Flores & Tikal, Guatemala

May 19-22

Flores is a little island-town in the north of Guatemala. It is surrounded by a lake and just connected to the mainland by one bridge. It's very pretty and not too busy. Mostly tourists just go to Flores to get to Tikal.

When we got there, in the evening, we had a wander around and sampled some deliiiiicious street food and some happy hour cocktails. We spent the evening on the roof of our hostel, drinking and getting to know people from all over the world.

Our first day in Flores we spent mostly relaxing. In the morning, when it was already incredibly hot, I went for a swim.

In the afternoon Matthias and I walked all the way around the island. However, about half of it is underwater! Luckily only knee deep. The water levels must be rising. We had another swim and relaxed in the sun.

We got a boat across to a 'beach' (a little area with some nice little huts and chairs and tables, but not much sand..) to watch the sunset. The clouds got in the way...but it was still nice!

Very early the next morning we hopped on a bus to Tikal, in the hopes of  catching a nice sunrise. This is what we got:

Hmm. Just fog. Oh well! However, there were a few perks to getting there so early! Just as we drove into the park we saw a cougar running ahead of the bus! Very rare sighting apparently. We also saw crocodiles, raccoons, spider monkeys, howler monkeys (which sound like dinosaurs!) and a bunch of different birds. Being there early also meant that we beat the heat and the crowds.

After admiring the stunning sunrise we had a guide show us around the ruins. We climbed many temples and pyramids and explored the different resedential areas. The Mayans designed everything very carefully according to the sun and moon cycles. Some of the  buildings are still untouched since being built thousands of years ago, but many have been restored - partly for safety and partly so that you can see how it looked back then.

 

 

    

They also had underground 'houses' and 'supermarkets' which we got to explore. We had to crawl down on our knees, with a flashlight in hand, and mingle with the bats! Eek.

At one point our guide also found a MASSIVE tarantula which Corinna bravely put in her mouth! Matthias held it in his hands...and the tarantula pooped on him! Yuck.

 

Matthias, Jordan (a Canadian guy from our hostel) and I had a swim while we watched the sun set on our last night in Flores. It seems to always be very cloudy in the evenings in Flores but the sun was an incredibly bright red, making it a lovely sunset!

From here, our group splits! Ryoko, Matthias and I are heading to Belize to relax on the beach and Corinna is off to Mexico.