Nov 2, first leg Guatemala

Frist Class Accommodations 

Boeing 757

 It's really early in the trip but already I can't say enough good things about the organization and the detail that TCS has gone to. It seems every detail along the way has already been thought out and taken care of. We haven't touched our luggage since we left Orlando. Check out the interior of the Boeing 757. First-class seating throughout the plane for 76 passengers. Our trip didn't sell out and looks like we have 55 guests. We had been given iPads with TCS apps on them for the lecturers that occur on the plane. All the meals that we get served in-flight are prepared by the TCS Thomson staff and served with silverware and china. Here we are landing in Guatemala and it must've been an unusual occurrence as staff and children ran to the runway to watch the plane land. In route we were addressed by Susan Ackerman Prof. of religion and current chair of Dartmouth's religion department.  

Temple at Yaxha

The Palace at Temple 4 

Before arrival they gathered our Passports and we cleared customs and immigration by just walking through the security area.



Our Hotel was the Camino Real in Tikal, a wonderful modern hotel with full services.  The first day we visited the Mayan archaeological site of Yaxha.  It's amazing to see the scale of these temples. There's evidence the Mayan  civilization dates to 900 BC. The height of the Mayan civilization was believed to be around 700AD  and by 900 AD the entire area was abandoned. It is believed that the end of the Mayan period was brought about from a long period of drought. Being deep in the jungle this area had no rivers, lakes or see access to sustaining the people through the long drought.

Another view Temple 3

It is estimated that the population in Tikal reached 120,000 persons. after the region was abandon the jungle began to consume buildings. And over hundreds and hundreds of years the vegetation decayed  and literally cover all the palaces and temples. This is hard to imagine but when you walk through the area there are large mounds that are 150 feet tall that look like dirt mounds but under those mounds are actual buildings. There is an estimated 400 buildings in a 16 km² area. There has only been approximately 16% of the area excavated. And these excavations only began in the late 1800s with most of the work coming after the 1950s. There currently is no plan to continue excavating the entire site. The areas that have been excavated represent typical building and temples that will be found throughout the complex.

Balsa Tree

The jungle area is indigenous to many species of animals and exotic birds. Particularly interesting to me were the various species of trees. These included mahogany, rosewood, cedar and balsa wood to name a few. Here's Linda standing at the base of a balsa tree.

 Linda and I with the third Temple in the background. After our tour of Tikal we had the opportunity to either go shopping or to zip line high in the canopy of the jungle. We chose to give the zip line a try. The course consisted of 8 lines through the jungle returning back to our starting point. Linda chose to have some assistance during her first two lines but with some training the guide allow me to accompany her. The worst part was to climb up the tree on the rickety ladders that were provided. We had a blast and hope that the short video here will play inside the blog. Tomorrow we head off to Peru.