Road to Tikal

Today we are headed to Tikal, a Maya ruin in the jungles of Guatemala. The hotel arranged for transportation and our escort, Anna. She would make sure we got through customs and to Tikal safely. We decided to book a guided tour because I speak almost no useful Spanish. I can only say thing like "hola, buenno, and dos cervesa por favor." Diane had a year of Spanish in college. While she doesn't remember much, it would come in handy later in our trip. I realized booking the tour was a wise decision the moment we arrived at the border.

The border is extremely hectic with a cast of nefarious looking characters. Money vendors. Beggars. Cab drivers. Pick pockets. I watched as one little boy tried to reach out and grab Diane's purse. He looked at me and I simply wagged my finger at him. He turned and vanished into the crowd. We were greeted by our tour guide, Elias, a friendly man in his mid 40's. All of us piled in the van for the ride to Tikal.

The first part of highway to Tikal is unpaved and a bit hazardous. The rains the night before only made it worse. The road was muddy with standing water and one bad ass uphill drive. You get kind of nervous when an 18 wheeler is slipping and sliding directly toward you. Thank goodness Elias distracted us with conversation about his country.

This region of Guatemala is poor. Villages and homes are shacks with tin roofs. Horses, pigs, chickens and dogs roam freely along the roadside. And sometimes they are in the road. Elias informed us that until recently the government was giving out free land in this area. They wanted to get more people to settle in the eastern part of the country. The settlers were mostly farmers and ranchers.

The van made a stop at a roadside shop. We all stretched our legs and grabbed a cup of coffee. The open-air shop was filled with handmade textiles. Diane found a lovely placement that she purchased. I wandered into the back of the store. There I found a woodcarver and his sons working at a bench. He was carving a wood figurine. There were no power tools. All the work was being done with hand tools. The final results of his work were quite detailed.

We are back on the road and this time it is paved. It takes us less then hour and we are at the gates of Tikal. An armed guard walks to van. Anna takes care of the details and we are whisked off to the start of tour of Tikal.

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