Birthday in ancient Maya city of Tikal

gm frens! and greetings from Mundo Maya international airport in Peten, Guatemala! How often do you disembark an aircraft right on the tarmac? (I've only done it a few times, usually on smaller airports like this one) and it usually spells ADVENTURE!

Today was not the exception.
We woke up VERY early today. 3:00am to be exact and we were boarding our flight at about 5:30 am. It was only a 30 minute flight from Guatemala city to Petén, and it sure beats a 10 hour drive across the whole of Guatemala. By 9:00am we were already Tikal national park.

Tikal was one of the most important city states in Mayan civilization. Even though some structures date back to 400 BC, the highest point in Tikal's economic and military might was reached between 200 and 900 AD. Tikal's remains are one of the most important archaeological sites of the Mayan civilization. It's located in Petén, Guatemala in the heart of Mesoamerica.

Kmusser, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Here we are at the visitors center about to enter the park.

We decided to hire a 4x4 to take us about 1 KM into the park to save time We also hired a nice tour guide to make the most out of our visit.

On the left, we have our happy family bouncing up and down basically in the back of a pick up truck. On the right, is the footpath into the archeological site itself. Our tour guide, Byron, was an extra large fellow, but he wouldn't be climbing up the temples with us.

The 500 Square kilometer city takes 2 to 3 days to walk in its entirety! even though about 80% still remains uncovered. Of the 20% that is open to the public can be visited in about 4 hours.

These smaller constructions were on the outskirts of the ceremonial area. Close by, are these man-made reservoirs that the Mayans used to accumulate rain water during rainy season. They're still functional to this day.

This is what it looks like when you approach the main plaza. The temple on the left is having some restoration work done.

This is the main plaza, with the iconic Templo del Gran Jaguar (Temple of the Great Jaguar) as its main feature. This temple was built as a ceremonial temple for governor Jasaw Chan K'awiil I during the late classical period (682 y 734 a.d.). He was also known as Aj Cacao, which is a super important staple and form of trade in Mayan civilization.

Visitors are unable to climb this temple because it's very dangerous. But other temples have wooden structures to climb to the top and get some amazing photos.

This one here is temple IV. At about 70 meters (~230ft) is the second largest pre-Columbian structure still standing in the New World, after the Great Pyramid of Toniná in Chiapas, Mexico

Climbing is quite safe and a nice workout from your bum. The climb up is totally worth it though, as it has one of the most impressive views of Tikal.

We were fortunate to have visited on a clear day. This is the view from Temple IV's shrine with a regular lens and a wide angle lens.

This is @pamarias and the shrines of the main plaza temples in the back:

This is a view from another temple. The shrine in the back is temple IV from where the above pictures were taken.

By recommendation of our tour guide, we went to a local restaurant for lunch and had chicken stew with avocado and hand-made corn tortillas. Delicious!

We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling and writing blog posts by the peaceful Petén Itzá lake. Life is good frens, and it's especially good when your traveling the world with loved ones.