TIKAL
TEMPLE OF THE JAGUAR
While we were having the bottom painted on Le Chat Beaute', we decided to take a 4 hour "white knuckle" bus ride to Santa Elena/Flores to tour Tikal, one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centers of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. Tikal National Park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979. This ancient Mayan city has evidence of construction back to the 4th century BC, peaking in 200 - 900 AD. There was no water source available for the 45,000 Mayans that lived there, so they constructed an interesting "pond" configuration allowing them to collect water and survive from the natural rainfall. The Mayans are known as the ancient "architects", creating massive temples and pyramids. The difference between the two is a temple can only be accessed from one side, as a pyramid can be accessed by all four sides. This site was not discovered until the mid 1800's and numerous buildings have been excavated, but some only the top portion because of all the undergrowth. It has been determined that the Mayans imported @ 131 tons of salt each year - but from where? It is believed that the population for this area which covers @ 225 sq. miles, reached a maximum of 120,000. (that's 30,000 more then the Ben Hill Griffin stadium holds!)
Grand Temple
Imagine this area completely cleared.........no wonder it's taking time to expose all the buildings/remnants.
It's fascinating to walk around an ancient city that's thousands of years old. How did they do it?
We joined a group to ride from Santa Elena to Tikal. And fortunately we were the only ones that spoke English so we had a guide, Manuel Banos, all to ourselves. Alot of information was passed along that day including the medicinal usage of the plants and a discussion on the ancient methods of food preparation.
Courtyard at the hotel, Santa Elena
This road/sidewalk went straight up! City of Flores
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