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The view of Lake Peteh Itza from our hotel in Flores On Tuesday 5 we left Guatemala City and headed for the island of Flores several hundred miles north east. We had booked a first class coach for 10am, first class here consists of padded leather seats which can recline, a toilet which was pretty grim and air conditioning that wasn't very strong but at least it was pretty comfortable. The journey to Flores should have taken 9 hours according to our ticket (arrival should have been at 7pm) but unfortunately it took a lot longer than this - 3 hours longer to be exact. There were a number of reason for the delay - the coach stopped at regular intervals at the side of the road for no apparent reason, the coach stopped off for petrol only to stop just 10 minutes later at another petrol station to give us a comfort break and also the driver drove excessively slowly for the latter parts of the journey and we were literally crawling along for a very long time. Nevertheless we made it safely to Sainta Elena at around 9:45pm and took a short taxi ride (5 minutes) to the Island of Flores, which is absolutely tiny in size at only 400m
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A spider monkey in the Tikal jungle across in each direction. It contains very little other than bars, restaurants, stalls and hotels.
In Flores we were greeted by a 25 degree heat (even at night time it is still very warm here!) and there had been a mix up at the hotel we were supposed to stay in (Cafe Yaxha) and our booking hadn't registered on their system. The English speaking staff member was very helpful and solved the problem for us - as the hotel was fully booked he found us alternative accomadation at the hotel over the road, Hotel Villa Del Lago,and he paid the difference in the fees. He also helped us to sort out transport to the Mayan ruins of Tikal from Cafe Yaxha the following day. In any case, it turned out their mistake worked in our favour as we effectively ended up getting "upgraded" and we gained a stunning view of the Lake Peteh Itza which surrounds the island. The air conditioning was also amazing and the beds were extremely comfortable. We certainly didn't begrudge paying 320 Quetzals to spend two nights here.
After sorting the accomodation, we headed out for an ice cold beer
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A howler monkey in the Tikal jungle and a belated dinner at a bar just a few hundred metres from our hotel. Food and drink is fairly cheap here, with a 500ml bottle of the local Gallo beer costing just £1.50. The next morning (Wednesday 6) we headed to Cafe Yaxha for a breakfast of pancakes and a fruit smoothie. The pancakes were very cheap at only 28 Quetzals (£2.80) and they were seriously yummy.
Originally we were booked on the 10am bus to Tikal but due to not enough people booking on we had to go with the 12:30 bus instead. There were two great things about this: it gave us a chance to visit the various tour operators in Flores to sort transport to Belize and we could do the sunset tour at Tikal. In terms of transport to Belize, we had the option of a 5am coach with air conditioning and a toilet or a 5 or 7am shuttle with either for the same price of 160 Quetzals each, which we managed to barter down to 120 after shopping around.
The most important benefit of our delay was having the opportunity to see the sunset over the ruins
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The view from temple 2 - an experience we might have missed out on if we had gone on the earlier tour. We were supposed to pay 20 Quetzals exra on top of the 150 Quetzals entry fee to have the sunset experience but our guide forgot to get the extra money from us so we didn't end up paying any more after all. We were originally advised we could pay in dollars but once on the bus we were told we had to have Quetzals.
It took us around 1hour 15 to reach the outside gates to Tikal park, which spans hundreds and hundreds of acres. It then took us a further 15 minutes to drive to the main site, with miles of jungle on both sides of the road.Tikal itself consists of a vast expanse of jungle terrain and clearings where some of the ruins are situated. The jungle is the natural habitat for a number of animal species, including howler monkeys, spider monkeys, the white tailed coati, the toucan and the jaguar. We were lucky enough to spot both types of monkey whilst trekking through some of the thicker expanse of jungle. However, whilst the spider monkeys appeared on
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Sunset over Tikal more than one occasion, we only spotted the howler monkeys once and it was quite by chance that I happened to notice them. It was fascinating to watch them for a few minutes and it was truly a once in a lifetime experience.
As Tikal is spread over such a large area we were advised to avoid two routes that would take us far too many miles away from the "main site" and instead we visited the main complexes spread out over a comfortable distance which was walkable in about three hours (the 34 degree humid heat means the pace is a little slower than normal). The most spectacular sites in the park were without a doubt temple 4, the highest temple in Tikal at 64m and also the grand plaza which consists of several different temples and complexes. Most of the temples in the park can't be climbed due to the steepness, slipperiness and height of the steps. There are, however, a few temples which could be climbed including the aforementioned temple 4 and temple 2 in the grand plaza. The stairs going up the side of these scared the hell out of me as they
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The temple we watched the sunset from contained gaps where you could see straight down...100 of metres down with no ground nearby. Needless to say my fear of heights got the better of me and, despite two attempts, I couldn't even make it up the first lot of stairs. Mal somehow pushed through his own fear of heights and made it to the top, albeit he admitted he had a serious case of jelly legs.
At 5:30pm we started to climb up a series of stairs and ruins to reach an elevated temple with the Grand Plaza. It's from the top of this temple that we watched the sun set to the side of temple 4 with the jungle laid out below. Whilst the sun was setting, there were spider monkeys playing noisily in trees a few hundred metres away. It was truly magical. After watching the sunset we made the half hour trek back to the bus and arrived back into Flores around 8:30pm. We headed straight to a little bar two doors away from our hotel and took advantage of their all night "happy hour" offer of two caiprinhas for 20 Quetzals.
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