Tikal and the 'roof of the world'

by NICHOLAS MOUSTAKA (Norway)

A leap into the unknown Guatemala

We awoke early and decided this would be a day for the rain forest. Tikal is a Mayan city, excavated in the middle of the Guatamala rain forest. A guide was hired at the lodge and a discourse concerning the rules of the forest was given. We took a guided tour of the surrounding jungle. Our young guide, Hugo, taught us how to define which mound was but a mound and which mound hid an ancient building, perhaps a temple, a pyramid or an ancient public toilet. He showed us the cocobolo, a hardwood tree whose heartwood colours range from black to red, orange and yellow. Trailing deeper into the rain-forest we came upon a kapok tree which is perhaps the tallest of the forest trees. The tree was tooled with a string ladder which seemed to climb endlessly. We scaled the rope ladder onto a rickety looking yet surprisingly sturdy lookout point. We stood in awe of the ‘garden’. We were afloat upon the rainforest, the roof of the world. Suddenly, sky darkening momentarily, a Harpy eagle glided over our heads. Chest, back and upper wings of charcoal, breast of white it could have been an angel in flight, absolutely, insanely surreal. We stood in daunted silence as this majesty of the sky cruised only feet above us, disturbing the air currents ever so slightly! Our sight, our eyes, our senses mesmerized by this King of the sky. The harpy eagle is the largest and strongest eagle in the world. Its talons are five inches long, the claws of a grizzly bear are two to four inches long. Its legs are as thick as the wrist of a man. They have a wingspan of up to nine feet. In that strange language called metric it is two hundred and seventy-four centimeters. We stood affixed until Harpy sank into the forest. Howler monkeys scuttled from upper branches. The monkeys are a mainstay of Harpys diet. Howler monkeys, once venerated by the Mayans as forerunners to the human race, bounced branch to branch below us. The Mayans believed that the gods, in their attempts to populate the earth with a creature of perfect design abandoned their attempts and settled for the humankind at the same time abandoning the Howler monkeys to the forest. When we finally descended the tree, Hugo walked us around the given path and we learned a little of the local fauna and flora, mushrooms and trees. Brown jays jumped tree to tree, crested Guan and olive throated parakeets and any number of parrots crossed our path. Our senses were invaded by splashes of colour. The trek was accompanied by an orchestral cacophony of birds. We learned of the kingdom of magic mushrooms (kuxum) which the mayans used to communicate with the gods and most likely smoked and drank to aid their ascension to the land of heaven. The circuit complete, we sat with Hugo and coffee learning from him of the wild animals likely to visit the hotel site to forage for food. They included panthers and leopards!