Saturday, November 21, 2009

Tikal National Park

We visited Tikal National Park, famous Mayan ruins, while in the Peten. It was fascinating, especially as it is located in a tropical forest.


A photo of the Grand Plaza taken from the top of one of the monuments.


Smaller buildings and engraved stones (protected from the elements by thatched roofs)


The really cool thing about these huge monuments is that you can climb most of them.



These are the steep steps leading up to the monument pictured above. The tallest of the monuments is 65 meters high - and there are no guard rails at the top!




Alisha and Emily resting at the top after the steep climb.



View of the rainforest from the top of the tallest monument. You can see several others poking above the forest canopy. The park is huge, 576 square kilometers. We spent six hours in the park and only visited the most impressive of the ruins.



Nick is holding a tarantula that someone found in the forest.


We saw some wildlife in the park, including this coatimundi who seemed to be looking for a hand-out. In addition to coatimundis, we saw several monkeys, lots of colorful turkeys (yes, wild turkeys live in the jungle), and some tropical birds.



Climbing one of monuments.


One of the huge trees in the rainforest.









1 comment:

Howard Abrams said...

Sounds like you have had some great adventures.

My son, Charlie, was wondering if he could use your photo of the forest canopy for his new blog on climate change.

Thanks!