After visiting Yaxchilan, we returned to our bus waiting at the dock downstream.  With some help from our guides, we loaded the small boats with our luggage and us, and made the brief journey across the Usumacinta River to the Guatemalan border.  We then got into the waiting minivans and made the long 4 hour drive to Tikal, stopping along the way to go through customs and immigration (a very small building somewhere near the border but not on it).  And having done this river crossing and long drive, I never want to do it again.  Thank goodness for airplanes!  We arrived at our hotel (the JUNGLE LODGE) late in the evening, and the hotel was nice enough to prepare dinner for us after their normal business hours.  After dinner I crashed and slept very soundly that night.

The next day we met up with our friend and guide Julio Tut (last seen on our March 2009 trip).  Julio looked fantastic, much happier and full of light and more confident compared to our last visit.  This trip was the 4th time that I visited Tikal: the previous times being March 2006, March 2007, and March 2009.  Unlike previous visits, I did not feel the need to visit every temple and building in the site.  I just relaxed and enjoyed visiting wherever we went.  I felt much more peace with the site this visit.  I also finally noticed the similarities between the temples here at Tikal and at Teotihuacan.

For more photos of Tikal, please see my March 2009 webpages.