Road To Ruins
This is the land of the Maya, and there's certainly no shortage of ancient ruins around to remind you of that. It's impressive to see the enormous structures the Maya were building some 2000 years ago, and learn a little about their complex civilization. However, I don't want this entry to turn into a long, dry history paper - if you want to know more about the Maya, then you could check this out.
I think it's one of those things that comes across best in pictures - and trust me, I took a few of those!
The most famous of the Maya sites run from Honduras through to Mexico, so I'll post the pics in the relevant country galleries when I get a chance.
The first of the sites we visited was Copan in Honduras, often referred to as the 'Paris' of the Maya world because of the fine artworks produced there. Heading through Guatemala brought us to Tikal - the Mayan 'New York' with some high rise temples reaching over 64 m. (A steep climb to the top.) Tikal is set in the middle of the jungle and provides an incredible sun rise setting - sitting on top of the tallest temple, listening to the jungle waking up as the sun climbs behind the temple backdrop, and the mists slowly clear from the treetops. The scene is topped off with the roar of howler monkeys echoing across the jungle as they start their day. Well worth the 2:30am start!
Our Maya ruins trail will also lead us up through Mexico, to Palenque, Tulum, and finally on to one of the new seven wonders of the world, Chichen Itza where our Latin America adventure will come to an end :-(
