Over the course of 9 months in 2017, my partner and I sold all of our possessions, including 2 vehicles, and a house full of stuff. In order to sell the house for its maximum value, we also completed 3 months of renovations that had been lingering for over 3 years. We wrapped up 2 businesses and left a town and tight knit community that we both cherished. We did all of this in order to seek out a life of freedom, away from the hustle and bustle of the 9-5 life, but most importantly, we did it so that we could travel. This is our story…….
How does one put into words the sense of being in a place as truly astounding as Tikal?
I have seen many photos through the years of Tikal, and the photos have been truly incredible. Incredible enough that for as long as I can remember, I have wanted to go there. But it’s always been some thought that was deep back in my subconscious, lingering and waiting for the right opportunity to present itself. I don’t necessarily have a ‘bucket list’ per se, but I know that many other places exist in there as well, and their time will come to fruition also, when they are meant to. But, I have to say, many other places that I wish to visit, probably won’t pull me into their depths like Tikal has.
When I set foot on this ancient land, I suddenly felt like I had come home. Like somehow, someway, I had lived there before. I walked the trails with a calm sense of knowing where I was being led, feeling an invisible pull from location to location, temple to temple.
Pictures will never do justice to a place like Tikal. You simply have to experience it. It is profound, it is absolutely mind blowing, and it is transformational.
Our day began early, we caught a 5:30am shuttle bus in front of a nearby hotel that is located in El Remate, the closest town to Tikal National Park. There was 4 of us waiting for it, the other 2 were well into their late 50’s or early 60’s. As the medium sized bus pulled up, it looked like it was some sort of travelling slumber party. The average age on the bus was about 19, and maybe one or 2 of them were wide eyed and bushy tailed to start their day, but the rest were sawing logs. Realizing that they had come from a hostel in Flores, another hour away, I can imagine that their morning started much earlier, and knowing the backpackers general routine of partying every night, I’m sure many of them barely had had any sleep.
The 4 of us filled the only remaining 4 seats, which were those fold down deals that fill the aisle way all the way to the back. This bus was full! But we were whisked off to Tikal none-the-less, giggling inside at the sights of heads bobbing, and one poor guy trying to hold onto the seat in front of him to rest his head on his arm, only to have his fingers slip off as soon as he fell asleep. Once his hand slipped, he would snap awake, make a grab for it again, and then repeat the sequence all over again. I couldn’t help feeling terribly sorry for him, but I also couldn’t stop watching as the suspense of watching his hand slip off, each time was as enjoyable and as hilarious as the last.
We paid our Q150 (roughly $20) entry fee, and got back on the bus for another 5-7 kilometre drive. I was actually surprised at how long it took us to get there. I expected only a 30 minute drive, and thought we would be in the park by 6:00 or so. However, it took us until closer to 7:00 to finally start our day.
I bought a map outside the gates when we were paying for our ticket for roughly $3. I could tell right away that it wasn’t a great one, but I felt that it would be worth having something, as I had no idea what to expect once in there. I took a look at it right away, and noticed the farthest point out from the gate. It’s called Temple IV, and I had a quiet knowing that we immediately had to go to that temple to start our day. My rational thinking was that as it was farthest from the gates, it would be the quietest place for the longest, but I had no idea what sort of temple it was, and certainly didn’t know that it would be the absolute most spectacular temple of them all, and a perfect place to begin our day from.
After walking through some other temples to get to the big one, we referenced the map a couple times, to make sure we were still heading to the farthest one. While doing this, we got a bit of a lay of the land so we had some idea where we were at all times. When we got to Temple IV, and climbed the stairs all the way to the top (it’s mostly man made stairs now unfortunately), we were astounded by the view of the lush green canopy that was presented before us, and could see a few temples poking out of the foggy and mystical tops of the trees, in the distance. We soon figured out which one was which, and from this perch, 212 feet above the jungle floor, we are able to decide our route for the rest of the day.
When we arrived at the top, we chuckled at the sight of the other 2 older people that we had waited for the bus with that morning, having already arrived. We had a quick laugh about all of us wanting to beat the kids to this spot, to enjoy some quiet morning time from up there. Again, we didn’t have a clue what this temple had in store for us, and were gobsmacked by the majesty of it for sure.
After one very loud group of Europeans finally left, we enjoyed almost an hour of peace and reflection on top of this incredible structure with the other 2. Interestingly enough, they are British, but had been living in Leon, Nicaragua, and are currently political refugees, taking a one month break in Guatemala. We had an interesting conversation with them about their experience, and their stories were horrific. Mortar and gunfire had been going off outside there house for multiple nights before they decided that their nerves were frazzled, and they needed a break. They aren’t sure what they are doing, or where they are going. The husband had work there, she took a three year sabbatical from teaching in England, and he had another year in his contract. But at that moment the NGO he had been working for had no plans to return to Nicaragua, and they are left feeling lost and floating around in the world. Yet more people displaced by the chaos in Nicaragua.
