Let's Legally Cross Some Borders

Trip Start Dec 10, 2011

Trip End Dec 16, 2011

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Where I stayed

Crystal Paradise Resort San Ignacio

(San Ignacio hotels)

Flag of Guatemala Tikal National Park, Guatemala
Sunday, December 11, 2011

So much for a relaxing vacation – our first wake-up call is at 6am so we can grab breakfast by 6:45. The meals are served under a giant palapa (thatched cover with open sides) overlooking the

Patio & Dining Area at Crystal Paradise

jungle. Also, the resort is well known for the birding tours so they would place mangoes on the balconies to attract a wide variety of flying creatures such as toucans, parrots, wood peckers, etc. Needless to say, I loved watching these cool birds while we ate breakfast and I considered myself to be one of the "bird nerds" (old people with giant cameras) by the third day. Breakfast was sausages (looked like a turd to be honest, but delicious) with home-made tortillas and bok choy. After our filling breakfast, we set out for our first day tour and the one I was looking forward to most – Tikal Ruins in

Temple II at Tikal

Guatemala. It was approximately a three hour commute since we had to cross the border and then transfer to another tour guide. I've never “walked” across a border (you weren’t able to drive through) so that was new for me!

The region in Guatemala that we drove through was breathtaking – lots of trees and tons of lakes. However, Tikal blew it all out of the water. I’ve seen Inca ruins in Peru so I was eager to compare them to the Mayan ruins. What you learn right away is that there are almost too many Mayan ruins in Central America and not enough time/people to excavate them. Tikal dates back to 400 BC and was one of the most powerful kingdoms during its time. The highlight of Tikal was its five main temples but there were so many other things in between. First, the wildlife – I was seriously snapping pics of howler monkeys, white-faced coatimundis, and various birds. Second, were the unexcavated ruins – you could see the giant mounds of dirt with trees and plants growing on it and you could tell that they were old ruins. There were hundreds of them! We climbed the few ancient temples that were open to the public and they were beautiful – mostly because they were set against this jungle backdrop. However, Temple IV was the one I was looking forward to the most – it’s the tallest Mayan structure in the area (230 ft) and it peaks out above the jungle canopy so you can see all of Guatemala and Belize. Since the

Top of Temple IV at Tikal

bottom portion of the temple is still unexcavated, you have to climb a set of man-made stairs to the top. For as high it was, I was surprisingly not too scared. I could have sat up there for days and admired the gorgeous views but the tour guide was hungry so he urged us to leave. We stopped at a restaurant right outside the park for a typical Guatemalan lunch of bbq chicken, grilled veggies, fresh corn tortillas and Gallo beer (Guatemala’s national beer). The bbq chicken was awesome. Then we embarked on our three hour ride back to the resort.

Again, we arrived at dark so we didn’t really have time to explore the resort and the grounds, which was unfortunate. And as expected, we had to eat again so soon. A giant bbq leg of chicken, potatoes (more tortillas, of course) and some birthday cake for dessert (which I thought was strange but still good). I was stuffed from all this eating but I didn’t want to insult our hosts. Then Dan and I wrapped up the evening with some competitive trivia and hit the sack for the next big tour.

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