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Guatemala Trip (II)
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Continued from Guatemala trip (I)
The Tikal National Park in Northern Petan is our next stop. This is just south of the Yucatan peninsula located inside a huge rain forest. It has the most impressive pyramids and ceremonial altar. We walked in a 5.6 km loop to see the whole site.
Yes, there is a pyramid buried under this mound of dirt and growth. It is what over 1000 years of neglect and Nature can do.
Panoramic view of Tikal’s Grand Plaza (notice anything peculiar about this picture? Noted added 2/20/10: So far after close to 200 readers no one has noticed anything unusual. Or is it too obvious?)
In front of the famed Cougar Tower (at the right hand side of previous panoramic picture)
A tropical bird (semi-domesticated in the sense that the bird lives in the Park and not afraid of people
Our last stop is the town of Antigua which was the old capital of Guatemala until the late 18th century. By zoning restrictions, all building in the town must be built according to the colonial style of some two hundred years ago. Our hotel, built in 2000, looks very much like it could be constructed in the 1700s except for the modern conveniences. The result is very charming as the following series of photos show
courtyard of our hotel room
Corridors of the hotel looks like a city street where each house is actually three or four hotel rooms.
A different corridor of the hotel
Center court of the hotel looks like a city plaza
We spent Valentine’s day and the Chinese new year day on the road. The tour operator was very considerate and staged a special Valentine day / Chinese new year celebration for the group.
special towel arrangement in hotel room on valentine's day
Gaint dancing puppet show
Chinese New Year / Valentine Day Banquet
Incidentally for US readers, If you ever wondered what happens to the ubiquitous yellow colored old school buses used by every town/village in the US when they were traded in every few years by the school district. People do not buy second hand school buses because they have no heating/airconditioning, no luggage rack, no reclining seats, and no toilet. They are strictly for short distance transportation. Well, they become public transportation in Guatemala. Many still retain their old color and school district names.
Finally, our trip was made that much more informative because of our expert tour guide who gave us daily lecture on archaeology (Maya civilization), history and sociology of modern day Guatemala. It was a learning experience. We returned home on 2/16/2010
https://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-1565-295560.html
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