Last Stop in Guatemala - Tikal and Flores

We took yet another shuttle bus from Coban to Flores which is a village on an island in a lake in the north of Guatemala. To get there we needed to cross river in a rather antiquated roll on roll off ferry. We patiently sat in our bus waiting our turn only for the lcoal police to turn up and jump the queue. We weren´t going to argue as they were all waving guns around!

Flores was really pleasant for a couple of nights stop. You can walk around it in 20 minutes.We found a great hotel which was nice and quiet and just what we needed and made a refreshing change.

The main reason for going to Flores is that it is a great base to visit the Mayan city of Tikal which is probably Guatemala´s most famous tourist attraction. It also has good connections to Belize and Mexico.

The best time to see Tikal is at sunrise, so the park opens at 6am which meant a 4.30am pick up for us. Being prepared as as we always are, the alarm was set for 4am, bags packed etc. However, we slept through the alarm and Mr B woke up and the clock said 4.29am. Oh dear!! We leapt out of bed, threw our clothes on, grabbed our bags and ran outside. Thanksfully, Guatemala time was in effect and we waited until 4.50am to be picked up, despite us convincing ourselves that we had missed our ride.

Once we had doused ourselves in mozzie repellant we headed off with our guide with the very Guatemalan name of ´Boris´ to explore Tikal. It is set in acres of jungle so you get a good walk for your money but the mozzies were at epidemic levels. The ruins however were amazing and we saw lots of wildlife including monkeys and coaties.

Our tour group was a good mix of people and we met up with a few of them that same night for sundowners overlooking the lake. This included Chris and Jo from the other Newcastle in Oz and Frederica from London. We found a great bar called La Terrazza which had brilliant sunset views and did amazing food and the staff were very accommodating to Mr B´s lactose issues. Chris and Jo are in Cuba the same time as us so we are hoping for a catch up there.