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Tikal
(Petén) |
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| In short |
Tikal is an abandoned Maya city with towering temples surrounded by miles of pristine rain forest. Maya glyphs are currently being deciphered in real time and visitors become witnesses of the discovery of a culture which was believed to be lost in the forest forever.
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| What to pack? |
Insect repellent, rain gear, torch
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| Description: |
Tikal is almost a brand - it is being spoiled by all the ingredients of a big Hollywood spectacle. From the most photogenic pyramids of the new world you look over the endless canopy of the largest jungle in Mesoamerica. Below there is a huge lost city with over three thousand moldering buildings, its history seemingly wiped out by the jungle forever. But no: almost daily there are news on Tikal's long-rotten rulers, for the decipherment of Maya writing is currently under way.
Those who have no eyes for the ruins can let tame coatis feed from their hands, or watch the other aliens in the jungle. There is hardly a place in the world where so many different creatures meet. The Indian woman from the Western highlands hide their hips in a dozen yards of blue cloth, while the widow of a drug boss from El Salvador poisons her pneumatic cleavage with sun- and insect repelling chemicals. The sturdy carpet layer from Oklahoma has set out to climb all the pyramids without using his hands, and a German biologist records the courtship behavior of the devilish Cuckoo Blackbird.
Superlatives or not - - during the first few minutes of my visit I developed a severe personal affection for Tikal. Tikal is so big that in spite of all the tourist buses you suddenly find yourself alone with the cicadas in the park-like estate. The smaller ruins and not well-restored secondary centers begin to talk to you. A stela lying on its stomach (stela = freestanding stone slab with engraved glyphs) is proud that its inscriptions have survived in the mud. Another stela fell on its back. Sun, rain and falling tree branches erased its carvings and left it in eternal coma. A round sacrificial stone altar was decorated with the data of a king and his prisoner. On a predetermined day and on this very altar, the former cut the latter’s beating heart out of his chest. An aspiring strangler fig bursts the stone facade of a minor pyramid with its muscular roots. A brawling howler monkey crashes from great height onto the forest floor and remains paralyzed by empty gasps – one of the brute gifts of nature.
When the Maya abandoned Tikal more than a thousand years ago, the jungle regained the city bit by bit. This was a slow process, since a century drought prevailed, and Tikal was built on a brittle limestone mountain. Still -- finally Tikal all but disappeared under the green carpet, and was not to be rediscovered until 1695.
The large and central pyramids were reconstructed from the surrounding blocks. Only a small part of the original facades have been preserved, and even these have been disfigured by wind and weather. Therefore it is pointless to get excited about the wear and tear by the soles of climbing tourists. The original Tikal has been erased by reconstruction. Only few people know that there was a third pyramid on the main plaza. It was dismantled in the effort to study its construction and its blocks were incorporated in the remaining two pyramids. It would be nice (but expensive) to restore the original facades. Anyone who has seen the unconventional elegance of original Maya facades is stuck by the beauty and playfulness of this exotic architecture. The great architect Frank Lloyd Wright was inspired by the Maya. He should have been contracted to renovate Tikal.
Flores and El Remate are nice, but you should be quartered in Tikal, and take two or three days time for it. Great books about the Maya, Tikal or the wildlife of Petén are found in the bookshop "Un Poco de Todo" in the Casa del Conde in the center of Antigua.
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Travel Sites
$03-10 