We sat atop this incredible structure and watched Toucans zip from tree to tree throughout the Canopy. I saw a big howler monkey in the tree branches of one tree, and we had a visit by a Pozote (coatimundi) that had obviously climbed all the way up there from the ground. By then, a group of the students had arrived to the top of the temple, and when one guy approached the edge to look down, he turned to the rest of us wide eyed and said “There is a crazy animal down here!” One girl asked what it was from her seat on the stairs, and he announced “I really don’t know, it’s like a Dog Monkey.” Haha! Well that was it! Many people jumped up from their seats to go and check out what a “Dog Monkey” looked like, including Chris. Thankfully, having seen these guys already in Costa Rica, he knew what it was, and was able to tell people it’s correct name.
The Pozote had come up sniffing around for food that our new friends had dropped. Their cake, that they bought for lunch was incredibly crumbly, and she had thrown a bunch of the crumbs that were falling on the ground, down the side of the temple. This super cute guy came up from exactly where she had thrown it, and was sniffing for more. As they also had a huge pile of crumbs near where we were sitting, he made motions to come closer to get them, but thought more wisely about it and stayed his distance. I’m sure once all the people are gone at the end of the day, these guys climb up and recover the goodies that have been left by the tourists.
In witnessing him, and the rest of the jungle animals, we realized that they are the lucky ones. The animals of Tikal get to live in this magical play land. This place where time seems to stand still, where your worries about the rest of the world just melt away. Where mother nature dictates what is happening, and where the powerful energy of the place just breathes life into every corner of it. I can’t tell you how many times through the day, I wished that I could make this place my home. A little roof here, and an extra wall there, we could easily make this place inhabitable again. I couldn’t help but think that this place had housed thousands of people throughout it’s history, yet none were here now. Of course, our society keeps these places sacred, and of course, people aren’t able to live there now, but I almost had a strong vision that this place would be inhabited again. Like somehow, the world will fall into such a state of disrepair, that I think people who survive, will come back to these places. Will seek solace in the sprits that reside on these magical lands. I do believe that somewhere, somehow, these places will rise again. I don’t know how I have this feeling, call me crazy if you want, but the power I felt from that land was great, and I can’t explain it either.
With more people starting to arrive at the top, and the sun starting to get warm, we decided that it was time to descend back into the canopy, to start our day of exploration. We had plenty of time, our bus wasn’t leaving until 4:30, we had food and plenty of water. We were absolutely in no rush at all.
Having an overhead view of the park from Temple IV allowed us to also use our map to figure out where we wanted to go next and how we wanted to plan our route for the day. So we set out immediately for the next structure that you could climb to the top of, and that was also poking above the canopy. We wanted to look back at where we had been sitting atop Temple IV, to get a scale of what we had ascended.
After we satisfied our curiosity, and finished checking out the next temple, the sun was starting to get hot, and it only made sense to stay below the canopy and stay mostly out of it’s deadly tropical rays. We flitted along the paths from temple to temple, took tons of pictures, and even had an awe inspiring connection with a butterfly about the size of Chris’ hand that flew past us. I didn’t notice, but Chris watched where it flew to, just down the trail. It landed at the base of a tree trunk, and as we made our way down to it, it stayed in the same place, seemingly not caring about us at all. As we realized that we could maybe get a picture of this fabulous creature, we slowed way down and crept up to it. At first we zoomed our phone cameras in, but we soon realized that there was no need for a zoom, as this butterfly was really in the mood for a photo shoot. We both got within one foot of it, and it didn’t even twitch. After thanking it for it’s incredible-ness, taking a ton of phots of it, and walking away, I realized that the whole scene would be much more impactful had I videoed it.
We were 50 feet away or more, and I decided to turn back. I mean really, how often does one get to witness such an incredible creature up close and personal like that. It was still in it’s spot and I told it that it was going to be in a movie. It was also in the mood for this I suppose, as we videoed it, got super close, and talked to it the whole time. Again, without even a twitch. Just incredible, and certainly a highlight of the day. (You can find the video on our Facebook Page.)
We also had run ins with many wonderful fuzzy caterpillars crawling on the ground, birds of many species, a giant grasshopper, more monkeys and of course Pizotes scattered here and there on the forest floor. We walked amongst ancient trees and massive plants. Of course, one can’t help but make comments about feeling like they are in Jurassic Park, when wandering through the incredible flora. Familiar plants that we have in pots in our houses in Canada, towered high above our heads as we walked the trails of this dense tropical landscape.
