Tikal (Guatemala) > Reviews > This is a quite extraordinary place

Author's product rating:   

How is the scenery	Breathtaking
Shopping	Poor
Activities/Nightlife	Poor
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	Extremely beautiful
Disadvantages:	Only two hotels and it gets packed with local tourists

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

which anyone in the area should put at the top of their things to see list. In essence, it's an ancient Mayan city in the middle of the Guatemalan tropical rainforest, where a thousand years ago, a million people lived. It was "rediscovered" (ie everyone in the area knew perfectly well it was there but that didn't count, then a bunch of Europeans found it) earlier this century, I think, by which point most of the buildings had disappeared under vegetation. Even today, only the central area has been excavated, and if you wander off through the forest you'll find lots of pyramid-shaped little hills, under which undiscovered temples lie. The only thing visibe then was the two huge pyramids of the central temple, an area which has now been completely excavated and restored. The fact that no-one knows anything about the Mayans adds to the experience - there is so much obvious intelligence and mathmatical ability in evidence, and it's an odd feeling to sense it and not be able to understand it at all, like someone chatting to you in a foreign language. This being Central America and not the US, you can climb over all the buildings, which include the two pyramids - a steep and potentially deadly exercise as there are no safety rails or anything at the top (thank God) From here, you can see for miles over the forest canopy, which stretches to the horizon, interrupted only by the occasional pyramid top from other Mayan constructions rising above the trees. It's quite incredible. For a truly unforgettable experience, stay over night and get up before dawn, so you can watch the sun rise from the top of the biggest temple. You'll see the red sun shine through the forest mist, the mist turn golden and evaporate causing swirling clouds over the trees, hear the monkeys whoop as the sun wakes them up and the birds begin to call, see early morning racoons trotting among the ruins, and you'll feel like you're somewhere completely timeless, like there's no-one else in the world and you're watching something that has happened this way for millennia, indifferent to the Mayans or any other people. It's a spooky, beautiful and oddly moving experience that was absolutely the top bit of my trip to the area.