We gained access to Aguateca by boat. The first settlements at Aguateca are said to date to the late Pre-Classic period (300 B.C to 350 A.D.) and despite the fact that there were still excavations going on in the site we were really looking forward to visiting it.
There is an extensive system of defensive walls that surrounds the city reaching over 4,8 Km in length. The walls consist of solid limestone formations. The Southern and Western sides of the centre being delimited by a deep and steep gorge, like a crack in the rock, which was not very easy to go through.
We walked onto an area close to the Plaza "Hundida" with a view over the lake Petexbatun and the whole plain up to Ceibal, which was magnificient.
The city was captured and destroyed approximately 810 A.D. which led to a massive evacuation of the city ... it is impressive and moving to see some stelae, representing the city rulers in the same way the city inhabitants left them when they forcibly moved out of it.
By the time we headed back to the lodge (by boat), so as to get ready to move to the airport of Flores prior to flying to the capital city I had mud all over my shoes ... but was feeling particularly happy because having visited the site of Aguateca had had the "taste" of an expedition and had been really worth it ... I could still "smell" the forest and the beauty of some of the thoroughly engraved stelae ...
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