A Time in Tikal

Mayan ruins are pretty high on most people's lists of "interesting things to see." Imagine yourself and 20 something other people crowded into a small plane, whipping through the air with cities, then roads, then only forest beneath you, then unnatural seeming mounds begin to appear profusely. That was the plane ride. Sure, we wondered about the hills, but the terrain isn't exactly flat here in Guatemala.

Seeing mossy hewn stones stacked to the sky and droves of tourists clambering (or huffing and puffing) up the slippery stairs was interesting in itself.

It was otherworldly, being in a stone room or standing in front of an altar that only God knows how many sacrifices were made. It was humbling to realize that all of the ruins looked like the irregular grass and tree covered hills before they were excavated and cleared off. How much more will our greatest buildings be ruled by nature in a few short years after we leave them?

My favorite part probably wasn't the elegant and intriguing, fastidiously piled heaps of rocks, but the things that were alive;
friends

butterflies

and a cute animal I can't remember the name of (but I did risk it and touch his tail!)