Fotograficky blog: Central America trip II

We left Mexico. On the bus to Belize City. It is actually a pretty luxurious vehicle, don't you think?

...But this luxurious vehicle broke down and we did not know, what to do...

So we tried hitchhiking (stopovani)...

But nobody wanted us...So we started taking goofy pictures like this one.

We quickly crossed Belize City and headed to the mountains.

We are ready to enter Achtun Tunichil Muknal Caves, which means which means "Tomb of the Sepulchre". National Geographic did a cover story on it in 2001.

We have to cross river, walk through the jungle...

And here we are: Right by the entrance to the Maya cave. We do not know yet that we will have to literally swim into the cave.

As you go deeper into the cave you pass sections used for Mayan rituals at preggressively earlier times in their cultural evolution.

Ready for the advanture.

Most of the Mayan rituals involved using pots, which were said to contain sacred spirits. Once the ritual was completed, they would break the pot so as to liberate the spirit.

None of these pots have been moved from their original position by modern man, which is really amazing considering they are still brining tourists there every day.These artifacts are over 1,000 years old.

A lot of beautiful formations are hanging from the ceiling, walls or "growing" from the ground.

Nathan's advenurous spirit gets more and more excited...

The cave was discovered in the 80's.

As we neared the furthest extent of the cave we were treated to "up close and personal" views of some skulls and two full skeletons, one of a young woman, and one of a man in his forties.

Some of the bodily remains were human sacrifices, and it was considered a great honor to be chosen for this ritual. The rituals were conducted to appease their major gods. Usually, they were looking for more rain so the crops would grow.

Ola!

We are happy that our bodies and spirit did not stay inside the ancient Mayan cave and we are ready to continue our travels to Guatemala.

You cannot see it very well, but this is actually a book by czech author about agriculture in a czech country side. :)

Belize market place.

We are waiting for a bus to Guatemala.

This picturesque little town is called Flores.

It spreads around a lake and this city is a gateway to Tikal, another ancient Mayan point of interest. " The Island of Flores is located on Lake Peten Itza and dates from 9th century, " says the guidebook.

We are having a dinner and beer.

And afterwards walking by the sunset.

Bright colors of houses are typical for Belize and Guatemala.

Catholic church on the main Plaza.

Sunset over the lake.

Tikal is the largest of the ancient ruined cities of the Maya civilizaiton.

By the way, we had to wake up at like 4,30 am to see all this :)

Though monumental architecture at the site dates to the 4th century BC, Tikal reached its peak during the Classic Period,( ca. 200 AD to 850 AD) During this time the site dominated the Maya region politically, economically, and militarily while interacting with other areas throughout Central America, such as Teotihuacan.

Sunrise over Tikal.

We realized, that these pyramids are not (and were not ment to be) hollow.

Iva and Nathan

Some of the climbs were pretty breath taking :)

Like this one...

But it was definitely worth it.

There are thousands of ancient structures at Tikal and only a fraction of these have been excavated after decades of archaeological work.

We took this picture like three times and were arguing about if I should have my feet there or not. By the way, I won :)))

The ancient city also has the remains of royal palaces, in addition to a number of smaller pyramids, palaces, residences, and inscribed stone monuments.