Tikal at Dawn

We had set out from San Ignacio early in the day (well, early for us, anyway), and had crossed the Belize-Guatemala border with no trouble at all. Although a visit to the ruins of the Mayan city of Tikal is often billed as a day trip from Belize, it’s actually not very close to the border. As a result, it was quite late in the day by the time we got to the entrance to Tikal National Park; late enough, in fact, that if we waited another 45 minutes, our entrance fee would cover the next day too. Surprisingly, even though we were in the middle of nowhere, there were a couple of cafés right there, and a few other facilities to help you while away the time. Joe partook of the ziplining:

While we were waiting, we somehow got involved in talking with a pleasant but loquacious gentleman who happened to be hanging around. (His name, he said, was Abel, as in Abel K’nabel.) He told us that his family had been workers in the original excavations of Tikal (plausible) and that he had grown up in the area learning all about the site (also plausible). He seemed to have some actual knowledge, and his English vocabulary was interestingly sophisticated, so when he said he worked as a guide, we hired him to show us around.

As we drove the 20 km through the jungle to the main archaeological site, Abel told us a number of interesting facts about the wildlife and so on. Once we got to the site itself, however, his information started to break down. He mostly seemed to want to show us photo opportunities among the ruins. Admittedly, there are plenty.

We also came across a herd (?) of coatamundi hunting for dinner.

It was when he mentioned Teotihuan as a Mayan site that his credibility really started to crack. It was all downhill after that, information-wise, and all attempt at actual fact fell by the wayside. That didn’t stop him from talking, though. He didn’t even seem to need to take a breath between gusts of hot air. Eventually we were willing to pay him just to shut up. We gave Abel some money and got rid of him as politely as possible.

It was also starting to get dark, and we were realizing that driving all the way to town and then driving all the way back in the morning would be difficult. The popular thing to do, moreover, is a dawn tour of the ruins, and the likelihood of our being able to rouse ourselves in time to get up and out and drive a half an hour before dawn was, well, slim.

There are several lodges right near the entrance to the site, and also a couple of campsites. The campsites thoughtfully provided little palm-roofed cabañas where your tent would be protected from the heavy jungle dew, but sadly, these were placed on concrete slabs. Therefore, we opted for a very expensive hotel room with electricity only until 10:00 p.m. and no hot water. The price did include meals (perfectly adequate) and a guided tour of the site at dawn. The tour turned out to be fantastic, and totally worth the price of the room.

We gathered at 4:00 a.m. in the lobby for a cup of coffee by flashlight before setting off. Tikal is very far from any city and is located in the middle of miles and miles of jungle, so it was very dark indeed. It was not, however, quiet–howler monkeys were screaming like banshees. Literally. Howler monkeys have an additional loose bone in their throat that vibrates, and a pouch that acts as a resonating chamber, and their eponymous howl is so loud and terrifying that recordings of it were used for the t. rex sound effects in the movie Jurassic Park.

The predawn part of the tour was quite extensive. No, we couldn’t see much, but somehow we got a very good feeling for the size of complexity of the ruined city. (The dark did not stop one of the tour participants from taking lots of pictures with the flash on his camera. It’s hard to see how a single flash could illuminate a temple 65 meters tall, but chacun à son gout and all that.)

The sky began to lighten, almost imperceptibly at first. The very faint contrast was fascinating to see, but hard to record.

Our guide, Eddie, led us to Temple IV, the tallest of the extant buildings, where we climbed an extensive flight of wooden steps nearly to the top. There we took seats on the east-facing stone steps, together with twenty or thirty other visitors, all silent and waiting.

Little by little, the sky continued to lighten, until suddenly, a sliver of sun blazed over the horizon beyond the Temple of the Jaguar. It was stunning.

I didn’t expect the experience to be as moving as it was. It truly was transporting.

After the sun had risen fully, Eddie took us to a number of other interesting spots. It would be impossible to see the whole site–the known extent of the city is 25 square kilometers, and ruins hidden in the jungle probably extend beyond that.

Eddie was particularly knowledgeable about the Mayan calendar and explained it very clearly. Unfortunately, the lack of breakfast was starting to have its effect by this time, so I still can’t explain it to you.

So that’s where it is!