Tikal

The final few days in Guatemala I spent in Tikal. A Mayan city with temples and pyramids built at different times (pre-classical, classical, and post-classical).





In 900s AD, there were 5 million Mayans- not far from the current population of Jordan. I'm not sure how large the current population of Mayans is, but one must also distinguish between the Mayans and the mestizos/ladrinos.

The mestizos are mixed with Spanish blood, and the Mayans are straight-up Mayan. It seems that in Guatemala, the split is fifty-fifty between the two groups. According to one Mayan, you can distinguish the two when they are young by checking for the Mongolian birthmark right above the butt- mestizos lose this birthmark after a few years while Mayan s keep it. I haven't tested this theory and, therefore, cannot comment on its validity.

In male adults, the distinction comes in the form of facial hair- those with thick facial hair are mestizos because the trait came from the Spanish ancestors. So, the hairier you were, the more Spanish you were, which translated into respect, etc. That might explain why all those Spanish landlords always had such ri diculous looking facial hair. The better to subjugate you with, my dear...

For women, the facial hair thing did not hold up (although it may have based on the Mediterranean traits!). Instead, you could distinguish mestizos from Mayans based on how much weight they could carry on their heads multiplied by how big the basket was. No, obviously I'm just kidding- I can't remember what it was.

Anyway, back to Tikal. We (luckily because the supposed wake-up call never came) woke up in time for the sunrise trip into the park. Although I was the last one to show up as I waited for my over-stuffed computer to download some pictures so I could make room for more (I think I had 8GB of pictures!), the guide was late getting started. So, we ended up practically running to Temple IV, missing the beginning of the sunrise during our jaunt and the rest of it because of clouds and mist. However. It was beautiful- the sounds of the jungle, the birds and the monkeys and things I could not identify. And at the top of Temple IV, you are above the treeline, and so you just look down on a canopy of trees from which a few temples rise proudly into the sky. Spectacular. Obviously, a picture could have saved me from writing most of the last paragraph. Honestly, they're coming...

We also did a zip-lining thing, which was a lot of fun. I heard only later that serious accidents may occur, but my Alice-in-Wonderland nature of blind faith was clueless while I was up in the trees. Finally, by the last run, I was able to face forward- it all had to do with the positioning of the hand. I think next time I'll be ready for stunts.

Oh, and finally, because of the mosquitos (and scorpions?) in the rainforest, we slept in mosquito nets, and we all felt like princesses...