Tikal - worth every penny.

Current Location: Rio Dulce, Guatemala
Distance cycled to date: 9374 km
Number of days since we left home: 163
Number of nights we've slept in our tent to date: 107
Number of pictures taken at Tikal: 257

Our short ride from Flores to Tikal started off slowly, with each of us getting flat tires in the first 10 km stretch. However, this was quickly forgotten as we got closer and closer to Tikal, arriving in the early evening. We found out that we could purchase our tickets the night before for the next morning, and we could even go into the ruins for the last hour of daylight so we quickly grabbed a camera, coughed up the over $50 (Canadian) entrance fees for the both of us, and made our way into the jungle, starting the 20 minute walk to the Grand Plaza to Tikal.

Finally emerging from the jungle path and catching our first glimpse of an imposing temple in the Grand Plaza was incredible. We had imagined hordes of tourists all over the place, but as we came into the plaza we found ourselves alone. With the setting sun lighting up Temple I with a soft glow, we were in awe of the beauty of the ruins. Five others eventually came, and the seven of us sat on top of a pyramid, watching the glow slowly disappear as the sun set on what was once one of the greatest cities of North America.

The next morning was an even more incredible experience. Waking up before 5 am and cooking our breakfast under the star filled sky, we were the first at the gates to enter. After the guards finally let us in, we nearly ran the entire way of what was supposed to be a 40 minute walk to the highest temple of Tikal. It took us almost 20 minutes, but we made it before the sun rose. We ran up the stairs to the top and as we reached the top, out of breath, we were welcomed by a small group of 10 or so people. Apparantly their is a guy who bribes the guards and drives a small truckload of people up to catch the sunrise - but even with all of us together on top of the temple, it felt as if you were the only one up there. Everybody treated it very solemnly, speaking in whispers as we listened to the howler monkeys roaring from their tree tops, and watched the sun slowly light up the foggy patches on the horizen before finally touching the peaks of the temples reaching out of the jungle in the distance. Needless to say, it was a majestic moment, and one that hopefully neither of us will ever forget.

We spent the day walking back and forth through the ruins, climbing stairs and doing what both of us felt was much more exercise than we usually do in a day of cycling. Neither of us could stop taking pictures, and we lost count of the number of times ones of us exclaimed "this is amazing!". If any of you have the chance to visit Tikal, we would highly recommend it. Although when you come, make sure you bring enough quetzals along to pay the entrance fee. We had to count down to our last penny in order to pay for our campsite there. But all in all, it was worth it, hands down.

From Tikal we had to backtrack a little towards Flores, and now we're heading south towards Guatemala City. We're very excited to spend some time off our bikes next week around Antigua and Lake Atitlan with my girlfriend Lauren who is coming to spend her reading week with us. Not only am I very excited to see her, but we're also looking forward to seeing these sights in the highlands without having to ride our bikes up and down mountains!

Our days of stealth camping seem to be over, as we've found Guatemala to be fenced in everywhere. We're now switching almost full time to gas station camping, which we've found to be an even better alternative. We're not hidden in the ditch anymore, but we have bathrooms, a small store, and numerous friendly gas attendants to watch over us. So far so good - now it's just a matter of finding gas stations. Tomorrow we will reach the not-so-well-known Mayan ruins of Quirigua, which we thought we might as well check out. Plus, we hear you can camp in the parking lot, so it's a win-win, really. Likely all the ruins we see from this point will be a bit of a let-down after Tikal, but we'll let you know.

Also - we got our photo albums online! Check out Mexico Pacific Coast, and Oaxaca & Chiapas, Mexico. It's kind of a lot of photos all at once, but it's a couple months worth. We picked out a varied selection of the best to give you a glimpse of what we see.