We finally stopped for lunch back in the Central Plaza around 11:00. We were finding it hard to just stop ourselves for a bit as we were wide eyed with wonder as we went from temple to temple, realizing the massive scope of this city. While eating, we couldn’t help but notice the tourists that were just arriving, at the hottest part of the day, and with all the other crowds. This was our first look at just how many people visit this park, and here we were in the slow season. I can’t imagine how busy it can get in the high season months. We were thankful that we had planned our day the way that we did, as we had seen very few people in our first 4 hours of exploration, and we were thankful that that was the case. I can imagine that with 40 or more people sitting on top of Temple IV, there would be no sign of the little Pizote that had visited our smaller gathering in the quiet of the morning.
With not a moment to spare, and knowing that we still had lots to see and explore, we ate quite quickly, refilled our water bottles, and set off. (Something to note: there is NO Food available throughout the park, only a couple restaurants right at the beginning. So pack a lunch, and plan to stay a while!)
The second part of our day was filled with explorations that mostly took us in and around the structures. We climbed countless stairs, ascended and descended structure after structure, walked through tiny tunnels, and explored as many nooks and crannies that we were allowed to, and possibly one or two that were at the very least, a grey zone of whether we were allowed to or not. We somehow found ways to avoid the crowds, and made sure that we stayed away from the main trails and guided routes.
It was in this alone, that we were thankful that we had not decided to hire a guide. We came across many groups with guides, and it was clear that these groups were not moving at the pace that we were, and many weren’t able to cover the vast amount of area that we were. And while there are a thousand unanswered questions about these temples, how they came to be, who lived in them, what the structures represented and countless more, what we really felt like we were there to do, was just experience the land. To realize that countless thousands of people had lived here, and that while Tulum was but a tiny seaside village, this was a city. It was an empire. It was, and is, royal, majestic and incredibly humbling.
When our buzz of excitement and our need to explore everything we possibly could wore off, we realized that we were exhausted. Suddenly our knees and legs and every part of our bodies were tired, and we realized that it was time to go. We had seen all that we could in one day, and we knew that we would be back.
Tikal is a place that I think a person could return to countless times, each time finding a new thing to explore, a new carving, a new structure. We do plan to return, but next time it will be with a guide. Next time we will get our burning questions answered.
Do you want to visit Flores and Tikal?
We have rented a house here in Flores for a couple months, but will possibly stay longer as we don’t have any other plans to go anywhere until we housesit in Livingston, also here in Guatemala, in late November. So we have decided to share our experience with others who may want to come here to see Tikal, and what Guatemala has to offer.
We are offering a one week package for a very good price. You will be staying with us in our house, and we will take care of your meals and all of the details to go to El Remate for two nights, and Tikal for a day visit.
Check out the information here, and let us know if this interests you at all. We feel that it is a really good value, and are happy to share what we know, and help you to get to know the area and the people that inhabit this land.
Of course, we are open to altering the schedule to suit your needs, and we can add on extra excursions if it is wanted.
In other news…..
I have been forgetting to blog about a fun project that Chris and I did while we stayed in Samara, Costa Rica for a month. We were able to put our artistic skills to good use and paint a mural for the owner of our hostel, in exchange for part of our accommodation.
While both of us are artists of various mediums, neither of us has had much experience with actual painting. I myself have watched many artists paint, and I understand the basic gist of layering up your image starting from the background and moving forward, but have never really attempted anything on a large scale, and certainly not something detailed like what the owner wanted, as I normally work in an abstract fashion.
However, with Chris being the very skilled, artist that he is, and knowing that drawing animals is one of his strong suits, I knew we could accomplish this project. So, despite a healthy amount of fear, we decided that we just needed to attempt it, and give it a try.
We made many mistakes through the process, and at times had a hard time trying to make things look the way we wanted, but through trial and error, and the beauty of just painting over our ‘mistakes’, we feel that we were able to come up with something pretty awesome.
We are very proud of ourselves, and mostly learned through this process that the most important thing we can say to these kinds of opportunities, is to Just Say Yes! By saying yes we broke through our own barriers of fear and doubt, and we came out beaming on the other side.
We are pretty excited to know that this painting will be hanging in the hostel for many years to come. It’s a great privilege to be able to leave bits and pieces of our creative selves wherever we go, and to know that we have brightened and livened up different spaces around the world. We plan to continue to spread our creativity and artwork around in every place that we visit!
Thanks for reading! Please know that above all else, I aim to inspire others to just get out and see the world. Traveling is such an enriching experience, and I can’t even comprehend how much it has shaped me as an individual. If you have ANY questions, or need travel advice of ANY kind, PLEASE don’t hesitate to email me at the address below! I will do my very best to help you in any way I can!
Xoxoxo Happy Travels!
Current Location: We are currently in Flores, Guatemala. We have rented a house and expect to stay here for a minimum of 2 months.
Travelling Plans: No plans to go anywhere at this point!
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Just Some Wandering 