The day started early.   Alarm set at 2:45 AM, out the door at 3.  Flores is deserted, shops closed and houses boarded up.  Walking through the darkened streets, I find the empty shuttle and climb aboard.  In a few minutes it will be packed full, people sitting on the floor and squeezed against the door.  We ride through the jungle but everyone is sleeping.  Then, we are in Tikal, walking quickly to beat the sunrise, climbing and climbing hills, with light beginning to ease out from under the mist, the trees full of screeching birds and buzzing insects.  Up hundreds of stairs, and we are almost there, almost to the top of the highest temple where we can watch the sun rise over the ruins.

Except, of course, the mist has thickened.  We see playful birds on the bright green branches of the trees closest to us, but visibility drops quickly and there are certainly no signs of the other temples.  Even the sun is hidden, a giant grey curtain dropped over it, with the slowly lightening sky the only sign that yes, the sun is rising ever higher.

For now, it is just us and the jungle.  The sounds of the birds, the macaws and vultures, the crickets, and every once in a while the eerie shriek of a howler monkey in the background.  Eventually the sun peeks out, and everyone takes the obligatory “sunrise” picture… an orange orb at the top, some green foliage at the bottom, and a giant swath of nothing in the middle.

After the silence, the guide’s voice is a surprise.  He apologizes for the sunrise and thanks us for the quiet, for allowing everyone to hear the jungle, to feel like part of the jungle.  Then, he tells stories.  Tikal wasn’t discovered by explorers or through ancient Mayan legends, passed on through the generations.  Instead, it was a group of chicleros, searching the jungle for more chicle, going from camp to camp and always leaving, moving on for more trees with the precious sap that could be sold to the Wrigley chewing gum company for so much money.  Chicle, the natural base of gum (now replaced, of course, by a synthetic rubber in almost all gum worldwide) was the largest export of Guatemala for a short while in the 1800’s and the reason many Mayan ruins were rediscovered, with Tikal chief amongst them.  These chicleros, the first stage in producing chewing gum and vital to the Central American economy of the time, among the poorest and most exploited of all Guatemalans, were some of the first people to lay eyes on the enormous Mayan temples.

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I have spent the last few days in mourning.  My computer hard drive is dead, along with, possibly, all of the pictures that I haven’t uploaded to the internet.  I’ll be mailing it home for the “worldwide” warranty, which actually only works in the United States, so hopefully there won’t be any other major problems with it.  In the meantime I’m without laptop, relying on internet cafes and the like to backup my pictures.  The site will likely be updated slightly less as a result.

The good news, however, is that I’ve had a great last few days relaxing on the shores of Lake Atitlan.  I also discovered some of the most amazing chocolate I’ve ever tasted, and made sure to buy extras to ship home.  I’ll be in Antigua again and able to grab some more of the amazing honey, cinnamon, sugar, and almond candy I so enjoyed earlier this week.  I’ll be going to possibly El Salvadore to surf, and definitely Honduras and Nicaragua to scuba dive.  And, of course, try new and interesting candy!