Leaving Antigua I headed north up to Peten to visit the Tikal ruins and meet up with a couple of buddies from Arizona that were riding in from Belize. Instead of going though Guatemala City which is a complete nightmare, I decided to bypass that mess and head straight north and pick up road 7W that goes from Huehuetenango to Coban. Its a beautiful ride though high mountains and pine forests. The average elevation along this route is around 8000 feet, with some passes being over 9000. Freezing my butt off again in Guatemala. Who woulda thunk it? At one point I was cruising along a dirt road and all of a sudden the road just ended.
There had been a huge landslide during some heavy rains several weeks before that killed dozens of people in the villages below. A new road bed had already been cut so passing through was not a problem.
Impressive landslide…..
Another view with some sunlight on it, different day.
I made my way up through Coban for an overnight, then the next day continued north to the village of El Remate on the shores of Lake Peten Itza. I pulled into the Casa Don David where I met up with Mike and Phil from Arizona. I have ridden quite a bit with them in the past couple of years though Arizona, Baja, and Mainland Mexico. It was cool to see some some familiar faces.
Mike, being his usual self. What a clown.
Casa Don David in El Remate is a great place to stay if you are going to visit Tikal. Its on the lake, very tranquilo, and they have pretty decent restaurant there as well.
They do in fact, have both kinds of beer there. The Gallo is OK, but the Moza is fantastic. If you like Negra Modelo, you’ll love Moza.
In my best Texas accent complete with finger pointing, “I’ll tell ya’ll one damn thing, all ya’ll are really gonna like that beer.”
This guy was a fixture around the place too. he would do this when you would walk within 10 feet of him.
Riding with these guys is a little different for me since I have riding solo for almost the last 5 months. I am constantly asking myself, “Where did those guys go again? What in the heck are they doing now?”
Get used to these sights about every 15 minutes when you ride with Mike and Phil.
Yo quiero Taco Bell. 🙂
The next day we saddled up and headed to Tikal. Here is the entrance to the park where they “check you in.” So the guy standing next to me (Barney Fife) says, in rapid fire Spanish of course, “This is a National Park. There is a speed limit of 45 kilometers per hour. The parking lot is 17 kilometers from here and if you go the speed limit, it will take you 20 minutes to get there.” OK, I get it. So on that piece of paper he hands me is the time I entered. So we go really slowly through the park and at the other end a guy takes that paper and writes down the time. Well it took us 18 minutes, not 20, but the guy doesnt say a word about it, no big deal right?
So when we leave the parking lot after our visit, they write down the time again and at the gate at other end I give my paper to the guy and he goes ballistic because it took us 17 minutes, not 20. He gets a bit miffed and starts to lecture me about how this is a national park and he is going to report us to the cops, blah, blah, blah. He then looks at Mike and says “where is your paper?” Mike says, “I lost it.” then rides away. Ha! Well Barney Fife did call the cops and the cops just waved to us as we were leaving so I guess it all worked out in the end. Pretty funny actually, but man that guy got all wrapped around the axle about it.
I guess they have a few critters in the park.
Another pee break? How many times can you possible go in 15 miles? At least he’s got it down to where he doenst have to get off the bike.
There’s also other critters in the park. I couldnt get a view of this one though. He just didnt want to cooperate. I told Mike to wade in the water a little bit to see if he could see the croc, but he didnt like that idea.
Colorful bird….
The Ocellated Turkey, cool.
I got ants in my pants and it makes me wanna dance.
Unfortunately I didnt see any Toucans, probably because I wanted to see one so badly. We decided to hire a guide as you always get more out of a place like this with a guide. He knew a lot of stuff, most of which I have already forgotten. Or I guess more correctly, he has forgotten more stuff about this place and the jungle that I have ever heard of.
The overview of the excavated areas of Tikal. This city was built upon elevated limestone paths, foundations and causeways, which were basically road network throughout the city. The guide pointed that out as we were walking one to the main temple area.
The Ceiba tree. This thing is huge and they can grow to 250 feet tall. Cortes hung Aztec Emperor Cuauhtemoc from a Ceiba tree in the 1500’s. Nice guy that Cortes was. I think he killed or enslaved everyone he came in contact with, Aztecs, Mayans, you name it.
Here is a little better perspective with Phil in the shot.
Countless structures have not even been excavated. Anytime you see a little bump or slope in the terrain, there is something lying underneath.
A climb up one of the main temples is rewarded with a spectacular view above the jungle canopy.
Cool.
Tikal was a difficult place to take pictures since the bright sunlight and the huge amount of shade from the canopy makes it difficult to get a decent exposure, but the big temples did not fail to impress.
For a little perspective, these structures are big!
Tikal is an incredible place to visit. Climbing up all of the temples is hard work, but you are rewarded with some fantastic views of the surrounding area. Even if its crowded, its very spread out and never once did I feel like part of a big crowd of gawking tourists. If you go to Guatemala you have to make Tikal one of your stops for sure. It does get its share of freaky dread lock wearing gringos rubbing crystals together that say they can see Mayan ghosts and see huge auras emanating from the temples, and saying that the end is near, (the whole 2012 thing) but that just adds to the fun.