After a 6:00am wake up time followed by an hour van ride, we arrived at one of the most amazing places I have ever been in my life. As soon as we entered the Mayan Ruins of Tikal, we knew we were in a different world. As we walked into the site, towering pillars of stone poked through the jungle canopy. As we reached the first small pyramid, the trees were alive with spider monkeys swinging on vines over our heads. They were everywhere!
I understand why Tikal gets all the hype we heard before coming on the trip. The site is huge, with many different building from many different generations of the Maya. The most amazing thing to me is all the mystery surrounding this ancient civilization. From their ball games, where the loser was sacrificed, to their gods, to the cause of their demise, there is much we have yet to learn about them. Unfortunately, massive looting from different sites has caused us to lose much of this information. Then there is that small fact that over 80% of Tikal still remains under large trees and mounds of dirt. Over thousands of years, the unrelenting jungle has completely overtaken Tikal and many other sites. We walked by mound after mound, which looked little more than a hill. I don't know how gigantic trees can grow on top of pyramids that are over 75 meters in the air, but when Tikal was discovered 50 years ago, the jungle had completely taken over.
Our guide, Eulogio (or Lojo, as he asked us to call him) was great. He was probably in his 50's and was very knowledgeable about the ruins and Mayan people in general. He was also very polite, as every time he saw us on the verge of doing something foolish would tell us: "I advise you, my friends, that you may want to be careful as you do that." At one point Brent challenged me to race to the top of one of the ruins. Unfortunately, Brent is very youthful and really wanted a challenge. I usually would have turned it down, but for some reason I caved. As we climbed the giant stone monument as fast as we could, I was thinking how dumb and dangerous it was; large vertical steps with no handrail. It was only later that I learned an American woman had died there only a few months ago when she fell down the stairs. (PS, I won by about a quarter of a step).
I should mention that while I really enjoyed Tikal, I felt pretty sick. Between chest congestion, a runny nose, and being unable to go number two, it was kind of hard to battle all the walking in the blazing sun. However, in such an amazing place, you kind of forget how bad you feel and become absorbed in Mayan legend.
Unfortunately, last night we all signed up to make tamales with another GAP group today after we returned from Tikal. I wouldn't have gone, except that we had already paid for the activity. After returning from Tikal, we had a small lunch and our group headed out on a boat to cross the lake to a small village, where our tamale mentor, Donia Gloria, was going to teach us the art of the tamale. Her house was meager and her kitchen wretched by US standards. There were pigs in the yard, wandering in and out of the outdoor kitchen. There were mangy dogs and chickens and small flies everywhere. As soon as we arrived, we got a sampling of some of the tamales Donia Gloria had already made. They were delicious. She then showed us how to put the tamales together, and we all had a go at it. Later we would learn that we are not very good at making tamales, as they all tasted horrible. But we had fun visiting her home, seeing how they live, and seeing the local tamale maker do her thing.
We had a great dinner tonight at Captain Tortugas, overlooking the lake as the sun set. The food was good, though it took over an hour and half before we all had our dinners. This gave us plenty of time to get to know each other a little better. We learned that there were other fans of the OC on the trip and collectively decided that nobody was going to miss Marissa after her untimely death by Volchuck. The topic turned to people we were not very fond of and I began the stories of Elder White on my mission. People always laugh at those stories of the Ex-Lax rice crispie treats, the habanero tasting, and the great water fight. Those were good times and I hate to say that the poor boy deserved all the mean pranks we played on him.
I also got the chance to talk to mom and dad. Apparently they decided last minute to take a week off and head out to Utah for family reunions. Now that they are empty nesters, they don't have all us kids to strap them down. They sounded as though they are in good spirits and enjoying themselves on vacation.
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