We arrived at the lakeside town of Florres, linked by causeway to Peten where many tourists arrive by air to visit this region of Guatemala. Both Peten and Florres were settlements of Mayans from Chichen Itza in Mexico, and both were completely destroyed by the all conquering Spanish in the 15th century. Fortunately the Spanish missed the largest prize, the Mayan city of Tikal that supported a population of over 60,000 people - some researchers suggest maybe 90,000 people. The only reason for visiting Florres is that it is a place sleep before visiting Tikal. Abandoned over 800 years ago as the social structure of the Mayans fell apart, Tikal had become overgrown by jungle and is still densely covered by trees and bush, now heavily populated by brightly coloured birds, monkeys, peacocks and many other animals. Once again, waking early in Guatemala can be rewarding. As the sunrise here is around 5am in May, we left our Florres hotel at 3.30am for the 1 hour journey to Tikal. Upon arrival we walked for 1/2 an hour to Temple 4, the tallest structure at Tikal. Whilst the top part of this Temple pyramid has been restored, the initial climb is a little like rock climbing, assisted in places by steep 75 degree ladder type steps. Arriving near the top, we climbed some "normal" steps before walking around to the side of the temple to climb a vertical ladder to the very top. We found ourselves on the top platform, joining several other early risers to await the sunrise. Although not visually spectacular due to some mist that rolled across in an untimely manner, this was spectacular for other reasons. Looking across the top of the mist covered trees as the jungle awoke was a special moment, monkeys and birds all noisily coming to life again and greeting one another for the new day. It's a little like the whole of Spring compressed into 30 minutes, you can't help but feeling both happy and invigorated. The mist cleared briefly to reveal 2 other large temples in the distance, only to roll in again as if to deny us any further pleasures. Finally, our group and the other tourists made our way back down from the temple in one's and two's, walking back the way we'd come, this time seeing monkeys swinging across the tree tops and birds such as Macaws and Toucans flying off to breakfast. After our own breakfast, we were joined by a local guide who has worked at Tikal for 30 years. Phillipe shared with us over the next 6 hours much of his knowledge and passion for Tikal. The Mayans had transformed Tikal from a flat, bare site to one with hills and valleys, water reservoirs, palaces and temples. Although the buildings are often bare stone today, it's easy to close your eyes and imagine them as they were 800 - 2000 years ago, covered in plaster and painted in red, orange and blue. The scene must have been magnificent. There is also a very good museum at Tikal where interested travellers can learn even more about this once great civilization and its world leading knowledge of mathematics and astronomy. By 4pm most of us are ready for a sensible siesta and return to Florres. Several keen people, however, chose to stay to experience the sunset, which is apparently also quite special as the jungle slowly falls asleep and becomes quiet again.
