Tikal

Pictures here, commentary below





We woke up pretty early to head to Tikal. Again, for background, please do your own research.

The sky was overcast, which was good, because it is already muggy to begin with. We went to many of the sights, pictures are above.

When we stopped to eat our packed lunch, it began to rain. It really cooled everything off and I think we lucked out. I think we enjoyed treking through the jungle as much as climbing the ruins.

One thing to note... Roni noticed that the Mayans moved away from Tikal because the rain lessened. It is believed the rain lessened due to deforrestation. The Mayans cut down the jungle so that there city could exist and also detect attack from other regions. When they left, the jungle grew back. In the 1850s Tikal was discovered and excavation began. this essentially means that big humps of trees and plant life covering old limestone are being removed, a kind of deforrestation if you will. Which will lead to...bingo, less rain. Ironic no? And for what? Sure, it is really cool to see old archaelogical sites, and to learn how humans used to live. But is that more important that preserving our current and future biospheres? Hmmmm