Tikal - Ruins of Guatemala

First off, if you go to Tikal and you speak Spanish, call Chindo 5199-2959 and use him as a guide.   He was so knowledgeable  about everything Tikal: history, nature, culture.   Steve asked him how many years he'd been a guide and he replied. "Oh!  You're my first tour!"   (He'd been training for two years!) Chindo es el mejor guia en Tikal.

Was Tikal worth the 20 hours of driving, noisy, mold-filled hotel rooms, pillows stuffed with who-knows-what and a road pocked with boulders going three miles per hour?

The short answer:  Yes!   The ruins were fascinating relics of Mayan history, and we saw some spider monkeys, to boot.  Honestly, though, Steve and I both thought that Palenque, just over the Mexican border, was more impressive and jungly.

We hiked for hours around, upon, in between ruins, climbed pyramids and ate roast chicken rolled up in tortillas sitting on top of a tall pyramid looking out over the archaeological remnants of the Mayan empire: a technologically and scientifically advanced society that sacrificed their sports stars to the gods.

One of Steve's favorite parts was chewing on the anesthetic leaf of a pepper tree, which not only made your mouth go numb, but was also a curative for stomach aches, if you swallow it.

Cool ruins, history and natural surroundings!