Day 2 Guatemala, The Great Maya Ruins of Tikal in the jungle and Howling Monkeys!
 
No sooner had we got to sleep then we were up again it was very hard work moving like robots and communicating by sign language the three stooges found themselves on the side of the road at 3 .40am waiting for our transport in the pitch black! I don't really remember the journey to the ruins it is all abit hazy, Nik in her first class seat again said that dodging the many stray dogs asleep in the road, chickens, donkeys and turkeys was quite amusing, god only knows how the driver didn't knock into any of them, finally we arrived after the border check. It was at this point that the 3 of us realised we were totally unprepared; one torch between us, 3 of us in flip-flops, not eaten the night before and a 4 hour guided talk / tour ahead of us through jungle and including climbing 70metre high Mayan temples. It was going to be interesting!
 
After a somewhat protracted admin bit where yours truly chose to remain very mute we started our first 20 minute hike towards our seat for the sunrise so in pitch black conditions the flip-flopped trio strode purposefully through the jungle. Actually it was more stumbling staggering and limping holding onto each other trying to avoid the various pitfalls along the way .

As the dawn began to peek over the horizon, we suddenly heard this incredible noise all around us which TOTALLY freaked us out at first, it was like a scene out of King Kong when he stands on the empire state, the noise was so loud, we were convinced it was a gorilla attack! Carrying on a tad closer together, we finally we arrived at a set of steps leading up to the east face of temple 4. Taking our seats the show was just starting animal noises began to echo all around us as the sun tried to break through. From our vantage point high up over the forest canopy with the roofs of various temples buildings pyramids poking out of the greenery amongst the mountain mist, howling monkeys were having a shouting contest. Who was the hardest troop who had the best territory my dads harder than your dad etc. It was incredible not only is the scene before you just fantastic like looking at a lost world within the jungle, it is totally enhanced by this incessant yelling . It just doesn't stop, we will never forget it.

Our guide asked us all to sit there in silence and take it all in, to appreciate the position we were in and count ourselves as very lucky as they may be stopping these sunrise tours very shortly. As the assembled horde took it all in without trying to gawp and generally not look like stunned tourists, the sun then rose above the mist after which our guide gave us a quick briefing about the next few hours and in particular what to look out for. Even before we had left it was pointed out that during our moment watching and listening to the sunrise an eagle had caught a small parrot and was proceeding to disembowel it not 10m above us on the temple roof.

At ground level we formed into groups and began a fascinating 4hour hike around this wildlife / Mayan ruin extravaganza. Our guide Lewis really bought the whole place alive describing the life back when the place had been a thriving metropolis and subsequent inhabitation by the descendents of the builders . Add in to the mix the vast numbers of wildlife all around us it was awesome. Following an ancient path we moved from temple to temple to pyramid to ball court to trees with monkeys,( howling even louder right above us, how something so small makes so much noise we will never know, unbelievable!) all done with an amazing informative commentary from our guide. In our group was an American family and the young son summed up what everyone was thinking when he said to the guide about the howling, 'what is making that noise,' on replying 'they are called howling monkeys' the kid was having none of it and just kept repeating, 'no you are wrong it is lions, it MUST be lions!' We all had to laugh at this point, bless him.
 
Carrying on we climbed high up steep/almost vertical sided temples and gazed out across the vast green canopy spotting spider monkeys (mother and baby) swinging from branch to branch. Most of the buildings we encountered were all in some way linked together and in direct alignment with the sun during the equinoxes and the moon . It is quite staggering how they achieved this feat. As the morning began to reach double figures we were heading for coffee time and the tour ended in a huge plaza with temples on all four sides. A magnificent day and it was only 10.30am.

The drive back seemed to take forever and all of us were absolutely starving by the time we reached El Ramate and food was the order of the day. After food Nik and I headed home for a much needed sleep waking up much later that afternoon the stormy conditions were back but nowhere near as bad as yesterday. It was our last night before we parted company with David as he was heading back to Chetumal in Mexico through Belize. Good luck with the borders David! Buses booked Nik and I were to head south to Coban and the next leg of our Guatemala adventure at 8am the next morning, after a dip in the fresh water lake, beer and more food with David we all crashed out ready for another early start!