My enjoyment turned out to be planning on how to set up the property if we were to buy it- a common Will fantasy. With a solar shower, composting toilet, green house, rainwater tanks, solar panels, grey water system, and of course- super garden. This is especially fun when you have as much sun for energy and growing coupled with land and home prices in the 20K range.
I had learned from Dave that anyone could own land here without being a resident and that it was sometimes easier to just renew your visa every 3 months rather than complete the lengthy bureaucratic citizenship process. It was only important to make sure you talk to neighbors about the parcel in question and use a lawyer to complete the deal. Like anything there have been stories of non-owners selling land to unsuspecting people not able or willing to do their due diligence. But other than that it was pretty straightforward except…
Another interesting note about land that we learned is that as it was passed from generation to generation it was usually split up equally which by today has left most pieces of property extremely small, some as small as 1 x 25 meters. What would comprise a normal full sized city lot might be 3-4 properties… so you can imagine what acquiring a small farm might take depending on the location. Most of the owners also don’t have any paperwork and it is printed for the first time at the bank at the time of the sale.
On Tuesday night we went out after dinner to a predominantly gringo bar on the corner where we first arrived in San Pedro. It was rumored to play newer American flicks so we gave it a shot. It was already a second floor bar overlooking the streets and there indeed was the hidden luxury of a small movie screen and projector on the third floor next to a pool table and a bunch of movable bench seats and tables. It was a wonderfully quaint experience with the 5-6 people that showed up to watch the latest X-Men and Paul the next night… Yes we went back! It was the type of experience that reinforced the notion that we could live in such a place.
Thursday Michelle left class half a day early so we could do our biggest excursion since coming to Guatemala- Tikal! We packed up almost everything leaving room for presents and cacao beans… (3 minus pounds of them…. And counting :) )… and dashed toward our final chicken bus ride to Guatemala city (aka. The city or just Guate Guate Guate per the chicken bus assistant).
We were dropped off in zone 2 in a heavy market area where we could see huge piles of fruits and vegetables suspiciously similar to the ones found in most of the area markets… some of the foods like the 2” diameter foot long carrots we had suspected were not grown locally and definitely were made with industrial fertilizers.
*A sad side note: As many developing nations Guatemala has unfortunately become a dumping ground for products and materials that do not meet health and environmental standards in “developed” nations. This has resulted in the rural populations of the area utilizing extra toxic fertilizers and pesticides for the majority of their own food leading to increased infertility, birth defects and miscarriages. This was especially sad to see amongst a people so rooted in agriculture they believe humans were formed out of corn dough in the 4th world. They now almost exclusively plant GMO corn with common names like H1, H3, etc. GBA.
We essentially hopped from bus to taxi and were taken straight to our first choice of tour bus lines ADN. The bus was scheduled to leave at 9pm and arrive in Flores far to the north near the Mexico border at 6am. This arrangement allowed us to pay half what we would have through a guide agency from San Pedro and one quarter what we would have paid if we were to take the small plane offered in the city.
So… at 6am we groggily got off the bus, though it was somewhere around 2am that I awoke in my thin jacket in a full sweat as we had truly descended into the jungle. As always drivers and hotel salesmen practically mounted us to win our attention. But buy this time we had become much better at fending them off and simply walking to an open space, setting our stuff down, taking a breath and deciding what to do.
Seeing that we were in no mood for shenanigans a man approached us calmly and said he offered an economy hotel with a price that matched. This turned out to also be the same person we scheduled our rides to and from the park with. We quickly dropped our stuff off in the hotel, packed our daypacks and jumped back in the van with the other 3 people going to that day.
On the 45-minute drive out of Flores we stopped and picked up a young lady who turned out to be a private guide and eventually the other couple and us decided to split the cost for her services.
After arriving at Tikal we set out on a hike through the trails, which turned out to run every which way and made us glad we had chosen a guide because she knew exactly which ones to take to get the best views of the main ruins.
Tikal was one of the larger Mayan cities with parts of it dating to around 500 B.C. It was in thick jungle 20 odd km away from the main water source the large lake Petén Itza. They had constructed an intricate canal and holding pond system that was still essentially functional today, though parts of it had been paved around the public parking/mall area.
