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Guatemala: Canopy Tour (Tikal)

Posted on April 16th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Guatemala, Travel.

I signed up for the zip-line canopy tour…partially because I thought it’d be fun to swing around between trees, and partially because they were advertised as “Tarzan tours”. I went at the place next to the gate of the national park that the Tikal/Yavin 4 site is in.  The guide was awesome - he had great English, and he took the time to point out lots of special plants on the way, describing special or medicinal properties.

[Myself…hanging from a cable up in the jungle canopy of northern Guatemala for reasons that seemed to make more sense at the time.] 

The guide also taught me how to ride upside down between trees, the idea of which terrified me at first…but then I decided I wanted to confront that fear, and I went ahead and did it.  It was really exhilerating…I felt like a bird.  The sky below me, the wind and trees rushing around me as I hung free with out-stretched arms.  (The only challenge in knowing when to turn back up so you don’t reach the next tree George of the Jungle Style.)

[Typical patform around a tree between two cables]

Of course, I’m somewhat skeptical about the wisdom of hanging from a cable 100 feet up in a third-world country…even right-side up…but I admit they had enough safety measures that I felt pretty comfortable…and a bit like an Ewok.  Then they took me on the Canopy Walk and my suspicions were confirmed.  Guatemala is the all-purpose Star Wars moon.

[Ewok bridge…err…Canopy Walk]

They took me on the uncompleted Canopy Walk free of charge, hoping to gain insights as to how an American/European tourist might react to various aspects.  Uncompleted, the Canopy Walk had none of the safety features that the Canopy Tour boasted, and at times I was climbing carefully on narrow steel girders where they planned to build a platform around a tree to connect two bridges, and there was nothing to hang on to but a huge tree trunk with no accessible branches.  I love the adventures.

[Myself on the Canopy Walk, but still geared up from the zip-line Canopy Tour]

Of course, by the time we got back to what passed for the office, the last bus next to Flores was long gone.  Never fear!  The workers at the site all live in Santa Elena, right next to Flores, and instead of spending three hours crammed into a ten-passenger van with 15 other tourists, I got a smooth one-hour ride in an air conditioned sedan.  Ah, the good life…

[The sunset on the ride back to Flores]

The Canopy (Zip-line) Tour, I should mention, only cost US$15 in Guatemala…is neighboring Belize, they run about US$100.  They it really didn’t serve as the wildlife tour they claim it to be…but for US$15 it’s a fun experience.  I would have hated to spend US$100 on it unless the Belize one is radically better.

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Guatemala: Tikal (Yavin 4)

Posted on April 15th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Guatemala, Star Wars, Travel.

Where is the rebel base?

Not on Dantooine…or even on Yavin 4…no, the rebels were in northern Guatemala.

[Anna’s picture of Tikal, Guatemala, taken from the top of Temple IV]

[Scene from Yavin 4 rebel base in Star Wars Episode IV]

Please take careful note of the similarities and differences of these two images and submit to me a one-page report on it one week from today.

[Temple I in Tikal]

Tikal’s most famous temple is Temple I, which folks haven’t been allowed to climb since two tourists tumbled to their doom from its steps some years ago.  It’s a pity, but we are allowed to climb Temple II, which is similar and offers a great view of Temple I, so I wasn’t too bitter about the lost opportunity.

[Temple V, the size of which cannot be captured without backing into the surrounding jungle]

While Temple I may be off limits, Temple V, which stands 40 feet taller and appears to be steeper as well, is not off limits.  The ledge on the top is no more than three feet wide, and there is no railing to keep the two-way pedestrian tourist traffic from tumbling down - I guess no one’s died here yet.  They’ll put up a railing after enough Americans tumble to their doom.

[View of Yavin…er, Tikal’s tallest pyramid, Temple IV, from atop the Lost World Temple.  And me, of course.]

Most of these pyramids were discovered in the past century, and it really made me wonder…how could you not know?  It was right up there on par with the ”How could Lois Lane not know Clark Kent is Superman?” question.  I mean, they’re rather large and hard to miss.  And then I stumbled upon an unexcavated temple (below) and I think I developed a new level of respect for the archeologists working there.

[Random unexcavated pyramid]

And to wrap this up, something very cute.  The Lonely Planet warned not to feed the coatis…is this what it was referring to?  It’s too cute to be a pest…  I mean, I wouldn’t mind having one for a pet.  The sad thing is, when I was little, I only had to convince my mom of the need for whatever animal I was after…but now I have to justify it to myself.  I have a hard time even justifying a fish.

 

Wiki declares the coatimundi to be a small, intelligent bear that in an insectivorious member of the raccoon family.  They live in Central and South America and have double-jointed ankles.  Interesting.

1 comment.

Guatemala: By Bus and Boat

Posted on April 15th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Guatemala, Travel.

[I tried to take a pic of this bird while it sat on my hand, but when I stopped feeding him he started slowly applying more and more pressure on my finger with his beak, reminding me that he was here for the food and not my entertainment.]

After making our last stop in Mexico at an open-air breakfast buffet where parrots hang out with the hopes of being fed the supplied sunflower seeds by the passing tourists, I continued on towards the Mexico-Guatemala boarder with a bus load of (mostly)backpacking Europeans.

 
[The boat that got ten life-direction-lacking-individuals, myself included, to Guatemala]

There’s no overly convenient boarder crosing between Chiapas and northern Guatemala.  You take a bus to the middle-of-nowhere Mexico, hunt down the immigration office, get your passport stamps, then climb in a small boat and ride down the river for a half hour ’till you meet the nearest road on the Guatemalan side of the boarder where you pile in another bus.  A much crappier bus.

[An alligator/crocodile/Annacan’ttellthedifference that our boat operator was kind enough to slow down, pull over, and point out for us]

We were met at the boarder by the above mentioned crappier bus, and all our luggage was piled on top the bus and strapped down for the 6-hour ride to Flores, only the last hour of which was on paved roads.  Many of the roads were made of more small to mid-sized rocks rather than gravel - in fact, we were all grateful when we got onto packed dirt roads.

[The bus on which I would end up discussing sci-fi, fantasy, and travel with a German dude for six consecutive hours…the conversation would continue for another three hours the next morning on yet another bus]

The immigration office wasn’t actually on the boarder, but about 5 miles into the country on an uncontrolled rock road.  Next door was a snack hut.  No one really makes you stop…it felt more like “Tourists: Guatemalan Passport Stamps - On Sale Today!  Only US$5!  (Bananas and Coca-Cola also available upon request.)”

[Guatemala’s boarder control office - very high security, as you can see]

So long Mexico…Yavin 4, here I come!

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