Tikal

I finally decided to go for it and travel on the night bus to Flores to see Tikal, the most important and impressive Mayan site in Guatemala. I arrived at 5.30 am this morning and by 6 am was on a minibus to the ruins. I decided that it wasn't neccesary to catch up on my severe lack of sleep and trekked through the jungle for 5 horus instead. Wow!! I thought Chichen Itza and the other ancient ruins in Mexico were impressive, but this place is in a league of it's own. This was probably due to the dense jungle setting and the impressive height of some of the temples. Only 15-20% of the site has been excavated and the rest is still covered by the trees of the jungle. Amazing to imagine what it could be like if more was uncovered. It remained untouched for 1000 years after being abandoned by the Mayans.
The added bonus for me today was seeing lots of jungle life - families of racoon like animals called coatimundi, lots of keel-billed toucans, white crowned parrots and other tropical birds I can't remember the name of, howler monkeys high in the trees making dinosaur-like noises and the amazing variety of plant life (the sacred ceiba tree for the Mayans and the once economically important sapodilla which used to be tapped to extract the resin for chewing gum) . Luckily we didn't encounter any deadly snakes or spiders on our trek.

Tomorrow I am heading to Coban where I will then move on quicky to Lanquin and experience the waterfalls near Semuc Champey. Everyone I have met travelling in Guatemala says that this is their favourite place so I'm exitied to be able to hang out there for the rest of the week before returning to Antigua for another week of Spanish.