1/23/2024 We are off to Guatemala for a two week visit with Brad's Dad, Gene, and his wife Judy. They have been living in Antigua, Guatemala for the last 20 years. This was a big birthday for Gene and we were thrilled to help celebrate.
2/1/2024 Tikal National Park and Yaxha National Park near Flores, Guatemala
We decided to take a side trip to view Mayan ruins during this trip. We took a short flight from Guatemala City to Flores, where we were able to visit two Guatemalan National Parks. It is truly amazing how extensive these cities were. They have been swallowed up by the jungle, but once you know what you are looking for the temple pyramids are evident everywhere.
Tikal National Park
In the heart of the jungle, surrounded by lush vegetation, lies one of the major sites of Mayan civilization, inhabited from the 6th century B.C. to the 10th century A.D. The ceremonial centre contains superb temples and palaces, and public squares accessed by means of ramps. Remains of dwellings are scattered throughout the surrounding countryside. (Ref: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/64)
In a very “small world” moment, we ran into some friends from home. I worked with Jim and Hilary back in my Lockheed Martin days. We have all three been retired for a few years now. In a very interesting twist we literally bumped into them in Tikal, and again the next day in Yaxha. They were traveling with a National Geographic tour. We were on a private tour. Five minutes in either direction and we would have missed them entirely. I think the Universe was speaking to us…
2/2/2024 Yaxha
The Yaxha National Park is located in the northeast part of the Petén department, in the municipalities of Flores and Melchor de Mencos. It was the capital of an extensive territory that dominated the northeastern part of Petén, although it had very strong links with the city of Tikal, Caracol in Belize, and Calakmul in Mexico. It has monumental clusters with pyramidal temples, Acropolis, twin pyramids complexes, commemorative complexes, Ball Games, palaces and domestic residential complexes. (https://parquenacional-yaxha-nakum-naranjo.com/us/historiayax.html)
While we did have a good shake (6.1 magnitude earthquake) during this visit to Antigua, volcano Fuego was relatively quiet. This is the view from the guest room at Gene and Judy’s house. We had a lovely visit, a fascinating and educational visit to Mayan ruins, and fun encounter with friends from home. This is becoming an annual visit for us.
Up next, soon back to cruising…
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