We had arrived at the "Jungle Lodge" in Tikal the previous night after a day of buses from Semuc Champey. Lots of tourists stop and change over near a town called Flores but we'd decided to mission on and stay in the park itself. This way we could be up first thing in the morning to explore before the tour buses arrived. And that we did. We dressed for the jungle - long sleeved tops, mosquito repellent and rain jackets and met our guide (who we'd arranged the night before) at 5am. We entered the park in the pitch black with our head torches and he led us towards Temple IV. The plan was to climb to the top of the temple to watch sunrise over the jungle and afterwards we would explore the other temples with the guide for 4 hrs. So, we trudged through the dark jungle, the paths were muddy with lots of tree roots. We had no idea where we were going but eventually we came out at some wooden steps. We climbed these and then we were sitting on top of our first Mayan pyramid! For about 20 minutes there was no one else around except Andrew and I. We were the first people in the whole park and had the place completely to ourselves with only the guide and sounds of the jungle to keep us company. Inevitably though, we began to see torchlight approaching as more people filed in for sunrise. Unfortunately, it was very cloudy and misty and there wasn't a sunrise as such, more just a gradual lightening. But once it was light, we descended the temple and started our tour. Our guide led us around the park for the next few hours, describing each of the major ruins and explaining their uses. It was very informative and helped to paint a picture of just how large and grand this ancient city used to be. Sometimes we would see a no entry sign but our guide would just ignore it and lead us inside the temples regardless. We walked to the farthest ruins in the park with him, spotting howler monkeys and woodpeckers before he took us on a shortcut through the trees via a small crocodile filled lake, back to the entrance. Here our tour ended, but we thought he was worth every penny as he really helped bring Tikal to life for us!
We needed breakfast (delicious egg, black beans, tortillas and plantain) in a nearby cafe and a power nap to reboot - it had been a long morning and we wanted energy to return to the park to have another look around and watch sunset. This second entrance gave us the opportunity to go back and explore the temples in more detail and take photos. The clouds from the morning had cleared and beautiful blue sky meant we could capture some classic Temple I and II shots (famous view of Tikal). We visited some further out ruins and it was just Andrew and I there. We climbed to the top of one of the pyramids. We could hear a rustling in the trees and realized we were eye level with a monkey! We loved exploring the park at our leisure, soaking up the ambience and returning to our favourite places. Even when the weather turned and it started to drizzle we actually thought it was quite atmospheric and all part of the jungle experience, it didn't deter us... at first. But then the rain began to fall, and fall and didn't stop! We took shelter for a while but then decided maybe it had set in, it wasn't sooooo far back to the hotel and we may as well just go for it! Well, I don't think either of us have been so soaked. The paths became small rivers and water cascaded down the wooden steps. Our waterproof jackets didn't really stand a chance - rain poured down our necks, down the back of our trousers and into our shoes. And I'm sure the hotel was closer before. When we finally made it back to our room we wrung everything out. Andrew could actually tip water out of his boots! An overall amazing day, one of my personal must-see places ticked off the list! We settled down that night thoroughly satisfied, more than a little exhausted and hoping our clothes and shoes would dry by the morning.

(For the record they didn't - turns out the high jungle humidity doesn't help. Our damp trainers stunk out our bags till the sunshine of Cuba a few days later! Doh!)