Blogs from Flores, Petén Region, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 23

Es regnet wie aus Kuebeln und wir konnten uns gerade noch ins naechste Internetcafe retten. Das mit der Kayak-Tour hat uebrigens nicht geklappt. Es war trotzdem eine sehr schoene Zeit im Hotelito Perdido. Abends haben wir noch ein Skorpion gesehen, dass mit Namen Phillip als Haustier aufgenommen wurde.... Dann sind wir nach Tikal/Flores weitergefahren, wo wir im Hostel dummerweise unser Dope verschlampt haben. Erfreulicherweise haben wir Clyde aus Suedafrika wiedergetroffen, der sich letztlich von San Pedros Reizen losreissen konnte. Statt der gaengigen Tikal-Sunrise-Pauschal-Tour haben wir uns entschieden eine Nacht dort zu bleiben und so nachmittags den Sonnenuntergang und den Sonnenaufgang erleben zu koennen. Tikal ist im uebrigen der Knaller. Ruinen von Maya-Tempeln im tiefsten Dschungel. Affen, Tucans, Papageien soweit das Auge reicht - grossartig. Herrscher wie King Double Mo... read more

Hi all, Well, the pace of this trip has well and truly slowed now, and it´s a very different experience to that of the first few weeks, largely due to the fact that the average age of the group has changed from around 30 to around 60! More of which later... Last time I wrote, we´d just arrived in Antigua, Guatemala, which was once the capital, but was destroyed several times by earthquakes, so the capital was moved to Guatemela City. It´s a lovely city, surrounded by volcanos and containing some well-preserved old colonial buildings, and it has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We were warned that it could be dangerous there, especially at night, but I found it a friendly place and not at all intimidating. On Friday, the main square was buzzing ... read more

Another quick update, since we took a flight to Flores and arrived here one day ahead of schedule. Thus, more time for blogging! Yesterday (Sept. 11th), I still didn't really feel a hundred percent yet, due to my food-poisining; nevertheless I decided to join the others for breakfast at the Macadamia-Nut-farm - something that Tiago had been going on about for the whole trip already. This meant two things: more chicken bus rides (though only 15 minutes either way) and me having to eat more than I had tried before. I declared myself for fit enough, though, and let's just say I definitely made the right decision there. We met up at ten, so we could blissfully sleep a full 9 hours (that's a first on this trip!) and had a nice walk through Antigua's lovely ... read more

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Tikal is officially one of the new wonders of the world....it may not have made the official list...but I imagine that is only because so much of it is still underground... in fact, I wonder if there has to be a certain number of visitors per year to become a wonder of the world? Chichen Itza (an actual new wonder of the world) was my previous favorite because of all the icons - from the Temple of Kukulcan to the Ball Court. But now it is over-run with tourists, and safety issues make it impossible to climb anymore. Tikal shines as an enormous archeological project in the middle of the jungle. Down on the ground, one feels like a jungle explorer, following the 'highways' of the mayans from as far back as 700BC. It is approx. ... read more