One Epic Day in Tikal: Exploring Guatemala’s Ancient Mayan City

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New episodes every Monday, wherever you get your podcasts, and on YouTube too. You can find Winging It, and more fantastic travel podcasts from around the world at voyescape.com. The link is in the show notes. Let's go and explore the world. Hello, welcome to today's episode. And today is one day in Tical. So on my trip in Guatemala, I've been in Antigua, I've done the volcano hike.

I've been to Lake Atterland, albeit very short, but really wanted to go to Ticale. But the problem I had was at this point, I was running out of time because the main aim was to do all this trip over land. And I realised if I'm going to keep with that, I'm not going to make Mexico in time and barely see it. So I made the conscious choice for the first time on this trip to go from Lake Atterland to Guatemala City to catch an internal flight to Flores, where Ticale is.

Stay there for two nights do the Tical adventure and then come back to Guatemala City via plane and then over To Mexico City then carry on the trip through Mexico from there. So today it is Tical Now Flores lovely little town One bit of advice I did stay at a hostel called Casa de Gretel the actual hostel itself really nice

It's got a great view over the water, a restaurant on site, and that side of the water there is some amenities. Now if you look at the map, Flores is actually like a little island. It's actually really cute. But Casa de Gretel is north over the water. And the reason I wouldn't stay there again is because it's an admin nightmare. If you're gonna stay in Flores for Tikal, I would stay on the island. Don't go where this hostel is. Because you have to arrange the boat every time you wanna get across the water and back. It's just a bit of a nightmare.

I know you get a WhatsApp number and you can arrange it, but it's not as casual as just wandering back to your hostel. You have to wait for the boat and then go across and then if you want to go out again, you have to wait for the boat to be there and it just gets a bit annoying. And the problem for me is I arrived really late into Flores and this wasn't clear to me in the instructions of what to do to get to this hostel. So I arrived late, I was tired, had all my backpack stuff, it's dark. I'm like, where the hell do I go to get this boat? So I just wandered around.

used my intuition really and got to the water at this random spot. And this boat was coming, this motor launch boat, and they let me on. I think it cost like five or 10 quetzalos, it really cheap. But I get the feeling this was like a local one because there's a few drunk guys on there asking me if I want a lady for the night. I'm like, no, I'm fine. They kept looking at me. I was a little bit on edge, I must admit, and I knew that when I get across the water, I'm going have to walk from there to the hostel. Now, if you're riding daytime, you can see why this

is a bit of a nightmare because actually at the front of the hostel is flooded out. So I had to find my way around the back entrance, which is up this hill. It's not clear. There's no signs. It really was quite stressful. When you book your hostel, make sure they have a little tour desk. You can book probably, I'd imagine, any of these hostels for Takao. And what they do is they book you your guide, your transport, and give you some advice about what to see and do. And they've got couple of things to note here.

First of all, you're gonna need cash. There's no card in Tikal, so get Kitzala's cash. When you go to Tikal front gate, you're gonna pay cash to enter, so make sure you have cash for that. They won't take card. And there's a few people on our trip who had barely enough money and they managed to scrape together enough cash to get into Tikal, but have no cash, maybe to get a drink or some food or some lunch, so take enough cash. Right, that's the admin. So next morning, I'm out.

Really early on the hostel boat to the under Flores and there's a main area by the bridge Where all the taxis and the tour buses congregate and I found my tour bus I was with Georgino and it's quite a big group here a full bus for sure We're on the bus it takes probably about an hour, hour and a half to get to Tikal We arrived to the gates paid 150 quetzales in cash Got our ticket and we're able to go in this tour is basically a guided tour with Georgino and he's gonna take us around Tikal

explain everything there is to see and you get bits in between to go and see and do what you want. Climb some temples, et cetera, et cetera. Just really looking forward to this. And as you get to the gate, if you need snacks, there is a plethora of cafes and restaurants there to get some maybe crisps or cold drinks and stuff like that. A nice espresso coffee and we're off and we parked up. I'd also make sure you take a rain jacket. Really jungle here. Dachau is a huge area.

and the weather can change in an instant. It actually started raining at the start of the tour and I didn't have one so I bought one there for 20 quetzales and it's like a big poncho. I needed it for five minutes and didn't need it again but just beware. Before we carry on with the tour, you're probably thinking what is Takao? Takao is a Mayan city. It's located in the Petan Basin region of northern Guatemala, part of the Takao National Park. And back in the day, it was a major political, economic and military center for the pre-Columbian era.

and one of the most important archaeological sites left by the Mayan civilization. And they think there's probably 80 to 90 % more they haven't discovered yet. And this place is huge. Out of all the things they have discovered, it's mind blowing when you think about it. And I think their heyday was around 2 to 850 AD. And they've just found another one further up in Guatemala.

in the middle of nowhere by chance as these things do and they're already starting to investigate that and they think that could be bigger. So just put this into context, Takao, when you go there you can see all these temples that's only roughly 10 to 15 percent of what they think they found. There's more hidden underneath the jungle for Takao only and then further up in the country they've got a whole brand new civilization they discovered which could be bigger. It is mind-blowing.

