Because of the temple being on break for two weeks, and because our classes haven’t been resumed yet, we took a trip with four temple workers and a tour guide who works with LDS archeologists. The tour guide was Bishop Sergio Navas and the others in the group were all temple missionaries: the Brady’s and Sisters Jaramillo and Kapp. It was fun and very informative. We don’t want to leave the impression that we are just “playing” senior missionaries, but it was another of those once in a lifetime experiences.
We got up early morning on the 13th and caught the bus out to the Atlantic highway and waited for about 45 minutes for our van to pick us up. We were happy to be on the way.

We made our first stop at Quirigua. We visited there last spring with Nathan and Christena. We learned some interesting things when we had a Book of Mormon tour guide with us. Most of you are already aware that each of these square carvings on the stone refers to an event, story or person that was known to the “readers”. One that shows up all over Mesoamerica is of an outstretched hand with a circular mark shown in the middle. Pretty interesting. Also where the buildings were at the end, there is a part of this sacred area where there are two entrances – presumably one for women and one for men and there are three separate rooms, each with a higher interior elevation for worship. Once again, we were able to visit on a day when it was overcast and the weather was beautiful. We must be living right. It is generally really hot and humid there.
The large steles each are the life history of a person – a ruler or warrior. The carvings are not completely understood at this point, but many of the glyphs have been deciphered.

There are many banana plantations in this part of the country. We got one picture that shows the rail that runs all day long, carrying giant stalks of bananas to the warehouse or trucks or whatever. The leaves of the banana plant are huge! Easily as tall as me. But the ones lower down are not as large. I had no idea what a banana plantation looked like before coming here. When I am not busy being a missionary, I want to read the Banana Republic trilogy about the relationship of the United Fruit Company and the people of Guatemala. There is a lot of history - both good and bad. Many people have banana trees growing in their yards. This is a Bountiful Land.

We went on to Rio Dulce and stopped for lunch. Once again we enjoyed the thatched roof, the bamboo serving area, and especially the tables and chairs. They wouldn’t be the same made from pine, since it isn’t all curvy, but man, am I drawn to the rustic appearance. I love the high chairs as well.

The drive thru Petén is pretty much all jungle. It has only been 10-12 years since they built a paved highway. It was beautiful. If the scholars are correct, it is part of the land of Zarahemla - specifically the east wilderness. You will recall that Captain Moroni had to deal with the king-men while simultaneously trying to stop the Lamanites from invading Zarahemla. Non-LDS archeologists refer to this land as the “forest of the kings” because of the tremendous evidence of belief in a divine right to kingship by the inhabitants of that area during the 1st century BC. Some Book of Mormon scholars think the king-men may have been Mulekites who descended from King Zedekiah and truly felt they inherited the right to kingship. Another source I read said that since Zoram was from Jerusalem, he was probably of the tribe of Judah, and his descendants may have also had the opinion they should rule. No matter who the king-men were; this knowledge we have from Book of Mormon scriptures provides insights into this phenomenon at Tikal and other cities in the forest of kings.

Spencer: I spent most of my energy trying to take pictures of monkeys, turkeys, and old buildings. The monkeys moved too fast high in the trees to catch them in a picture. But we saw a large group of them moving and swinging thru the foliage. The turkeys were as colorful as a peacock. Most of the time they wouldn’t cooperate either, but I did get some good pictures of them. At the Plaza of Seven Temples there was whole flock of wild turkeys. During the day we heard the jaguars roaring in the forest several different times. Thankfully they didn’t get close enough to even try to get a picture.
We were in the park for about 8 hours. It was a lot of hiking and climbing, but so beautiful! We spent a couple of hours visiting two museums. It was interesting to see one well preserved statue that had his hands on each leg. His right hand faced upward in a cupping shape and his left hand was palm down. That is the opposite of what I am familiar with, but very interesting, nevertheless. We couldn’t take flash pictures in the museum, so I can’t show you.

The spectacular site of Tikal, dated 600 BC – 900 AD is amazing to behold. It has an estimated 4000 buildings identified and / or excavated with thousands more underneath. We were able to ride out to Temple IV in a park truck, which saved us an hour. Then for the next six hours we walked and climbed. Once again, the Lord smiled on our expedition. It was overcast and cool. No one suffered from heat or dehydration (which plagues most park visitors). Our ages ranged from 64-81 years old. All of us, except one sister with a fear of heights) climbed the stairs to Temple IV and to Temple II in the North Acropolis. It was getting close to closing time, so we didn’t climb Temple V. (Spencer): The names of these are temples, but they aren’t temples as you would know them today. It was a building where the ruler had people come to pay homage. But even with the apostasy there are similarities such as the only rooms in the top are three rooms with each one a step or two higher than the others. You had to climb all the way to meet your “king” (“of kings”) who held all power over your future. In Tikal there were many places where they have just exposed corners of “hills” so you will know there is a temple or some other edifice underneath the dirt and trees. Roots of massive trees make excavation really difficult.

About ten miles out from the areas that have been excavated, the archeologists stumbled on a fascinating discovery, when they weren’t even looking. There is huge ditch around the perimeter (something like 50 square miles). Inside the ditch there is a very high wall. At first they thought the ditches were canals—but they are sandstone and don’t hold any water. Eventually the archeologists determined that it was an amazing fortification. Does that sound familiar? Captain Moroni was indeed a military genius. This form of fortification has been written up in National Geographic. Brother Navas has copies of many interesting resources for us to read on the way. We also listened to some CD’s by John Lund (who was the Book of Mormon scholar on the cruise we took several years ago).
We were the last ones out of the park at 6:00 PM. The other stragglers were apparently staying in the hotels within the park, because the parking lots were empty. What an incredible day – and with the great weather, no one even gave out during the exploration.

The woods in the Petén jungle are amazing. Mahogany is a junk wood used for fires. We saw some split and stacked by the road. The other woods are much harder (and heavier). With all of the hardwoods available to them they make some beautiful carvings. We have pictures of some of their work. There is a picture of some of the kids swarming us trying to sell us the smaller items. I (Spencer) couldn’t buy one from them because if you bought one, there were 50 other kids that would expect the same treatment. If I had the money I would buy a lot of those carvings. They were striking. I (Jeanine) had no problem buying some things from the kids. We made friends. There were twins named Adan y Eva and lots of other cute kids. Spencer ran out of money buying a jaguar and some other things, so I had to pay for the rest of the trip!  But to be fair – I bought a salad bowl and tongs and a honey container.

As you can see from the picture, some vines are strong enough for Tarzan (or Spencer) to swing from. We also saw rubber trees being cultivated. Some of the trees have really interesting names. One with a brown bark is called Indio Desnudo “Naked Indian” so of course I had to have a picture with a naked Indian. One with a white bark (it looks bare) is medicinal. It is an analgesic/anesthetic. We crushed some leaves and it smelled like an anesthetic. Then we chewed the leaf a bit and it made your tongue tingle. I wanted to bring leaves home to make a paste for my back! Another tree is called the killer tree. It is a parasite that attaches itself to the primary tree and just grows all the way around it. It keeps encircling it and squeezing until it squeezes it to death. We saw this phenomenon with small to medium trees and very large ones as well.