Thanksgiving Trip- Day 2- Bus Rides and Dusk at Tikal

 We woke up bright and early on Friday morning and caught the bus to Flores, Guatemala then another bus to Tikal National Park. (We waited a long time for that first bus to come, but we won't talk about that.)

 We each got our own row of seats on the bus from Belize City to Flores. There were other people on but it never got full. I think the ride was about 4-1/2 hours long.  Maybe a little longer because of our stop at the border to get into Guatemala. 

 A cemetery on our way out of Belize City.  Cemeteries are fascinating and beautiful places!

 Houses on stilts were a common scene on the bus ride.

 At this house the guy on the porch saw me taking a picture and waved at me.  I waved back then he waved again.

The beautiful countryside of Guatemala from our bus window!

I loved these little cars many people drove in Flores.  They kind of made me laugh.  (We ended up getting to ride in one later. I will tell you about it in a different post).

 We got to Tikal National Park and checked into our hotel there.  It was a nice hotel.  The room was big and clean and the location couldn't have been better.  It was interesting that the hotel had electricity only at certain times of the day, for a couple of hours in the morning and a few hours at night.  But I guess they don't really need it during the day because it's light enough outside and most people wouldn't be there any way.

We checked into the hotel about an hour before sunset and closing time of the park.  We decided we didn't want to wait til morning to see the ruins so we walked fast/ran to the ruins because we weren't sure how long it would take us to get to there.
 
On the trail to the ruins was the tree of life, pictured above.  I really liked it.  The Mayans believe it was the first creation and that it held up the sky.   It's a beautiful tree! (There will be more pictures of it later.)

 Our first glimpse of the Mayan ruins!  It was awesome!

These ruins are to the left of the temple above.  This is all part of the Grand Plaza. The ruins used to be a residential area.

The temple from the front.  That animal in front is a coati.  They are a member of the raccoon family.  When we first got to the plaza there were a bunch of them hanging around.

 

 I liked this shot with the moon above the temple.  It's beautiful!  We got to see the ruins in dusk light, morning light, and afternoon light.

And me in front of the temple!  I was there.  Tikal National Park is awesome!