21
Nov

If We Had to Pick a Favorite – Tikal National Park Archaeological Site, Guatemala

Posted on November 21st, 2011 :: Posted in 2012 calendar, Accommodation, Archaeology Site, Central America, Guatemala, Mayan, National Park, Ruins, Sunrise & Sunset, Tips, UNESCO Site, video

When Eric visited the remains of the vast and powerful Pre-Columbian Mayan city of Tikal in Northern Guatemala in 1993 he quickly dubbed it his favorite Mayan archaeological site. Eighteen years later we have now visited more than 50 other Mayan sites, including Tikal for a second time. Though we love most of the Mayan sites we’ve visited Eric says that Tikal, which was Guatemala’s first national park (designated in 1955), is still his favorite.

Though it feels a bit like choosing one child over the others, there’s just something about the combination of epic architecture, deep jungle (more than 20 square miles of it) and legendary history that makes Tikal appeal in ways few other Mayan cities do.

Temple 1 in the Gran Plaza at Tikal archaeological site in Guatemala.

You can’t rush Tikal

To get to the Tikal site you must first pass through Tikal National Park. If you’re driving (as we were, of course) you get a time-stamped form (called a Boleta de Contro de Velocidad or Speed Control Form) at the national park entrace and a warning about the 25 mph speed limit within the national park. Arrive too quickly at the second park check point 10 miles down the road and they’ll know you were speeding. Pretty clever.

To be honest, we were worried that time, “progress” and the pitter patter of so many tourist feet (Tikal attracts bus loads of visitors) might have changed the vibe of the site or, worse, damaged it. Some things have changed at this UNESCO World Heritage Site since Eric’s first visit. Conservationists complain of damage to structures and jungle areas and too much garbage (though there are plenty of trash cans and we didn’t notice trash on the ground during our visit).

Also, you can no longer climb Temple 1 in the Grand Plaza, in large part because at least one tourist has fallen down the crazy-steep stairs of this structure and died. Hey, good reason.

A pyramid in Group Q at Tikal archaeological site in Guatemala.

Start at the top

Temple 1 in the Gran Plaza at Tikal archaeological site in Guatemala.

After paying 150Q per person (about US$20, the highest archeological site admission in Guatemala) we walked along a shaded path with jungle encroaching on either side. At 6:30 in the morning the sound of the birds starting their day was almost too loud. After passing an enormous ceiba tree, we reached the main attraction: the massive Grand Plaza and its facing temples.

At that time of the morning fog draped the imposing structures that anchor the Grand Plaza, adding to the already substantial amount of mystery mystery. Temple I (aka The Great Jaguar temple) is 144 feet (40 meters) high and was the burial place of a beloved leader. It faces shorter Temple II (aka Temple of the Masks) where his wife was entombed.

Early morning fog over the Gran Plaza at Tikal archaeological site in Guatemala.

Temple 2 in the Gran Plaza at Tikal archaeological site in Guatemala.

In the Central Acropolis between Temples I and II an impressive mask can be seen on a an inner part of the temple which archaeologists have thoughtfully excavated for easy viewing.

An unearthed mask in the Central Acropolis at Tikal archaeological site in Guatemala.

Pop culture tidbit: Part of of the original Star Wars movie, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977), was shot at Tikal mostly from on top of Temple IV looking back at the tops of Temple 1 and Temple II.

Temples 1 and II as seen from Temple IV at Tikal--much like the footage shot here for Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope--the very first Star Wars movie which was shot in part at Tikal in the '70s.

Beyond Tikal’s Grand Plaza

Temple V at Tikal archaeological site in Guatemala.

Tikal’s Grand Plaza is breathtaking, but this massive site–with more than 3,000 structures and 250 stelae (most of them unexcavated) spread over six square miles and criss-crossed with trails–has other surprises in store.

