Tikal

I decided to take a week off with some of my other friends who are here in Central America and to become once again actual tourists, instead of students who are simply living daily life in our prespective countries. So far we have just spent some nice time relaxing.

Today we went to Tikal. We decide to take the 3:15 am shuttle from the town of Flores, which is about an hour and a half from the actual park. We had heard and read that it is especially beautiful to be there for sunrise when the entire forest begins to wake up. But when the actual morning came, we were a little doubtful if it would be worth the lack of sleep we had.

When we got off the bus and began walking with our flashlights down the path to the heart of the monuments, it began to rain lightly. As we walked the rain increased. We kept going, not exactly sure where we were going or what was happening. Suddenly, we looked to our right and to our left and saw Mayan ruins protruding out of the fog. It was mysterious and mystical to be walking there in the middle of the night, under rain, and surrounded by mist to see these old ruins on either side of us. Everything was quiet except for the sound of the rain hitting the forest leaves or falling to the ground.

We came to a wooden staircase and were told to climb. We began climbing to the top of one of the monuments where we were going to wait for the sunrise. But this morning there would be no sunrise. We waited, while the rain increased until we finally decided to climb back down and look for shelter. A group of about 45 people were waiting under the shelter along with the guides for the rains to clear. We waited there about 15 minutes and then broke off into smaller groups to explore the park.

I cannot explain how amazing it was to be standing in the park so early in the morning, when all was still quiet, as the rain came and abaited and then came again. It was incredible. My four friends and I climbed several of the ruins to the top to see the spectacular views of the forest and the other monuments. They stand completely in the middle of the jungle as if they belong to the jungle and you as a visitor have somehow entered some private, sacred place.

I will put up pictures of Tikal shortly, but for now I will leave you with one of my favorite stories of the day. My friends and I stayed longer in the park than the rest of our tour group so that we would have a chance to go and explore the other monuments. We came to another group of monuments and it began to rain again. We decided to duck under part of the doorway of one of the temples to wait out the rain. One of the Guatemalan workers also ducked under with us. We then began to talk with him and learn that he has worked in the park for 20 years and that he himself is mostly Mayan. He looked at one of my friends and asked him if he was going to marry and before my friend could answer he said, ah it is there in your eyes. Then he looked at me and said you do not want to know. We all began to laugh. He went on to tell us that he is not a shaman, mayan religious leader, but that he is a spiritual man who serves God and speaks and listens to the spirits. AFter the rains stopped we thanked him for his conversation and left. He took the hand of one of my other friends and said Cuidate mucho or be very careful with complete sincerity in his eyes. The whole encounter with the man who really is a shaman, even though he said he was not, only increased the mystery of the day and the feeling that we were experiencing part of another culture that is still very much alive. It was also slightly humurous for us to hear his warnings and we kept joking about them for the rest of the day.