Tikal and Uaxactun

 December 8

Today was a full day of immersion into local and ancient culture.  A pre-breakfast bird walk started the day. We spent the morning and early afternoon at Uaxactun, a community about 23km from Tikal.  The village (currently about 800 people) has been in place for well over 100 years.  Starting in the early 1900s, Uaxactun (then called El Bambunal) was supplying sap from the Sapodilla tree to two large chewing gum companies in the US.  It was the basis for the local economy, supplemented by other forest -based products. An air strip was the primary access to the village until the 1980s when the airstrip was discontinued and a road established to Tikal. 

The community adopted a conservation mindset early on, and when the government started granting concessions of land to indigenous communities (in exchange for stewardship commitments), Uaxactun was one of the earliest communities to be registered and received the largest land grant (32,000 hectares within the Maya Biosphere Reserve). 

We were able to watch the sap be boiled down for shipment. We also visited the nursery where saplings are raised to reforest damaged areas, the processing plant for Xate (a forest plant that provides the dark greenery in many commercial bouquets), and the sawmill. There are 12 species of trees harvested, but only two are useful for export (forms of cedar and mahogany). This is precision forestry— they have a management plan where a given area is only forested every 40 years to allow for recovery, and the forestry only removes a single tree per hectare in a year!

The community elders recognize that additional revenue streams are needed to support the livelihood of the village and to cover the costs of protecting their land grant from poachers, fire, and encroachment from cattle farms. They are investing in tourism offerings, including building some modest tourist accommodations.  They certainly have the assets to offer a unique immersive experience, as well as options for birding or archaeological tours (see below). 

Perhaps the most surprising thing we learned today is that Uaxactun is the site of the first lowland Maya city to be excavated in Guatemala. The ruins were discovered in 1916 and excavated by a team from the university of Pennsylvania. Uaxactun established the convention for naming sites in other Maya cities (for example the astronomical set of buildings is always Group E).  There are seven different pyramid, palace or temple groupings on two hills on east and west sides of the village. The astronomical site included buildings aligned to sunrise on the equinoxes and solstices. 

After a wonderful lunch, we drove back to Tikal and walked up into the site itself. The sheer scale is overwhelming.  The site was discovered in 1848 but not excavated until 1936 as there was no access to the area.  Several pyramids and temples were restored at that time and are the core of the tourist experience. Many unexcavated areas still exist, and to walk to each building is a path of 17 km.  The national park was established in 1955.  We had special permits to allow us to stay in the park through (and after) sunset. 

Pictured: ornate hawk eagle, spider monkey on temple stairs at Tikal, iconic views of Tikal