In fact, limelight-hogging Temple 1 is not the tallest structure at Tikal. Temple IV, one of the most massive structures in the known Mayan world, is 212 feet (65 meters) high (more than 60 feet taller than Temple 1). It’s also still climbable via a vertiginous set of stairs that switch-backs up the side of the structure.

Temple V may only be 187 feet (57 meters) high, but it’s the steepness that will get you. It requires a practically vertical trip up and down a rickety, rusting metal staircase built up the side of this structure to reach the breezes and views from the top.

Looking down from the the top of Tikal's incredibly steep Temple V.

One of the distinct pleasures of Tikal is the trail system that connects all of these various plazas and areas. A peaceful stroll through the jungle is rewarded with the “discovery” of another civilized area, like Mundo Perdido (Lost World) which may date as far back as 500 BC.

A pyramid in the Mundo Perdido area of Tikal archaeological site.

Even further afield you find five groups, each given a different letter. One of our favorites was Group Q with its twin pyramids. Group R at Tikal also has twin pyramids. The only other known Mayan site with twin pyramids is Yaxha.

A rebuilt pyramid in Group Q in Tikal archaeological site in Guatemala.

Intercultural exchange: Though they weren’t Mayans and they lived more than 600 miles way, experts believe that the rulers of Teotihuacan, near what is now Mexico City, taught inhabitants of Tikal how to use spears (instead of hand-to-hand combat) and that helped Tikal dominate the Mundo Maya, control other Mayan cities and sustain a peak population of 60,000.

Speaking of the Mundo Maya, you may have already heard that the astoundingly accurate Mayan calendar abruptly ends on December 21, 2012. Depending on who you ask, this marks the end of the world, a chance for humanity to hit the re-set button, or nothing at all.

Our video, below, gives a sense of Tikal’s Grand Plaza in morning mist followed by the epic views you get from the top of Temple IV.

The end of the Mayan calendar

In 2012 countries in the Mundo Maya are laying on special celebrations of Mayan culture all year long as a way of marking the end of mysterious end of the epic Maya calendar. There are so many special events planned that Moon decided to publish a special guide called Maya 2012: A guide to celebrations in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras–to which we contributed!

At Tikal, 2012 celebrations will include an amped-up version of the annual Dia de La Razas (Day of the Races, October 12)—an alternative to Columbus Day which celebrates the accomplishments of the Latin American population and honors indigenous cultures.

We were also told that special ceremonies and rituals, lead by Mayan tatas and nanas (accomplished male and female spiritual leaders whose job is, literally, to “count the days”) will be held on December 21 at Tikal–the exact day the Mayan calendar ends. Details were thin when we were there, but alll are welcome to attend just be prepared for crowds during special events. Looking for a less-crowded place to mark the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012? Just 12 miles (23km) beyond Tikal lies Uaxactun archaeological site which has the earliest known astrological complex in the Mundo Maya.

Conquistador fact: In 1525, Hernán Cortés basically rode right past Tikal.

Hundreds of leaf cutter ants create tiny superhighways and keep the jungle floor clean at Tikal.

TIP

We’re about to post lots of details about the pros and cons of using El Remate vs. Flores as a basecamp for your visit to Tikal. However, your time, price of admission and access to the site will be unquestionably maximized if you can spend two nights at one of the hotels located atTikal itself.

Karen with Tikal's Temple III behind her.

New admisstion rules have eliminated a policy that used to allow you to use one ticket to enter the site in the evening then again in the morning and you now need a new ticket every single day.This means that if you want to see and photograph Tikal in the morning and the evening (and you do) the easiest way to do that is to stay two nights at the site.

This allows you to arrive, sleep, then get and enter Tikal early then sit out the afternoon heat and crowds, re-entering the site in the evening before spending a second night at the site.

Another option is to pay 250Q per person (about US$31) on top of the normal 150Q (US$20) entrance fee to gain access to Tikal before and after opening and closing times (6 am to 6 pm).

There are three hotels within a few hundred yards of the entrance to Tikal. We were hosted at Jaguar Inn which has 10 big, clean, tile-floor bungalows with great beds and WiFi plus a decent on-site restaurant. There’s a grassy, flat camping area too including a few sites under a palapa roof.

