GUATEMALA
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I took this photo from the top of Temple IV - looking out over
the Tikal jungle with the Temple of the Jaguar and Temple of the Masks rising above the trees.  This is the same scene filmed in the movie "Star Wars".
The first night must be spent in Guatemala City.  Flights only fly in the morning over the jungle.  The Quinta Real was a beautiful place to stay.  The hotel is heavily fortressed and guarded.  This is typical in Central American cities.
Our Grupo Taca prop plane flies at an altitude of 2,000 feet in the mornings over the Guatemalan jungle covered mountains.  We see the wide Rio Usumascinta and the smaller Rio  de la Pasion snaking through the vegetation.
The Camino Real in the Tikal jungle on Lago Peten Itza.
There are 102 archealogical sites in Guatemala of which Tikal is the largest and the most famous with over 3,000 stone structures.  Tikal was discovered in 1848 but excavation did not begin until the 1950's with the first temples being completely uncovered in the 1960's.  It was declared a World Heritage Site in 1979.  The Maya flourished in this area from 800 B.C. to about 900 A.D. during the Pre-Classic and Classic (Early and Late) Periods.  They did not have gold or other metals.  They built with only chipped and ground stone tools and did not have beasts of burden.  There are over 200 stone monuments (estrelae) and perhaps as many as 10,000 earlier structures that lie sealed beneath the jungle.  Tikal is like an iceberg with its bulk invisible beneath what we see on the surface.
We pass Lake Peten Itza where people drink, play and do laundry along with dogs, pigs and goats.  Horses are sacred in Guatemala and roam free.
Temple l, Temple of the Jaguar
Temple ll  (Temple of the Masks)
Estrela with sacrificial stone
Grand Plaza of the North Acropolis
Approaching Temple lV
TIKAL
TIKAL

Grand Pyramid of the Lost World
the ruins at Ceibal on El Rio Pasion
structures on the island of Yaxha - believed to be residences of Mayan royalty
    partially excavated temple
CEIBAL
YAXHA
Los Libros Buenos (Good Books)...

On the Trail of the Maya Explorer:  Tracing the Epic Journey of John Lloyd Stephens
Steve Glassman

Incidents of Travel in the Yucatan
John Lloyd Stevens
All photos by Robin Lawrence Poses