Deep inside a Guatemalan rainforest the peaks of long ago limestone structures pierce the dense, green canopy of the jungle while howler monkeys wail to greet the rising sun.
La densa selva de Petén alberga una de las ciudades más importantes del mundo maya, Tikal, que se distingue por sus grandes estructuras y monumentales edificios que lo hicieron, un lugar neurálgico de la cultura durante el periodo clásico maya —250-900 dC—
The dense jungle of Petén is home to one of the most important cities of the Mayan world, Tikal, which is distinguished by its large structures and monumental buildings that made it, a neuralgic place of culture during the Classic Maya period -250-900 AD.
No visit to Guatemala would be complete without a visit to Tikal National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site the largest of Maya cities during the “Classic Era” over 1000 years ago.
“This is a new day, a new beginning.” – Ahsoka Tano, Star Wars Rebels
If the landscape looks familiar, it is as this was the center of the rebel base where Luke Skywalker took off to destroy the Death Star and save his people from the clutches of Darth Vader.
The ruins of the Maya temples peeking out from the green rainforest carpet created the perfect backdrop for the planet Yavin 4 in that original Star Wars movie. George Lucas chose Tikal when he saw a poster of the site at a travel agency in England during the production of the original “Episode IV: A New Hope” film, and sent a crew to Guatemala in March 1977 to shoot the film during Guatemala’s 36-year civil war.
Some of my earliest childhood memories are of seeing the first “Star Wars” movie with my Grandfather over 40 years ago so it seems natural that “Star Wars” quotes play a role in this blog post.
Discovered in 1848 when locals unearthed human skulls whose teeth were studded with jade jewels, Tikal draws tourists from around the globe. For six centuries, until 900 A.D., Tikal was a Maya metropolis, at its peak bursting with up to 100,000 inhabitants and thousands of impressive structures including palaces, temples and residences. Extending for 222 square miles through Guatemala’s sweltering north, Tikal is one of the largest pre-Colombian Maya sites and has been called the New York City of Maya ruins because of its high temples that climb toward the heavens.
“That’s how we’re gonna win. Not fighting what we hate, saving what we love.” – Rose, Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Today Tikal is one of the most fascinating and enjoyable of the Mayan sites to visit, largely due to its remoteness, but also its jungle setting. Despite the steamy 95-degree plus heat, I got chills at the sight of the ruins up close and personal. Standing alone at the ceremonial altar in front of an ancient stone structure I felt very small, and moved and privileged to be in the presence of a monument that had been passed by generations of generations, and yet, at the same time, will be seen in person by so few in our “global village.”
“Your focus determines your reality.”— Qui-Gon Jinn, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Many tourists come each year to visit the many temples, but because of the size it never seems to feel crowded. The scale of the city is impressive: it takes easily 15+ minutes to walk from the main entrance to the first complexes of buildings, plazas and temples along the ancient causeways. Walking the entire site (or at least the parts that have been excavated) takes a full day. Over the course of two days I covered over 25 km on foot up and back down the center several times and around the exterior, where not many folks seem to venture, to explore all the unearthed sites that are must-sees like the Twin Complexes Q & R, Complex P, Temple IV (also called Temple of the Two-Headed Serpent), Temple VI, the Great Plaza & Mundo Perdido (The Lost World).
To have the true Tikal experience spending the night in one of the hotels inside the park is a must do. An overnight trip gives you the opportunity to not only do a full hike around the park but also enjoy this amazing place at sunrise and sunset. There are just a couple of hotels in the park and for this trip with the help of booking.com I made my overnight home the Jaguar Inn. Basic accommodations (with electricity supplied by a generator and batteries) it was located right next to the entry point for the ruins. It was through the Jaguar Inn that I found my guide Cesar Moran whose knowledge of the ruins and Mayan history was spectacular. It also helped that he had quite a sense of humor and was happy to get involved in discussions about whatever came up in the conversation.
