12th September - Tikal - Guatamala

We get the bus to Tikal at 8am - decided against the 5am bus which lets you see the ruins in the sunrise - too tired and have heard it's always misty! The bus an improvement on yesterday is hardly plush but gets us there unharmed. These ruins are very different from what we have previously seen, as they are still mostly hidden in the jungle, even the excavated ones are stil partly covered.

The main courtyard has two pyramids facing one another. You can go up one but this time not the actual stair - they have made a wooden staircase at the side which is even more scary then the steep Myan ones. The view from the top are great. You can see the other Pyramid and across the jungle to the two huge Pyramids half hidden by the trees.

While wandering around we see lots of howler monkeys playing in the trees - they are so fantastic I almost forget the ruins surrounding us.

We climb anotherPyramid again using the make shift vertical wooden staircase somehow balanced at the edge of the Pyramid - very dodgy. It's quite scary at the top lots of people vying for position on a very narrow edge. There's no real sense of security or health and safety in these places.

We wander around the site marveling at the many scuptures and carving. On some temples in tact stucco with fantastic colours are still in view. The interesting part of this site is trying to work out what all the unexplored massive mounds of earth may have been. To excavate the central part alone will take another 10 years and to do the entire site will take 100 years - not because the archieologists are lazy but because there is so much and over such an area.

Some of the areas are off limits cos it's a bit dodgy so we stay to the well worn paths and where all the other tourists are. One of the nice things about this site is the number of locals wandering around in national dress - it sort of adds to the atmosphere. Wandering out of the site I see some mad blue headed turkeys and a couple of funny bird. I think as this place is quite remote there is still a lot of wild life about. supposidly pumas can be seen in the morning and we did hear some fantasic roars at one point and made for the safety of the main plaza with lots of people.

We get back to Flores and the tranquility of the lake - I take a walk up to the main square at the top of the hill where there's a massive cathedral with twin bell towers and lovely stained glass. Although it's Sunday and there's a mass on I decide not to intrude and instead watch the locals play baseball in the square.

For dinner we go to another lovely, empty restaurant and watch the sun set over the lake. Flores is quite beautiful, an oasis in the middle of the jungle. People have taken kayaks out on the lake and with the sun down all you can see is the lights they are using to navigate the large lake and it's many islands. Hope theyall made it safely home.