TikalJan 26, 2011
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Arriving in Livingston
Going up the Rio Dulce
On the Rio Dulce
After a couple of days in Livingston we took another boat up the Rio Dulce, another beautiful boat ride, to the town of Rio Dulce where we caught a bus north to Flores. This was our base for visiting Tikal, site of a Mayan civilisation, which has been partially recovered from the jungle. We camped overnight so that we could go in first thing in the morning and had the place to ourselves. It was eerily quiet, apart from all the birds and the amazingly loud howler monkeys. I am still trying to perfect my impersonation of a howler monkey for when we get home, I can't even begin to describe it here.
The ruins are magnificent, some of them towering above the jungle canopy, others barely uncovered. The photos don't really do it justice, especially as it was a rather overcast day, which was a blessing as it could have been unbearably hot. We climbed the pyramids you are allowed to climb, and walked for miles around the site so it was quite a tiring day in the end.
By this time though Les had started to not feel well – I won't go into the details but we subsequently diagnosed Dengue Fever which is passed by mosquito bites. There is no treatment other than rest and fluids so we have stayed here in Flores for a few days. You will be relieved to hear that he is now a lot better and we are planning to move on tomorrow.