So a guide is great to have. He's gonna explain everything in Tikal and you can ask them questions about what they might have found in the country. And for sure, he definitely shared some information about that. As you walk through with your guide, you'll see some smaller temples. They're great to get started with. But on Google, if put Tikal in, you're gonna see probably two main temples and that's the main area. And it's called the Great Plaza and that's what you work towards. So temples one and two are in that main square. It is absolutely breathtaking. When you go through to the middle part of the square,

You've got temples one and two in front or behind you. It is just incredible. You look around, you think how on earth did they build these? They're quite tall. So I'll give you some descriptions. Temple one, one of the most iconic structures, I think. It's a steep pyramid standing at 47 meters. And it was a tomb of Jisoo Chan Kowil. And he was like an eighth century ruler of Takao. So his tomb filled with jade and artifacts was discovered beneath the temple. And the temple faces the great plaza and has a distinct roof comb at the top. It's pretty cool.

And then temple two is called Temple of the Masks and it's located directly across from temple one, 38 meters tall and offers a fantastic panoramic view of Takao. You can climb this one. And that was built by Jisoo Chan Kowil Won, likely as a temple for his wife, Lady Kala Jun Unemo. The best feature about this temple is you go to the back of it, you climb the stairs and you get an unbelievable bird's eye view of the whole area. Definitely a place to get photos and videos and just soak it all in. It's just absolutely incredible.

After that, we did head to temples four and five and there are taller temples actually. So we climbed some of these and they're even higher above the tree line and you get a sense of the whole area. And what you see when you get to the top of these temples four and five is just little bits of these temples poking up above the trees. And you kind of think, wow, I what else is there here that could be discovered? It does blow my mind. It's probably one of my, definitely my top three things to see on this trip. Probably the top one. I'm glad to be honest with that.

and it absolutely delivered. And just bear in mind, it's going to be hot, it's going be humid, the tour is going to go pretty fast, so make sure you plan it well. And in the time you get to explore by yourself, take full advantage. I've got some cool facts if you want to be enticed in to go and see it. It's one of the largest and most influential mine cities. They had lots of rivalries. They don't really know why it stopped because it was flourishing. They had an advanced water management system on the go, which is pretty crazy considering people these days don't even have that.

Yeah, as I said, a bit of a mysterious collapse. They don't really know why. It could be drought, warfare, overpopulation, resource depletion. Maybe they all came together at once, who knows. But the jungle eventually reclaimed its city, hiding it for centuries. Hidden temples are still underground, I think. I've got here officially 20%, but I think the guy said only 10 to 15 % has been uncovered. I mean, who knows what they could find. We actually finished the tour at the Lost World Pyramid. And this is the 30-meter pyramid, part of Tikal's oldest section.

And this is used for astronomical observations and ceremonies dating back to 700 BCE. So it's one of its earliest structures and it's pretty crazy to climb up. So that's a description of what you're going to see and do. I can't really do it justice in terms of facts and figures, because that's what the guide is there for. But these guys, especially Giorgino, he spoke really great English, had loads of facts and figures. You can ask him any question you want. And he made sure to give you time to digest information and explore as well. So I'll put the link to

Kassad-de-Grethe, if you want to stay there as a hostel in the show notes, but maybe you can click that link and see who they booked with. Cause I'm not sure who Georgino is part of. He was just part of the tour that I booked with. He could be part of just a Takao tour group that's based in Flores. I'm not sure. But I think what you'll find is Takao is an example of human ingenuity, ambition, resilience, engineering, construction, how to live with nature. It's just all those things in one. And you do feel that when you explore.

Some people do stay for an extra day or two and go back. I mean, I wouldn't be against that either. And I definitely would revisit for sure. In terms of going there on your own, not sure if you need a guide to go in there. You probably do. They're pretty strict on the border as you enter Tikal. So I'd imagine you might need someone who's local. But I would get a guide anyway. Why not? Cause they're going to tell you loads of information that you're never going to find out. So I would do that for sure. Just some recommendations for hostels to stay in Flores. If you're looking to stay there. Los Amigos is probably one of the best ones. Hotel.

Pieten Express is pretty good. Le Tour L'Aza is a cheap hostel. And maybe Casa Maya Itza is probably best for private rooms if you want to have a cheap place to stay, but also your private room and no dorms. And I think those guys would definitely have tour desks to book to Takao. And I wouldn't worry about booking to Takao in advance because I think any of these hostels or hotels that you stay at will be able to get you in that day. Granted, I did probably go in off season, so I can't speak for the peak season, but I'm pretty sure there's enough space to go.

Couple of things to note, take cash, take a rain jacket, maybe even take some sun cream, take a hat, be curious, ask questions, and make sure you take a good camera, because there's plenty to see and do. And in terms of taking photos and videos, it's an absolute goldmine for content. So I think that sums up my Tikal day out, probably on a high after that, but then I kind of felt like that was the end of the trip almost, and after that I flew to Mexico City and then onto Oaxaca, which will be the next soda episode coming up in a few weeks. Thanks for tuning in.

Any questions or anything you want to add about Tikal, let me know. Yeah, go and see some mine ruins. I promise you, you won't regret it. It's absolutely stunning. And I'll see you next time. Thanks for tuning in to the podcast episode today. If you've been inspired by today's chat and want to book some travel, if you head to the show notes, you'll see some affiliate links below, which helps support this podcast. You'll find Skyscanner to book your flight. You'll find Booking.com to book that accommodation. Want to stay in a super cool hostel? You'll see Hostel World down there too.

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