Guatemala is the Mayan land par-excellence. It is not so well known that half of today's population not only are pure-descendants of Mayans, but still speak Mayan-related languages. There are dozens of Mayan sites, large and small. We of course went to the most famous and wonderful of all, Tikal and stayed in nearby Flores, once a thriving Mayan city. From Flores we made a day trip to Ceibal. As we were preparing to leave Guatemala we stopped for a half day at Quirigua, separated from the greater Mayan city of Copan and its once rival by a small mountain chain.

Muddy road to Uaxactun. It gets worse

We also had to forgo much. Just north of Tikal is Uaxactun, reachable only over a very muddy road. We wouldn't chance our car to it and didn't want to make the overnight stay a bus trip would require. Even farther north than Uaxactun, within sight of the Mexican border, is El Mirador, a site even bigger than Tikal — and, maybe when excavations are completed and restorations made, to be even more famous than Tikal. As with Uaxactun, travelling there was impractical. South of Flores and around Ceibal are several other sites, including Dos Pilas and Altar des Sacrificions. It is said that to the expert they are very rewarding but for amateurs like us, there was even less to see than at Ceibal, and thus, in our guess, not worth the trip. Others, who went, said similar things.

Ceibal Main Plaza

Ceibal

Jan, Florence, Laura, Gerry, Tour to Ceibal

Our trip to Ceibal was partly by van and partly by boat, both of them small for our small group of four. We were joined by two French women: Laura (Laurence) and Florence, both teachers in at the Lycee Francais in NYC. The bus ride was about an hour through not very interesting farm country. At the Rio Pasion we switched to a small boat and its captain Victor, our boatman. He was fairly young, had a very clean boat, and was very pleasant with us all day. On the boat he stopped several times so that Gerry and Laura could take pictures of wildlife of various kinds. The most exciting were a small crocodile and falcon along with several herons and a most spectacular tiny bright turquoise kingfisher. Also impressive was an eagle perched on the top branch of a tall tree on the riverbank. Even with the naked eye you could see how big he was and then just to prove it he spread his wings and majestically flew away, sadly before he could be captured by either of the cameras on the boat.

Crocodile on the Move

When the boat finally docked, we were instantly engulged by the tropical forest. The path to the site climbed a fairly steep gully flanked on both sides by enormous trees that blocked out all of the sunlight, leaving us in a semi-darkness punctuated only by the buzzing of the mosquitoes. After a while the path emerged at a T-junction with a much bigger path that Victor identified as a “Calzada Maya”, a Mayan road. By now I had slathered myself with repellent and passed some on to the French women and Gerry as the mosquitoes were getting really annoying.

The site itself was a bit underwhelming. The first thing we saw was the ball court, actually a flat space flanked by two mounds. There was no restauration work at all. Then we followed a forest path until we got to the visitor center that was close to the second part of the site. The visitor center did have a very impressive model of the city were it to be reconstructed. There were lots of buildings of which only three were recognizable and/or reconstructed. Next to the visitor center was a small plaza, that had been cleared, with a square-based pyramid in its center. On top were four rooms in the shape of a cross, rather unusual apparently. Around the pyramid at each of its cardinal points was a stela; they were quite well preserved showing pictures of Mayan kings and warriors, though not nearly as well-preserved as those of Quirigua. Scattered around the edge of the plaza were other stelae but any time that we actually strayed into the forest we were besieged by mosquitoes which made me reluctant to go off the beaten path both literally and figuratively.

Side view of Plaza

From the pyramid and stelae we walked back to the Mayan road we had crossed on entering and said goodbye to Victor for a while so that he could go and eat his lunch on the boat while we walked along to a round ceremonial structure not far along the road. We were surprised to see two other people there but as we arrived we were distracted by the noise of a howler monkey roaring very loudly showing he was very close. The Guatemalan guide with the other tourist said he could probably show us the monkey so we all trooped after him into the forest. Sadly, all of the noise we made scared the monkey who promptly hid in the tree until we had gone.

Peregrine Falcon, Ceibal

We had more luck when the guide spotted and pointed out a rather lovely peregrine falcon sitting in a tree very near us. With the binoculars already available from our attempt to see the monkey, Jan got to see the bird very well and Gerry even managed to take a photo. It was quite stunning, sitting on one of its yellow legs with the other curled up in front. Its front was sort of speckled, yellow and brown and face on it rather had the look of an owl, its eyes were so big. But when it turned its head it was clearly no owl with a very prominent curved beak. The guide reckoned that we were very lucky to see it as they were quite rare. We were all very pleased. By this time even though we were all having interesting conversations, we were already late for our rendez-vous with Victor at the boat. So we said goodbye to the guide and his tourist and walked on down the hill to the boat.

The ride back was faster with far fewer stops for photos, although lightning did strike twice and we saw another small crocodile that slipped from its muddy bank into the water as soon as the boat approached. A better day for wildlife than for Mayan remains, but a good day nonetheless.

Quirigua

Stela A, Quirigua

We stopped at Quirigua on the way to Rio Dulce. It really is an easy drive but we had to share the highway with a continuous stream of heavy tractor-trailers making the route between Guatemala City and Puerto Barrios. All Guatemalans pass in what we think are unsafe conditions. To see these monsters passing on a bend makes you wonder why anything in the country works. Finally we came to the turnoff and made a short journey through banana plantations that are or once were the property of United Fruit company. Then we were at the archaeological park.

Quirigua was once a colony of the great Mayan city at Copan, about 50 km (30 miles) south southwest as the bird flies. In spite of being separated by a mountain ridge, there is an old, 60 km foot route that follows rivers for most of the way. (Driving today requires about 200 km.) In 737 A.D. King Cauac Sky of Quirigua revolted and managed to capture and later behead King Eighteen Rabbit of Copan. Then, for two generations the Quiriguans went on a cultural improvement binge. The legacy was a small (by Tikal and Palenque standards) ceremonial center enriched with the largest stelas ever made by Mayans.

We spent about two hours viewing the wonderfully preserved 8-10 meter high works of literature-as-art. Each time we have been to a major Mayan archeological site we have seen something new and different to excite our imagination; the stelas of Quirigua did it here. Never before had we seen such well preserved and beautiful glyphs. The rest of the site consists of low ruins around a single courtyard; perhaps the equal of Cahal Pech in Belize.

Quirigua Stelae Group