Did I mention that the road going in and out to the hotel was not what would be considered either paved or passible by any stretch of the imagination. It made the gravel road from our house to the county road seem like a high speed freeway in comparison. I really don’t appreciate dust, potholes, bumps and more potholes – call me older and cranky. Up into the wilds, we did paved road followed by more “interesting roads” totally over 100 minutes. Yes, I was watching my watch

[/ complaint mode]

Tikal dates from the pre and classical Mayan periods from my understanding.  Here is the Wiki link  for those of you who want to read more. I am just going to provide you a ton of pictures. Most of us were there for a full day – heading to Temple 4 in the afternoon, climbing those 197 steps and taking a few pictures from the top. There were those who chose to go back to the hotel and head to the pool.

(no, wasn’t me)

First – the layout minus all the the little side buildings

and side detour to trees and airplants. The mahogany trees are just about gone…

From the top of Temple 4

and then there are the critters:

of which I lost count of the Coatimundis after I 27 ran across the path in front of us.