Day 80: The Ruins of Tikal

Amazing. The largest of the ancient ruined cities of the Mayan civilization. To simply try and imagine a people building something so amazing, living in a time so different is absolutely astounding. Walking through the jungle from one structure to another gave me a sense of peace, a sense of curiosity. And then suddenly we'd come upon a clearing, another structure, and people would abound, once again a tourist, surrounded by other tourists. But it was fun. Eventually we came to a section called the "Gran Plaza,"structures upon structures upon...as Andrea called it, "a playground." We ran up and down stairs, in and out of temples, trying to get to the highest point, around corners and suddenly again you were in the jungle watching monkeys in the trees. As Jo and I ascended our last structure for the day, a dark cloud turned into a dark sky, sprinkles turned into a storm and the tree we met Andrea under didn't keep us dry enough to try. So we went running through the buckets pouring on our head, avoiding puddles as best we could, running in a direction we hoped led to the exit. It did. And as soon as we got there the rain ceased, obviously.