It’s fun visiting places that Ali and I have been before. We visited Tikal way back in 2008, camping in the VW bus on a soccer field at the ruins entrance where a new museum now sits. It’s fun to see our kids stand in places where Ali and I stood years ago, seeing the things that we’ve seen without them.
The ever aggressive Coati patrolling his territory on the Gran Plaza.
VW Bums in 2008.
Boat Bums in 2019.
If by be careful they mean run as fast as you can, then Lowe nailed it.
It was a steamy hot day. Everyone was soaked with sweat, but nobody in this family can compete with Lowe. The term sweating bullets gets tossed around a lot with him.
Hot and tired, but with the possibility of less trafficked ruins an hour or so away, we headed for Yaxha.
The kids miss being able to climb up on the big bench seat of our Travelall, but they still manage to make room up front whenever we get on some dirt path somewhere, which seems to happen a lot with us.
Much of Yaxha is still left covered by time, but it’s pretty cool how you can still see it clearly all around.
As we figured we would be, we were all alone at Yaxha.
Ouest and Lowe sitting atop a temple talking a mile a minute to each other.
The road in to Yaxha was miles of really rough dirt track off the main road. By the time we finished abusing our rental car and had inched our way back to pavement, the sun was setting on our long fun day of ruins exploration. Back in Flores the birds outside our hotel room were just settling in for the night as well.
16 Comments on “Tikal”
Another flashback from our motorhome trip down to Panama. Not the place but the name Yaxha.
This from our log entry on 16 August 2018 … we left Xpu Ha for Chetumal arriving at Yax-Ha
Cabañas and Trailer Park at 11:46 AM. We were told by the owners of the trailer park that the
Mayan pronunciation of Yax-Ha is “sh’oos ha” meaning blue-green water.
Cool. There was a laguna at the National Park but it was getting late and we had a long rough road back to Flores to do. I wonder if it was blue-green…
I hope Pat and Ali are taking more pictures of themselves. They don’t post much and when the grandchildren want to show their kids where the their crazy wonderful life started from they will have a place to go. I can hear it now “See, Great Grandpa Pat let Granny and Great Uncle Lowe do those things”. That would be a hoot to see.
Yes, we have loads. Some can be for just us. And it definitely will be a hoot to see how our family expands in the future, and how they chose to live their lives.
Oh how I LOVE to see all the amazing things and places that you experience! Thanks for taking us with you?
That pic with the ruins popping out from the treetops looks like Yavin 4, home of the rebel base in Star Wars: A New Hope.
Now that I’ve googled the image, it appears you visited Yavin 4!!!
https://i.stack.imgur.com/kocD8.jpg
Awesome! Check that off the bucket list! 😉
Pat/Ali,
Wow, what an incredible journey you’ve been on. I started out reading your blog from the beginning back in July. Just got to this most recent post. Thanks so much for the fun read and having my dog and I along for the ride. We recently retired to travel the US. Now I think we’ll have to go at least to Mexico also. Hope our paths cross at some point.
Hi Rick and Brock, what a read! Do you remember how you came across our blog to begin with? Definitely give Mexico a go. It is such a beautiful place to wander and camp. I’m sure Brock loved the Chavo posts. 🙂
Your pictures make me want to travel! During a trip to Tulum many years ago; our guide told us about Mayan cities all throughout Mexico. He said they were connected by limestone pathways so the people could travel at night. He also told us that there are many temple sites that were still completely covered by jungle. It looks like Yaxha is one of them.
You guys must do an amazing job with sunscreen. The pix of Ouest and Lowe look like they never see the sun! And we know that’s just not true….
Hi Marie H., it is crazy to envision all the old cities and how they made it all work (and build them!). After climbing all those stairs to get to the top of these temples, is when we sit down and talk to the kids about the amazing-ness of it all. To make them look around, take it in, ask questions. Boat travel is good, but we do enjoy getting inland to experience this too.
And yes, sunblock and hats always.
Hi Ali,
I found your blog via Jason & Nikki Wynn when they mentioned Pat’s Trawler vs Sail article. Great piece I might add.
Oh great! Love those guys.
Amazing photos and what an adventure! Just wondering why this post and the previous say Sept. 9th. I feel like I popped into a time warp, or are your blog posts that far behind real time?
Yes, we are a bit farther behind as with so many photos needing to be edited, plus traveling so much, plus work, plus kids, plus trying to enjoy life…sometimes the website takes a backseat to what we want to do in the NOW.
magic…simply magic…in the eyes of youngsters!
goodonyas.
blessings
scott