Tikal

We got up at 0500 and had breakfast. Seeing the sun rise from the top of temple 4 is supposed to be amazing but taking to people the mornings are usually misty so you can't see it rise, so we had an extra hour in bed. We set off at 0600 after having breakfast to a very overcast sky and were glad we hadn't pinned our hopes on the sun rise. Having brought our entrance ticket for Q150 each we started walking. The site is massive. We spent 6 hours walking around and I'm sure we missed some things, and that was just the area that has been restored. There were over 150,000 people that lived around the site between 200AD and 900AD when all the large Mayan sites were abandoned. That is 10 times more people than Copán! Here are some pictures:-Complex Q with stelas and altar stones, root path, inside a temple, wildlife, stairs up to temple 4, views from the top of temple 4,
looking down from temple 4, more stairs, toucan, temple 1, temple 2 and the grand plaza, temple 5, view of temple 2 and grand plaza, looking down from temple 5, hiding from the sun, walking through the jungle between sites, shadows, temple 6.
We arrived back at camp around 1230 exhausted, jumped under a cold shower, had some lunch before felling asleep to wake in a pool of sweat. These 105 F temperatures really take it out of you. The size and majesty of Tikal was awe-inspiring and we were able to place the delicacy of the carvings in the much smaller Copán site into perspective.