This places breaths magic anytime of the day but it is at sunrise and sunset when there are fewer crowds that the magic truly surrounds you. I don’t know what struck me the most: the animal sounds and stunning views over the jungle, or the imposing ruins themselves of which the most striking ones were built about 1300 years ago.
“You can’t stop the change, any more than you can stop the suns from setting.” — Shmi Skywalker
The park officially opens at 6.00 a.m. and closes at 6.00 p.m. but with a guide and an additional entrance fee you can visit the park during the magical sunrise and sunset hours. For sunset our small group gathered at the Inn and headed off into the park toward Mundo Perdido (or lost world). Perched high atop the great pyramid in Mundo Perdido we watched the sun disappear behind some low clouds producing vivid colors across the horizon highlighting the limestone temples protruding from the jungle. It was a double bonus day and as the sun disappeared our guide hurried us off the platform back toward the Gran Plaza to enjoy the rising of the full moon over templo I (Gran Jaguar) the most famous and recognizable of the buildings in Tikal. The importance of templo I and Tikal in general can be seen on both the Guatemalan license plates and currency, both of which feature the iconic image of this amazing structure.
With a relatively short amount of time left before we had to be out of the park we raced around the Gran Plaza buildings taking in the views as the darkness settled over the ruins. With a little help from Cesar and his strategically placed flashlight I was able to get a few awesome night photographs. What an experience it would be to spend the night (or even a few more hours) in the park after dark – but I leave that for my yet to be planned return trip to Guatemala.
“In a dark place we find ourselves, and a little more knowledge lights our way.”— Yoda, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
For sunrise the day starts early, at 4 am when the jungle still hasn’t seen the first rays of the sun. With our guide we silently head out into the darkness following impressive howls coming from the trees to seek the first rays of the sun over the ruins. It might seem like some large man-eating mammal is calling out to the day but it is the relatively small Howler Monkeys that produce the bone chilling sounds. It gets lighter slowly during the 30-minute hike and the roars get louder as we reach the foot of temple IV. The steep staircase of the 212-feet-high Two-Headed Snake Temple is just a precursor for the “Star Wars” head-rush at the top. It was from this spot that director George Lucas shot the overview of Tikal, which doubled as Yavin 4’s rebel base in the original blockbuster hit movie.
Sitting on top of that temple, the tallest in Tikal and in all Mesoamerica, you are taking in a jungle as it wakes up for the day. The treetops rustle and shake as the spider monkeys disperse into the jungle from their sleeping places inside the park, colorful birds sweep across the sky joining the howler monkeys in their raucous calls welcoming the day.
The first sunrays work hard to break through the foggy mist that covers the jungle.
The morning mist alternates between slowly raising uncovering the tips of steep pyramids peeping over the endless shades of green, to settling back down on the jungle floor. The peaks of those long ago pyramids have been thoroughly excavated and seem to tower above the dense jungle.
This morning the sun has a difficult time breaking through the dense fog that lay atop the rainforest canopy. There are at least 20 people that have made the early morning trek all quietly watching the spectacle in front of us. I realized that this day the sun would likely not penetrate the fog and instead slipped away from the crowd and hiked back down toward the central plaza.
It was a great call as I was treated to a jungle waking up from the top of templo II – Temple of the Masks in the Gran Plaza, the epicenter of the entire site and the location of some of the most remarkable buildings. For nearly an hour I had the place all to myself watching the colors and patterns of the rising sun cutting through the fog, the monkeys and birds noisy calls echoing through the air.
In that quiet time, I have the ruins to myself and take the time to explore the Gran Plaza, the heart of the city, surrounded by the North Acropolis, a ceremonial center doubled as a mausoleum of governing families, the Central Acropolis, thought to be an administrative or residential center, and the facing temples I (templo del Gran Jaguar) and II (templo de las Mascaras).
