La RutaInka ended in the accent Mayan city of Tikal and of course I was really pumped to get to see this fascinating place. The day we got to Tikal we decided not to go in till the next day since we had arrived late and wouldn't have that much time to explore. I was told for 50 bucks I could get snuck into the park before they opened and see the sunrise from the highest temple. That night we camped right outside and there was a down pour, I thought it wouldn't of been worth it to go in for the sunrise since you probably wont be able to see much, but I did swear to my self to go back and see the sunrise.
The next day some friends and I got a group together, got a tour guild, and started our hike into the jungle to get to the temples. As soon as we started walking the tour guild told us that everything we saw when Tikal was at it's prime had no trees at all and was just building after building like NYC. As you hiked you could see a hill after a hill after a hill and a nicely made rode between them, this is because each of them hills are temples/buildings under all the dirt.
You can't image the size of the largest temples until you see them in person. Just image hiking on a trail threw the jungle and then getting to a clearing wheres there's a stone wall and you look up and you just can see any end to it. There are only a few temples you can go up on but the climb up them is quit an adventurer it's self and then the climb down scares the shit out of you. The steps you use to go up are straight up into the air, they're more like a ladder then steps. The average height of the temples are about 20 floors high, so just imagine climbing up the side of a 20 floor building on a ladder and then when you get to the top there aren't any railings and then you have to climb back down that ladder.
The hypothesis why Tikal was abandoned is that all the trees you see below were all cut down by the Mayans to build temples and buildings. So because they had cut all the trees down area dried out and it was uninhabitable. What blows my mind is the fact that 100s of years later Mother Natural has taken this area back and you can barley see the huge city that was once there.
The image below was taken from same spot that was used for Star Wars. I've post a clip below from the film so you can compare.
If you zoom in to a small section of the middle of the left side in the image above you find these two little guys below. Tikal is a real jungle and there are no cages at all, the animals are in the wild and roaming freely.
I'm a huge Patriots fan and when I seen this lady, with a Pats hat, in Tikal, the middle of a jungle, you best believe I was pumped. It was just great benign able to be at the NYC of the ancient world and then seeing another Pats fan there what more could I ask for.
The last days we were in Honduras we stayed in a little town out side of the ancient Mayan city of Copan. Out of all the places we had been in all off Central America Copan has the best preserved pyramids and statues I had seen, you could just image what this great city looked like in its prime.
The next day we went on our way from San Jose to go see an active volcano, Arenal. In the middle of the trip we was all woke up when we had to stop because the one of the two buses had gotten a flat. We had to get off and wait about a an hour for the bus drivers to change the tires, I had never seen an tire of a couch bus being changed. It was pretty cool to see the bus drivers change such a big tire in so much heat.
Once we got to the Arenal we could hardly see it because of the clouds but the group still set up for a group shot. Little by little the clouds started to go away and we could see the Arenal and then out of no were the ground started to shake and then came a huge roar and a the volcano shot tones of smoke into the air. After the whole hip about seeing this great event we started on a hike trowed Arenal's base.
Once we had seen the volcano from this rocky base we started a hike threw a different path that led us into a jungle. As we walked the path we seen huge bugs, heard and felt the volcano and seen this huge tree named Ceiba. Later we would find out that the Ceiba was very important to the Mayans. They believe that it represented the three levels of the universe; the top that went up into the sky was the heavens, the bottom; the roots went into the ground was the underworld, and the mid-section; the trunk was were humans were. Every where we went we was told over and over about this tree, that's how important it is to understanding the Mayan culture.
As we hiked I started to get tired and hungry, so a friend offered me coca leafs telling me that it would take it away and give me energy. He told me all I had to do was chew the leafs and make sure I didn't swallow, so I did just that. After a few minuets I wasn't tired or hungry, had more energy, and my mouth was a little numb.
Threw out the whole trip I learned a lot about my fellow group members. The image below is a friend from Uruguay making mate(ma-te). Mate is a tea from Uruguay and Argentina that is made by pouring hot water on herbs that you drink in threw a special straw. There was also a friend from Paraguay that also made the same tea but instead of hot water she used cold water and it's named terere.
After checking out the Arenal and the great hike we went to were we was going to sleep, this was a sport complex with the volcano in the background. Here we had to shower out side and sleep inside in tents on a basketball court.
Later that nigh the bus drivers took us to see the lava glowing in the dark as it flowed down the volcano, but when we got there we really couldn't see anything. So I took the chance to play with my flash off the camera and got some cool shots. The next stop that night was to go to a stream were the water was hot because it is heated by the volcano, this was really relaxing.
The first thing we did as soon as we got on the buses in any country was fall asleep. We just couldn't help it, it could be noon and sunny out but we would still all fall asleep. So in Costa Rica I was on the bus and just happened to wake up and look over my shoulder and see my friend from Spain, Javi sleeping with very beautiful light on his face so I just had to take the shot of him sleeping.
Once we got into Costa Rica we went to Quepos were the natural reserve Manuel Antonio is located. A part of the group went into the reserve to see the animals, river, and waterfalls, but I stayed out side enjoying the beach. As it started to get dark it began to rain, our plan was to ether to camp on the beach outside of the reservation or another beach close by. But we lucked out because one of the bus drivers got us a school were we cold sleep in. The next day we went a volcano were some of the group went hiking and the others went to the a town near by. Once it got dark we all met up to head to San Jose were we did not know were we was going to sleep until we got word that a church from a very poor neighborhood would let us stay there.
The next day a small group of people and I went to check out the city. To be honest with you San Jose was not that nice, there was only a small section of a ten by ten block area that was very nice looking. That's were we spent most of the day. In one of the little parks there was people feeding pigeons. As we sat there and looked at the people and pigeons I notice that women was garbing the pigeons so her child could pet them.
I have grown up always wanting to going to Costa Rica because I leaner that was were tons of sea turtle migrate to lay their eggs. Later on in life I found out that people ate the eggs, so when I found this stand selling turtle eggs next to candies I had to get a shot. I guess you buy the eggs and then they cook them for you on the spot at your liking.
Hello there everyone I haven't written anything in a long time because I was out of the US on a backpacking trip through Central America. I thought that I would be able to do posting as I went on my trip but it wasn't that easy, most of the time I wasn't able to get any Internet. So now that I am back in the states I will try my best to add a posting every day of a day on the trip.
On 7/26/10 I left from New York City to Panama were I started my backpacking trip. The first place I stayed at was Hostel Panama by Luis. It was a very nice place, very comfortable and in a very safe area of the city.
Hostel Panama by Luis
Hostel Panama by Luis
Hostel Panama by Luis
That First day I went to El Casco Viejo, that is the area of Panama City that is the historical part; the oldest part. The first thing that stood out to me was that there were a lot of women with color full dresses on and their hair covered. After asking why was they dressed I found out that they were ingenuous people and that is their typical attire.
There were a lot of little parks through out this area and I was really interested with the people just hanging out there.
I tried to do some shots with lighting with two Canon speed lights, didn't get anything I liked but hey at lest I was trying.
After a long day of walking threw historical Panama I was really happy with this shot and was ready for bed and to meet up with La Ruta Inka the next day.
