dining options are limited. By taking the first and last buses to Tikal from Flores you can spend dawn til dusk at the site and return for a swim in the lake and a wide choice of budget meals and accommodation. As Flores is a separate category on Ciao I’ll cover it properly later under the appropriate heading. For now it should be enough to know it makes a perfect base to see Tikal and is a cheaper and pleasanter place to stay too. If you really wish to pay the high prices and stay at Tikal instead you should note that the ruins are off limits at night, and though some people say it is easy to hide amongst them and spend an atmospheric night beneath the stars this is not at all advised. Tikal is not 100% safe by any means and this is a good way to get yourself robbed, beaten and probably worse. Have a look at the "thorn tree" on the Lonely Planet website for more and the occasional story of such adventures gone horribly wrong.

On to the ruins and your visit. I would say a guide is an absolute must. When we went to other Mayan ruins in Guatemala, Belize and Mexico, we found ourselves somewhat lost. The enormous pyramids and strange temples you find are certainly fascinating, but the notes in your guidebook are seldom enough to properly lift these scattered stones from their shattered here and now, and transform them into the wild exercises in worship and power that they once were. In visiting these other ruins (in total eight other sites) we had left impressed, but with nagging questions unanswered and in some cases a slight sense of anticlimax. A guide will ensure many things – firstly you’ll see everything, probably in a sensible order, you’ll be able to rack his brains for answers to those annoying little questions, small temples or stones you might have ignored will be explained to you – carvings brought to life, legends told and secrets unlocked – and maybe most importantly you will be that much safer from the rogues and robbers that lurk amongst the ruins and who prey on lone tourists or couples.

Make sure your fellow is an official guide, of course, or you might be wandering off into the jungle with a thief, a rapist or a murderer. Guatemala has a high incidence of violent crimes against travellers and as Tikal attracts tourists, so it attracts those that prey upon them. There is a medium sized visitor centre at the entrance to the ruins. Here you will find photographs of the excavations, book and souvenir shops, but most importantly guides for hire. The sanctioned guides wear a casual uniform of safari green clothes and they should have ID if you request it. Your best bet for a guide is provided by the friendly fellow who’ll board your minibus when it passes through the park gates on arrival (here you'll pay about $10 for a day's entry into the reserve). He’ll chat with you and give you some background and advice as your bus zips through the last 12 Km of pristine forest to the visitor centre and few hotels. He is a guide, and even if your fellow passengers book him first then he’ll be able to point you in the way of his friends on arrival. We paid 30 Quetzals (around 3 pounds) for his services and were incredibly impressed. His tour lasted 4 hours and when it was finished we still had the same again before we took our bus home.

Often they’ll want a group of about six people before they are willing to head off. Six people and the guide offers a decent group presence against the threat of banditry. He led us on an interesting circuit, starting off in the north before twisting south through the main sights, giving us frequent breaks for 15 or so minutes of exploring in a localised area, and providing detailed answers to all of our questions – whether they concerned the ruins or the incredible beasts that roamed amongst them. Many of the things we saw would have meant nothing without his strange stories. He took us into a few dull looking rooms, and showed how archeologists had determined that these were bedrooms, where the bed would have been, what materials would have been used and how it must have looked 1300 years ago. He explained the names and uses of all sorts of jungle plants from huge bulbous trees to funny little flowers. He spun the odd gruesome Mayan yarn and gave us some fascinating insights into Mayan myth and religion, all in excellent English.

For a map of the ruins and detailed information I would suggest this link. Click the red arrows for information, etc. http://mayaruins.com/tikal/Tikal_map.html. Using this map (about 100m between Temple I and II for scale) as a guide briefly, you’ll start off in the far east. The main sights are those packed into the red box in the middle, the eerily named “lost world” and the supremely high Temple IV. Many of the temples and pyramids are still unexcavated and covered in thick jungle growth. Temple III and Temple V are among these hidden monsters and tower above you like mountains, studded with giants trees and bound like gargantuan mummies in layer after layer of choking vines.

