Tikal Ruins

This past weekend I was able to travel all across Guatemala to the Mayan Ruins in Tikal.  Tikal was one of the largest Mayans city, and was in use for over 1,000 years.  Archeologists believe that Tikal was home to around a half million people at it's peak, and it was eventually abandoned because the Mayan's destroyed the jungle around the city and lost all of their resources.  We were able to climb to the top of Temple 4, which is the largest temple currently uncovered. We were able to see over the jungle to the other few ruins that are visible above the tree line.
  One thing that I found insanely interesting was that so far archeologists have found around 3,000 different Mayan structures in Tikal, but they estimate that there are still around 7,000 more that have been covered by the jungle.  The jungle is extremely dense; it's hard to tell where one tree starts and another begins. At one point, there were no trees in Tikal, and all of the buildings were painted different colors.
  Our tour guide let us in on a secret - a few months ago, archeologists discovered a subterranean city a little ways away from Tikal, deep in the jungle.  A large storm knocked some trees down, which exposed a hole that led arceologists to colored paintings from they Mayan's time. New ruins and artifacts are being discovered and processed everyday in Tikal.

Unfortunately, thats all I have time for right now. Off to Spanish Class!

P.S. All of the Guatemalan's and Mayan's living near Tikal do not believe the world will end in 2012 - it's just a new beginning of the Mayan Calendar, and will be a time of big celebration here! :)