I am in the the peten...the lowland jungle of northern Guatemala. There is something about this place that seduced me last January when I drove from San Ignacio, Belize, over a long, bumpy dirt road through small pueblos with shack houses with tin roofs and
perfectly dressed school children...and then into the biosphere/National Park and Tikal. The jungle....I just had to come back and spend more time here. For some reason, I was enamored with this land of extremes....even with all it´s heat, humidity, and bugs.... 
There are two seasons here: wet and dry. Literally folks recognize a winter and a summer...these were the seasons also recognized by the ancient Mayans. A subtropical rain forest, the winter, which ends in November, brings an average of 12 hours of rain a day. The summer brings oppressive heat and humidity...one thing about the peten, you sweat.....and nothing seems to fully dry once wet.
I have been lucky in that the weather has been far more moderate than my previous trip. The heat is a bit less and the humidity not as intense....and praise the lord, the mosquito's have been moderate as well...I think I have about 10 new bites...plus ten from the Honduran jungle leaves me with about 20 itchy spots.....and hopefully no tropical diseases.
Tikal
But let me start at the beginning. I have been known to say that I prefer to get up early only if it involves sex or fishing....well, I guess you could add jungle trips to the list. Of course this trip started with a 4:00am van pick-up and then a drop off at a small bungalow at the Guate City airport....still dark, the driver pulled over at a building that looked nothing like an airport and indicated I should get out. I was the only one to leave the van....trusting into the dark I went.
After checking in, weighing our bags to make sure we were under the 20lbs limit for the small craft we boarded a prop plane and headed north....most everyone crashing as soon as the plane took off. After nearly an hour we descended into a thick layer of clouds and landed in Flores airport....a stark place. I was greeted by a guy from Jungle Lodge who collected a few of us and into the van we went. An hour drive to Tikal and the lodge....entering the park it was just as I remembered it from a few months ago. We checked in, dumped our bags, and met our guide Carlos, an affable middle aged guy with an infectious smile and a limp. We walked the park and Carlos educated us on the history of the site including descriptions of the political tensions regarding the archeology and excavations. We spent hours walking the park, climbing the temples, taking in the jungle....seeing the birds and creatures, spider monkeys....something that looked like a raccoon....toucans.
Carlos and the Jungle Lodge
While walking Carlos and I invariably talked politics....he said he makes a clear distinction between the US government and the US people. He said that whenever there is a crises in Gt. the US people respond with great generosity....he explained that he was in a motorcycle accident and hurt his leg badly. He could not afford surgery in Gt. Visiting US surgeons operated on his leg for free and he is now recovering.
Carlos was born in Gt. and is of Mayan and Spanish decent. He speaks excellent English and pursued archeology as a second career, earning a BA at the University of Florida in Gainsville....he boasted, "I am a Gator." Back to the lodge we were served an excellent lunch. One man´s salad was late in coming and Carlos seemed very agitated about this....he finally confessed that his family owns the Jungle Lodge. His father had been associated with the site and excavations from the 1950´s....and he is credited with discovering temple 5. There are amazing historical pictures in the restaurant showing the early excavations and the archaeologists and excavators working diligently to reclaim the site from the jungle...a very daunting and laborious task. Only 10-15% of Tikal has been excavated and it is suspected that there are more than 3000 structures. Carlos was animated and warm regularly hugging folks...we were lucky to have him as a guide.
After a 4:00am start and walking miles through the park, a long siesta in my modest but comfy room was in order....hmmmm....clean sheets and extra pillows. Yummy! It was a satisfying nap.
Zoran...the Serbian Guy from the Jungle
On the tour a sweet, handsome guy named Zoran seemed extra friendly to me. After a bit he "casually" mentioned he had been married for 12 years then was involved with a man for 5 years....having recently been dumped. We immediately clicked and I invited him to have dinner with me and he enthusiastically agreed. After a siesta and a shower we met at 7:00pm and started drinking a lovely white wine from Chile. We had an excellent meal and immediately shared many details of our lives....Zoran sharing his heartache about his coming out in Serbia....the war and harboring his family in Greece....his world travels.
We ate and drank and formed the fast friendship that comes from being thousands of miles from home, heartbroken, in the jungle, traveling alone....the winter solstice promising a rebirth and healing. God bless the gays. We drank more Chilean wine and lamented that the lodge would close at around 10:00pm because the electricity would be turned off (it is on for a limited time each day...couple hours in the a.m....one in the afternoon....and in the evening till 9-10pm...then off with the generator). We were lucky that we got light until 10:15pm. Zoran was leaving first thing in the morning and he considered trying to change his flight so we could do the sunrise hike together....but in the end it made no sense. So he walked me to my bungalow and we hugged good night promising to keep in touch and visit each other...SF and Athens. He wrote down his contact info titling it..."the Serbian guy from the jungle." Special guy and I hope to make it to Athens someday soon....and I promised to take Zoran sailing in the SF Bay....and to the Castro of course!
Sunrise in the Jungle
I woke at 4:30am to the sound of my travel alarm....dressing quickly in the dark with the help of my headlamp....then to the lodge where folks gathered and checked in with the guides. We fell into a line and trekked through the dark jungle...only the light of our lamps shining on our path....no moon or star light could penetrate the jungle canopy.....and a thick mist hung all around us making the air heavy and wet.