As an added bonus, the grounds of the Jaguar Inn are full of plants that attract monkeys, so if you didn’t see enough of them in the site itself, you can check them out from the patio and hammock on the front porch of your bungalow.

A spider monkey having lunch--just one of the wild animals that live in Tikal archaeological site in Guatemala.

15 Comments - Join the conversation »

21
Dec

A Winning Town – Campeche, Mexico

Posted on December 21st, 2010 :: Posted in Church, City, Fort, Mexico, UNESCO Site, video

It happens. You plan to stay in a city for a few days and end up staying for a week. That’s what happened to us in Campeche, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and beautifully restored formerly fortified colonial city now making its way as a modern port town.

Meticulously maintained colonial era columns, arches, cobblestoned streets and the lavish (and lavishly named) Catedral de Nuestra Senora de la Pursima Concepcion adorn the main plaza in Campeche, Mexico.

Those same arches, columns, cobblestones and plazas get even busier at night when the temperature finally cools down to a level fit for humans.

Of the seven churches in Campeche the Catedral de Nuestra Senora de la Pursima Concepcion on the main plaza is the most imposing--both day and night.

General civic pride financed by huge sums of government money keep the colonial-era buildings in Campeche looking their best.

Over recent years federal and local governments have pumped millions of pesos into a beautification project designed to restore and maintain most of the downtown area. Hundreds of colonial era buildings have been brought back to life and they’re spruced up regularly with subsidized painting programs. When we were in Campeche citizens were in the midst of another painting frenzy and most downtown streets looked like long strings of Easter eggs or trails of Jordan almonds as each building in the block tried to out-pastel its neighbor.

The blues of Campeche.

Campeche is even in the process of burying its power lines below ground, creating an even more beautiful cityscape. As much as we enjoyed these beautification efforts, the citizens of Campeche seemed to enjoy them even more.

This vibrantly-painted corner is home to Salon Rincon Colonial bar. Walk through the swinging saloon doors and you're welcomed with a cold beer and a hot mariachi band being egged on by a crew of friendly locals.

Campechenos enjoy their city day and night and one of the best nightspots is an old-school bar called Salon Rincon Colonial. Scenes from the movie Original Sin, starring Antonio Banderras, were shot here but we found the pleasing mustiness, cold beer, mariachi band and welcoming regulars to be the real draw. Hey, anyplace where the bartender drinks with the customers and sings with the band is okay with us. See for yourself, in our video below:

Old Campeche is surrounded by a wall studded with seven imposing forts. That’s a lot of canons. Most of the forts are now open for tours and a few of them also house museums.

The curved entrance to the San Jose del Alto Fort in Campeche was designed to make it more impenetrable. Now it just looks elegant.

The most impressive of the fort-based museums is the Museo Arqueologico de Campeche in the San Miguel Fort. Every rambling room contained treasures from the Yucatan Peninsula including masks, steles, ornate bowls, jewelry, whole burial chambers, hieroglyphics and more. Our visit to this museum enriched our subsequent visits to the Mayan sites like Edzna and Calakmul where many of the pieces where discovered.

With seven forts built into the wall surrounding old Campeche there's no shortage of canons in this town.

Another angle on the San Jose del Alto Fort in Campeche, Mexico.

Part of the wall that surrounds Campeche, Mexico with the town's cathedral visible in the background.

Campeche is not only surrounded by a wall, it’s also surrounded by the sea and that means seafood! A string of palapa restaurants line the shore serving up all kinds of just-caught goodness. A relatively-newly opened place not very creatively called La Palapa is located opposite the Holiday Inn. The food was superb if not cheap (about 115 pesos, or about US$9, for a big meal of fish cooked in garlic, rice, salad and tortillas) and we believe La Palapa is owned by the same people who run Salon Rincon Colonial bar.

The colors of Campeche are gorgeous during the day and dream-like at night.

