Star Wars

Over the weekend we had the chance to take a weekend trip to Tikal which is one of the most famous site for ancient ruins in all of Guatemala.  It is located in the northern part of Guatemala very close to the border of Belize.  At Tikal, we were able to see numerous ruins constructed by the ancient Mayan peoples from over 1000 years ago.

Many of the structures resembled the building pictured here.  The main purpose of these structures varied, but the typical use was for ceremonial purposes such as giving sacrifices to the Mayan Gods.  The sacrifice (sometimes human) would first be killed on the circular stones as seen in front of these pillars, and then be burnt atop the monument as an offering.

This is a picture of Katie standing atop the tallest ruin within Tikal which was used in the movie Star Wars: A New Hope (I didn't know that either)

Pictured to the left is a tree.  What kind of tree? I'm so glad you asked.  This Ceiba tree is native to Central America and the Mayans considered it sacred since it represents the 3 spiritual levels of our world.  The roots of the tree represent what we would consider to be hell or the underworld, the trunk represents the physical world around us, and the top branches represent the gods and heaven.  This tree is at least 60 feet high and its roots can reach several hundred feet.

We got really lucky in seeing wildlife.  There were plenty of parrots, monkeys, and these guys pictured to the left (I forgot the name but they are a member of the raccoon family) and it was awesome to see!




Thanks for reading!