We crossed through the central plaza where the previous nights solstice ceremonies endured into the early hours (mostly westerners...more on this later). They maintained a large fire with fuel and a constant supply of incense. People played music and were dancing in the blackness of the night.....the two temples of the plaza undulating in the flame light.
We continued to temple 4 and then made the steep climb up the rickety stairs to the top. Temple 4 peaks well above the jungle canopy offering stunning views. When the sky is clear you can see the temples of the main plaza and a few other structures....you are literally looking down on the jungle (had climbed it the previous day with a clear sky). This structure was the tallest human-made structure in the western hemisphere for over a thousand years until the late 19th century when the towers for the Brooklyn Bridge were erected (pic of ruins above canopy....temple 4 on the right and to the left temple 1 & 2 in the central plaza).
Once to the top, we all settled on the steps and our guides instructed us to be quite, explaining that this is a place for meditation....one guide suggested that we consider how often we should be so lucky to be quiet at such an amazing site on the solstice with people from all over the world. We shut our pie-holes and waited for the sun.
The dawn was not really a sunrise....rather with the typical heavy morning mist of the jungle, we watched the jungle emerge through the mist. Now, it is difficult to describe the noises that come with the waking of the jungle (this happened in Copan also). As the sun comes the place just bursts with noise and activity. Birds everywhere squawking and singing....and howler monkeys and spider monkeys and things I can´t even imagine all yelling and screeching their good mornings. We all watched and listened in silence for the better part of an hour as the jungle woke up and started the trip towards summers light. It was a stunning start to a new year....presenting a unique solute to the light and the promise of good things to come.
Juan and "A Lady in Red"
For the rest of the morning a small group of us were given a tour by Juan, a half Mayan half ladino man who has been in the peten his whole life. Juan spoke good English and knew a lot about the wildlife. We took more circuitous routes to the sites....single track trails through the thick of the jungle. We saw many toucans and parrots and a bunch of spider monkeys. At one point the monkeys threw things at us from high in the canopy. I had a pair of small field glasses and watched them eat plums...doing their incredible gymnastics while they ate and looked for new bunches of the fruit.
Now Juan and I chatted as I am want to do with the folks I meet on the road. When he learned I was studying in Antigua he started talking to me only in Spanish....making his sentences slow and simple. He advised I should listen to romantic Spanish songs where the singers enunciate. He explained that he learned English in this manner and noted a good song was "A Lady in Red."
Freak Shows...Westerners Where They Should Not Be
The evening Zoran and I ate dinner a man most of you would recognize from Berkeley or the
Haight. Mid 50´s, long gray hair, hippy-dippy clothes (see pics). He and some other folks like him invited us to view his video about the "Mayan chakras". Well, as a cultural exploration, I could not resist (and Zoran and I were a bit tipsy by now). "Lionfire" gave some barely coherent introduction explaining that the Mayan chakras come from the back and up over the crown chakra....ok. We watched a short video that was a bizarre montage of Tikal images and psychedelic colorings and FXs. Very fucking bizarre. I feigned appreciation and Zoran and I took our leave preferring a bit more conversation and Chilean wine. 
What I discerned from pressing a few of the locals is that the bulk of the Mayan traditionalist do not do there ceremonies in the central plaza on the solstice anymore because of the presence of these hippy-dippy freak-shows that come from mostly the states. There were not many, maybe 35 or 40 total and they stayed the night in the jungle with the fire and whatnot. I gotta say it was repulsive.
A few of this crew had meals at the lodge and I was subjected to their prattling nonsense and obliviousness. One corpulent and clueless man talked incessantly at his two female companions....didactically talking about the peace and bringing the peace to the people and the book he was going to write about the trek to Tikal for the solstice. He spoke loudly and pompously, imposing his words on those around him. Unfortunately I ended up in the van to Flores with these people and they presumptuously asked the men to take them to their hotels not in Flores. They were loud and obnoxious in the van and when they departed the Mayan guys said they were not supposed to drive them there and that they had taken advantage of them. These folks are not typical of the US folks I have seen here and I was appalled at their clueless behaviour.
US Folks
Generally speaking the US folks I see about can be grossly categorized in the following stereotypical ways:
Scrappy Students: Students who wear the same clothes every day....not flashy...wear a Guatemalan bag slung over a shoulder...or a backpack. Most seem to be on the road for awhile....or in Gt for some time studying.
Squeaky Clean Richies: these folks stay at the nicest hotels, for short periods of time, and are conspicuous as they dress for the day...they look squeaky clean and out of place...pot bellied men and shopping women.
Young Drunks: the very young kids from the US...they drink too much, talk too loud and stumble around like it is Greek week. They drip with clueless privilege.
Crunchy ExPats: these folks have soaked up some of Guatemala and seem at home. They are low-key and respectful, speak fluent Spanish and seem very chill...if sometimes cool and aloof.
And in Conclusion
Well this has been a rambling entry of everything and whatnot. Let me finish by saying that I love the jungle....and after talking to a few folks who have been, I am starting to think seriously about the Amazon. To be continued!
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