Basically, Campechanos like to have fun. Baseball is big here and the local team is (fittingly) called the Campeche Pirates. Even fund-raising events are fun in Campeche as we learned one Saturday evening when we stumbled into the weekly public loteria game organized by the city library.

Loteria is a children’s board game that’s played like bingo but instead of trying to fill your card with boring calls like “B-4″ you fill it with matches that correspond to Mexican vocabulary words. Get the right combination of El Borracho (the drunk), La Pera (the pear) and other calls and you win half the pot that the library ladies collect on each round.

We love loteria and find it very useful at building vocabulary. The library ladies looking over our shoulder to make sure we didn’t miss a match were helpful too and we felt a bit better once we saw that they were hovering over the Mexican players too.

Early in the sitting Karen actually won a round (not sure who was more surprised: us or the locals) and scored 25 pesos (about US$2). Later in the evening, when more than 50 locals of all ages had joined in the game, Eric won another round and pocketed twice that.

Karen winning a round of loteria in the main plaza in Campeche. We're not sure what's wrong with Senora Cranky Pants at the head of the table. Sore loser?

We’d soon blown our winnings on the scrumptious snacks being cooked up at carts set up around the plaza. Among other great bites, we enjoyed one of the best bowls of pozole (a rich and spicy soup thick with hominy and fresh meat) that we had in all of Mexico.

Wedding guests wearing indigenous costumes congregate on the steps of Campeche's perpetually busy Catedral de Nuestra Senora de la Purisma Concepcion.

For all of the charming reasons we’ve laid out in this post we sensibly decided to stay in Campeche for much longer than we’d planned and we jumped at a basic but very clean room at Hotel Reforma right off the square where we got Wi-Fi and A/C for 200 pesos (about US$16) a night. Plus we got Jorge, the owner, who looked out for us in a paternal way that was kind, not creepy.

A bride, sporting one of the longest trains we've ever seen, enters Campeche's Catedral de Nuestra Senora de la Purisma Concepcion.

[geo_mashup_map]

2 Comments - Join the conversation »

15
Oct

Day Trip Bliss – Around Mexico City

Posted on October 15th, 2010 :: Posted in Archaeology Site, Art, Church, City, Mexico, UNESCO Site

As if Mexico City didn’t have enough museums, attractions in and around the Centro, delicious tacos and cool neighborhoods to keep us busy for weeks, the city is also within easy day-trip distance of other fascinating things to do and see. Here are four of our favorite things to do around the city.

The Ruins of the Aztec City of Teotihuacan

The archaeological site, located about 25 miles from Mexico City at what remains of the pre-Columbian Aztec city of Teotihuchan, was first opened to the public 100 years ago and millions of people have toured the massive complex, known as The Place Where the Gods Were Created, since then. Despite the site’s long history of archeological exploration new discoveries are still being made. Just this year a 400 foot long tunnel that’s believed to be nearly 2,000 years old was unearthed at this UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Pyramid of the Sun is the third largest pyramid in the world, after the Great Pyramid of Cholula also in Mexico and the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt.

A visit to Teotihuacan can easily take three hours and be prepared for dusty, hot, shade-free conditions and some steep climbs up the nearly 250 foot high Pyramid of the Sun and only slightly smaller Pyramid of the Moon. Though some Mexican women do it in heels we highly recommend sensible shoes.

It's a long, hot, steep climb up the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan near Mexico City.

The Pyramid of the Moon as seen from the top of the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan near Mexico City.

The Pyramid of the Moon at Teotihuacan near Mexico City.

A controversial Resplandor Teotihuacano sound and light show is also put on at Teotihuacan but, thankfully, plans to build a Walmart on a section of the ancient city appear to have been defeated.

Teotihuacan-Temple-Sun+Avenue of Dead-sunset

Looking down the Avenue of the Dead with the Pyramid of the Sun in the background at Teotihuacan near Mexico City..