Temple I and II are the most photographed, and it is the tips of these giants you see poking through the misty jungle canopy towards the end of the first Star Wars film (that is the proper first one, not this recorded fourth, but chronologically first one). Originally you could climb both of these enormous structures, now only Temple II. Temple I is slightly higher but the treacherous stairs were rightly deemed unsafe after a couple of tourists stumbled and fell to their deaths. Be wary of all climbs, the steps are high and falling is not an option. Another potential danger is the distant “Temple of Inscriptions” you see on the map. This is the least visited area of the site, as it has been the focal point of numerous violent crimes. Stay away unless you are in a big, brash, guided group. Looking at the map it looks a lot safer than it actually is – walking between any of the ruins you see on the map involves twisting tunnels through the jungle and it is shocking how fast you’ll find yourself on your own.

The Lonely Planet is useful as ever and has an exceptionally helpful bird guide to help you spot some of the many outlandish aerial beauties. The “Lost World” is a great area for this and we found a couple of French birdwatchers set up here with a telescope, frantically ticking their sightings off of a giant list. They let us have a peak through their lens, revealing an enormous emerald parrot with red flourishes. Here we also saw a tense battle between toucans and monkeys, both groups locked in combat as they fought for possession of a huge berry tree.

The wonderful raccoon-meets-badgers are coatis. These can be found roaming both in great bands or sneaking about on their own up to no good. Long ringed tails held upright, long noses scrolling about independant of their heads, these were one of my favourite, most unexpected discoveries. They are supremely confident, cute as hell and will use every dirty trick in their dirty great book - from batting eyelids and mewing to full frontal assault - to separate you from your picnic. The guides will advise you not to feed them as they are wild animals and it is probably better to follow this advice, however much they plead or pursue. There are jaguars in the reserve too, but it is incredibly unlikely you’ll spot one. If you do, it goes without saying that you shouldn’t taunt it or throw stones. Feeding it is probably a bad idea too.

While you’re not going to give any food to these fellows, you will most certainly want some for yourself. Flores is well stocked for this purpose and a supermarket should easily sort you out with all you’ll need. If you are unsure about how much you’ll want over-pack rather than under. The prices at Tikal are ruinous and food is in short supply. Bottles of pop aren’t so terrible (about 150% up on normal prices, making them about a quid at worst), but you’d be well advised to come with water in excess. The jungle is hot and humid and given that you’ll be spending a day clambering, climbing and cavorting over upwards of 3000 ruined buildings liquid refreshment is a must. I brought a 2 litre bottle of water and big box of Oreos all of which went along with my half of a bunch of bananas. If you do the ruins justice and walk all day you’ll want some calories on hand to stave off fatigue. In the heat exhaustion is a dangerous threat to your health, particularly when you consider you’ll be climbing iron ladders and steep staircases with hard rock and gravity below.

We found that arriving at dawn, taking the guided tour for 4 hours, resting in the visitor centre and returning to the ruins for some focused exploration was a great way to spend the day. The tallest spot is Temple IV at an incredible 65m. However, the view from here is only really in one direction as the temple has a large “roof comb” that obscures the view behind. My favourite place was the dramatic “Pyramid of the Lost World” which, though slightly shorter, offered a full 360º panorama across the lively canopy – vivid green as far as you can see, in every direction.

To visit Tikal is to cross the boundary from the real world of hyped disappointments and over-rated tourist traps to an incredible world so wild in colour and steeped in mystery you will think you have fallen through the pages into a storybook. What detracts from this perfect world? The threat of robbery is real and should not be ignored, but with caution and commonsense you can reduce the risk to an insignificance. As long as you show good sense and follow trails and stay in groups the criminal threat actually enhances your visit - without it Tikal would be crawling with snaphappy American package tourists on day trips from Cancun. Go now before this changes.

 

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