Our sunrise tour of Tikal left Flores at 3:30am, which is freakishly early. But it all paid off when we made it to the top of Temple IV just before it began to get light. I cannot deny that there was no visible sunrise. The dense cloud cover made the sunrise nothing more than a gradual increase in ambient light. But as this was happening, the jungle started to wake up below us.
It started with birds, who were suddenly singing and bobbing in and out of the canopy. Then there were howler monkeys, whose howl is really more of a roar, like a big cat and not like a tiny monkey. As we walked around the site, there were lots of creepy crawlies, plenty of birds, and even a few baby monkies.
We decided to take the Spanish tour, which was a really great decision because it was 1) small, and 2) not hokey and designed for tourists. The (Spanish) tour took some knowledge of Guatemala for granted. For Kalya and I, who have been fairly immersed in Guatemala for almost six weeks, it was like a coming-of-cultural-age thing.
By the time lunch came, we were exhausted and decided to come back. Spain won the Euro 2008 championship today (yay!), and we've been hanging out at the hostel for most of the afternoon. The plan is to meet up with Arthur tomorrow morning and head down to Cancuen, which should be interesting to say the least.
It's been a really good weekend in Flores, and I think we're both excited to see what we can accomplish in the next two days at Cancuen. We won't have internet again until Wednesday, so look for a massive update then on the shenanigans that happen in the next two days.
It started with birds, who were suddenly singing and bobbing in and out of the canopy. Then there were howler monkeys, whose howl is really more of a roar, like a big cat and not like a tiny monkey. As we walked around the site, there were lots of creepy crawlies, plenty of birds, and even a few baby monkies.
We decided to take the Spanish tour, which was a really great decision because it was 1) small, and 2) not hokey and designed for tourists. The (Spanish) tour took some knowledge of Guatemala for granted. For Kalya and I, who have been fairly immersed in Guatemala for almost six weeks, it was like a coming-of-cultural-age thing.
By the time lunch came, we were exhausted and decided to come back. Spain won the Euro 2008 championship today (yay!), and we've been hanging out at the hostel for most of the afternoon. The plan is to meet up with Arthur tomorrow morning and head down to Cancuen, which should be interesting to say the least.
It's been a really good weekend in Flores, and I think we're both excited to see what we can accomplish in the next two days at Cancuen. We won't have internet again until Wednesday, so look for a massive update then on the shenanigans that happen in the next two days.
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