| The Great Plaza is the picture postcard face of Tikal, | | | | Plaza to the other ruins. I avoided the tourist guides, the |
| cleared of jungle and rebuilt. Two enormous pyramids, | | | | angry sun-pinked skin, the flapping Hawaaian shirts and |
| monuments and tombs of dead kings, climb 44 meters | | | | the baggy Bermuda shorts. I bought a map and chose |
| to stretch their roof combs above the surrounding | | | | a lesser-traveled route. I walked quietly and breathed |
| canopy. Smaller complexes that were once | | | | deeply. Birds called in the verdant green canopy and |
| administrative centers and residences surround them. | | | | spider monkeys chattered in the distance. Smells of |
| Carved stone stelae in the plaza preserve stories of | | | | humid earth and decaying vegetation filled my nose. |
| royal deeds. | | | | The intense heat of the flatlands wrapped me in |
| Pathways hacked through the jungle link the Great | | | | cloying humidity. |