The first thing I started to realize Once we got to Tikal was how isolated it is from everything. One road in. That road ends for all intents and purposes at a big gate. There is a large concrete structure or archway over the road that was constructed years ago and is in a state of decay. Off to the left side of the road is a little resturant and also on the left side but on the other side of the gate is a millitary barracks that is the headquarters for the park's maintenance,administration, and security. From this gate its another 22km just to get to the trail head that gets you to the ruins.
Dec 20
We arrived at this gate at about 1:00pm. They wouldnt allow us to enter the park until 4:00pm. The entrance fee was 150 Guatemalan Quetzals, $20US. I was concerned about the late entry time because of the limited ammount of daylight we had and I was really hoping to get to the ruins before night fall. I was trying to avoid a trek through the dark jungle. I thougt that even suggesting the idea was not going to be very popular with my wife. We also had a check in time at our hotel in the park. We needed to get that done before we headed off into the jungle because the hotel only has electricity from 0800-1000 hrs and 1800-2200 hrs. The reason is because there is no electricity there. All power is by generator and the generator only runs twice a day. Check in was the first thing we had to do once we got into the park. We were sooooo close to making this dream a reality, the clock was ticking.
Finally 4pm arrives! We get our tickets and a taxi and we are through the gate! Its a slow ride up. Winding ,twisting, beat up, bumpy road. Thick jungle on either side. It is obvious that unless you are on a trail, you will need a machete to get through the vegetation, even if for only a few feet! I notice that dusk is fast arriving.
about 4:30 and we are at our hotel. Nice accomidations for the middle of no where. We had a nice little bungalow with a grass roof. There was a nice crystal clear swimming pool! looked great! We were hot, sweaty, and tired from a long.... 12 hrs of busses and backpacking. I saw my wife looking at the pool. I knew what she was thinking. It wasnt going to be easy to explain this to her. I hadn't discused in detail, at that point, with my wife or Olympus what I had in mind for that evening. I'm sure Oly was thinking the same things I was. My wife was thinking about a long hot shower followed by a dip in the pool, a couple jumbo double margaritas, a joint, and a line of MDMA,lol!!!
We got checked in, got our bags in the room and then we had a discussion about the plans. Our plans? My plans? Doesnt really matter who's plans they were. As I started to explain that I was hoping to make it to the ruins in time to climb a pyramid and watch the sunset, my wife stopped me and pointed out the obvious, she has a knack for doing that. The sun was just about set. She went on to explain that we dont even know where the trail is to get to the ruins, the other gate, the one that controls access to the trail to get to the ruins closes at 6pm. The ruins are closed at 6. We are after 5pm now and its obvious its getting dark fast. We havent unpacked yet. I start seeing our opportunity fade. In my mind, if we got through the gate and to the trail that takes us to the ruins before it closed, we could work everything out after that. I really wanted to get in there ASAP!
Okay, so I came up with a quick plan and laid it on my wife with the intention that before she would really be able to think about the implications, we would already be in the jungle and on our way!
Just a quick side note here, I do not intend to leave you the reader with any impression, what so ever, that my wife was anything but complicit in this adventure! My wife was, more often than not, the sound sane judgement in out group and I knew this, it just that, at that moment in time, I did not need that.
So here was my plan-
Lets get in some decent protective clothing, Lets each do about a 200mg line of MDMA and 25mg each of some pure powder 2Cb, spray down with some 100% DEET grab a couple of head lamps and we are out the door!Olympus mon shot me a big grin, gave me a big hug, and said "Lets do it!"
My wife looked at me like, really? Thats your plan? and then she said something about making sure her 2C dose was a big as Oly's and mine.
By 5:40 we were going through the gate to the ruins. there was a decent stream of people passing us coming from the ruins.
No one else was going in.
