Went further north to visit the most famous ancient Mayan city, Tikal. On the way, stopped at Finca Ixobel, a lovely peaceful farm ranch, with well-groomed gardens, wooden huts, hammocks and organic, farm-made delicious food. Woke up in the middle of the night to catch a ‘Camioneta’ (local minibus) to Flores, and then finally arrived to Tikal.
In a midst of a jungle, well hidden within huge trees, harmony of Gritan monkeys, varied bird species, raccoons and other animals, lies one of the Mayan wonder cities. The buildings, palaces and plazas architecture is impressive - with only a small portion discovered thus far. You see a typical jungle hill on one side, which actually turns to be a palace when looked from the other side. The jungle has simply grown upon the city and covers it. The entire site looks like a film set (well, in fact ‘Star Wars’ was filmed here at the time).
What’s even more fascinating is the fact that bigger sites are still being discovered these very days, like El Mirador, which seems to be much bigger and impressive then Tikal when fully excavated.
Back to Antigua, was happy to find my suitcase intact with laptop still in the place I left it (after all, I was ultimately heading to USA for a business trip).
My last day happened to be a special one – the “Day of the dead” festival, where families are uniting with the beloved dead ones. Loads of colorful kites are up in the air, as the locals believes the string to be a symbol that connects them with the soul of the dead. Custom food is called ‘Fiambre’, and includes pretty much all you can think of -vegetables, egg, meat, chicken, corn, rice, and more. Everyone seems to be visiting the cemeteries which become a big happening with ‘Mariachi’ singing (Latin guitar players), food stands, flower market, and people with ladders to rent for placing the flowers on high level graves (some graves are 5 floors up) . I have never seen a cemetery so crowded, happy and full of live.
And with this optimistic point of view, my trip came to its end.
In a midst of a jungle, well hidden within huge trees, harmony of Gritan monkeys, varied bird species, raccoons and other animals, lies one of the Mayan wonder cities. The buildings, palaces and plazas architecture is impressive - with only a small portion discovered thus far. You see a typical jungle hill on one side, which actually turns to be a palace when looked from the other side. The jungle has simply grown upon the city and covers it. The entire site looks like a film set (well, in fact ‘Star Wars’ was filmed here at the time).
What’s even more fascinating is the fact that bigger sites are still being discovered these very days, like El Mirador, which seems to be much bigger and impressive then Tikal when fully excavated.
Back to Antigua, was happy to find my suitcase intact with laptop still in the place I left it (after all, I was ultimately heading to USA for a business trip).
My last day happened to be a special one – the “Day of the dead” festival, where families are uniting with the beloved dead ones. Loads of colorful kites are up in the air, as the locals believes the string to be a symbol that connects them with the soul of the dead. Custom food is called ‘Fiambre’, and includes pretty much all you can think of -vegetables, egg, meat, chicken, corn, rice, and more. Everyone seems to be visiting the cemeteries which become a big happening with ‘Mariachi’ singing (Latin guitar players), food stands, flower market, and people with ladders to rent for placing the flowers on high level graves (some graves are 5 floors up) . I have never seen a cemetery so crowded, happy and full of live.
And with this optimistic point of view, my trip came to its end.
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