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Visiting a Mayan site: Tikal
Of course, another goal of the trip was to visit a Mayan site; we saw 2 nice big ones. In our Western ignorance, many people cannot distinguish between the various pre-Columbian civilizations, the most important of which were
- Aztecs (who lived mainly in present-day Mexico and Guatemala)
- Maya (Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras)
- Incas (Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Bolivia)
Tikal is Guatemala’s main Mayan center; many temples have been recovered from the jungle, but there are plenty of others still submerged in vegetation. The best is to climb one and see beyond the top of the towering trees, the tips of other temples that seem to emerge from a green carpet.
It makes quite an impression to walk through these places that for centuries were cities teeming with life, people (up to 100,000 inhabitants) and activity; and then abandoned and surrounded by nature, inhabited solely by animals and plants, before becoming tourist attractions.
Among the things to see in Tikal, not to be missed is the 48-meter-high Temple of the Giant Jaguar; I liked it just by the name alone, and it is virtually untouched. Constant are the cries of the howler monkeys that inhabit the forest along with many other animals. Visiting a Mayan site also means being well into the wilderness.
Always on the hunt
In a similar place (in Cambodia) I met a Parisian girl, who was beautiful by the way. If, on the other hand, you are with a group, I think it’s in the nature of things to be next to one moment and next to someone else shortly after, even casually and without ulterior motives.
I think it is just as normal that in a group of people who have to share time together, interests may arise; but mainly because there is plenty of time to possibly go deeper, the matter should be taken calmly, also because, if the interest were reciprocated, it would come out. Unfortunately, on the other hand, some people do not experience these situations in a mature way and are always there after the prey and if, even accidentally, someone, especially a male, gets too close, the alarm goes off and they go on the counterattack! In general I find the situation very heavy, so much so that as mentioned initially, in this case I had no aim as early as the second day.
I am convinced that how one experiences certain things can say a lot about a person, and I perhaps have all too clear ideas about what a female traveler should be like to get along with me so well that she also becomes my traveling companion. Whereas for lighter matters, well, you don’t need to go to so much trouble and being too pushy I think is counterproductive. Not to mention, when do you ever visit a Mayan site again? I would focus on that.
Rio Dulce
Along the Río Dulce, we had other beautiful nature experiences so to speak aquatic. In addition to the trip along the river, we stayed overnight in a kind of little village(Eco-Lodge) built on stilts that are in a semi-watery area near the river. One critter I really liked were those crabs with one giant claw, here they were very bright orange.
In one of the apartments they forgot to close the window tightly and took forever to dislodge all the various bugs and insects that had settled in.
Home trip Travel to Central America: Guatemala, Honduras and Belize
Previous leg Wrong Company, leg of Honduras trip
Next stop Visit a Caribbean island, stop in Belize
Trips taken, travel stories divided by continent
Anecdotes, divided by type in travel narratives
Countries visited in my travel stories
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