more than i thought about although i don´t know why. when you visit ruins all there really is to do is walk and look and talk and walk some more. and that´s what i did today. tikal…the great mayan ruins. and they are impressive…
this morning we set out at 5am, the sun still slumbering under the lake. and even when she roused herself, she was cloaked in a gray robe of clouds-to shy to show the glory of her rising.
on the premises of the park there was the usual…one price for locals Q15 another for tourists Q50 and an attempt to sell maps and later breakfast. instead we broke out at a healthy pace. me, my friend jackie and a new guy…nick…german and in the same hostel for the night.
i dubbed him mapmaster as he a)had a map b)had a preference on where to start and c)seemed to be on some sort of mayan mission during his travels. it worked out well…we saw a lot. that early in the morning there aren´t many tourists. we had the run of the place for the most part. we took pictures of gray stone with sprouts of green and brown poking through after so many years in hiding.
we climbed crumbling stairs at staggering inclines and lounged at the foot of god with dragonflies buzzing our heads and howler monkeys earning their names with lionlike roars in the distance.
down one pyramid and up another temple…this time the incline of stairs as close to 90degrees as i´ve ever seen so high up. it was like climbing ladders one after another. and then it was like sitting on the empire state building with nothing but certain death below you if you took a wrong step.
phenomenal.
so green. so gray. so ancient.
and then came the tourists.
by the time they arrived we had been at it for hours. taking for granted we were the few who ventured out on a saturday. but no…as if some magical bus pulled up to temple number 4…they appeared.
and then it was like waiting in line at an amusement park. people joking and snacking and climbing slowly. we followed suit…only to find that the final peak was anticlimactic despite its appearance from afar.
so we filed down, wound the long way to the bus falling upon lesser known treasures with no company to hinder our way.