Tikal

Tikal, in Guatemala, is probably the most famous of the Mayan ruins.

Altar Stone

We hired a guide for just the two of us. This turned out to be a good idea. If we had done it on our own we would have spent time looking at the maps instead of the ruins. He knew the quickest paths, and the prettiest. And he could tell us about the items we were looking at.

Here he is explaining about an altar stone.

Main Acropolis and Temple of the Great Jaguar

From the entrance this is the first main area you visit.

Temple II

We did not climb temple 2, but others did. The steps are long and uneven.

Another temple

The front steps have been fully restored but the back would be really tricky to climb.

Temple IV

Temple IV is the tallest structure at Tikal. It is also fairly easy to climb because these stairs go part of the way up.

The view is spectacular. One the left is another pyramid. On the right the tall building is Temple V.

Our guide knew where to find a tarantula and how to coax her from her den with a blade of grass. Here is Charlotte taking a picture. The resulting photo is on the animals page. We also saw several species of birds at Tikal, and some of them are on the birds page.

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Last modified 23 June 2016