As we walked down a gravel path we saw oscillated turkeys unafraid of people like peacocks in a zoo. We stopped at the species of tree the Maya most considered to resemble the great Tree of Life with the canopy representing the heavens (13), the trunk the earth, and the roots the underworlds (9). The tree was massive and beautiful with all sorts of epiphytes growing from its branches.
As we left the gravel path for the dirt we had our first monkey encounter! A family of spider monkeys swung from limb to limb over the path and to another tree with more food.
We made our way up an old clay road called the white road, which held the feet of the Maya so long ago. I was fascinated by how most of the dirt and wood surfaces underneath were so slick. It made sense since it was so humid you would sweat standing still, but all rocks and dirt had almost a mossy slickness that was very peculiar. Anyway, the path we took popped us out into a site called the Acropolis.
From this point we could see the top of Temple V high above the forest to the left and to the right – a taste of the main event- Temple I, the Jaguar Temple. We wound our way through the Central Acropolis peaking around and then stopped at a ledge that overlooked the great plaza.
Our guide then told us to take our time and explore the great plaza with both Temples I, II, and the North Acropolis. After we took pictures in front of the main temple we climbed up some very steep flights of stairs to the main landing of temple II:
The views were amazing!
Here’s a link to a map of the city:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://mayaruins.com/tikal/Tikal_map2.gif&imgrefurl=http://mayaruins.com/tikal/Tikal_map.html&h=597&w=866&sz=67&tbnid=m8kt2RXl72VNkM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=131&prev=/search%3Fq=tikal+map%26tbm=isch%26tbo=u&zoom=1&q=tikal
After this we wandered by temple III, which was built atop a high mound ascending so steeply you would have to climb with your hands.
As we made our way to a spot in the thick jungle where we could get a view of it our guide was continuously showing us the flora and fauna that were so crucial to the forest dwelling people. There were palm like plants with spines used for blood sacrifices, another with leaves to chew to snake bites, another that when chewed had a numbing effect, and another that we knew. Our host in San Pedro had some very wonderful flour made out of a nut called Ramon in Spanish and ujushte among others in May. It is small, hazelnut sized, and has a soft fruit like thin outer skin. Fresh we found it was very disappointing, but once dried it takes on an incredible chocolate like flavor and when used in banana bread…. Mmmmm.
The next site was called The Plaza of the Lost World, a pre-classic Mayan part of town, which had a mounded temple, which was built on top of each new generation. It was lined up with another much smaller mound so that each year at either the equinox or the solstice the sun would sit directly on top of the temple and light up the other mound. Their understanding of celestial time was eerily spot on.
After finding a crazy gigantic spider we climbed up Temple IV, the tallest in the city at around 70 meters. It was quite a climb, again up wooden stairs. Some of the rock they used seems similar to sand stone and when touched can fall off in your hand as I experienced; truly ancient. There were obviously other rocks strong enough to support the massive structures, but what was also incredible is where they got the rock from. There were no cliffs around, essentially just flattish jungle with a small creek here and there. They essentially mined the rock by digging down! Talk about determination! They found layers of this chalky sandstone and would cut blocks out for building.
The top of temple IV was the best view of the city currently (temple I is off limits). Standing there you could see the tops of temples I, II, III, V, the big mound who’s name I don’t remember… It must have been so exhilarating to work lifetimes to finally reach a point about the jungle canopy where you felt this overwhelming sensation of openness; of perspective. What a great vantage point to practice rituals and ceremonies.
The jungle was hot enough let alone sitting above the tree line shade free… So we didn’t stay too long. We climbed back down and walked back to the great plaza as our time with our guide had expired. We sat down with the other couple in the middle of the plaza under a tree to eat lunch and nap.
Oh yeah! We heard and then saw howler monkeys too! A hair raising yowl that sounded more like a big cat.
After resting for a good hour we wearily looked around for some of the next largest sites to see before we had to leave by 3pm to catch our ride. This is where temple V came in perfectly.
We wandered back through the formation Group G before calling it time and making our way to the parking lot.
As exhausted as we were it was a very worthwhile trip and we were glad we did it. Even though there were not informational signs as plentiful as Ixhimche we could still appreciate the grandeur that was ancient Tikal.
We drove back to Flores to spend that night and the next day until 8pm when we would catch yet another overnight bus back to the city.
And even though our “day” didn’t stop there, I’ll let Michelle wrap up the trip with one final blog. Here was one of our last morning in San Pedro!
