Journey into History

Temple of the Jaguar

Well..this journey was over a month ago, but I wanted to give you all a glimpse of one of the coolest things we did while living in Guatemala.  When Nana (my mom) came to visit, we went to see Tikal.  Our whole time in Guatemala, we have been learning a lot about the Mayan people...since they were our neighbors.  We have read books for school about the farming practices (which we saw lived out daily), read folktales about the various Mayan gods, and learned much about the ways of the Ancient Maya...which is really not so different from the present-day Maya people in the Ulpan Valley.

Nana, Little Monkey, and Nina

So, going to Tikal was like a culmination of all of our studies.  It was especially sweet to take Nina there and be able to allow her to see the history of her own people.  She had been one time before, but very briefly, so she enjoyed being able to take her time on this trip.  It was amazing to see the massive temples, pyramids and palaces and realize that everything was built by hand; however also rather sad realizing it was probably built by slaves.  During the height of the Mayan civilization, Tikal was the largest city.  The city dominated the region from 800 BC until 900 AD.  It was abandoned around 900 AD and the reasons why are still debated today.  It was large, about 40.3 square miles with a peak population of almost 200,000 people.  And now...80% of it is covered by rain forest!  It's crazy to look at it and think about some of our largest US cities in 1100 years.  Will they be buried by forest?  Will archaeologists come excavate and speculate about the things we leave behind?  It is also a reminder that we can't take anything with us and all the "stuff" we build here on earth will eventually be buried and forgotten.  A great reason to be "storing up our treasures in heaven".

This is a model of the way Tikal may have looked

This is the view from the top of Temple Four...imagine only being able to see city 1100 years ago!

The kids with a view of the Grand Plaza behind them.

Temple of the Jaguar

I really appreciate the respect the Mayan people have for nature.  Though I do not believe there is a sun god, a god of rain, fire, and 20 other gods, I do believe our Creator God put an order into nature to help us live here on this earth.  The Mayan people are very smart and in its hay-day, Tikal was a center for astronomy and mathematics.  In Mundo Perdido, there were three temples which were behind a large pyramid.  During the spring and autumn equinox and the summer and winter solstice, the sun would line up with certain temples and cast a shadow directly in the center of the pyramid...amazing!!!  How did they do that?  In this way, they knew the proper time to plant and harvest.  It is also how they created the famous Mayan calendar which has gotten so much press of late.  On that note, the Mayan calendar did end on December 21, 2012.  However, it was not as western media reported it.  The Mayans never believed it would be the end of the world.  What they did believe was that is was the beginning of a new era.  This new era is called Baktun.  I love this!  So, 2013 is the beginning of a new era!!  PRAISE GOD FOR NEW BEGINNINGS!!!

A carving of Chac, the god of rain

Mark & the kids are on top of this

New creation in the midst of ruins

Little Monkey hanging on...

One of our favorite parts about our time there was the wildlife.  We stayed in a hotel within Tikal National Park and the wildlife was everywhere.  Spider monkeys, wild turkeys, pizote, tarantulas, and howler monkeys.  Howler monkeys were probably the coolest because they sound like this.  Crazy...I woke up the first night thinking there must be a jaguar outside our hotel room.  One morning Mark & I got up for a sunrise tour.  We woke at 4:30 and climbed to the top of Temple 4, also known as The Two-Headed Snake Temple, in order to watch the sunrise.  About 10 minutes before the sun was supposed to appear, the clouds rolled in.  So, although we didn't see a magnificent sunrise, we did experience a symphony of birds and howler monkeys.  Ask any of my kids to give you a demonstration of said symphony and they will be happy to oblige.

Pizotes--cousins to raccoons

This guy just pulled this tarantula out of a tree!

Spider Monkey

Can you see the little monkey on the mama's back?

Our own Little Monkey

Our "sunrise" tour

Temple Four coming up out of the trees

All of us on top of Temple Four...something around 190 steps.  As one who isn't crazy about heights, I was kind of a nervous wreck with all my kiddos up there.