El Remate (Tikal), Guatemala

This ancient city once dominated the landscape of the ancient Mayan Kingdom. We stayed a few days near the ruins in the small village of El Remate and took some time to enjoy the tranquility of lake.

We headed into Tikal at 3:30 in the morning so we could make our way up to the top of Temple IV before sunrise. The howler monkeys were out in full force, echoing throughout the forest. it was a truly an amazing experience to look over the ancient Mayan world from atop the tallest of the Mayan temples.

Navigating through the masses of complexes took about 6 hours, at which point had seen about 90% of the uncovered complexes and an abundance of wildlife. There are so many animals in the park that this place should actually be marketed as a nature park! Scientists have counted more than 3,000 individual structures at Tikal, and lots of them still appear as mounds of dirt and trees that could still contain some important undiscovered artifacts.