The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Welcome to the world’s most visited Catholic site–yep, more people come to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a short bus/metro ride from the city center, than any other catholic shrine in the world. It’s estimated that around 20 million people a year visit the Basilica. Even Pope John Paul came here and his Mexican Popemobile is still on display.

The Basilica is impossibly packed during the annual Festival of Our Lady of Guadalupe which happens every year in December. The festival marks the time of year when, in 1531, the dark-skinned Virgin of Guadalupe is said to have first appeared to an Aztec shepherd named Juan Diego, eventually proving her existence and her miraculous powers by imprinting an image of herself onto his clothes.

The weirdly modern looking new Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe (left) next to the old basilica which is literally sinking into the ground under its own weight.

This leads us to the main reason the faithful (and the curious) flock to the Basilica. The actual tilma or apron that Diego was wearing at the time of his encounter with the virgin is said to be exhibited in the weirdly modern new Basilica which was built after it was discovered that the elegant, stately original stone basilica is literally sinking under its own weight. The old basilica was closed for repairs for a while but it’s open now and despite engineer’s best efforts you still walk uphill into the sagging church when you cross the threshold.

This statue on the grounds of the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe shows Juan Diego showing the bishop the miracle of the Virgin of Guadalupe's image printed onto his shepherd's clothes.

But we digress. Back to the miracle shroud. What’s said to be Diego’s actual tilma bearing the actual image of the Virgin seared there in 1531 is framed and hung on a wall underneath the altar in the new basilica. A back-and-forth sets of moving sidewalks slowly ferry people from left to right, then right to left in front of the relic. Tears flow, cameras snap, eyebrows raise.

Relic or not, this framed image of the Virgin of Guadalupe underneath the altar in the new Basilica of our Lady of Guadalupe near Mexico City attracts millions of the faithful plus a few of the just plain curious.

The Xochimilco Canals

Mexico City is built on a swamp which was originally tamed by the Aztecs using a clever network of canals and bridges. Today, most of the Mexico City valley has been reclaimed as solid ground but 17 miles to the south in Xochimilco you can still experience the original watery ways.

Here, brightly painted hand-propelled boats called trejineras ply the waters taking tourists and locals alike through a network of calm waterways that make up this UNESCO World Heritage Site. Food and beer and trinket vendors sidle up in their own boats as do mariachis eager for a commission. It’s a festive atmosphere best shared with family and friends.

Colorful boats called trajineras ply the tranquil waters of the ancient Xochimilco canals near Mexico City.

Mariachis on a trajinera on the Xochimilco canals give new meaning to the term "roving minstrel."

The UNAM Campus

The full name of this massive campus is the National Autonomous University of Mexico or the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. Whatever you call it this is widely considered to be the best university in Latin America.

At least 7 Mexican Presidents and other assorted political figures have attended UNAM plus big Mexican literary figures and, weirdly, William F. Buckley who attended UNAM in 1943.

UNAM is 100 years old this year and the main campus, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, dates back to the 1950s. The campus earned UNESCO status in large part because of the stunning convergence of architecture and art. The campus was designed by Mexican architects Mario Pani and Enrique del Moral but its vaguely revolutionary, certainly progressive look and feel can be credited to a much larger group of creative types who the architects collaborated with including sixty engineers and artists worked like David Alfaro Siquieros, Diego Rivera and Juan O’Gorman.

UNAM is also home to Olympic Stadium which was built in 1956 and which hosted the tumultuous 1968 Summer Olympics.

The Central Library on the UNAM campus in Mexico City is covered in mosaics by Juan O'Gorman.

Torre de Rectoria on the UNAM campus in Mexico City is covered in murals by David Alfaro Siqueiros. This one, "Las fechas de las historia de Mexico" (The dates of Mexico's histsory) includes dates representing key events in Mexican history: 1520 (the Spanish conquest), 1810 (independence from Spain), 1857 (writing of the constitution) and 1910 (the Mexican revolution). The final date simply reads "19??."

[geo_mashup_map]