In Ruins

After the wilderness of the 'dinosaur country' in central Guatemala, I headed to the jungles in the north to visit the famous Mayan ruins of Tikal.

Tikal, Guatemala

The only way to see these ruins really is to see them at sunrise; of course to see dawn break over the ruins from the top of the highest pyramid, but also to experience the activity of all the wildlife in the surrounding jungle at the start of the day (and to beat the best of the intense heat). The fairly unique part of the Tikal ruins is that it is situated in the middle of the jungle, and for the most part, none of this has been cleared immediately surrounding the ruins themselves. You still have the impression of being in the middle of the jungle, rather than some kind of museum sight. We were surrounded by spider monkeys, who we saw climbing on the pyramids in the distance, serenaded by howler monkeys (who sound like sea lions on 20 cigars a day), loads of birds (sorry Jon - it should have been you there not me) which I cannot tell you the type of, snakes and some furry red animal.

The museum was unfortunately closed, and our guide was more interested int he wildlife than the ruins, so I didn't really get to learn much about the ancient city itself, other than the dimensions of the buildings given in terms of buses and football pitches.

Some Illegal Immigrants...

After Tikal, it was up towards Mexico, via the scenic route; through the middle of nowhere and out the other side into the jungle again. First I got dumped out in a small border town of Guatemala, where I got chatting to some locals whilst waiting for some kind of transport to take me further.

The locals turned out not to be locals; one El Salvadoran, and one Guatemalan from the other side of the country. They had both been working illegally in the United States; one had been living there for 5 years (where he had a girlfriend and a kid), only to be deported when he was finally arrested for drug dealing. The other guy worked as a construction worker in New York; he works there for a year or so, saves his money, then comes back to live in Guatemala for a year or two, before returning to earn more money again. They were on their way to return to the United States.

This was a really out of the way place, where border controls between Guatemala and Mexico were really slack (I really had to go out of my way to get my passport stamped when entering Mexico); both of these guys were staying a few days in this small town, waiting for 'other friends'. It seems this was one of the routes for illegal immigrants making their way north. They told me how they were paying a few thousand dollars to a 'Coyote' to get them across the U.S./Mexican border, and how that involved about 3 days worth of walking through the desert at night. Once in the U.S., they use an underground network of trucks transporting illegal immigrants around the country, and secret hotels in which they can stay in to allow them to reach their final destination. Interesting stuff.

Then Mexico...

Anyway, I finally got myself over the border, crossing a river on a small boat. I spent the next few days around this area, visiting some more Mayan ruins (Yaxchilàn), reached by an hours boat ride up the same river into the jungle. This again was a great experience as it was just me, the howler monkeys and the iguanas in the ruins in the middle of the jungle.

I decided to camp these first few nights in Mexico - Mexico is quite a bit more expensive than Central America, and I had a sleeping mat and some kind of tent/bag thingy with me for camping, so I thought I might as well make some use of it. This was an 'interesting' experience, I camped just outside a small town in the sub tropical jungle - I'll just say the insects and toads kept me company.

The next part of my journey saw me dumped at the entrance to a National Park a bit further north and west in Chiapas State, Mexico (I did ask the bus driver to dump there). This is a national park consisting of about 60 lakes, with mountainous scenery, blah blah blah. The bus ride to reach it was truly awesome.

Anway, I went wondering off into the national park, again prepared to camp some where in the forest (the climate was now nice and cool and the insects had gone). I came across some locals selling street food at the car park to the national park. They were very friendly, and we quickly got talking, and I expressed my plan to camp for the night. They helpfully informed me there was a thunder storm coming, well it was imminent - it didn't need a meteorologist (or Dan Cornford) to work it out. They politely offered me their table situated underneath a corrugated iron roof as shelter for the night; I jumped at the offer, and was glad of their advice, as sure enough, later that night the heavens opened, and was comfortably laid out on their table in the dry cover of a piece of metal - what more could you want?

The next morning the family returned to set up their road side cafe again; luckily I had cleared up my bed in time. The family had a load of kids hanging around, who were about 6 to 10 years old, not doing much with their day. I wanted to go and explore the area, so I asked the mother if I could take the kids with me - if the kids wanted to come that is. They thought I was a bit strange - wanting to entertain children that is - but said I could ask them to come with me. The kids of course were up for it, and they knew the way so they took me along some of the paths in the local area.

On that trip me and the kids took lots of photos with my digital camera. This was a really poor family, who didn't have hardly any possessions, and I think had never ventured further than the small village they lived in. So I said I would get some of the photos developed when I got to the nearest city, and send them the copies in the post. I asked for their address - they looked confused, unsure. They didn't have a house number ('third shack on the right after the big pine tree' I think was probably the best they could have given). So I took their full name, and their village etc, hoping it would be enough. I did get the photos developed when I got back to civilization, and then tried to post them, but unfortunately the post office would not except the address I had. This just highlights how isolated poor people can become in a country like Mexico - they have no address, can probably not even read or write, no telephone of course - does the government even know these people exist?

I wanted to stay longer in this area, explore this national park more and visit some of the remote villages there, but as always, like all westerners - I was in a rush! It was only a week before my flight left for Cuba, and there were so many things to get done before then....