At about 6pm the jungle was dark, we came to a trail crossing. Which way to go? We were already sweating as we had been walking at a fast pace, racing the setting sun. I was really high on Molly and the 2C was kicking in. I had looked briefly at a map at the entrance to the park. I knew that all the trails would get us to the ruins. We were shooting for the main plaza, thats where we wanted to be. There were three trails. Olympus mon said, "lets go right".
We went right. The trail started an up hill bumpy climb. We walked for about another :15 minutes and we came upon a small stone building. We were getting close. It was now officially PITCH BLACK! We continued to follow the trail. Another :10 minute and both Oly mon and I started to discuss the fact that we could smell a very strong scent of
copal incense. We were tripping pretty good by now in the pitch black jungle, we are looking for the ancient ruins of Tikal, we hope we are getting close, and now whe have a strong odor of copal in the air. Magical! Oly and I were discussing weather that strong of an odor could be coming from a tree? or a fire? we were walking slowly. Every now and then there was a break in the jungle canopy and you could see stars.
Stars! Stars so bright, so brilliant! The solsice was a new moon so it was a dark night. As I was looking up, I noticed that the jungle canopy had really cleared out. I looked to my left and noticed a clearing in the jungle. As my eyes adjusted and I was able to discern what I was actually seeing, I noticed a tall mound, and an open space and then trees. As I looked through the open space I was overcome with awe. I actually felt my legs getting weak. I felt light headed for a moment and then a rush! I was looking at the silhouette of a huge pyramid! I could see the outline of it surrounded by stars, in fact Orions belt was just off to the right of the top of pyramid I.
We made it!!!
We walked briskly to the open space and soon we found ourselves in the middle of the main plaza staring at the starry sky and this monolith! the three of us were all taliking at the same time as if someone were listening. Ooos and aaahs and my wife said look at that! I turned and there was pyramid II at the other end of the plaza. On either side, from what we could see were ruins. We all kind of wandered off a bit and just took it all in in silence.
Wandering around on the plaza I noticed a huge stone fire ring that had some still burning embers in it from whatever ceremonies that may have occured that day. The smoke rising out of these coals had the strong scent of Copal insence and the scented smoke was drifting off in exactly the direction we came from. Almost like it hd been put there in order to guide us to that moment.
I still cannot find the proper words to describe that moment. It was the single most epic, most awe inspiring moment of my life. I felt so miniscule so completely irrelevant. I felt so wonderful and greatful to be a part of this infinite moment. I was in the cosmic current. For a brief moment I felt as though ALL was revealed to me. I have never felt so content so complete. I walked over to where my wife was standing and enbraced her. Sharing that moment with my soulmate was the icing on the cake. I felt so relieved that I would never have to attempt to find the words to explain to her what I was seeing and how I was feeling. Love.
My eyes welled and my throat swelled as if I had a big rock stuck in it. I was overcome by a rush of emotion that produced a heavy flow of tears and joy. Fortunate. I cant find the words to explain what was going on with me at that moment.
After some time in quiet contemplation with my wife, I walked towards the ruins and found Olympus mon sitting on a big stone staring up at the pyramid and into the heavens. He was in the same emotional state I found myself in moments earlier. We embraced and thanked each other. We attempted to have a conversation about how we felt and we just kind of let silence take over. We both knew how the other felt. No words were necessary.
After some time, emotionally drained, we walked back through the jungle the direction we came from. Everyone was silent. We used no light to illuminate our path. Silently we walked past two manned guard posts at the trails entrance and at our hotels entrance. 9:25 we were back.
Was this the night? It was so epic, so huge! It was only December 20. The 21st was the solstice. The solstice was what I had put everything into. I kinda felt like after what we had just experienced, the night of the solstice could only be just another night and very anti climatic. I expressed this feeling to Olympus mon. Oly looked at me and said Ice House what happens tomorrow really is so important other than, it is important to be there because that was your vision. He went on to say that, Its not always the end or reaching the finish line thats important, Its the journey brother, its the journey. Oly was right and we just experienced an epic journey.
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