Tikal

Headed out of Belize with very little hassle. Pretty smooth border crossing for a change and made it all the way to the pretty town of Flores. Which is a town on an island in the middle of a huge, crystal clear lake. Booked out tour for Tikal which unfortunatly left at 3am so as to catch the sunrise. So after waaayyy too little sleep we ended up in Tikal for a slightly shambolic tour. The ruins were cool though. We all started on top of Temple 4 which is the temple in Star Wars IV to watch as the temples appeared out of the mist. Very etherial with the temple tops sticking out of the jungle canopy and slipping in and out of view. Once the sun came up it turned into a scorcher of a day and we did the tourist thing. Managed to get some good pics and found a giant cricket thing and a small snake. The best bit was probably Temple of the Grand Jaguar. A soaring 71m climb up almost vertical ladder to reach the summit. Excellent views of the surrounding vista from above the tree tops. At the bottom managed to see a family of howler monkeys with a baby and managed some excellent pics as they were really close. I'll stick them on facebook over next few days. Only dissapointment was the lack of intricate stonecarvings which i was expecting but as this is the fist of many Mayan ruins that i'm going to see i'll reserve judgement for the moment.

All in all a cracking day out. Right off the bed as i'm fecked.

Chris.