Discovering Tikal

Tikal is an area in the jungle in the North of Guatemala where there was once a huge Mayan city. The total area the city covered was 16 square kilometers, but only the ruins around the center are excavated. It's a gorgeous place, different from anything I've ever seen before and an absolute must-see if you ever go to Guatemala. It's incredible "discovering" these ruins in the jungle with monkeys howling in the background.

Me in front of the Big Jaguar. You could climb up the temple straight across from the Big Jaguar and get a great view.

El Gran Jaguar y la Plaza Central. The Big Jaguar is the biggest temple at Tikal. I got to Tikal really early so that it wouldn't be so crowded and as you can see, nobody was around. It was very magical.

You could climb up almost all of the temples. This is Temple V and you can see how steep it is. When I got to the top I experienced fear of heights for the first time. Since there was no railing I was so worried about falling down, that I would just sit and basically crawl. I have to say I was relieved when I got my feet back on the ground.

The view from Temple V - It was definitely worth the climb.

Me in front of a giant Caobo tree. You had to walk down a jungle path for about an hour to get to it.