tikal part one

i don't really know where to begin describing our trip to tikal. i guess i'll update with pieces, poco a poco.

massacres in the history of guatemala have often occurred at the hands of foreigners, and, more recently, have been perpetrated by the country's own government. it was nature, though, that chisteled the gravestone of the mayans in tikal.

the ruins sat undiscovered for about a thousand years, after a severe drought killed off a majority of the massive city's population and left the city abandoned. rumor has it that the group of archaelogists was searching for a lost frisbee when they realized they were surrounded by 3,000 buildings of stone. just kidding (about the frisbee part).

the mayans could build temples that kissed the sky, cities that easily withstood the fury of earthquakes, and could design an elaborate aqueduct system that captured rain into huge reservoirs, but when tikal was dying of thirst, they could not summon water from the sky.

our guide - i forgot his name - had lived and worked in the jungle for decades. he could describe with an expert's knowledge the significance in everything the mayans did with regards to planning the city. all of the temples we saw were built with a reference point to a solar equinox or solstice in mind, and every step had a numerological significance as well. our guide could also imitate the cries of various monkies, as well as the birds, perfectly. he showed us the tree that an american company came, smelled, and started exporting to use for old spice deoderant. he told us that after the tour he was going to eat termites, and that they tasted like carrots. more later, probably? love ben