Finally! It was everything I wanted it to be - and we got to leave right when it started getting blazing hot so it was perfect. Who cares if our camera died near the end - we took plenty of pictures of all the good stuff (they're posted now).
My favorite was Temple V because it was fun to climb (albeit I nearly wet my pants getting up the steep ladder and found out I may be a tad afraid of heights with no safety railings), the views were nice, I was up on it all alone at one point, and the pictures make it look like I was going to slide down it! FUN. I wanted to tumble Domo down the slide part and act like he was a human sacrafice - which I'm sure they did way back when - but Jeff said he may get stuck in the middle and there's no way to get him back of that happens. Not worth the risk, although the photo op would have been awesome.
Only disappointing - though safety conscious - thing was that you can't take the real Mayan stairs on any of the big/major temples. They built modern safe ones instead (but at the top you can sit on the alter/top parts and could easily fall down the old Mayan stairs if you wanted).
There are a bunch of signs when you are first driving up to Tikal - snake crossing, jaguar crossing, deer crossing - but my two favorite, and the two that turned out to be true for us - were:
1 - Ant Eater Crossing (SCARY! Those things could claw you! but it was up in a tree so I was ok) and
2 - Turkey Crossing. I don't want to say the turkeys were pretty - but they were the most colorful turkeys I've ever seen. If a turkey had to be pretty, this would be it. But they were still kinda ugly.
On a separate note, I just want to say this: I am having the time of my life and I heart 1st world countries. I want a bumper sticker that says so (if I ever own a car again) - and then just to show that I've done a decent amount of research to come to this conclusion, I can surround that bumper sticker with the flags of all the non-1st world countries I've been to. I like good plumbing (which includes flushing and hot water), Chipoodles, water you're allowed to drink, toilet paper, fewer bugs, sandwiches, shopping, text messaging, Target, OSHA standards - you name it.
And yet I love this trip and can't wait to see where we go next. Also can't wait to have Chipoodles again. :)
My favorite was Temple V because it was fun to climb (albeit I nearly wet my pants getting up the steep ladder and found out I may be a tad afraid of heights with no safety railings), the views were nice, I was up on it all alone at one point, and the pictures make it look like I was going to slide down it! FUN. I wanted to tumble Domo down the slide part and act like he was a human sacrafice - which I'm sure they did way back when - but Jeff said he may get stuck in the middle and there's no way to get him back of that happens. Not worth the risk, although the photo op would have been awesome.
Only disappointing - though safety conscious - thing was that you can't take the real Mayan stairs on any of the big/major temples. They built modern safe ones instead (but at the top you can sit on the alter/top parts and could easily fall down the old Mayan stairs if you wanted).
There are a bunch of signs when you are first driving up to Tikal - snake crossing, jaguar crossing, deer crossing - but my two favorite, and the two that turned out to be true for us - were:
1 - Ant Eater Crossing (SCARY! Those things could claw you! but it was up in a tree so I was ok) and
2 - Turkey Crossing. I don't want to say the turkeys were pretty - but they were the most colorful turkeys I've ever seen. If a turkey had to be pretty, this would be it. But they were still kinda ugly.
On a separate note, I just want to say this: I am having the time of my life and I heart 1st world countries. I want a bumper sticker that says so (if I ever own a car again) - and then just to show that I've done a decent amount of research to come to this conclusion, I can surround that bumper sticker with the flags of all the non-1st world countries I've been to. I like good plumbing (which includes flushing and hot water), Chipoodles, water you're allowed to drink, toilet paper, fewer bugs, sandwiches, shopping, text messaging, Target, OSHA standards - you name it.
And yet I love this trip and can't wait to see where we go next. Also can't wait to have Chipoodles again. :)
Yummm, Chipotle for lunch. Great idea! I'll let you know how it works out. Heck, I may even use the CLEAN restroom while I'm there with ample toilet paper and wash my hands in the HOT potable water. I'm proud to be an American!
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