Ancient Lands of the Maya

We had made it to the jungle so now it was time to get into it and explore. We were lucky to have the van so we were able to get to some harder to reach sites and also have the opportunity to camp next to these old cities. The weather had cleared and left a cool morning air, we drove east to take a morning reset and wash at a lake before continuing down towards Belize. After an hour we turned left off the highway, directly onto a dirt road. It was 10kms to the archaeological site, and it could have been a worse road in, but we had heard the last part had a good hill challenge so with the rain we were nervous how that was going to go. I’m sure we’d slide down but getting back out the next day could be interesting.

The site was called Yaxha, a Maya city that was booming a thousand years ago and more. Set on a lake and part of a triangle complex with two other cities, it was an important place. We had it almost to ourselves for the afternoon. We explored the old plazas, pyramids and a giant causeway down to the lake and trading dock, there were also astronomical observation temples to get completely lost in. We were deep in the jungle, or so we felt, and on the end of the huge Maya Biosphere stretching into Belize and Mexico. From the top of the temples we were allowed to climb, the views were amazing. The lake, the dense jungle, and other temple tops just visible. You could feel the history of the place.

Sunset from the top of the largest and most important structure was beautiful and peaceful, purposely built in correlation with the sun, with birds and monkeys in the trees.. We left just as the light

was leaving, Franky struggled to start and left us anxious for the next day, but we were keen to use the campsite down by the old lakeside dock. It was just us and some live-in construction workers, a quiet night next to an ancient city and a carpet of fireflies all around us. There was some drizzle in the morning which was not going to help the offroad hill climb out, but we took in the atmosphere for the morning and let the sun warm the road. Franky blasted up the hill without flinching, he barely noticed he was 2 tons, going up a dirt road with boulders and missing most the holes. We love him!

Back out the 10km of track, back down into the country and again a hard turn to take us deeper again into the jungle. The landscape was made up of dense, thick, old jungle, full of wild beast and ancient cities, rolling hills and fresh water lakes. By the afternoon we had made it to Tikal and settled into the onsite camp ground and as the day finished, the noises of the night creatures in the jungle began.

We rose early at 6am as the site officially opened to try to be some of the first in to the lost city, hoping to see the day break and fingers crossed to come face to face with a jaguar! No luck on either as the day was overcast and wet, but we did have the central plaza and huge city pyramids almost to ourselves, the weather adding to the atmosphere. All morning we wandered around, taking the great city in, trying to understand how life would have been here with a population of 250,000 and exploring the darker corners and temple tops. We retired for brunch, let the rain come and go, clearing out a few more tourists and went again in the afternoon to find tracks we had not yet trodden. After 6-8hrs we still had not seen all of the impressive old structures, but we had tried and had a good feel for the place. To finish our tour, we

climbed the largest pyramid for the end of the day. Rain and clouds drifting through the jungle and our brolly up, we sat on top of this huge 67m structure. Views over the entire jungle around us and the tops of the four other huge buildings, all over 50m tall, clouds hanging amongst the trees. It was an incredible site to see, one of the craziest human built wonders of the world, such a pleasure to sit in awe and stare over the place.

The rain finally got the better of us and we hiked back out to a wet Franky, but we had finished the journey and tour of the lost world of Tikal and now it was only west, back towards the Pacific. A quiet drive back to the first town, both contemplating these crazy sites we had been to and the build up from smaller ruins to the big finale of this epic Maya hub. We pulled back into the reggae bar as it got dark, Max welcomed us back into the place as if it was his living room, put an order in for pizza and we dried out and chatted with the others there. His neighbours had a problem with us sleeping on the drive so he kindly took us to his house when the place closed up for the night, and we crashed there in the back of the van and slept soundly, so satisfied with these amazing memories made in the Maya lands.