Tikal: More Pyramids, More Jungle

I went to Tikal because, well, ya just kinda hafta. It's a UNESCO World Heritage site and from approximately 200 A.D. to 900 A.D., it "dominated much of the Maya region politically, economically, and militarily, while interacting with areas throughout Mesoamerica such as the great metropolis of Teotihuacán in the distant Valley of Mexico [Wikipedia]" (Teotihuacán was the subject of an earlier post).  Right, so, let's get to the pyramids.

I took a 5am bus and booked it into the site, so for the first half hour or so, I had the main plaza almost all to myself.

The plaza continues to the left from the previous shot.

Jesus Christ, it's a scary head.  Everybody get in the car.

 The opposite pyramid, from which the first two shots were taken. They don't let you climb the other pyramid anymore. Something about tourists slipping and falling to their deaths..

The two pyramids seem to stare at each other, broodingly. Mr. Scary Head is under one of those little shelters on the right.

Alright, yeah, now this is what you're here for: pyramids rising out of the jungle.

It's a short walk down and up a steep ravine to this third, more isolated pyramid.

Awesome.

It's tall and steep..

 ..and affords excellent views. Here, looking back toward the central plaza.

The vast, trackless jungle stretches to the horizon.

Like I said, tall and steep. Though perhaps technically stairs, this structure bears a strikingly resemblance to a ladder.

 The backside of the same pyramid, showing what they looked like before modern reconstruction.

The reconstruction continues elsewhere.

Even cleared of vegetation, the unrestored structures are barely differentiable from natural hills.

 This is supposedly the best artwork available at Tikal. Having been to Palenque, I wasn't terribly impressed.

 Nope, not all that impressive.

Some people will tell you Tikal is better than Palenque because it is bigger.

In practice, this simply means you're going to spend a lot of time walking through the jungle. This wouldn't be a problem if it weren't so unbelievably hot and humid. After maybe four hours of trudging around the site I ran out of water and, shortly thereafter, patience.

I don't normally have any problems with dehydration or heat stroke or whatever, but that day I was just plain done. I left the site, paid way too much money for water and gatorade and spent the next 3 hours sitting in the shade, waiting for my ride back to town.

 Waiting for my ride, there was a very persistent spider. I was all like, "Get off me, stoopid spider."

He was all like, "Screw you, I'm a spider."