I still had a guided tour that I had already paid for but not used.  So after a great breakfast and some reading, oh, and dog soaking, I had the pleasure of entering the park once more with Andres.  This time my touring companions were a father and son from Connecticut, (the son was on spring break from UConn), and two couples from Canada that were traveling together.  Unfortunately for them, they looked like, and dressed like, they didn’t know what they were in for. Twice during the tour they stopped to rest and waited for us to double back for them.  But I digress.

Part of what Andres covered on the tour I had heard but it didn’t matter.  Ultimately we entered an area of the park that I hadn’t yet been in.  The Plaza of the Seven Temples.

Here are a description and a little model of it.  It seems to me that it was a key “neighborhood” of the area and a community gathering spot.

Right near the Seven Temples, but not part of it, is Temple 9.  In the previous post was photo from on top of Temple 9 looking over at Temple 4.  This wasn’t as long a climb as Temple 4, only about 150 steps or so, but steeper.

Here are a few more shots from on top.  Below are two looking straight down the sides.  See the little peeps at the top of the second one?

 

So we had a little internetus interuptus in Santa Ana.  In hindsight I should have just taken my laptop with me into Antigua, but I kept expecting it to come back “at anytime”.  But we’re back now.

I have a few more photos of Tikal that I haven’t used.  I’ll go through and edit and load those and have them up a little later.