Days 11-12 June2-3
Tikal and into the Petén Jungle
A small plane flew us in less than an hour from Guatemala City to the airport of Flores, capital of
the huge Departamento del Petén. The first thing we felt when getting off was the sticky heat;
we had arrived in the Classic Maya lowlands.
We rented a Samurai jeep at the airport and drove the twenty or so miles to Tikal. The concrete road leading there was, surprisingly, the best we had encountered so far in the country. Arriving at the campground late in the afternoon, we hurriedly rented some smelly canvas hammocks and a small open-air palapa hut from which to hang them. (As budget travellers, we were not considering any Sheraton hotel, even if there were one!) The next morning, we awoke to a wonderful jungle "symphony" of bird songs and animal sounds. Toucans, scarlet macaws, frogs, and howler monkeys were among the many talented performers. While listening, I marvelled at a hummingbird suspended in mid-air as it drew its sustenance from flower to flower. After a breakfast of pan dulce (sweet bread) and coffee, I went ahead of my friends and entered the ruins alone. It would take about fifteen minutes to hike to the ancient city's center. With the sun blazing overhead, I entered the dark world of the rainforest floor. The trees were monstrously tall, most over a hundred feet. The vegetation --vines, creepers, saplings, giant ceibas, one interminable green mass-- was so thick and riotous that I followed the ample jungle path with both amazement and fear. Spider monkeys rustled through the treetops high in the jungle canopy. Below, the forest hummed with the activity of innumerable crawling and flying insects. By the time I reached the main plaza, my t-shirt was drenched with sweat. (Anyway, clothes never really dried completely in this steamy climate.) I gazed in wonder at the ancient skyscrapers before me. Two imposing pyramids, Temples 1 and 2, face each other along the east-west axis of the main plaza. These soaring monuments rise proudly above the monotonous green tangle of the rainforest, inspiring awe at the creative powers of the people-- or demi-gods --who had built them. Below are pictures of Temple 1, which is more than 140 feet tall. It presented me with my first and most gruelling pyramid climb. Yet I would have a relatively easy time. A few months after my visit, someone fell to his death while climbing its narrow steps. Consequently, the authorities closed it from the public until further notice. |
Among Guatemalans, Temple 1 is perhaps best known as it appears on one side of
the half-quetzal note, the country's smallest bill
of currency. On the other side, Guatemala's national bird, the quetzal, appears in flight.
Its status as an endangered species and its elegant, multi-colored plumage make it the perfect symbol
of the country's oppressed indigenous people.
Beside the quetzal, a likeness of Tecún Umán, who led the Quiché's last stand against the conquistador Alvarado, stares defiantly at the viewer. In a land where portraits of brutal ladino dictators and generals set the trend in the art of paper currency, this concession to the indigenous heritage is surprising, but in the end, merely token. While the state-controlled media often extol the pre-Hispanic grandeur, everywhere in popular culture, the native peoples are despised as stupid and barbaric. Everyone "knows" that it was the Spanish who brought progress to this benighted land. It is ironic that all the native Guatemalan symbols have been crowded into the paltry half-quetzal, this concentration camp of a bill. Even the most notorious ladino tyrants have been commemorated with more valuable notes. Tikal is the greatest symbol of native achievement-- and Guatemala's profound identity crisis. For in this country, virtually everyone has some Indian ancestry. Memories of former glory may diminish the shame of sharing the same "inferior" blood as the vanquished, but this consolation belongs to the past, like the ruined Maya cities. The future belongs to the Europeanized ladino, a future showing every sign of being as chaotic as the racial conflict seething in most Guatemalans' hearts.
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Above is a view of Temple 2 from inside the chamber of Temple 1.
The flatness of the lowlands and the Maya's desire to "get close" to the gods (for example, the pilgrims we met descending the Santa María volcano) probably motivated the builders of these towering structures. In the highlands, where mountains and volcanos dot the landscape, such skyscrapers are conspicuously absent. Tikal was the seat of a brilliant culture whose golden age was from approximately 300 to 800 A.D. The ancient urban center encompassed 25 square miles, and included over 100,000 people, at its height. By around 800 A.D., construction in the grand style stopped. The "fall" of Tikal coincided with the general decline of Classic Maya centers, a catastrophe probably caused by some combination of overpopulation, outside invasions, and peasant rebellions. |
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