Blogs from Flores, Petén Region, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 3

Flores is a small beautiful island on Lago Peten Izta which you can access from Santa Elena. It didn't seem like there was a huge amount to do here apart from chill out, go for a swim in the lake, or kayaking. After a long 13 hour bus journey the day before, I decided that I wanted to take it easy and not wake up too early. Because I had extra time in bed to catch up on lost sleep, I decided that I would like to do kayaking for an hour or two in the afternoon and then do the group plan in the evening which involved drinking alcohol, chilling and watching the sunset. As I planned to go kayaking in the afternoon I had some spare time in the morning, so I walked over ... read more

After a 4-5 hour bus ride, we arrived in Flores (Flore-ess). Well just outside of Flores which is an island connected to the mainland by a 600m causeway. The mob of taxi drivers awaiting our custom informed us it was a 3km walk to the island, they seemed surprised when we said we would walk, it turned out to be about 1.5km. We ended up in a small but clean hotel room, at $60 US, one of our more expensive rooms, but the hotel had a pool which was a bonus. Flores is the gateway to the Mayan archeological site, Tikal. An early morning start the next day and we were on our way out. The archeological site is impressive, it is set in lush deep rainforest, populated by wild animals; we saw deer, monkey, a ... read more

Moving towards the coast! We decided to take an earlier bus from Tikal, so that meant we had to arrange a local transport instead of the prearranged bus. (Think small chicken bus.) At 11:00 (on time!) the bus arrived and we jumped right on it. We were extremely pleased to see that we were the only ones in the bus (extra-large minivan) and had our pick of the seats. We chose the first row of seats and started to get comfortable. However, one of the hotel staff approached us and said to get into the front passenger’s and middle seats. They looked small and cramped and we thought, out load but only to each other, are you nuts? The staff member assured us that we would find the smaller seats in the front much better in ... read more

Flores and Semuc Champey Flores in El Peten is an island on the lake named Lago de Peten Itza which is accessed by a causeway from the adjacent much busier town of Santa Elena. The island is characterised by backpacker hostels, hotels, bars and restaurants punctuated by the occasional tourist agencies which bound the cobbled streets. On arrival we sought to spend the night in Los Amigos, a laid back yet party orientated hostel which is extremely popular with many backpackers. Unfortunately our late arrival meant we couldn’t stay there as they were fully booked. We therefore shuffled down the street to hotel Mirador Del Lago which offered rooms with an amazing view of the adjacent lake. This lake is so warm that despite my shortcomings as a swimmer I took the plunge. This was a ... read more

Geo: 16.93, -89.8833Fredag - Vi har nå forflyttet oss til nytt land og vi er på den vakre øya Flores i Guatemala. Vi dro fra San Pedro på formiddagen og ankom Flores på ettermiddag etter å ha flydd 6 manns propellfly. Jeg må innrømme at jeg foretrekker å fly store fly. Hver gang disse småflyene flyr inn i skyene så rister hele det lille flyet og jeg er like sikker hver gang på at min siste time har kommet ! Pustet lettet ut når vi var på landejorda igjen. Litt spenning i hverdagen. Flores er en vakker øy/by hvor alt er frodig og små fargerike hus tett i tett. Vi fløy over øya før vi landet - så da fikk vi ful oversikt. Temperaturen her er varm og det er høy luftfuktighet. I morgen skal vi ... read more