Tikal

Another woozy start of the day. At four thirty A.M. someone was pounding on the door. The plan was to climb to the top of temple four of the Mayan ruins at Tikal Guatemala and shoot the sunrise. If you are wondering what the view was like, it’s the view you got in the first Star Wars movie of princess “What’s her name’s” home planet. Stumbling around in the dark, I got together my pack of “production” gear. That’s, one twenty pound tripod, one to three ten pound batteries for the big camera, some cable, video tape, double “A’s”, nine volts and a mic boom.

We had a special permit to drive inside the park where the ruins are. So, bouncing around in the back of the Earth Roamer, we headed for the temple. We climb up the wooden stairs in the dark. At the top of the temple the pale predawn light showed the jungle endlessly stretching to the horizon with three other of the temples poking out from the forest canopy.

The birds had just begun to sing. Or squawk, or make any number of unfamiliar types of racket. Some birds were periodically taking off and you could hear the powerful pounding of their wings on the air. But then the howler monkeys started. As it was a gray morning full of fog with a low cloud base, we never saw the sun rise, but the sounds carried so clearly. And, as Spielberg had used the call of the howler monkey as the sound the bad boy dinosaurs had made in the Jurassic Park movies, those sounds were ominous and a little disconcerting.

The next spot was the Mayan observatory. It was closed after a guy tripped going down the steep stone stairs and managed to kill himself and three other people. We got to climb it because we were special film guys. I, having along history of stair ascending, made it both up and down and was rewarded with an incredible view of the ruins from the top.

Only twenty percent of the ruins have been uncovered. Tikal was once a major city with somewhere around hundred thousand people in it. I got way turned around as we toured around the ruins as even twenty percent is quite large.

In the main plaza the modern day Mayans were holding a ceremony to bless crops, protect from accidents and that kind of thing. This was pure luck on our part as this happens only once a year. The Mayans like the Incas are both a once conquered peoples that have survived and are now growing. The main plaza was considered the center of the universe and so holds a certain special significance.

At the ceremony each person held four candles and red, black, yellow and white one. Each candle represented one of the four colors of corn, which is turn represented each of the four cardinal directions. First, wax covered tamales were burned, then the group would face one of the directions, say a prayer and then throw that colored candle into the fire. SO, first red, then black and yellow and lastly white. But one more candle came out, which was green. Green represented the work to be done. At this point everyone got on their knees to pray before throwing the last candle in.

As far as filming went, freaking out was going on. We needed an expert to tell us what was going on. We had one but he spoke Spanish. Spanish is good language for someone from Guatemala but our show needed English for our gringo audience. We went on filming with Keith filling in as well as he could.

I was following Keith and Don around from one incredible ruin to another. We would speculate about what each place was, which was a pretty cool game. Wander around the jungle, looking at temples in all degrees of restoration. From brand new rock and mortar, sharp edged, to rounded and worn, moss covered, to completely buried, hidden under huge trees and their twisted roots.

It was the buried temples that got me thinking. What was it like to come here, innocent and think, “What formed these strange hills?”. What was it like to be the first ones to dig here and find this city in the jungle. Soon enough I would met the man that had had that experience.

Don shot everything, so by noon all four of the camera batteries were dead. This forced a lunch break. Over launch, Walter was told He had to come through and find us an expert, who spoken English and that, that needed to happen right about now or sooner. I could tell Walter was feeling the pressure of our relentless schedule. Our permit allowed us to film one day. It was today or never. Surprisingly enough, Walter returned to our table in a few moments. The jungle lodge that we were staying at was owned by two brothers. One of them was here and not only knew the ruins inside out but was trained as an archeologist. And, their Father was one of the early explorers of the area and had discovered temple six an very important find that completed the design of the cities center.

Enter Carlos Ortiz, our new guide. We drove back into the ruins and started shooting. Carlos was a golden mine of information. Don turned on the camera and let it flow. It this point the ninety degree heat, the thirty pounds of gear, the four thirty A.M. start were getting to me. I was wasted tired. I found every tree stump, rock, bench I could sit on. I was trying to stay awake enough to hand Don tapes, batteries, hold the white card before the lens, set up the tripod. Otherwise, I would sit there and space out at this amazing place I was in.

At the end of the day we hiked back up the observatory. We were waiting to shoot the sunset. For some reason our “special” status has expired. Walter and Carlos was shouting for us to come down. We were going to blow them off but, A park ranger with a shot gun had arrived, so down we went a disappointing five minutes before sunset.

We set up the Earth Roamer at the bottom of the observatory and shot some very misleading footage that one could camp in the ruins. Looks cool though.

Yea! It’s dark, the day is over! No, not quite yet. Carlos invites us into town to have dinner and meet his father, Antonio Ortiz who was there when the ruins were discovered. So we drive to Isle de Flores a town that has been constantly inhabited since Mayan times. The town is a small island in the middle of a lake. I remember talking with Keith, earlier that day, about what it must have been like to discover the ruins, to be there has they were uncovered. Mr. Antonio was that man. I felt a little intrusive entering his house, but we were all made immediately welcome. Mr. Ortiz, now in his eighties talked the early discoveries of the ruins. It was too late to visit long and we were starving hungry. We said goodbye but not before Mr. Ortiz invited us to visit the next day and agreed to be interviewed on camera.

The drive back to the jungle lodge was pretty vague. I was in the back of the car falling in and out of sleep.