Dispatches from the field: Expedition Guatemala

In silence we hiked up the stairs, ascending the 70m Mayan temple in the dark. The air was warm and humid. The moon seen only in glimpses through the trees until we cleared the jungle canopy; then it hung as if suspended in the mist. Sitting on the top steps we looked over the forest that has stood for longer than time can remember, sitting on a temple that was here before any of these trees were even seeds. The city of Tikal was at one time almost completely cleared of forest by the ancient Mayan civilization, but now the ceiba trees reach higher than some temples and archeologists meticulously extract succulents from royal suites. We sit atop Temple IV, also known as The Temple of The Two Faced Serpent. Built in 741 it's the perfect place to watch the forest wake up, not only because of its position above the trees but because of its position in history. For hundreds of years it has sat on the edge of the city, then forest and now UNESCO heritage site and watched the sun rise.
Sitting and watching the sunrise, hearing the forest wake up, seeing the sun illuminate the Mayan roads the same way they have for thousands of years, there is something more than serene about it- there is something hopeful. And this is the very reason we wake up at 3:30am and walk back into the park with our guide. So we can record a core memory in our minds that morning and know when we get back to the hospital we are part of something bigger. We can know that because of us the animals we volunteer with will one day get to watch the sunrise as free animals- they too will be able to live again as they are supposed to, as wild animals in these wild spaces.