Mayan Ruins of Tikal

One of the largest sets of Mayan ruins is located in Guatemala, just over the border from Belize. Naturally, Milla and I sort of had to go visit. So at 5.30am, we successfully got onto a tourist shuttle from the little village of El Remate to head to the ruins.

We arrived in the Grand Plaza at 6.30am, when there was only one other person around. The mist was still there and it was incredibly atmospheric - beautiful and eerie. After climbing a couple of the temples in the vicinity, we headed to Temple 5, a temple where one needs to climb quite a steep ladder to get to the top. Again, for a short time, we were the only ones up there, watching as the mist cleared. Obviously, many many photos were taken, including a whole series of "Gap Yah" ones. Obviously, we were incapable of going shopping on the King´s Road that day... we also got a fair few Poker Face ones.

Heading onwards to our next temple of the day (this is at 10am) I realised something. I am a complete idiot. In applying my suncream (very important) at the top of Temple V, I left my rings up there! This was particularly stupid since it was not only hotter, but as I´d started to feel unwell, I´d not eaten a huge amount. Still, I made the climb (Milla, very sensibly, did not join me for the second ascent) up and down in 7 minutes. It would have been quicker, except there was a tour group trying to climb down when I wanted to leave.

We then chilled out at the top of the highest temple in Tikal, Temple IV. I say chilled, I mean boiled. After a few more hours of wandering around, we headed back to the bus stop for a shuttle back. Not a bad day´s work, given we finished at 2pm.


The day after, we got onto another tourist shuttle down to Semuc Champey where an eco lodge, more illness, large insects and some rather exciting natural water features await.