From Antigua, Tanja ("Tan-ya"),
another volunteer, and I took an overnight 9 hour bus ride to Flores,
Guatemala. Flores is located on an island on Lake Peten Itza and is the capital
of the Peten Department. "Departments" are like states.
In Flores, we were able to explore the streets,
take a boat ride along the island and book a tour to Tikal.
We had the
perfect day to tour Tikal, it was sunny and we didn't get hit by rain. Tikal is
an ancient Mayan city that was abandoned by the Mayans and overtaken by the
jungle.
When walking through the jungle we were able to
see toucans, spider monkeys, tarantulas and animals I have never seen. There
were cute monkeys swinging from every tree, some with babies.
The stairs on the temples were steep and hard
to walk up being 5'7". This brings me to the conclusion that Mayans were
at least 6'ft tall.
Random facts: Tikal was used for a scene in
Star Wars as well as a model for Mel Gibson's Apocalipto.
The highest temple, IV, has best view in Tikal, you could see the roofs
of different temples.
This is too cool!
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