As the visitors start to arrive in the area it is time to travel along and visit some of the other less crowded areas of the park. Templo VI also known as the Inscriptions Temple reveals the longest hieroglyphic text in Tikal. The entire back and sides of the impressive 12.5-meter high crest is covered in carved pictures. The inscriptions on the roof comb only add to the mystery of Temple 6, as archeologists believe they are a list of dates and events, which start a long way back in time, with a date of 1143 BC. Their location on the rear of the roof comb where they lack prominence is also a mystery, as it suggests they weren’t intended to be publicly visible.
Not only is Tikal perhaps the most important Mayan site in the world, but it is an important biosphere reserve as well. In the hours I spent at Tikal I saw Spider Monkeys, White- nosed Coati, Agouti and many different and colorful species of birds. Taking the time to walk the paths through the jungle gives the visitor an opportunity to see some of these creatures up close.
“Nature doesn’t need people – people need nature; nature would survive the extinction of the human being and go on just fine, but human culture, human beings, cannot survive without nature.” – Harrison Ford
Tikal had been inhabited continuously for more than 1500 years until it was abandoned by the end of the 10th century, making it one of the most powerful kingdoms of the ancient Maya. With a history that lasted from 800BC to 900AD, its influence on the Maya world can hardly been rivaled.
During its peak, the area of Tikal might have provided habitat to about 200,000 people, a number bigger than for any town in Europe at the time. The city covered an area of 65 km². So far, 6,000 buildings have been identified (but not all excavated) and it is believed that another 10,000 buildings are still waiting to be discovered under the thick jungle foliage.
It’s long been one of ancient history’s most intriguing mysteries: Why did the Maya, a remarkably sophisticated civilization made up of more than 19 million people, suddenly collapse sometime around 900AD? Although the Mayan people never entirely disappeared—their descendants still live across Central America—dozens of core urban areas in the lowlands of the Yucatan peninsula, such as Tikal, went from bustling cities to abandoned ruins over the course of roughly a hundred years. One hundred years – a relatively short period in the span of time.
What caused the fall of the city and the decline of the Maya?
Long debated, today’s archeologists attribute the city’s rapid decline to many of the same events occurring around the world today — overpopulation bringing a depletion of natural resources, resulting in drought, famine, disease, and wars. It seems ironic to me that there is growing concern about the viability of current environmental resources around the world while they continue to uncover the ruins of a society, once one-million strong, which struggled to survive in the face of similar challenges.
“In terms of the spaceship Earth, the wrong crew is in command, and it’s time for a mutiny. ” ― José Argüelles
There are lots of different theories about why this happened, but the leading hypothesis is a combination of drought and climate change conspiring to create conflict, resource overexploitation and ecological collapse. If that sounds worryingly familiar, it should. The real impact of Tikal and similar sites today isn’t just in their monumental architecture, but the fact they could be foreshadows of our own fate. Perched on Temple IV under the increasingly hot sun of the 21st century, one can’t help but wonder if future world travelers will climb the sand-swept ruins of Dubai, or marvel at deciduous forests stretching out across what is today New York City.
“We have to understand in value what the services of nature are so that we can understand that degrading them is an irreplaceable resource that no amount of money or human ingenuity can replace.” – Harrison Ford
Our reshaping of the environment can often have unintended consequences—and we may not have any idea of what they are until it’s too late.
Maybe it is time we all learned a lesson from history – Mayan history to be exact.
In the words of Master Yoda: “Do or do not. There is no try.”
“This holiday is yours, where we all share with you the hope that this day brings us closer to freedom and to harmony and to peace. No matter how different we appear, we’re all the same in our struggle against the powers of evil and darkness. I hope that this day will always be a day of joy, in which we can reconfirm our dedication and our courage. And more than anything else, our love for one another. This is the promise of the Tree of Life.” – Princess Leia Organa
Thank you Guatemala for a wonderful visit – I have left a piece of myself behind and look forward to coming back for it.
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