January 2nd
Tikal
In
the morning, we spend a few hours relaxing in lovely Antigua, then it is off
again for another day of travel. A
flight from Guatemala City brings us to Flores, in the heart of the Peten, a
vast lowland jungle home to hundreds of Mayan cities. Estimates of the population density of this area in the year
700 or so vary, but it is quite likely to have supported hundreds of thousands
of people in small villages surrounding city-states large and small. One of the largest cities was Tikal,
now at the center of a national park.
While it is perhaps the best-known of the sites in the area, there are
remnants of stela and plazas dotting the landscape for hundreds of kilometers
in every direction. This was the
center of the Classic Mayan world.
It is also the center of a tropical jungle, brimming with flora and
fauna, much of it quite large. (Where
did we pack the Off!?)
Interestingly, some of the luggage unloaded in Flores included a series of white boxes labeled “Live Insects”. They made a low-grade humming noise, and if you placed your hand on them they vibrated slightly. After staying there for a few days, one must wonder if there is a need for further insect life.