Today was spent exploring the Mayan Ruins at the site of Tikal. My morning started at 7:15 when my tour guide picked me up at my hotel. We made a couple other stops picking up a few other people who were joining us for the trip to Guatemala and Tikal. We were only about 30 minutes from the border so we quickly filled out our immigration paperwork and enjoyed the short drive.
Once we got to the border, we had to walk through immigration and meet our Guatemalan driver on the other side of the border. A law passed many years ago forbids Belizean tour guides from driving Belizean tour groups through Guatemala. Our driver was very nice and very knowledgeable. As soon as everyone made it through customs, we were on the road. It was about an hour and a half to entrance of the park and then another 20 minutes to the closest point where a car could get to the ruins. We jumped out of the van and started hiking. About 20 minutes in, we came across our first pyramid. From this point on, I am just going to show mainly photos with little explanation. This is a fantastic site and is something you should try and see if the Mayan culture interests you and you are in the area.
The first pyramid we came across. Thought to have been built around 770AD. The stones in front are altars that were used for sacrifices. |