Tikal

 

Being Tikal, this was a packed shuttle bus. After changing my mind a dozen times, watching the weather, this was the beginning of the rainy season after all, finally the sun broke through, over the lake, and I got my ticket No chance. Tikal is far enough away from Flores that the weather can be quite different, and so it was. The moment we arrived at the ticket booth to pay the hefty entrance fee, it started to sprinkle and from then on we had that, and at times, heavy downpours. You pays your money and takes your chances, as they say. In spite of that, I think I was lucky and came home with a few interesting shots.

 

 

 

 

 

A sacrificial stone. You can see the dead warrior seated in captivity (the ropes), awaiting his fate

 

 

 

The howlers were leaping from tree to tree, all starting at the same location

 

Then I got lucky. I was prepared for the leap and panned along and ended up with a perfectly sharp monkey in flight

 

 

It continued to pour and we were moving between shelters during lulls in the rain
The royal bed chamber. They slept on the elevated surface, below a window

 

When nothing else helped, there was some entertainment, anyway

 

 

Then, luckily, we found a tarantula. It liked our warm hands. I picked it off the wall and later, after the screaming stopped, and some even asked and got to hold it, I returned it exactly where I had found it.

 

The Gran Plaza viewed as few Mayans were ever privileged to see it, because up here only priests and royalty would walk

 

 

Then, finding some stairs, we went down to the plaza, took a break, and continued to the highest of the pyramids

 

 

Our Mayan guide. There are no safe steps, and it had to be climbed via external staircase

 

Then the wait for the sunset began. To me, getting any break in the clouds would have been very lucky, and then I got it

 

And ran around the top of the pyramid to take pictures of what that light was illuminating. Here you see the mist from the rains rising and the tops of the pyramids above the jungle canopy

 

 

While I did this, the rest was on the other side, waiting for their sunset. They got more rain instead and we left when it started to get dark

 

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